9:10PM. That's when I walked into the door. 15 hours and 40 minutes since I first put foot to pedal in the cool misty early morning. A fantastic day filled with cycling, beer drinking, hanging out with friends, and lots of urban exploration and laughs.
4:30 AM came awful early and the cool morning air blowing in through the screen door made it even harder to leave the snuggly warm bed. A quick hot shower, bowl of yogurt and granola, glass of oj, and really bad cup of coffee later, I was hoofing it to meet up with Monster McConnell at 5:30 AM down in Grassland. I shed my wings under jersey waiting for Scott, since the long sleeve EWR wool was plenty warm for the 45 degree morning. Once Scott showed up we motored up Hillsboro Road to pick up
Old Greg. Decked out in black short sleeve wool, hot black knickers, and flaming red arm warmers and a big ring, Scott and I double timed it trying to keep Old Greg's wheel on our backassward 4 miles stuffed into 2, windy ass way over to
T.roy's to complete our foursome.
Good coffee, some freewheel frustrations, and more coffee we were soon on our way to LP Field for the Tour de Nash. We were all leading routes and planning for a long day on the bike. The sun quickly warmed things up to a perfect 70 degrees, clear and sunny; perfect weather for such an event. We checked in, found our queue sheets, scouted out the departure route, and milled about until it was time to line up. Several noted speakers including the Mayor and Ex-Titan, Eddie George; who was the only one to mention to all 1800+ people to notice where the bike lanes and routes were, so they could use this event to learn how to get into and out of the city in this day of high gas prices by bike. He connected the need for not only exercise, but also the need to try alternative transportation. The goal being to create a healthier Tennessee, but also to help alleviate the ever growing gas bill strain. No other speaker connected the dots in such an elloquent and immediately captivating mannor. Eddie's short speech was a simple light switch flipping on for many in attendance, no hooplah, no politics, just simple commonsense and clear vision. No wonder he was a first round draft pick, he didn't drop the ball.
After a thousand or so 50 and 27 milers rolled out (each led by a Yazoo rider, John Eighmey and Old Greg), T.roy and I led out the 12 mile route with 6 mile route leader Andy & child trailer. Somewhere along Eastland Ave T.roy got an excited "ooh" look in his face and he told me he'd catch up and turned into a house having a yard sale. I thought it must be an emergency for him to stop and ask stangers to use the toilet, but it turns out he somehow noticed 3 carboys for sale as we rode past the house, which was up on a hill and behind some shrubs. It's like he has beer-dar. When we went back to pick them up after the ride, he even scored $5 pannier bags. Lucky rat.
The ride was a phenomenal success. So many people out having a good time and enjoying the city. It's unique to have such a large organized bike tour in an urban environment, most take to the country roads, but this one highlighted all the bike lanes, bikeways, and greenways in the city. I spoke to many interesting folks and gave a lot more encouragement as they struggled up hills. I had one mom come by thanking me for cheering her daughter up and encouraging her as we rode together up one of the steeper hills. Lots of smiles and friendly conversation. Only one asshole on the cell phone riding too fast and on the left hand side of a twisty and crowded greenway, he ran a fellow cycling towards him off the road with his carelessness. Other than him and the "must haul ass and ride in aero bar" pace line folks (I don't get that, it's a fuggin greenway you dorks) it was an uneventful ride for such a massive mob of people. T.roy and I had an older gentleman, new to riding, stay right with us the entire time. He didn't want to get lost and he did a great job of keeping up.
After the 4 of us regrouped post routes, we headed over to the
Swiftwick/
Yazoo Aid Station Tent to hang with Sharpie and his brood. Sharp and I had made a ton of PB&J (Sharp puts the PB in PB&J) sandwiches Friday night, after being up since 4:30 and riding all morning, and it approaching noon, I was starved and ready for a PB&J. We found Sharp inundated with riders, no PB&J's left, and him hoofing it off to refill the water jugs. There was just a ton of riders out. I managed to snag a banana and a couple oatmeal raisin cookies, choosing to leave the rest for the riders still showing up. Highlight was hanging with my girl, Viv. We left Sharp and rolled back to town to get some grub, we took the new to us greenway and then I snuck in some La Ruta training.
After running T.roy's errands and enjoying one of his homebrew ESB's, we headed up to meet Hennessey at the Tap Room. Jonny Crow was there with an ensembled cast of characters. We grabbed our beers (started with the Sly Rye Porter) and hung out in the breezy shade of the courtyard. A perfect way to spend the afternoon. T.roy got us into the 4:30 brewery tour and we got to sample several brews while gaining knowledge (some of us intimate knowledge) of the brewing process and the history of Yazoo. Two business cards later, we headed off to Broadway Brewhouse for what we thought was some Yazoo ESB (nope) and food. Mojo wings and Sante Fe Stacks with T.roy and I eating "too hard" and snapping our forks. (Bet you've never heard that one before, huh Food Sweats?)
Hennessey split off for home afterwards. T.roy, Old Greg and I rolled towards Hillsboro Village. Dropped T.roy off, and Old Greg once again led me on a windy, twisty, where the f*ck are we going, 4 miles to go 2, tour of the village. Finally back on Hillsboro Road and I made the solo roll back in the dark. Traffic wasn't too bad and the near full moon lit the way, keeping the scenary notable and bright. Once home, a quick spin of the farm with the spastic, kept inside too long wupples.
Perfect day with good friends and good brew. 15.5 fun filled hours of chamois time.
*note: Photographs courtesy of staff photographer Old Greg.
What a drastic difference a year can make. Last year we had an impromptu river party on the rock island. 8 friends, 9 dogs, 2 kayaks, couple cases of beer, burgers, chips, dip, a firsbee, bon fire, and lots of laughter and fun. 2 of our canine friends are no longer with us, 2 friends have moved to other states, the kayaks are back in their original owners hands, and the rock island will soon be lost.
