Sport-Touring the TN/NC/GA Mountains, Sep. 24-27

[KevinB]

We had a Kawasaki trio leave the B'ham metro area Thursday morning, headed north toward the mountains.

Day 1:



After breakfast at Jack's, we were off!




A quick stop above Nickajack Lake




We continued to Suck Creek Rd., then north to Petros, TN and a trip around the Devil's Triangle. The weather for Day 1 was perfect (if a little warm), and we stayed the night in Knoxville. We knew the weather for Day 2 would be vastly different.

[KevinB]

Waking up on Day 2, and the weather forecast was spot on...



A couple of us decided our wet weather gloves were sucking, so we made a quick stop by Cycle Gear in Knoxville.

We pointed our mounts southeast toward Hwy 129 and Deals Gap.


Chilhowee Lake is down due to dam maintenance...




Which has revealed remnants of the original US 129...




Three wet trips through the Dragon, and then a stop at the near deserted COTS...




We continued down NC 28 to our destination for the evening in Frankin, NC.

Day 2 was a wet day with near constant rain. But we all agreed that we had as much fun, if not more, than we've ever had on these roads.










We're gonna have a problem here...







Day 3 should be even better...forecast promises less rain, and we have two more joining in on the fun.

[Nice Goat]

schweet.

I changed your title from "Oct." to "Sep." ... hope that's okay.

[KevinB]

Doh!  :o

[KevinB]

Day 3 opened with Greg and Geoffrey meeting us at the hotel, and the sky teasing us with a hint of clearing.



The ride plan has us trying out some new roads suggested by a frequent visitor to the area along with some old favorites, ending up at the best little hole-in-the-wall for lunch (Breaking Bread Café in Bethel, NC).

Our first road consisted of some tight swithcbacks and lots of elevation change...along with soaked pavement covered with wet leaves. Needless to say, the pace was slow. And not long after, the rain rejoined the ride.

Stopping for raingear...





We eventually made up US64 to Brevard, NC in hopes of taking 276 to our lunch destination, but the weather was progressively getting worse and we made a unanimous group decision to head back south/west.

We made good time back down US64 to Highlands (every other time I've been on 64, it's usually bumper-to-bumper, but today traffic was conspicuously sparse), and headed south on NC/GA28 towards Warwoman Rd. The further south we went on 28, the drier the road got. By the time we made it to WW Rd., the pavement was dry for the most part...which meant it was time to relieve some frustration. One pass wasn't enough to satisfy the group.

Rest stop near the end of WW Rd. after 3 runs...






We made it to Blairsville @ 5p, and decided to drop our gear and head out to find some more curves before we called it a day. A trip down US129/Blood Mtn to Turner's Café sounded like a good plan.

At dinner, we found out that 60/180/129 would be closed @7a - @noon the next day due to a bicycle race. That meant we had to do our banzai run up the mountain in the dark after dinner.

Bad parking form at Turner's...




Day 3 started out disappointing, but ended marvelously.


My Drift camera went T.U., so I don't have any action pics or video. Hopefully some of the others were able to capture some.

[SpeedyR]

didn't realize you were headed to north ga this weekend. the 6 gap century is going on sunday and will fill most of the good roads with bicyclists.

the stretch of 60 from Suches to 76 is good and bicycle free and allows you to go to Suches/TWOS for lunch stop if your plans are to head to that area.

there's some other fun stuff toward clayton- look on a map for a road from Tiger down to Lake Burton road, Bridge Creek road. that's a good one that you can connect to 197 and 356 to make a good loop. not sure if highway 75 from Helen to blairsville is decent.

[kdtrull]

The old exposed bridge is way cool.  I wish I could go see that before it's too late.  WTG!

[KevinB]

Day 4 started off with the sun starting to burn through the clouds as we loaded the bikes. A good sign. And we had a route planned that would take us around the "6 Gap Century" cycling event...we had been advised by the waitress at Turner's that the loop of 129/Wolf Pen Gap/60 would be closed. No problem...we'll take 180/17 to Helen, cut across to Cleveland, then back over to Dahlonega.

Things didn't work out as planned.

As soon as we pulled out of the parking lot, the sun disappeared.

As soon as the got to the turn to go east on 180, we discovered that the cyclists were turning there too. And apparently their "Share The Road!" mantra doesn't go both ways.

I got into road cycling several years/pounds ago, and today I remembered why I got out of it. It has one of the highest percentages of "sandy vag'ed" males as just about any sport/activity I've encountered. When we first turned onto 180 and got behind the first peloton, I thought "Well...we'll take it easy and try to pass when there's a clear spot...no sweat".

About that time, one of them passed us on our left on the centerline within a few inches (we had left plenty of room in the lane to our right side) with a pissed off look as if we were the ones in the way. At that point I decided "F' it, I guess it's no holds barred then..." and began leap frogging my way through the packs of riders. We made clean passes and gave them plenty of room, but we definitely weren't lagging behind them. When we reached the top of 180, another cyclist pedaled past me on my right mean-mugging me. I was on the centerline, so there was no way I had crowded him...I guess it was all that sand in his Nancy parts. So he got a buzz and a return mean-mugging when I passed him again. Most were riding four (and even five) abreast with traffic stacked behind them.

We had obviously been given wrong information by the waitress, who may or may not have been on happy meds (and Pat claims she got him pregnant via her touchy-feely ness). So we had 30 or so miles of, as Goose and Maverick referred to it as, "communicating" with cyclists.



Oh yeah...I forgot to mention that the roads were soaking wet and it started drizzling on the way down the mountain on Hwy 17 before Helen.

The rest of the trip was dry and uneventful...except for the 3 miles of wet, hard-packed red clay dirt road that Garmin sent us down between Cleveland and Dahlonega. It was like riding on a frozen lake.

We made a brief stop at Rider's Hill, then hoofed it west toward home. I wound up with @ 1050 miles for the 4-day weekend.

I didn't get any pics for today...maybe one of the others was able to snap a few.

Thanks to Shane (speedfire), Pat (shepcam), Greg (Mojo), and Geoffrey (LK2RD) for coming along. The weather may have dampened the spirited-ness of the riding, but the company more than made up for it.

[Shepcam]

It was a good time even with the rain and wet roads. One thing about riding on wet curvy roads is that it teaches you to be smooth in your riding and throttle. I had a great time and would go right back rain and all. Thanks for being the leader and putting the ride together!! Oh, I ended up with 1220 miles for the 4 days!

[Nice Goat]

Great report and photos!  I'm hoping to make one more trip this year.  Deal's Gap closes on November 21st for the winter...

[KevinB]

I plan to make another overnight trip to N.GA by the middle of November (at the latest), but it'll probably be on one of my "middle of the week off day" weeks.

[klaviator]

Great report and photos!  I'm hoping to make one more trip this year.  Deal's Gap closes on November 21st for the winter...

I agree.  Great report and it looks like a good time despite the rain.  However, Deal's Gap doesn't close during the winter.  I've gone there a few times during winter months and had a great ride.  You just need to pick a time with good weather.  There is very little traffic from November through March.

[Argh Oh]

Thanks for the great report! Great pics and even the rain didn't put a damper in your fun.

[Nice Goat]

...Deal's Gap doesn't close during the winter...

I meant the store and resort.  I know the road doesn't close.

[klaviator]

...Deal's Gap doesn't close during the winter...

I meant the store and resort.  I know the road doesn't close.

I knew that.  Just giving you some shit.  The restaurant closes even earlier than the resort does.  Robbinsville doesn't close up so you can still get gas, food and a motel room.