Urban Bicyling Expedition

With temps in the 60s and the sunshine casting its golden rays, the past few Saturdays have been ideal for a bike ride in Nashville.

As many of you already know, I've been training for the Country Music half-marathon in April and have suffered a few leg injuries as a result. My orthopedist recommended riding my bike as a low-impact alternative, so I've been spending the last couple of weekends in the saddle. Luckily, my friend and fellow half-marathon trainee, Sarah, has joined me on my cycling adventures, and can testify to the strange characters we've encountered along the way.

Two weeks ago, we set out from the Shelby Bottoms trailhead in Shelby Park and rode all the way to Percy Priest Dam. Along the way, we decided to follow an unpaved trail to McGavock Spring House that piqued our interest. The trail was most certainly not a mountain bike trail, and after wrestling with and ultimately destroying a small sapling, we decided to ditch our bikes at a fallen tree and walk the remainder of the way. The trail was quite overgrown and right as were about to turn a corner, Sarah tells me, "I could totally see a homeless person living out here." Sure enough, we turned the corner to find a homeless man spread out on a blanket surrounded by a multitude of jugs. We turned and hightailed it out of there, laughing the entire way. Further along the trail, we passed an Elvis-look-alike, nearly escaped a 3-bike accident at a busy intersection on Lebanon Road, and witnessed a young boy begin to pull his pants down to expose himself to us as his grandparents fished from the pond nearby. Afterwards, we inhaled ice cream cones from Pied Piper Creamery.

Last Saturday, we met up at the Downtown Presbyterian Church and decided to do some urban exploring. I had heard that you could technically ride your bike from the Metrocenter greenway all the way to Percy Priest Dam. We decided to ride the portion between Shelby Bottoms and Metrocenter since it was 'new territory' to explore. Starting from Church Street, we rode all the way to Metrocenter, encountering all kinds of industrial scenery, homeless persons, and various tent cities along the Cumberland River. The wind was ferocious on top of the Metrocenter Levee, and we pushed to make it back downtown, even though the ride is primarily flat. After we passed under the Jefferson Street bridge, we rode over to the Farmer's market, locked up our bikes, and enjoyed New Orleans-style snowballs from Fleur de Lis (owned by a New Orleans native and colleague of mine, Tanisha Hall).

Post-Snowball consumption, we continued on our journey by riding over the Shelby Street pedestrian bridge, down Davidson street, and into Shelby Park. More industrial scenery here, with views of the PSC Metals scrapyard and a Feed the Children warehouse. On our way back, we rode our bikes along a portion of Broadway, and at one point as we waited for the light to turn red, I looked over to see a horse-drawn carriage in the lane next to me. With no metal shield to separate me and the horse next to me, I realized how alive I felt by being on my bike.

An apology

I apologize for not posting in nearly a month. I've been concentrating on a big mid-term paper that was due last week, and more importantly- my upcoming nuptials that will take place this coming weekend. We'll be going to Mexico for our honeymoon so I promise to post about our trip soon after we return.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with this short write-up of my recent explorations on the Shelby Bottoms/McGavock area greenway. Last week, I bought a hybrid bike that can be used for mountain biking or road biking. Just about every other day, I've been peddling back and forth between Inglewood and East Nashville via the Shelby Bottoms greenway. This is an easy 6 mile ride that is relatively flat and meanders along the Cumberland River. It really is a nice afternoon ride.

However, this weekend I decided to do some exploring, and Brian and I crossed the new pedestrian bridge over the Cumberland River and rode through Two Rivers Park, past McGavock highschool, and on to Ravenwood country club where the greenway meets up with Lebanon Rd. near Kohl's in Hermitage. The stretch between McGavock and Ravenwood is so beautiful and its hard to believe you're in the middle of Davidson Co. The trail takes you past rolling farmland with cows, and the point where the Stones River enters the Cumberland. This part is also the most challenging to bike due to the rolling terrain. My goal is to make it up the hills without huffing and puffing like I did yesterday. All in all, it was about an 18 mile ride and I was exhausted at the end of it. I can't wait until I build up the stamina to ride all the way from my house to Percy Priest lake!! I'm so lucky to live near such a great greenway.

I'll leave you with some earlier photos I took of the pedestrian bridge that crosses over to Two Rivers Park.