A Long Sunday Ride

Last Sunday, my wife and I decided to meet up with some of the other members of Beginnerbikers.org for a ride through north Georgia and a little bit of east Tennessee. Most of the group met at a gas station off of Ga-400 north of Atlanta and rode from there to our "official" starting point of Rider's Hill in Dahlonega. After warming up for a little bit (the start of the day was about 40 degrees,) we hit the rode. It became immediately apparent that I need to practice riding winding roads more. Not only was I riding well below the speed limit, the rest of the group was far enough ahead that I took a wrong turn at the first chance I got. Fortunately, I realized my mistake and turned around before too much time was lost. After that, the group split into two groups: the fast riders and my wife and me, bracketed by the ride organizer and another rider who was perfectly happy to follow us at whatever speed we chose.

After almost 90 miles of mountain roads, we stopped for gas and lunch in Tellico Plains, TN. at a place named Prospector's. Good food and good prices and a place to relax after some very technical roads.

Following lunch, we made our way back to the Ocoee Scenic Byway and made a small detour off the main road to one of the overlooks along the Ocoee River. The overlook was at the top of a steep, winding road that may have been two lanes. I couldn't tell since it wasn't painted and I didn't have enough concentration to spare from trying to negotiate the turns. While two of us hadn't wanted to go to the overlook, it was well worth the ride up for its breathtaking view.

By that time it was getting late enough in the day that we all needed to high-tail it back to Atlanta. Overall, we put another 360 miles on our bikes from 7:00 am to 9:30 pm. A few of my pictures are below.

The initial gathering started early in the morning.

All the bikes parked outside of Prospector's.

The view from the overlook.

Never leave home without your traveling Gnome.

As a point of interest, the motorcycles along for the ride were as follows: Suzuki Hyabusa, Yamaha FJR, Yamaha FZ-1, BMW R-1150GS, Kawasaki Versys, Buell Blast, and Kawasaki EX250.