STL2ATL Day 13 – a Long Long Day from Winchester, TN to Chattanooga, TN

I bedded down at the end of day 12 to a gorgeous sunset over Tims Ford Lake.

I woke up on day 13 and headed out with some trepidation. This ride, from Tims Ford Lake State Park in Winchester, TN up to Sewanee, TN had the climb that was going to be, by far, the biggest challenge of my tour: 3.9 miles long, 927 feet of ascent, and an average grade of 4.9%. I wanted two things from the day. First, I wanted to conquer the climb. Second, I wanted to enjoy the view from Morgan’s Steep at the top, overlooking the valley that I was going to climb up from.

I did conquer the climb. You can see the details here in RideWithGPS. It took me 43 minutes plus an additional 20 minutes of rest stops, but I managed to pedal the whole way up. For a grey haired geezer, I think I did pretty damn good!

At the top, I ate lunch at Shenanigan’s. The cashier accidentally rang up a Coke float along with my sandwich. I immediately recognized that as a message from God that I needed a Coke float. What was I supposed to do, have her refund my money? Of course not! I ate the float and enjoyed it very much, thank you.

After filling my belly and de-sweating from the climb, I rode over to Morgan’s Steep. The view was fantastic, even if there were a few more trees that I would have liked. Nature is just so messy.

I checked the weather and was seriously bummed to see that it was supposed to rain steadily all of the following day. That would have been OK except that I was planning to camp that night and be in hotels the following two nights. With the rain, I would have had to pack my tent wet and would not have had anywhere to spread it out to dry. It likely would have been a moldy mess when I finally got to unpack it again. I decided to essentially combine two days of riding into one and head straight for my hotel in Chattanooga.

I rode through the beautiful Franklin State Forest with miles and miles of greenery. Add Tennessee route 156 to your bucket list. The weather turned threatening with enough thunder and raindrops that I stopped to check the weather RADAR on my phone. No signal. I have gotten so used to having that info at my fingertips all the time that I was taken aback when it was not available. Ultimately, the rain only threatened to douse me. It never materialized, probably because I would have enjoyed being cooled off.

The Shelby Rhinehart Bridge over the Tennessee River was certainly picturesque. I took this picture.

That is what the afternoon looked like but it is not what I saw. This is what I saw and wanted to share with you. Such a perfect illustration of why I love photography.

That, and the rest of the scenery that day, made the hard riding worth the effort. I ended up pedaling for eight hours, covering 80 miles, and ascending 4,127 feet. It was, by a lot, the longest, hardest day I have ever done. Here is the Garmin activity with all of the gory details.

I took a rest day today with not one but two naps. I’m such a slug! Tomorrow I start on the final four days. Unless I get lost somewhere in Georgia, I will be at David and Katie’s house on Tuesday afternoon.