Saturday heralded the 14th Annual Harpeth River Ride, and my first time riding it. The Harpeth Bike Club did an amazing job putting this ride together, and their level of organization showed from start to finish. It was easily the best run ride I’ve participated in.
We rolled out at 7:45 and headed west out of Thompson Station. The 900+ riders spread out quickly and everyone settled into their own pace. I pulled away from James Todd and Jonathan Woody somewhere prior to the first climb into the unincorporated town of Theta, and didn’t see either of them again until after the ride was over. This didn’t worry me though, as riding well within your own pace is key to finishing long rides like this, especially in the heat and humidity.
The climb into Theta is almost a mile in length, and peaks for a short period at 18% grade. It’s brutal on any ride, but especially hard when you have 85 miles remaining in the day. I skipped the rest stop at Theta (mile 15) and caught up with some of the riders from the HBC Tuesday Night ride in the next valley. We rode a solid paceline for a few miles before I decided to sit up and ride my own pace to the 36 mile rest stop. A quick fill of water bottles and some food and I was back on the road.
I reached the 60 mile rest stop by 11:30 am, but I was starting to feel the effects of the heat and took a few minutes longer than the first stop. By this time it was in the high 90’s, but it felt like 110 on the exposed pavement. As I got back on the bike, I wondered how James and Jonathan were doing, and where they were on the route.
The next 20 miles took us on some very rural roads near Fairview, TN that had rough chip-seal pavement. Caney Fork road and Big East Fork roads are very scenic, but will numb your hands and shake your fillings loose if you grip the bars too tight. Some of these roads still showed signs of damage from the tornadoes that hit this area earlier in the year. The route organizers had been diligent enough to mark chevrons of brightly colored paint in front of these sections on the downhills so they could be easily avoided. I hate to imagine the carnage of broken wheels and road rash that would have resulted had they not marked the route with such detail. This section of the ride finished with another long climb up Stillhouse Hollow Rd. Stillhouse Hollow climbs a mile, gaining several hundred feet of elevation at an average grade above 10%, and was a painful few minutes on legs with 80 miles under them already. The rest stop at the top of Stillhouse was a most welcome sight.
The remaining 20 miles was on roads I was very familiar with from the Thursday night club rides, and Sunday morning pancake rides. No major climbs, but several good hills to overcome. As I left the 91 mile rest stop it started raining, then pouring, and continued for several minutes. It felt great after so many hours of relentless sun and heat. As I rolled back into Thompson Station, the rain let up and the sun came out again. A perfect finish to a great century ride. My fastest century finish ever so far. 7 hours total, 6 hours 20 minutes riding time, average pace 16 mph.
As soon as I put the bike into the car, my cell phone chirped with an SMS from James. “Back yet? I did metric + 3″. He had arrived at the church only a few minutes earlier. Neither of us had heard from Jonathan by then, so we knew he was still on the road somewhere. He ended up txting me at 5pm with news that he finished the century – his first!
4 Comments
I really like reading the detail of your posts. Sounds like you pushed through, but I definitely stopped at the rest stop after Theta, but just for 3-5 minutes. About 10 miles further out, we passed Jonathan’s house. His wife, sister, b-i-l, and parents were waiting for us with ice cold water, cold towels and encouragement. So we weren’t exactly running a paceline.
I had to do an extra 3 miles at the 2nd stop b/c I left my sunglasses there. That rice crispy treat was delicious, but I felt it for a long time. I breezed through the third stop, just staying long enough to eat a popsicle and fill a bottle. Mile 42 was decision point between going the metric century (62 miles) or the full century (100 miles). I went the shorter route and I’m glad I did. I took 10 minutes break between the turnoff and the last stop and spent at least 30 minutes at the last stop with my shoes off. I was definitely getting overheated, but I didn’t want to give up only 9 miles out. 3 showers from a watering can with icewater, one full bottle of gatorade, some stretching, and a cold towel later, I felt up to taking on the final bit. I took 2 more short breaks over the last 9 miles. I got in at 2:15, which is ridiculously long for only 65 miles. I got the car loaded and the bike strapped on and talked with one of the fast century riders who caught up with me at the last stop (the loops merged about 5 miles before the last rest stop). I said out loud, what I need is a cold shower and a beer. Seconds later, the sky opened up and dumped buckets of cool rain down. I cried with joy for a few moments, thanked God, then got in the car and drove to the tent with the food. After devouring a couple hamburgers, I texted to find out where you and Jonathan were. I didn’t get a response, but walking out of the food tent, I ran right into the serotta speed demon yourself. It took you less than an hour more to do an additional 35 miles. Ridiculous. I totally agree that this was an awesome event. Kudos to all the amazing Harpeth Bike Club-ers for putting it on.
Great ride report yourself, James. I was amazed at just how rural it gets on some of these roads. The good thing is that there are straighter shots to a lot of the climbs and roads than what the route took. We can get to a lot of them viia Leiper’s Fork fairly quickly if you ever want to see what you missed.
As much as I hate to say it, Theta needs to become a regular route.
Yeah, or another option is to really investigate the roads near the Trace. Stillhouse, Parker Branch, Coldwater,
There’s more hurtin’ to be done than we thought in the area.