looking for route across KY - Maysville to Nashville

[jimboy]

I'm planning a trip for this fall to start in Maysville KY, where my one brother lives, and riding to Sarasota FL where my other brother lives.
We're going unsupported but will be motel 6'ing it a lot.

We want to skip the most mountainous part of the journey by going across Ky to Nashville where we can pick up the Natchez Trace.  We're planning on about 3 weeks to get to Florida.

But we need to bicycle friendly roads across KY.

I rode the TransAm two years ago and went south of Lexington and then thru Loreto, et al and that was good.  Just having a hard time connecting the rest of the dots.

Any suggested routes would be appreciated.   
We're trying to stay off busy roads but don't really want to climb hills all day either.

[jbruced]

The problems I see are the fact that the area around Lexington Ky is known as the knobs so it is hilly; the Licking river results in lots of roads ending at the river with no bridge. The most direct route through the first leg from Maysville would be via US 68 but there are some pretty good hills on that route. Quite a bit of traffic but the road is pretty wide and I've not had trouble with cars in the area around Blue Licks State Park. I think there is a bike route that takes rural roads from Blue Licks towards Lexington. I can research that and try driving it to get an idea what it is like. Once you get near Paris and Lexington it won't be too hilly until you are headed out of the Lexington area towards Loretto where you will once again be passing through the knobs.

I think I know your brother. If he is who I think he is, if he is planning to ride the Horsey Hundred there are quite a few people in the Bluegrass Cycling Club who ride west and south of Lexington that may be able to make some route suggestions.

[jbruced]

I hope this works http://www.trailsrus.com/biking/
Look at the northern part of the Bluegrass tour.
See if you can connect to the Midland tour.
The look at the Mammoth Cave tour which gets you headed to Tennessee.

This doesn't give elevation etc but you can trace the routes in Ride with GPS of Map My Ride or other similar route planners.

I hope this helps.

[jimboy]

Thanks for the maps and suggestions. 

Yes, my brother Tom thinks that he knows you too.  He IS planning on riding the Horsey Hundred next week.

He asked me to pass along his email.  He's not a member of this forum.

Tbirt@hotmail.com.   

Hope you two can have some healthy discussions!!!

[jbruced]

I will be gone for a few weeks but will do some more research and try talking with some others I know that might be able to help with routing. Thanks for the e-mail. Tom is good guy to ride with.