A Good Idea at the Time

Although I haven't been posting about it, the "Better Know a Knoxville Bike Route" quest has continued. After this weekend, I have finished 29 of the 40 routes, for 1390 miles and over 90,000 ft of elevation gain. Getting closer!

This weekend's dose of pain was 5 routes for a total of 220 miles. Started out with a nice 60 mile ride on friday on the North knox rollers. I felt pretty good, and made good time and what such. Saturday was the big day, with plans to ride a little over 100 miles. The starting location for the Coulter's Bridge routes is about a 35 min drive for me, so I'm trying to do several routes at a time when I go out there. Elizabeth came out and rode the front 68 miles with me.

We started out with a nice and flat 33 mile route that went down old walland, out to townsend, and then did the tuckaleechee loop. It was an easy ride, but my legs were already not feeling so great... The next loop we did was the toughest one, as it went straight up butterfly gap. This is a super heinous climb, and I was reduced to singlespeeding the steep/rough sections in my 39x26. The rest of the climb was steep, but manageable. We climbed an extra bit to get to the campground at the top of foothills. It was definitely worth it to dump cold water all over myself...

After some descending and flats, Elizabeth headed back home, and I was on my own for the last 32 miles. I refueled at the car, and headed on out to finish it up. My legs were hating me, and the little rollers were no fun at all. I got back to the car at 96 miles, and had to go do some bonus miles to finish off the 100.

Sunday was not as restful as expected, as 9:00 am saw me back on the road again, this time out in west knoxville for another 60 miles. It turned out pretty nice, even though my legs hated me. Afterwards we had a nice cookout and hung out at the lake. A great way to relax after a long weekend.