A group of us spent the summer of 2013 in Mountain City, TN. Our crazy coach ;) Brett Sutton was trying to establish a training center at a country club there. It was actually a brilliant idea but never panned out. Anyways, we did most of our riding into North Carolina towwards Boone (this is where we swam as well, which was 25min drive) and we did a ton of running on the Creeper Trail which was 20mins away but in VA. What a peaceful and pleasant summer we had, other then the daily thunderstorms which made swimming difficult at times. The riding was great and Boone offered a nice escape. Another near by city which your wife might like is Blowing Rock, NC. Really great running and riding there as well.

I went to the Univ of TN so am very familiar with Knoxville and Gatlinburg (No swim option). Great riding in both places and plenty to do for your Mrs. Near by Maryville could also be an option as it's close to Knoxville, Close to Gatlinburg, and there is a swim option for you. All these locations make for a better training camp then Nashville/ Chatt...IMO unless you are outside Nashville near the Natchez Trace..

Thanks for the run down memory lane, you just made me homesick for East TN :)

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Scott DeFilippis
Professional Triathlete
Coach and Co/Founder
KIS Coaching

I live in Nashville and has ridden on Natchez Trace a bunch. It’s great for TT training because you won’t see much traffic and zero stop lights/signs at all. Having visited Gatlinburg a few times, I’m not sure where you’d ride because of the traffic.

Chattanooga is smaller than Nashville, but has a better athletic scene in my opinion.

I’m based out of Nashville. There is great riding south of Nashville in the Franklin/Liepers Fork area. Reach out if you visit — we’ll get a group together for a ride.

The timing doesn’t align with your visit, but we are hosting a tri camp in Nashville in late April. Points of interest include Percy Warner Park (for running) and Percy Priest Lake (OWS).

Again, don’t hesitate to reach out. We’ll plug you into some great swim/bike/running.

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https://www.workingtriathlete.com/

I would not ride Gatlinburg solo, and I live pretty close.
Actually, I would avoid Gatlinburg altogether, for any reason.

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My Blog - http://leegoocrap.blogspot.com

I have family in Nashville and have visited Gatlinburg several times for training. If you want a balanced week of training, I'd pick Nashville. There's a public pool near downtown and the parkway, Warner Park and OWS aren't that far from downtown. OTOH, the Great Smoky Mountains are beautiful and if you chose to do a run focused week, I'd pick Gatlinburg because of the fantastic trail system in the NP.

Thanks for all of the responses. Maryville seems like an interesting option given location relatively close to my son's camp and having decent swim options. Drivable to this Cade's Cove as well.

Is it realistic to do a Clingman Dome loop taking 321 to 441 to 19 to 74 to 28 to 129 and 411 back to Maryville? Or too much traffic, or even just not appropriate roads to be cycling?

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Dimond Bikes Superfan

you don't want to be on 321 except basically to cross.

Riding from Maryville to the Dome would be a pretty epic ride.

If you're in Maryville, taking some of the routes up River Road (start behind Heritage High School and takes you all the way to Cade's Cove Loop) is a great, flat'ish ride, lots of bike traffic and (relatively) safe. You also are right at the Foothills Parkway, with the new side being finished recently, you can get some great climbing. Quite a few organized'ish rides roll out of that area (Cycology bicycles is the local shop, but quite a few shops from Knoxville also do those routes regularly'ish)

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My Blog - http://leegoocrap.blogspot.com

It’s been a while since I’ve lived in the area (moving back to W. Knoxville this summer though!), but my recollection is Clingmans will be extremely busy in the summer - that said, as Scottie noted, out of Maryville you get the less touristy side of the park and can access it via Walland/Townsend and also ride Foothills Parkway to your hearts desire.

Edit: appears Morelock responded right before me- listen to him.

I'm partial to Huntsville, AL, I have been here for 35 years so I guess that is the reason. I've done plenty of races in Chattanooga and Nashville, and grew up near Gatlinburg. For ease of training in all three disciplines, I could not imagine getting any easier then we have here in Huntsville. and plenty of top athletes to train with if you want company.

If you end up in the Knoxville/Maryville region, check out Race Day Events. They have a couple of organized events (rides and Tris) in the summer that might align with your visit. Otherwise, use their route library on ride with GPS. I used a couple of them last year and had a blast leaving out of Oak Ridge and heading up towards Norris.


http://racedayevents.net/events/


https://ridewithgps.com/organizations/3412-race-day-events/routes

Have you ever been to Chattanooga? There's actually a lot to do there, even for a non-tri wife. Of course, a lot of that will depend on what is, or is not, open secondary to COVID concerns.

Chatt has so many good trails to run on Lookout Mountain, or Raccoon Mountain. As for cycling, there's the IM bike course, but I used to go explore some of the side roads (in Georgia) from the course and found some great isolated roads. Downtown, you have the Y for swimming. There's also a pool at the Gold's Gym as well The name may have changed since I was there last).

Since we are talking TN, anyone been to/around/or know about the Yarberry Campground area just south of Knoxville, in Lenoir City? Looks like might be there for a few days in late March.

