Time for another cross-state bicycle ride. This year we are riding the BRAT. This ride is organized and management completely by the TN State Parks organization. We will have numerous state park rangers with us throughout the six days supporting the routes. Myself, Matt, and Gregg are riding the full six days. Gregg worked with me years ago in Atlanta. He also rode the North Carolina Mountains to Coast with us a few years ago. Gregg and I also rode the BRAG (Bicycle Ride Across Georgia) back in 2009. While called the Bicycle Ride Across Tennesse, due to COVID, they decided to manage the ride out of one base camp the entire ride with different routes starting and ending at the base camp.
A beautiful day to kick of 6 days off riding in Tennessee. Temperatures started in the mid-50’s and were in the high 70’s by the ride’s end. Today’s ride was 48 miles. Not a bad distance for the first day and the rolling hills were relatively easy and impressively scenic. We did however run into a few inclines that were frankly the steepest climbs I have even seen on my bike - two and a half miles averaging a 14% grade. We ended up walking a 16% grade section of the incline - first time I’ve done that in over 20 years. I like to think of myself at a pretty good climber. I did pass two other riders while walking my bike! Here’s the elevation profile for the day.
We finished around 1:00 and took it easy the rest of the day preparing for a longer ride of 58 miles tomorrow. We see another climb tomorrow similar to the one today, perhaps not as steep an incline. We’ll see.
