Spectators line our routes
Let's Talk about the Routes
Beginner and 29 Mile Loop - We feel that the out and back offered on the Natchez Trace Parkway is both the safest and most beautiful stretch of highway that we could offer to our shorter distance riders, and consequently, there are no changes to this route. Of course, it never hurts to point out, the greatest aspect of an out and back course - at any point when you feel that you are halfway to tired, you can turn around and head back to the start. If you go as far as the Tennessee Valley Divide (about 6 miles out) and turn around at our rest stop there, then you will have a nice 12 mile loop. Many of our participants find this is just the perfect distance for them. Of course if you make the journey 14 1/2 miles down the Parkway, you will find our legendary Margaritaville rest stop. The men from the Harpeth Bike Club will be creating the party atmosphere you have become accustomed to, complete with flamingos and Jimmy Buffett.
Our Metric Century (62 Mile Loop) - If you have ridden the longer HOW100 routes before, you will find new roads for about half of the metric route. We have tried to capitalize on newly paved roads in the area of Lick Creek. There are some pretty good hills out there, but you should find yourself in the shade when you hit your climbing gears. You'll find yourself venturing past the home of the Judd's, the buffalo paddock, a goat farm or two, lots of interesting mules, some adolescent foals, some great barns, a valley floor and a ridge line. This is primo riding and you are going to love it!
Our Full Century (100 Mile Loop) - You will cover everything described in the metric century above, but we will throw in a 40 mile loop guaranteed to take you over some roads that you have never seen before. If you complete the ride and can truthfully say that you had ridden every road covered, we will give you a T-shirt! This loop is beautiful, but we have to tell you, it's hard. There are no outstandingly long climbs, but let's just say the course constantly ripples. We named a similar route Killing Me Softly, and some visitors from Portland didn't have any trouble understanding why we named it that. If you have not been actively training for a tough century, this might not be the one for you. When we put this ride together and gave it a test ride, we thought about what it would be like to deal with a cancer diagnosis and decided that we didn't need to change it to make it easier.
If you want to ride a century as a part of your commitment to fight against breast cancer, we know you expect it to be tough. You won't be let down!
As always, we will have a
cutoff time at rest stop number three for those who are trying to ride the full century. You must leave rest stop number three before 12:30 p.m. to be a supported rider for the remainder of the century route. We strictly enforce this cutoff time to protect you. We have closely calculated average speeds on the early part of the course, and we know that a person falling behind this schedule will not enjoy the last couple of hours of their ride if they continued in the 100 mile loop. If you miss the cut off, just make a promise to yourself that you will go back out there and ride it on another day. The markings will be there way into the fall, and it will just get a little bit prettier and a lot cooler.
Our routes will be
marked with a kelly green breast cancer ribbon, complemented by a directional arrow. We reinforce these markings with small signs on ride day to ensure that everyone makes the turn.
