Florida guy visits the N. GA mountains for the first time with pics...
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Florida guy visits the N. GA mountains for the first ti... - 9/2/2008 5:55:59 PM
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JeremyGSU
Posts: 101
Joined: 5/24/2008
Status: offline
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Well, I''''m back from a long weekend (I took off last Thurs, Fri, and this Tues) and I got in some GREAT riding and loved every minute of it. I''''''''m 28 and I just got my first bike on May 24th after taking the MSF and have been riding ever since. I''''ve now put a tad over 4k on my bike in 3 months. I live in Debary, FL which is in-between Daytona and Orlando (for those that don''''t know) and there are not too many corners out here at all.  After riding for near 3 months I was dying to get to some cornering practice. It just so happens that my parents live in Duluth, GA which is only about 40 mins. to Dahlonega so I decided to take some extra days off and go home over the long holiday weekend. I borrowed a friends ramp and just put my bike in the back of my F-150.
I had heard there were some good roads up in the mountains so I mapped out a route which I thought would be good before I went home. On Thurs. I headed out going up 400 to highway 52, to 515N, then over to 76 east. I stopped for lunch in Elijay and realized my route mostly consisted of highways and decided to scrape that idea. I studied the map and noticed the road 60 looked interesting so I headed down that after lunch. I couldn''''t have been more pleased. 60 turned out to be pretty fun and from there I ran into 180 and a motorcycle setup gas station in Suchus. They had tables outside for bikers to rest with paper towels and windex sitting there to clean your helmet. Although I had my own supply I used theirs. I tried out 180 which I liked but only until it hits 19. Don''''t ride down 60 South from 180 junction. Way too much rubber in the concrete and it made it very slippery. I ended up riding to the top of Brass Town Bald too which is the highest point in GA but it turned out to be too cloudy to get any real good pictures. I rode down the entire mountain with my bike completely off and just coasted and used the brakes. It was interesting to go down it so silently and it was kind of peaceful. I stopped at Dale''''s one last time on Thurs before heading home.
My Dad is a big bicyclist and printed me up a cool map called Six Gaps Thurs night and said I should try that out. On Friday I gave that a try and it was a lot of fun and it was also the mother load because it led me to Blood Mountain. Blood Mountain is on 19 and crosses over Neals Gap and that was my favorite part of the trip. I ended up riding up and down the mountain more times than I can count. On Monday that''''s all I did. lol I think I was getting off the bike pretty good by the end of the weekend but it''''s hard to say without someone following me.
I definitely learned a TON about the handling characteristics of a bike which I never would have learned around where I live because there arent places to practice. More than once I went too hot into a corner and luckily there wasn''t anyone in the other lane because I ended up braking too far into the corner and then having to lean. I also made the mistake of hitting the front brake in a corner a few times because I was going too fast, but I''''m glad I did because it taught me what that does as well. It made the bike get real squirrelly but I always managed to keep it under control luckily. Lift throttle seemed to be the same as a car on track. As long as you roll off the throttle and keep the bike settled you can slow the bike down that way mid corner but if you just lift completely it made it unbalanced and hairy situations arose. At least those were my impressions.
Well, I don''''t want to write a novel so I''''ll just post the pictures I took a long the way. Unfortunately all of this riding was by myself.  I can''''t wait to go back and ride with friends although I did ride up and down Blood Mountain once with a group of guys. Oh, and I got a chance to try out my new Cortech Sport Tailbag and I loved it. It really came in handy but it did slightly rub my paint on the tail but I really could care less. I''''''''d rathar have the bag.
And I don''''t have full leathers yet. It appears I was only wearing jeans & jacket in the pics but here''''s everything I was wearing:
Frank Thomas SP Tech Boots
Alpinestars GP Plus gloves
Joe Rocket Phoenix 5.0 jacket
Icon Field Armor Vest
Icon Field Leg Armor
Icon Field Armor Shorts
Shoei RF-1000 Voyager helmet
Teknic Warrior jeans
On to the pics!!!
First day getting gas before hitting 19.
About to get on 515N.
Further down 515.
Top of Brass Town Bald
Highway 180
Bottom of Blood Mountain
Dale''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''s (Suchus, GA)
Russell Brasstown Scenic Byway
My map
And by bike back home...
Here are my tires...they have 8800 miles on them now and I got them at 7000. They are Michelin Pilot Roads. I was a little concerned about how they would handle because they are more of a mileage tire and not a performance tire and a couple other guys mentioned that but they never let go. A couple times I think I was near the limits though.  So what do you think? Did I get over for a newb? If I didn''t I tried. lol
All in all I had an awesome time in the mountains and I cant wait to go back!
< Message edited by JeremyGSU -- 9/2/2008 6:09:51 PM >
_____________________________
Jeremy
''04 CBR F4i
''06 F-150
''93 Civic hatchback - HPDE mobile
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RE: Florida guy visits the N. GA mountains for the firs... - 10/1/2008 6:00:58 PM
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cb2cbr
Posts: 103
Joined: 11/18/2005
Status: offline
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GOOD FUN!!!. I plan on goin thru that area in a round-about way mid October. Leave Cincinnati, go south to Smokey Mts., your N. GA and NC area. On to Atlanta, visit little sis and then to Barber Motorsports, Birmingham, AL, 10/17-19. Vintage Bike weekend. On north back home. Bout 5 days out. On the front end, 10/11-12, makin a run to Chicago to watch my youngest run in a marathon. Gonna put some miles on the CBR in Rocktober!
Thanks for the pics and trip story!
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All though I just put my Pilot Powers on today and realized the lean angle is alot different and it really wasn''t that hard to hit the edge of the tire. I also don''t know if our tires would have the same lean angle but looks like u had a great time!
lol
