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Tennessee has always grabbed my attention while driving through in the past, but I’d never really stopped there much other than a nice ride around the Chattanooga area with pal Gaston Farmer. While passing through the western corner of the state this time form Kentucky, i found a bunch of heat on strava within my self imposed 10 min detour radius, on what looked to be some smooth red clay roads according to my satellite maps (what a world we live in!). .

i parked at an intersection and chamoised up and rolled out, on dirt immediately. A dog barks in the distance and I startle, still shaken from being perceived as a rolling chuck wagon for the dogs of Kentucky a day earlier.

this riding was choice. Red dirt, with plenty of nice tack. Boy would it have been a wheel full in the rain though. This loop would have been 43 miles, but i am a real quitter when i ride by myself. I think i ended up with 18 or so. Only chased by 1 dog the whole ride though!

A dinner of beans and greens and I’m back on the road headed towards Arkansas.

last time i was in Arkansas it was on the way back from mid south last year. We stopped for a few days in Bentonville, and while impressed with the glitz and glam — it was not my favorite. This time through, however, I found a really nice stretched out and scenic flowy but not overly groomed XC single stack stack, again, only 10 min off the exit in Arkadelphia. What a fun name, the town, not the trails. Iron mountain trails are the name of the trails. The trails sure are fun though.

i did a few self timers at the top of the track before getting too deep into the flow. I kept counting wrong and missing the shot an embarrassing amount of times. Whatever i was about to drop into the most premium dirt ribbons of my year. I barely stopped for the next hour, just ripping through the woods. Those trials had so much flow, and such scenic views of the reservoir they were built around — i had the feeling

the temps were radiant and i was brimming.

my bike of choice was perfect for this kinda track, and my tires were grabbing every corner they way my brain had anticipated. A fine afternoon out in the woods and a feel of being very far away from the highway. Wont be my last time here.

had a great parking spot for the night off an offroad in the park. First night of the trip sleeping with the door open listening to spring sounds from the nearby swamp. I wondered how buggy this place would be in a few weeks.