Did the Red Top Mountain ride today. First good ride this year. Just got my bike back from Hartman Cycles with fresh tires, brakes & a 10k service. She's ready for a full fun season of riding!
This ride is the closest to my house, which makes it great when time is short. About 2.5 hrs. and 90 miles. Scenery here is still brown with some signs of Spring showing themselves. I'll add photos for this ride when the scenary looks better!
Pigeon Mountain ride, P.86. This was a really fun 200 mile ride to north-west GA which went up and over Pigeon Mtn. Most of the photos are from the valley. These mountain roads had no pull-off's, so stopping and trying to take photos is between risky and impossible. The shot of my bike on the tree-lined road is a bit deceiving. That beautiful lazy road lasts about a mile and then suddenly turns into a blind downhill hairpin turn, followed by 3 more hairpins in quick succession as you ride down the mountainside! Full attention is required as this is a lonely road and help isn't close by, but fun nonetheless though!
This was my Father's Day morning ride! Carters Lake Loop on page 68. Approximately 4+ hrs. and 200 miles from my place, including a 13 mile over-shoot of a turn & return. Carters Lake is about 80 miles due north of Atlanta.
It was was a perfect day! The country roads were well-paved & marked, and offered up many lazy sweeping turns which are always fun. Once you're at the lake there's a lake overlook and a dam overlook. Stop at both!
So peaceful & beautiful.
Page 106 in the book. Today I rode the Ocoee River Run which features white water rafting and kayaking on the Ocoee River. This was the kayaking venue for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta! Roads were excellent, with numerous sweeping curves and many turns sharp enough to get your attention. Weather was OK but super hot; 93 degrees with a real feel of 102! When I was on the bike it felt OK, but when you stop, you melt. On the way home I included a ride over Fort Mountain. This on Rt. 52 between Ellijay and Chatsworth GA and it's a great ride by itself as well.
Total miles today were 248. It took 7 hrs that included several stops. ( No highways either; I avoid them if I can.)
I wasn't the only bike out there, that's for sure.
Lake Ocoee
Lake Ocoee
This is the viewing bridge over the river to watch the Olympic events!
View from the bridge.
These were a little farther upstream.
From the top of Fort Mountain. It was worth the short but steep hike to the viewing area.
Today's therapy session was the Fort Mountain ride, page 72.
I love this ride! The roads I take getting there and back are awesome, there's a cool small town on each side of the ride (Ellijay and Chatsworth), and the mountain's roads are in excellent condition and lightly traveled, with plenty of twists and turns to keep a smile on your face. And the views are amazing. My pics are from the 3 overlook areas. There's a Ft. Mountain park up there as well with some historic landmarks.
I took my Sportster on this run. 171 miles, 4 hours 30 minutes. The bike performed great, just like the brat it was meant to be! I had the seat redone by MMC and I could feel the difference from stock even though they kept the same low profile like the stocker.
Yesterday’s ride was the Red Top Mountain ride, page 78. I did this ride earlier in the year, but wanted to ride it again to get some decent photos for this log. This ride is close to my house, so it’s sort of my go-to ride when I’ve only got a couple of hours. It’s 101 miles, about 2.5 hours.
The ride starts by traveling over the Red Top Mountain Bridge and through Red Top Mountain State Park. The park is on Lake Allatoona, and you ride over parts of the lake at a few different points. The Park is beautiful and the roads peaceful. In fact, this entire ride is on excellent, lightly traveled country roads which is why I ride it often.
On this ride I also visited the GA National Cemetery, operated by the Veterans Affairs Administration. Not the first time I’ve been there, and I encourage anyone in the area to pay a respectful visit. It’s on the top of a hill/mountain and it’s beautiful. Very peaceful. Different sections for vets of different wars. Walking among the tombstones and taking it all in gave me a great sense of pride and appreciation for all those that have served. My dad was a WW2 veteran, so this visit hits home.
Red Top Mountain bridge
Lake Allatoona
Lake Allatoona
Lake Allatoona
Little River Marina on Lake Allatoona. My boat is in this marina, you can't really see it but it's there on the right end of the dock.
Yesterday I did the Ridge & Valley Scenic Byway ride, page 82. Milage was approx. 150 miles. This ride is in the north-west corner of GA. near Cloudland State Park. The roads were in great shape and had little to no traffic. There are some nice curvy sections and a lot of long lazy sweepers as you work your way up towards Villanow, GA, and then back down the other side. If you go this way, don't blink in Villanow as it only has 1 intersection with a stop sign and a couple of gas stations. Any ride is better than no ride, but this ride isn't on my list to do again. The reason is there's not really any points of interest to stop and check out. There was a mountain overlook sign that I rode past. I turned around and when I got back there the road entrance is paved for about 15 feet, then a sign that says "rough road, next 2 miles". The road was gravel. I was pissed. No way Jose with the RK; I turned around. If you've got an adventure bike, this ride would rock. No pun intended.
So I did find something interesting to share. The end of this ride travels down a section of Rt. 20 that I'm on regularly. I've often seen this burger stand and said one day I'd stop and check it out. Well I did yesterday and I'm glad I did. It's run by a southern family and they are super nice people. It's actually curb-side window service if you've got a car. There's no inside seating but they have a nice area to the left that has picnic tables. I placed my order at the window and they brought it out to me at one of the tables. Good food, good people, good time! Nothing earth-shattering but it's cool to find small businesses like this one. I'll be stopping back there for sure!
On Saturday I did the "Run to the Highlands". The ride starts 2.5 hours from my house, so this was an all day adventure; total of 11 hours and 364 miles. The first time I rode it 5 years ago I didn't take any photos, so I made sure this time I had some for ya.
Highlands NC is the destination. It's a small very upscale town just over the GA & SC line. Mercedes' and Porsche's are much more common there than Harleys, so I didn't stay long, but the ride there is great! I stopped at Bull Sluice, a whitewater area of the Chattahoochee River in SC. Scenes from Deliverance were filmed here. No banjo's, so I was feeling pretty good about that. The ride has miles and miles of lonely, curvy mountain roads; just a blast to ride and relax. Also a few cool waterfalls to see. I stopped at a couple but ran out of time for the others. And of course some great views of the mountains. I also stopped at an old mountain volunteer fire station for a quick photo op. The place looks run-down but it's an active station.
This is Highlands, NC. Nice town but but everything else on this ride was much more interesting.
Bull Sluice, Chattahoochee River. Color Infrared photo.
This is the Satolah Volunteer Dept. in Clayton, GA. I hope their trucks are in better shape than that Coke machine; it's hasn't spit out a cold one in decades.
Here's a waterfall you had to view from across a gorge from a pull-off. The falls are on private property so you cant go there. Too bad, looks really cool.
This is Bridal Veil Falls in NC. Totally opposite of the falls above, this waterfall is directly off the roadway. And you can walk under it and not get wet. They closed off the driveway that goes under it, I'm guessing for insurance reasons. If it wasn't so busy at the time I really wanted to ride the bike under there and get some pics. Room enough to get a bike past the barrack and under there.
And of course some shots of the gorgeous mountain views. Pictures don't do justice, but you get the idea.
03-04-2018, 05:22 PM
Red Top Mountain ride 9-29-19
