You'll recall that I wrote about the 1st edition, back in the fall. Bobby S., Brandon W., and I made the trip along with a cheering section that included Lori C., Julie S., and Alisha W. At the time, we were in the homestretch of the IM Florida training and everybody was strong. Well, except poor Alisha, who was hurt and couldn't ride. We had a great time and said we'd do it again sometime in 2010.
Justin Daerr must have been talking to Bobby and Brancon when he visited with us in November, because after that visit, Justin was pretty excited about having us organize the next Natchez bike weekend for President's Day weekend. He couldn't have known at the time that we'd have temperatures 30 degrees colder than normal....and the biggest snowstorm for Jackson in 25 years.
At any rate, we aimed higher this time, and organized the ride under the auspices of the Mississippi Heat Triathlon Team. And there was a fair amount of interest. At one point or another, more than 20 riders expressed interest. The cold weather ended up affecting people's motivation level, I think, and we ended up with a hardy group of 9 riders for day #1: me, Brandon, Alisha, Charlie, Melanie, April Palmer, John Wofford, Martha, and Matt Johnson.
The support crew included my sister, Lori, Bobby (who is still recovering from recent left hamstring surgery), and Colin Blanchard, a mechanic from The Bike Rack. Good company and great ride support.
We awoke on our departure day to several inches of snow on the ground from the day before....and temperatures just below freezing. We decided to delay our start until 10:00 am to allow the temperatures to get above freezing, out of a concern for icing on the overpasses along the Natchez Trace. We sat around my kitchen for a couple hours, telling stories, and staying warm.
Then, after a group photo, it was off!
I've lived here for nearly 7 years now and I've never seen snow on the ground like this before. Amazing. Thankfully, the roads were mostly dry....and the overpasses turned out to be safe. But it was cold, in the 30's for the morning and in the low 40's for the afternoon. There were a couple hours of nice sunshine in the afternoon which made the temperature feel much warmer.
The ride broke up into several groups and people made their way south at their own pace. We had "major" rest stops at Rocky Springs (~50 miles in) and again at Coles Creek (about 87 miles in). I spent the day riding with Brandon, Alisha, and Matt. We put in a solid day's ride, I thought....perhaps a little slower than in the fall edition, but we had a (cold) wind against this time. We pulled into Natchez about 5:00 pm. The other riders got close, but got picked up by the sag vehicles as darkfall approached.
We spent the night at the Natchez Grand Hotel, an improvement over the Eola Hotel from the fall edition. Perhaps not as much character, but better lighting and great cookies in the lobby! It was Pearl Street Pasta again for dinner, where we were joined by April's husband. There was much talk about the day's ride and eager anticipation about the return ride to Jackson.
We were up early for a 7:00 am breakfast at the hotel and an 8:00 (or nearly 8:00 am) departure. Oh, and another group photo....minus Charlie and Melanie who returned to Jackson to get ready for baptism, birthday, Valentine's Day.
We rode back to Rocky Springs before the cold weather (and tired legs) got the best of people's determination. We called it a day there and drove back to Jackson.
We celebrated the adventure with pizza from Soulshine. And there was quick talk about the "next time." We'll see....
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