| Ride Stats |
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Distance:
60.90 miles
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Altitude Gain:
4,532 ft
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Avg Speed:
15.33 mph
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Route:
Dickson, TN
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Avg Grade: 144 %
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Max Grade: 168 %
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Max HR: 0 bpm
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Avg HR: 0 bpm
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Terrain: Road: Rolling
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Bike: Look 585 Carbon Road
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Club: Schuyler County Cycling Club |
| Weather Conditions: Sunny 79 F SW wind @ 13 mph |
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Plan to climb to Mountain Lake in VA didn't work out as it was a bit cool and the wind was brutal when I arrived at the start so I wimped out yesterday. Instead of riding I was driving and so today's ride was to be in Western TN rather than Eastern. Picked a route out of the road atlas that looked twisty and took a brief detour off the interstate west of Nashville to Dickson, TN. Weather was warm with an eighty degree temperature and it was also very windy. Parked in a Walmart parking lot and headed off on what appeared on paper to be about a fifty mile ride. Really wasn't sure what the terrain would be as no hills nor mountains were visible from the start. Intention was to ride the straighter looking section with a tailwind and return via the twisty section which hopefully wood be wooded and provide some shelter from the wind. Opted off the course early hoping to bypass going through downtown Dickson when a friendly looking side road appeared. Road turned out to be a section of one that was on my return route so I decided to ride the course in reverse from the plan. First ten miles was mildly rolling on a good surface. Unfortunately the state had added thank you moms on the shoulder that had me opting ride in the road rather than on the shoulder. Traffic was light and friendly so it wasn't much of a problem. Took a wrong turn at mile eleven and ended up doing three or four bonus miles and my first climb of the day before correcting my error. Started hitting some hills at mile twenty and though most of the climbs of the day were less than three hundred feet of ascending some of the slopes got a little steep exceeding fifteen percent. The short climbs forced me out of the big chain rig and had ten miles of constant twisting turns through the woods with tough undulating climbs. Started to get worried about distance as miles racked up before making the required turn to begin the return to the start. Reached the town of Two Rivers at the end of Rt 250 after thirty four miles and began the return into a hefty headwind. Twisting turns and constant tough rollers continued as I headed west on SR 49 and I traded some good views for the wind as I was now out of the woods and on top of a ridge. Tried to keep a good flow by spinning over the rollers with a high cadence but began to tire by mile forty five. I still felt well but noticed the heart rate was red lining and I wasn't pushing the course very hard. By mile fifty I started to bonk but thought I would be okay if the terrain smoothed out as I approached Dickson. Thought that was a reasonable assumption since the first ten miles leaving Dickson had been relatively mild. Turned out to be not so as I hit what appeared to be a wall every mile. Most weren't really that bad being only five to eight percent but with my body bonked they were painful and very unwelcome. Had to get off the bike and take break on a side road on one of the climbs. I was only three or four miles from the start but the legs had absolutely nothing left and I found myself thinking about walking the bike. I took some time sitting amongst the kudzu waiting for some chemistry to occur in my legs and hoping they would recover a bit if I took the constant strain off them. Still didn't feel much better when I remounted the bike but I was able to turn the granny gear without suffering. The last few miles went pretty slow but were tolerable. Ended up doing the last twenty six miles into a headwind.
Turned out to be a good ride but I was not up to the continuous rollers in the wind and was exhausted at the finish.
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