A Good Idea at the Time

After doing the route from the "Knoxville Bicycle Routes" book the other day, I've decided to see if I can get through all of them.  So without further ado, I bring you parts 2-4 of my 40 part series, "Better Know a Knoxville Bike Route."

This ride makes a big loop in southeast knoxville, mostly through farmland. The terrain is mostly rolling, but it's got a few steep rollers that require some effort. Overall though, lots of nice roads that I hadn't made it on before. Also, if you would like to get attacked by the most dogs possible at once, I don't recall the road name, but there is a section where at least 8 or 9 dogs run out in a big pack. There could have been more, but I gave up counting. Definitely interesting though... From downtown the mileage was a little over 70, but I missed a turn or two and got some bonus miles.

Another South Knoxville ride. This one heads out the standard way to Martin Mill and Andy Harris, but then splits off from Wildwood and heads north, and then turns east. The loop then spits you out on Old Walland Highway at Cold Springs Rd and heads out to the always fun Tuckaleechee Loop, and then back to Coulter's Bridge. From here it turns left and heads back to Martin Mill through Peppermint and Wildwood.  Once again, a pretty cool route that has some really fun roads, especially the northen part that takes you out to Walland. The picture above is from the ever-changing inventory of a guy on Peppermint that makes license plate sculptures. Pretty neat stuff. Mileage was a little over 75.

This ride starts at Louisville Point Park. I was hoping for a nice recovery day after the previous two rides on Tuesday and Wednesday, but I'm not really sure I got it. This route was just 35 miles and 2000 ft of climbing, but constant wind and lots of short moderate rollers didn't really pan out as a great recovery ride. The turns are also poorly marked, so some guesswork and a relatively accurate computer are helpful to get around the loop. Like the first route, it is mostly through farm country. Traffic is really light as well. Pretty decent loops, but since it requires 25 min in the car to get to, I probably won't make it out here too much. (save for 2 more parts of the 40 part series, BKKBR)

If you're riding the routes from Louisville Point Park, get used to this view... Probably 60% of the turns don't have street names. Makes for a good challenge at least. (Or bonus miles)