I've an unexpected trip to Nashville coming up this week-end and early next week. I will be bringing a bike and I will need to get out on the road a bit to keep training and to keep some sanity... anyone know of some early a.m. training rides? Looking for rides starting around Bellemeade/Westmeade.

Thanks for any suggestions....

A+

Philippe

Check out the Natchez Trace Parkway. This is a two-lane U.S. Park Service patrolled by federal officers. They allow no commercial traffic, so no big 18-wheelers, although you will have quite a few large RVs to contend with. Hundreds of miles of out and back with absolutely spectacular scenery and quite a few fellow bikers. Try this link: http://www.nps.gov/natr/pphtml/maps.html

It's not very far from where you will be staying and plenty of side road parking. Lots of hills and turns. There is a fairly good bike shop (caters to both roadies and MTBs) at the terminus at a place called the Loveless Cafe right off of Highway 100.

Another great area is located in the Temple Hills area. Great Country Club, park nearby and hit Old Temple Road and turn right for a great ride out and back. Again, you will see fellow bikers enjoying this out of the way route.

Enjoy!

OK for your part of town I would suggest you contact the LBS: Gran Fondo: http://www.granfondocycles.com/ also there is a great bike club that has organized rides for cyclists of varying levels called the Harpeth Bike Club: http://www.harpethbikeclub.com/Home
They have a Tuesday night ride in Franklin and a Thursday night ride in Belle Meade. You can send a email to the general list and request a ride and I am sure you will get some results. Maybe I'll see you on Tuesday night, look for the bike and the red shoes.

Go out West End past 440, turn left on Belle Meade BLVD. You can park in the parking lot of a church right at the intersection of Belle Mead BLVD and West End. Ride up the Boulevard (2.7 miles). Watch for the Belle Meade police at the four way stop and light as they love to give Bicycles tickets (a**holes). The Boulevard ends in Warner Park. Warner Park has several routes. Stay on the main loop and you'll get 11.4 very hilly miles with 1200 feet of accumulated climbing. It is one way with low traffic, and will return you to where you started on Belle Meade Blvd. I recently participated in the Mountains of Misery century in Blacksburg, Va and the Warner Park loop proved to be excellent training for that. You'll see what I mean when you ride it.

If you want more miles, at about 6 miles int Warner Park you can exit (right before Steeplechase, which you'll know when you see) from there, go through the light at Old Hickory, which puts you on Vaughn, after a couple of miles it dead ends into Sneed. Take a right and go for about half a mile, then go left on Sneed. Go left on Old Natchez after about 200 yards. Follow it to Old Hillsboro where it ends, go right, then left onto Del Rio which takes you into Franklin. Turn around and retrace your route, going back into Warner Park and finishing the loop. This is my weekend ride of choice. You'll see lots of cyclists, and the traffic is generally light and bicycle friendly, especially in the morning.

One poster recommended Natchez Trace. While I ride it occasionally, it is BORING, and devoid of any shade. Great place to train for time trialing, though, as there are few distractions, and the climbs are not steep. If you can get out on several rides, I would recommend it as one, but you'll burn out if you do it every day. Even better is to incorporate it into a loop on some of the regular roads in the area as they are superb. Consult a map, you won't go wrong if you just map out a loop.

Enjoy and maybe I'll see you out there!!