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Natchez trace
4 States! LA, MS, AL, TN
Tour Difficulty Level: Bonkers!
We have not hosted a tour that's almost 500 miles with 21K feet of elevation in 6 days in a long time. With that being said, it can be done, training is a must, and for those not wanting to do all of the miles, remember your SAG vehicle is there for you to pick you up at any time, no questions asked.
The Tour...
The land surrounding the Natchez Trace and the well-traveled trail that bears its name have been significant to human history for nearly as long as people have lived in North America. The Choctaw, Chickasaw and Natchez Indians were among its earliest inhabitants. Later came the Spaniards and other European explorers, soldiers, traders, and African slaves and freemen.
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By the early 1800s the Trace was the road home for over 10,000 Kaintucks each year. These boatmen would float their goods down the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. Once their goods and boat’s lumber had been sold in the markets of Natchez and New Orleans, these men would trek home by foot or horseback along the trodden path.
6-Day
493 miles
Challenge
Yourself
Around the same period, Merriweather Lewis of the Lewis and Clark Expedition died under mysterious circumstances in a log cabin just off the Natchez Trace Parkway. Today a museum and monument can be found in the area where the indefatigable explorer came to his untimely demise. Other notable characters hail from the land that the trace connects: Helen Keller, the well-known author and overcomer, is not the least amongst them.
As the land surrounding the Trace became more populated, American music was born and cut its teeth in this region. Genres as diverse as Blues, Soul, Jazz, Country, Gospel, and Rock & Roll were all heavily influenced by the life experiences of the artists and regional socioeconomic forces.
In 1934, the 73 RD US Congress acknowledged the significance that the Natchez Trace played in American history by commissioning a special parkway project that roughly followed the original Trace. Today a 444-mile linear National Park is available for those seeking to explore the region’s natural beauty and to discover snippets of our nation’s past and present. The original path is viewable in frequent intervals along the parkway. Nowhere else in this country can a cyclist find this volume of open road with a smooth blacktop, reserved for recreational traffic, a
50MPH max speed limit, and NO stop signs or traffic lights!
Ends Cycling’s Southwest to Northeast two-wheeled trek of the parkway will start amongst Antebellum homes on both sides of the mighty Mississippi River and finish in modern suburbia just to the west of Nashville, TN. When all is said and done, you will have bragging rights to roughly 500 miles on your bike’s odometer, have rolled through FOUR states, and have partaken in a blast from the past and a look into the future while traversing a significant American roadway.
Cyclists will be grouped into groups with those of similar cycling speed preferences and SAG support will be available for those who may prefer to tick off some of the miles in a vehicle with a motor. However, this tour will be a worthy athletic endeavor for all who take part! Two Century days will be interspersed with days in the 60 miles range. While the early days will mostly roll across lightly undulating terrain with some flat stretches, the hills of Tennessee will make a proper introduction on the tour’s final day. On a helpful note, the prevailing winds will
likely provide a frequent tailwind to encourage you on your way.
If you’re willing to put in the training miles, we would be delighted to facilitate a week on two wheels that you’ll never forget! Moreover, you’ll have the opportunity to support meaningful ministry for the youth of Ukraine and those displaced by the current regional conflict.
For The Youth Of:
ukraine
The Reason We Ride...
On this tour, you will be riding for the youth in Ukraine. Our beneficiary ministries there are called Solid Rock & Strategic World Partnerships. Here is a word from them:
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Over the last decade, Ends of the Earth Cycling has partnered with multiple different ministries to bring the hope of the Gospel to the youth of Ukraine. Over the last years these ministries have changed drastically due to a war that has ravaged the country and its people, but their mission remains the same: to bring hope to the people of Ukraine!
To show our solidarity with our partners in Ukraine and to join them in their effort to share the Gospel with the Ukrainian people, we are dedicating the Natchez Trace Bike Ride to #PrayPedalRepeat on their behalf. This is a unique opportunity to pray for 2 separate ministries, some of which have been relocated to different parts of Ukraine, Romania, Holland, Poland, and the USA. They continue to serve refugees and families, and youth in a variety of humanitarian ways but always with prayer and the gospel included in everything they do.
Here is a little bit about each ministry:
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Strategic World Partnerships (EC Beneficiary NYBR2018)
Over the past 20 years, Strategic World Partnerships has invested heavily in the Kherson region of Ukraine. Their impact ranges from pioneering church camps in the wilderness, planting churches, influencing the economic and social well-being of the region, and raising up church leaders and kingdom workers throughout the region.
Since most of the work of SWP in Ukraine has been in the Kherson region to the south, which has been greatly under attack in recent months, their work has changed focus to rescuing and relocating their workers and partners (at least temporarily) to other parts of the world: Poland, France, Spain, Germany, Holland, Romania, and the United States. With funding and help through SWP those workers are continuing to shuffle food and clothing and medicine and other humanitarian aid to those desperate for help in war-torn regions of the country.
Strategic World Partnerships tries to say “yes” to every need that people express to them, so your prayers and fund-raising will go to helping them say, “yes,” to every need they encounter during this most difficult time.
Solid Rock Mission (EC Beneficiary WABR 2021)
Since 2012, Solid Rock Mission has been raising young disciples through kids camps & clubs, youth camps & missionary schools. Headquartered in Znamenivka, Ukraine, (just 120 miles from the eastern border), the SRM team remains in ministry to a region experiencing great oppression from war, fear, hunger, and spiritual darkness.
After the war escalated in 2022, the SRM team responded to the needs of their countrymen by serving their people with evacuations, providing humanitarian aid, temporary housing, and distributing thousands of food packages. Beyond Ukraine, the SRM team saw the need to serve refugees beyond Ukraine, so they established a missionary base in Rzeszów, Poland. They also started ministering in Romania and organized a few events in Germany and the Netherlands. Through all of this, they bring young people alongside them to serve, pray, and be discipled.
Their hope and prayer is to provide a chance for Ukrainian kids, teens and youth to experience love, healing, and to hear the Gospel. Your prayers and fund-raising will help Solid Rock Mission continue to disciple youth throughout Ukraine and into other parts of Europe through youth camps and other programs.
For more information check out their website: SolidRockMission.org