BRAT – Bicycle Ride Across Tennessee – Adventures of Tin Can Lulu

The middle of September found us in Tennessee participating in the Bicycle Ride Across Tennessee aka BRAT. What a wonderful trip this was.

It was a two day drive to Spencer, Tennessee and we spent the night in Cartersville, Georgia (just north of Atlanta). Homecoming activities were in full swing and we happened upon the Homecoming Parade through the center of town!

First painted wall sign for Coco Cola placed on this wall in 1894

Art sculpture by Eric Strauss
(our friend Roger Strauss’ brother)

Tin Can Lulu stayed home and we opted to stay in cabins at two Tennessee State Parks with our friends Sandy and Steve Jakubowski. This is a spoke bicycle ride where you spend three days in one location and then three days in the second location. All the proceeds from the ride supported the Cumberland Trail State Scenic Trail, Tennessee Park Rangers Association, Fall Creek Falls State Park, Cumberland Mountain State Park, and The Friends of the Cumberland Trail! Park Rangers were the SAG support and they did a fantastic job.

BRAT’s Base Camp 1 location was at Fall Creek Falls State Park in Spencer, Tennessee (about 70 miles north of Chattanooga). This park is Tennessee’s largest and most visited state park. It encompasses more than 29,800 acres sprawled across the eastern top of the rugged Cumberland Plateau. This park has many cascades, gorges, waterfalls, streams and lush stands of virgin hardwood timber. Fall Creek Falls, at 256 feet, is one of the highest waterfalls in the eastern United States.

This was the maiden tour for our new e-assist tandem, named Wild Cherry. We spent the first two days getting used to how Wild Cherry handled on the steep rolling hills and we had enough “juice” to do longer distances. A big learning curve but we figured it out. Earle did a fantastic job and made it appear effortless in choosing the right gears at the right time! We had a few oops too, forgetting to turn the power back on, using the lowest e-assist setting on a mile long climb with a 17% grade mixed in, and overheating the hydraulic brakes on a two mile 10% grade descent! BRAT is not a bicycle ride for the faint of heart!

BRAT’s Base Camp 2 was located at Cumberland Mountain State Park. This state park began as part of the greater Cumberland Homesteads Project, a New Deal-era initiative that helped relocate poverty-stricken families on the Cumberland Plateau to small farms centered on what is now the Cumberland Homestead community. This 1,720-acre park was acquired in 1938 to provide a recreational area for some 250 families selected to homestead on the Cumberland Plateau. The park is located around Byrd Lake, a man-made lake created by the impoundment of Byrd Creek in the 1930s. The park opened in the 1940’s and the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) assisted with building it. The park buildings are constructed from a local rock called Crab Orchard sandstone. The dam/bridge was built from Crab Orchard sandstone and is the largest masonry structure ever built by the CCC.

The cycling in this area was a tad more urban as the park is located only 10 minutes from Crossville, Tennessee but was still enjoyable. There were still rolling hills to be mastered but not nearly as steep as in the first half of the tour!