Gran Fondo is honored to have hosted the talented riders of the Rapha Continental team when they joined us in early May to ride the beautiful roads of Middle Tennessee in a century ride designed by Vida Greer. If you love to ride a bike, you have to ride this ride!

To put it in their words, "In 2007, Rapha, maker of the finest cycling apparel and accessories in the world, embarked on a unique adventure. The Rapha Continental is our account of the United States' most epic rides and routes, published as a online journal and organized as a library. From inspiration to information, the Continental is our commitment to the lost art of cycling and the glory of suffering."

To put it in our words, the Rapha Continental website is an artistic and beautiful exploration of the U.S. as seen from the bike, very fine handmade steel bikes we might add. We also venture to say that no one can visit the Rapha Continental website without coming away with a new list of "must rides".

Of course we are anxiously awaiting the detailed write up and video that will eventually be produced when the 2009 Continental project has been completed, but the early reviews from the "Road Journal" indicate that the guys loved our little corner of the world. We designed a route that captured the wonders of Middle Tennessee road riding and they seemed to embrace the beauty and special character of riding here.

Even though they fell into organization and hammered down our rolling straights, they pulled over, put a foot down and broke out the iphones to snap a picture of the cows with their own house on Knob Creek or our favorite miniature donkeys...

So when we heard that Rapha was looking for "epic", we knew that our favorite roads were worthy of the call. We knew we could string together a death march of every tough piece of road we typically cover and stretch the total distance to better than a hundred miles, but that's not necessarily "epic". A Rapha ride in Middle Tennessee had to deliver the essence of our riding here. You had to have long stretches of beautiful rolling miles, just begging for the worst asshole in your group to come to the front and make everyone hate him. You needed steep little climbs hidden on roads to someone's grandmother's farm, maybe one after the other - something that got the elevation gain to 7,500 ft even though you never climbed more than 400 ft at once. You needed rest stops at stores that use a ten key and a paper sales tax chart in the calculation of your total. You had to route it past limestone bluffs and wandering creeks, but you couldn't avoid the burned out house trailer and the mean dogs. You had to offer up a ride that you knew lots of people would not finish (their loss...)

Well, we did it - If you love beauty, riding a bike, and a little bit of suffering, give this a try. And by the way, the Rapha guys gave this one a name - it's called "Killing Me Softly".

Want to ride the Leipers Fork century as presented to the Rapha Continental team? We have all your required details below:

Starting point: Hillsboro School, 5412 Pinewoood Rd., 37064, located in Leiper’s Fork. (From I65 in Brentwood, TN - Take the Old Hickory Blvd. West exit. Proceed about 4 miles to the intersection of Old hickory and Hillsboro Pike. Turn left onto Hillsboro Pike and go 3.2 miles. Turn right onto Old Hillsboro Road (TN-46). Continue for 11.4 miles and turn right onto Pinewood Road. The school is 1/10th of a mile further on the right. From Highway 100 in West Nashville – Enter the Natchez Trace Parkway and proceed south approximately 12 miles to the Pinewood Road / Leiper’s Fork Historic District exit. Turn right at the base of the ramp and the school is ½ of a mile on the left.)

Riding on a Sunday? You are going to be in the country and a lot of the little country stores will be closed. Don't leave Fly, Tennessee without 3 bottles of water/fluids and be sure to have some singles in your pocket to hit the vending machines on Carter's Creek about mile 90. Even with these plans, you will probably need to plan on finding a hydrant on the side of a church if it's a warm day (and we have a few of these in Tennessee in the summer).

Map My Ride is a pretty sweet little free mapping option, but it has a few limitations (in our opinion). You can find the Map My Ride map below and trace the buttons in the bottom of the grid into their system to get a workable cue sheet, BUT this version has repeated directions and the standard MMR format. We are a bit "old school" and when we have to have a cue sheet, we want nothing but the facts (and very few of them...) SO, we put the route into a spreadsheet that would make any over 40 accountant proud. Choose your cue sheet format, but please don't call the shop if you have printing issues or find yourself lost in Athendale, or Theta or Sante Fe, TN...

Note that Map My Ride will assess a minimal charge to allow you to print their map.

And if you move quickly - The Route Is Marked - Yes, we hate a cue sheet and think that the ride should be experienced without too many pauses for navigation. Print the excel cue sheet and have it in your pocket, but you can ride this from the cursive green "R" s now strategically placed on the Leipers Fork byways. We marked this in a gentlemen's ride format - the turns are marked well back from the actual turn and there will usually be a confirmation mark after you make the turn - that's it, you won't see a warning and three "Did you get it?" marks...