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 arenot 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 mountainsso 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 from180 junction. Way too much rubberin the concrete and it made it very slippery. I ended up riding to the top of Brass Town Bald toowhich 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.

MyDad is a big bicyclist and printed me up a cool map called Six Gaps Thurs night and said I should try that out. On FridayI 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 andcrosses overNeals Gap and that was my favorite part ofthe trip. Iended up riding up and down the mountain more times than I can count. On Monday that's all I did. lolI thinkI was getting off thebike 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 ofa bikewhich 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 ina 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 yourolloff 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 picsbut 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!

 

considering your what appears to be about 1/3 inch from the each of the tire it looks like you dont good [8D]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!

 

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!

 

Thanks! I had an absolute blast riding up there and I'm already missing it. Riding around in Florida just isn't anywhere near the fun.

 

Glad you enjoyed our back yard playground. We use that same route at least once or twice a month. Sat at that white table in Suches more times than I can remember.

btw, No big deal but I'm fairly certain you've got your Cortech tail bag on backwards!

 

lol I think you're right now that you pointed it out.

 

^^ Don't feel too bad, someone busted me for the same thing when I first put on my Joe Rocket tail bag. lol

 

I went home and tried the other way and I didn't like it. If you look at my picture of the bike on the stand the bag is sitting relatively level to the rear of the bike with it backwards. If I turn the bag around then it angles down real bad and everything in the bag just slides to the front of it. With it on "backwards" everything stays flat.

 

I don't have that problem on mine but I think that's because the passenger seat on the 954 is a lot more level than yours to begin with. Yeah man I'd go with whatever you feel more comfortable with because honestly I don't think it makes much of a difference. On mine the rear side facing the back is all reflective so I wanted to make use out of that anyway, but yours doesn't look like it has the reflective stuff so it won't matter. They claim it's designed that way for better wind drag but with you on the bike you're blocking any wind getting to the bag anyway so that's not going to make any difference either imo.

The compartment in the back where you can put garage door openers and stuff faces the back on mine and I like to be able to reach behind me quickly so sometimes I still put mine on backwards as well .. see my sig pic below.

 

I've actually started riding with it like that all the time now! Thanks.