Riding Natchez Trace – Allison's Perspective

Allison has been training with us since January and taken leaps that have impressed us all.    Taking your bike onto Natchez Trace is not for the meek and I learn that every time I ride there.  It dishes constant hills and is typically very windy.  She sent this to me a few days ago, but I just now read it, which is fitting because the Trace just beat my ass today.  It is a glorious, beautiful, and challenging bike course, not to mention I saw a massive rattle snake just off the side of the road today.

It goes for hundreds of miles and I have yet to see many that are forgiving.  Every time I ride the Trace I silently hope it is at least as difficult as the Ironman Wisconsin bike course.  If it’s not, we are all in for a bitch of a bike ride.

Here is Alli’s account of what it’s like to be a Trace virgin.  It’s incredibly honest and vulnerable, just like her.

The Beauty and The Beast – Allison Miles

To say The Trace is overwhelming and intimidating to a beginning cyclist might an understatement, however, its also a right of passage.  To date, I’ve ridden The Trace exactly TWO times and the experiences were complete opposites.

My encounter with The Trace began back in March.  I was getting closer to my first half ironman and even though the race course fo is COMPLETELY FLAT (with the exception of a bridge crossing the Intercoastal wateray) I was convinced to join the Fab Five and other X3 athletes for a 3 hour ride on The Trace.  Leading up to the Saturday morning ride I just kept hearing about how brutal and unforgiving The Trace is but that its a ride that MUST happen if I want to keep moving forward with triathlons.

Trace day finally arrived and I planned to meet several other X3 athletes at the studio for a swim clinic, then we were all going to meet at Lovelace Cafe at 1 pm to start the ride.  I remember following Jim Schwan out there and trying to stay confident, but I KNEW all the other cyclist were much more experienced and faster than I was and I had no idea what to expect of this ride.  Everyone was so encouraging but there were a few low whispers of concern.  Why concern you ask?  Let me lay the facts out for you:

1-I was a Trace newbie

2- this would be my FIRST outdoor ride that didnt involve a leisurely stroll down the Shelby Bottoms Greenway

3-I had NO CLUE how to shift gears properly

4-This may have been my first long ride AND my first legit ride on my bike
5-Hills are widely known as my arch nemesis

All were legitimate concerns but these same people had convinced me this was a great idea, so I tried to brush it off.  We took off and within 5 minutes I had my first hurdle of the day; I dropped my chain going up the ramp to get ON The Trace.  WHOMP WHOMP  Daniel Hudgins had to put it back on for me (remember that bike newbie thing…its rearing its ugly head).  At this point the larger pack led by my coach, Robbie, was out of my sightline but thankfully Daniel, Jim Schwan, and Sarah Sheerer stayed back with me so I wouldnt have to ride alone right away.  Jim was trying to talk me through how to change gears–I quickly found out that gears were my friends and they combat my arch nemesis, the hills–and Sarah was praising me with “I CANNOT believe this is your first outdoor ride, you are awesome.”

The first 15 miles of the ride was nothing but a learning experience.  Everyone was so helpful and kept me moving, at a phenomenally slow pace, but I was moving. I would survive this.

After 90 minutes of riding we finally caught up to the faster group who stopped to wait for us.  I was exhausted and wanted to cry;  EVERYONE had been waiting on me for a while.  I was embarrased at how slow I was and couldnt look anyone in the eye.  I knew that Daniel, Sarah and Jim were all training for upcoming full ironman races and I didnt want to hold them back any longer, so I made the decision to turn around and ride back to the car while everyone else rode out another 30 minutes.  I still dont know if this was a mistake or not, but the return ride was one I will NEVER forget.

As I turned and headed back towards Lovelace Cafe my mental state was less than ideal.  I was beating myself up and questioning why I bothered to come out here knowing I would be the slowest rider.  If I could just get back to the car things would be alright and I would stick to riding shelby bottoms greenway FOREVER.  Over the next 90 minutes both my mind and body turned on me; my hips hurt, my calves cramped, I was hot and getting sunburned and I had no where near enough nutrition or fluids.  I had a long and very nasty conversation with myself, scrolling through a myriad of emotions ranging from determined to power through this ride, to panicking  I would NEVER be ready to race 70.3 miles, to quitting triathlons a minimum of three seperate times (once while sitting on the side of the road as multiple fancy looking cyclist blew past me shouting “everything ok?”) and even mentally cursing the fab five, Robbie, and anyone else that convinced me this was a great idea.  By the time I made it back to my car I was in tears and texted Season that I quit, how could she let me come out there and I was a horrible cyclist.

Thankfully, Season is used to my frustrated and upset texts during training and reminded me that not only did I survive, but that it was over and maybe it wasnt THAT bad.  That calmed me down enough to stop crying just as the rest of the group came rolling in to the parking lot.  My face was still stained with tears when I punched Robbie in the arm and yelled about how irresponsible it was of him to throw me in to a ride like that; he of course ignored me as I spouted that I quit and I wasnt racing at Gulf Coast; he may have rolled his eyes and walked off without a response.

I held on to these feelings for roughly 48 hours because I realized that maybe the ride wasnt as big of a disaster as I thought.

Fast forward 3 months; I’ve completed the half ironman but I have yet to ride the Trace again.  Last weekend the Fab Five had a five hour training ride to which they decided to do on the Trace.  I only had a 3 hour ride but decided to join them anyway, so at 5 am on 4 hours of sleep and a hangover due to a date the night before I scooped up +2 member, John Wasky, and we set out for a VERY early morning ride.  I knew I’d be riding alone but the plan allowed for the guys to circle back at least once to check on me.  The scenery was downright stunning; between the sunrise, the empty road and the cool air I couldnt get over how lucky I was to be able to ride in such a beautiful location.

I was about 10 minutes in to the ride when I started flashing back to my first Trace experience.  I knew I could survive it this time but was unsure how mentally trying a 3 hour solo ride at 6 am would be.  The first part of the ride went fairly well; I was still slow but I was actually enjoying myself!!  I was about an hour in when I got to the Liepers Fork turn off and looked up to see a hot air balloon landing the the field adjacent to the Trace.  I decided that was good enough a time as any to hop off and take a little break, eat some food and watch the balloon.  I was sitting on the side of the road for about 20 minutes when Robbie’s coach senses must of kicked in because I got a rapid fire round of texts asking about my ride, what I was doing, how I was feeling.  I think I responded with, sitting on the side of the trace halfway through my ride, cant make it back yet.  Robbie was not kind in his responses but to briefly sum it up I needed to get my butt back on the bike and learn something about myself.  I may or may not have been audibly cussing him as Jim, Wasky, Kevin & Scrivner flew past me.  I hopped on my bike and was determined not to fall too far behind them.  I spent that second half of my ride thinking about how far I’ve come since my last ride out there.  I wasn’t mentally or physically falling apart, I was content riding alone and I was actually ENJOYING the ride. I quickly realized what I needed to learn was that although A LOT of the time I feel so slow and so far behind, I’ve accomplished so much since that first ride and I tend to forget that I’m training with guys that are AMAZING– its unfair to compare myself to their fitness level.  All in all I’m still more on the hate end of the love/hate relationship when it comes to the trace but it is less scary that I thought it was a few months ago.