After the successful Southern Indiana Ride in October 2017, I decided to go south and create a ride in Tennessee, Nashville to Chattanooga and back. I'd ridden some of the area, but I really had to scout this one out on three different occasions. I finally got what a think was a perfect tour.

The Heart Cycle tour was completely filled and so everyone arrived in Nashville. Unfortunately, the weather was stifling hot and humid, ten degrees above normal. Most days we left early to beat some of the heat.

The first day featured the delightful Music City Bike Trail through all of the city of Nashville and we rode on parts of the Natchez Trace and had the afternoon stop in Liepers Fork. It was quite hot throughout the day and all of us grabbed tube socks full of ice.

Day 3 featured some hills and some nice vistas in the morning as we reached Lynchburg and Jack Daniels for lunch. Many of us got caught climbing up Sewanee Mountain before our overnite in Monteagle.

Day 4 was another awesome day riding to Chattanooga. However, we had a serious altercation between a couple of bicyclists which one of the cyclists unfortunately broke his hip and taken to the hospital. I hope to see him again on future rides of mine. More climbing greeted us as we approached Chattanooga. The next day off will be nice.

Due the unrelenting heat, we started at dawn so the Suck Creek climb would not suck as much, while the descent was still cooling. Rolling between ridges we had lunch at Dunlap and then had to climb the formidable Fredonia climb. Some of the riders go t caught in an afternoon thunderburst before the McMinneville overnite.

Day 7 was delayed a bit due to an 8am shower. The morning food stop was a surprise as we all hung out at the Short Mountain Distillery and lunch was at an old storefront in Readyville. The day was just idyllic.