Randolph Ashurst's Bucket List Natchez Trace Bike Trip
Nashville to Natchez

11/29/2010 – It seems more and more these days people are going after physical fitness to live healthier more active lives. Randy Ashurst down in Brunswick, GA, had this in mind for sometime and stepped up recently for a great nine day ride on the Natchez Trace Parkway.

Each day on the web or in the local paper we see stories of folks deciding to get active and get into some kind of exercise to look and feel better. In this instance the situation just sort of fell into my lap. Each day in our jobs we meet customers and travelers who sometimes become friends as well. In this case, a Georgia traveler, Bill Carter was a customer at my office, after extended travel all over Europe. I was impressed at the mileage on his bicycle, a touring model, that in just four years had accumulated over 12,000 miles. These kinds of trips are dreams for most of us who work full time and can’t retire for awhile. But, Bill got my attention when he mentioned a shorter bicycle trip that’s considered one of the top ten bike trips in the country and that’s riding the Natchez Trace on a bicycle. It’s 444 miles thereabouts and features superb paved roads the total distance. Bill of course wanted to “camp” the route – meaning bringing tents, sleeping bags, and cooking gear, and for me that immediately meant “weight” – a lot of it all carried on a bike.

Riding each day on extended travel and carrying all that extra weight would require months of loaded bike training to get the body and cardio ready for lugging a heavily loaded bike up the hills that would surely arise on the “Trace.” I wanted to try and make this a “bucket list” item while not actually kicking the “bucket” while doing it. So we thought what other way would be more doable and Bill suggested going “charge card” touring. I soon found this was a way to travel light and still do the ride by staying in plush bed and breakfasts along the way. We found an online service called the Natchez Trace Bed and Breakfast Reservation Service (www.natcheztracetravel.com tele: 800-377-2770). What a great idea this turned out to be as manager: Randy Fought extensively researched all the B&Bs available along the route and spaced them out to our specifications (costs and distance). The neat part his super service costs you “the travelers” nothing. My riding friend Bill felt I could handle maybe 50 mile days so that was the idea we put over to Randy and his B&B travel service operation. It worked, as we averaged about 48 miles a day and one long day rolled out to 65 miles.

Being a novice, I must admit that I was way under trained for the stressful hills of this ride and being we started out of Nashville, heading to Natchez, hills were a big obstacle to overcome almost immediately. At least after crawling in way low “grandma gear” or pushing the bike to the top the bonus was powering down the hills, it was like flying, hitting over 35mph and being like a kid on a bike again. But soon another hill would appear and take its toll on my rather portly 61 year old self. After 34 miles on the first day I humbly pulled out about 11 miles early when I called the next B&B owner to come and get me on the Trace. That was not to be the last of my “SAG” rides off the trail as I came off even earlier the next two days 20 and 22 miles early respectively. The B&B owners had pickup trucks and gladly came and rescued me when called. Those cell phones are a wonderful invention aren’t they? My co-rider would ride it on out for the day while I took my SAG ride on in to the next B&B.

“SAG” I found in bike touring vernacular is for someone who’s sagging or falling behind on the ride. It sure fit my situation - I’d see that next monster hill come up and not only “sag” but come up with new words to describe it. But, our bodies are marvelous machines and I got stronger each day. The highpoint coming when I rode the entire 4th day ride of 65 miles and now I believed I could finish this endeavor. Our day’s destination was the French Camp B&B right on the Trace. We arrived after dark and met the B&B owner Debbie Collier, who welcomed us in, but noted the kitchen was closed. I had only protein bars and water all day and asked if she had any cardboard I could munch on, actually anything. I guess those truly in need put off a body language that’s instantly recognizable and Debbie responded in kind - She made a quick trip to the café on the site and came back with scones, fruit juices, ham, roast beef, turkey, and homemade bread along with all the condiments. I don’t believe any meal ever will taste more fantastic that that one did. What an angel she was and just in time too. B&Bs are great - Wow.

The ride lasted a full nine days and by being a little stronger each day I was actually getting into the situation and feeling great. The setting and scenery along the way was stunning with wildlife coming right up to the road and we’d see hawks and owls hunting for a ready meal. In historical terms, the Trace is incredible with battlefields, and ancient Native American burial mounds along the way. As the miles rolled by, I note that a key factor motivating me to finish this journey was that my car was pre-staged at the Visitors Center in Natchez, Mississippi. About the only way to go get it was to finish this ride.

In all, it was a great trip. The weather in early November was about right most days and definitely better than riding into the sweltering Mississippi Delta in the summertime. This Trace is a wonderful historic ride into our past, and as pristine as it gets. We found that there are no bike paths along the Trace - but there are signs along the way noting bicyclists have the right of way. Since the Trace is a Federal park it’s closed to commercial truck traffic and speed limits are more limited than normal state and federal highways. We appreciated that fact and the drivers were courteous and most all traffic passed us completely in the other lane. Only a few times our safety was in question and that was when we’d have to get off the Trace and ride to the next B&B on state roads that weren’t as bike friendly. In all I rode 406 miles in 9 days, and gained memories that will make this ride a true bucket list item that’s now completed. I’m already looking for another ride and it will probably be the Bike Ride Across Georgia the BRAG as it’s called next spring. I have a good sense of accomplishment from this ride and traveling through some incredible parts of this country made it so memorable. A huge bonus was meeting the owners and staying in some scrumptious antebellum B&Bs along the way. Each would take us on a tour of the house and explain the history and people who were all a part of these historic homes.

Even though I rode hard for 9 days straight, I essentially did not lose any weight. I tightened up a little, but you should have seen some of these B&B meals, and one does work up quite an appetite on a bike tour. You can’t compare those meals to camping food - no way. And one B&B had a Jacuzzi bathtub that was pure heaven all by itself. Yep, bike touring is fun and most of us can do it with a little training ahead of time and my advice is try it like we did with B&Bs. And the go to guy on this is Randy at the Natchez Trace B&B Travel Service.

Randolph D. Ashurst,
Brunswick, GA 912-262-6692.