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Banger

I’m not very familiar with this area. I do know there is a triathlon that occurs there every year, so you can probably find that bike route. If you are looking for a big cycling challenge, look up the route for the Cherohala Challenge. I think it starts in Tellico Plains, or close by. When I last did the ride, there was a school or visitors center where you could park and do the climb. I think it’s an 11 mile climb at a 9% grade. If you are really feeling spunky, there’s a 115 mile ride that should be on their website where you climb The Tail of the Dragon and then descend the 11 miles (I hope I’m remembering that correctly)

Search Tellico Sprint Triathlon - bike course is rolling

Yeah, I’ve done IMCHOO twice and am reg’d for this year. I think it’s a given we’ll spend some time there, but think we’ll be in the state for 7 or 8 days total, wanted to see what else could be interesting.

But since you brought up swimming in Chatt, you didn’t mention the river? I thought that would be an option. I had read that someone ran a Wed evening swim of the course (this was pre-pandemic) ... would be very keen on that if they are doing it.

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Dimond Bikes Superfan

I would not swim in the river downtown. The current can be really fast, and not look it just by looking at the river. If you want OWS, go to the Chickamagua Dam area where they have a roped off area. It’s a very short drive from downtown

When are you in town? I’m putting on a camp in nashville in April. Lots of other group sessions all the time.

Shoot me a message!

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USAT Level II- Ironman U Certified Coach

Late June. Will reach out if Nashville seems in the cards, thanks.

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Dimond Bikes Superfan

One of the OP's mentioned Tellico Plains with the Cherohala Challenge. That "ride" (more like a race) is normally in June (who knows this year), the route is 115 miles starting and finishing in Tellico Plains right near the Visitor Center. Route takes you NE up to US411, then SE on Tenn Rt 72 to US129. Flat to rolling terrain up to the point you start riding on The Tail of the Dragon on US129. After descending off the Dragon, it's flat to rolling again until you begin the climb approaching The Cherohala Skyway, then lots of climbing on the Skyway. The grade on the Skyway is slightly steeper than the Blue Ridge Parkway. What makes the ride more challenging is that you are doing most of the climbing on the 115 mile route during the back half of the route so you need to dose the effort appropriately.

If you want a short ride, coming out of Tellico riding towards the Cherohala Skyway, you will come across River Road. It's a small, lightly traveled road that gently climbs along the Tellico River. Gorgeous scenery along the way, closely tucked into the hillside. And the road just keeps going and going.

Great open water swimming in Lake Santeetlah from the beach. Very little boat traffic when I was there several years ago. There's other great riding in the area. I would avoid Tail of the Dragon on the weekends. Coming off the Dragon on the NC side, you can ride over to Fontana Lake/Dam and then hit some great climbing between Fontana and Santeetlah. I've been part of a "moving" training camp that would ride point to point each day and that area around Robbinsville, NC was a favorite. So much so, the camp has evolved into a camp that stays in that area.

I'm hoping to get down there again this summer and use Robbinsville area as home base. I've ridden most of the roads, now I'm looking to explore all the off-road routes in/near the Joyce Kilmer forest.

Sssssshhhh! Don't tell anyone else about the area though!!!

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Tad

It took awhile, but I finally discovered that its not the destination that's important, but rather the journey.

Ride is off this year per their website. Hopefully back in 2022.

I'd 2nd that. Too many motorcycles and sports cars pretending they're on a race course.

OK, this is taking shape a bit. We’re going to do 2 days in chatt with my son then 5 days at BlackBerry Mountain resort in Walland, around 15mi east of Maryville. Chatt won’t be a ton of training, more family time, but will try to get to the pool since it will be difficult at the resort (~30min drive to Maryville). My training bucket list for while we’re at the resort, please critique/add/modify:

- run Cade’s Cove
- ride Foothills Parkway
- ride Cherohala
- ride Clingman’s Dome

The latter two I might do one way from the resort and get picked up. (Note: this will all be during the week, though peak season the last wk of June)

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Dimond Bikes Superfan

That’s definitely not slumming it, wife and I stayed there a few weekends in fall 2019 when going back for football games. Enjoy it.

Eric,

I live in Knoxville. Lots of great areas to train. In the summer, on Wednesdays, Cades Cove is closed to vehicular traffic. I get up as often as I can. I usually ride 3-4 laps (10-11 miles each depending on where you stop). It's a blast to ride. You can slot that in as a brick workout or ride on Wednesday and get a run in early on another day if you go early. Truly a spectacular setting. It does not get any better than Blackberry Farms! PM if you want to ride or run together.

Running Cades Cove is the best idea. One year, I decided to run it while my wife and family drove it in the car. They got stuck in traffic, and it took them forever. Cars would see a bear and then stop so that there would be large gaps in the road with no other cars up ahead. While my family was in their car, they saw a lot of deer and only one bear. During that same time, while I was running, I saw five different bears, with one crossing right in front of me on the road. It was pretty cool, and my wife was very jealous.

The Foothills Parkway is certainly the safest of the three ride choices (plus, there's a lot of other decent rides in the Townsend area). As others have said, I would only do Cherohala on the weekdays. Clingman's Dome, I would NOT do regardless of day of the week. Even in June, during the weekdays, that road is very crowded and way too many tourists not paying attention to the road.

If you want a good hike, you should take the Alum Caves Trail and go to the top of Mt LeConte. Incredible views up there, and it will beat the heat. Also, there is a rustic lodge up top where you can go in and get a drink or snack.