Saw you driving down Memorial yesterday and waved(at least I think it was you) Car looks sweet.

Hey Rob,

I was thinking about heading up to the mountains this weekend w/ my boss on his pile of chrome with wheels. Can you give me some recomendations on roads, routes, and what not? Is there anything decent close to the city that you don't have to ride an hour+ to get to?

Picked up the new bike last weekend. Been riding a bit, need to get the plates transfered from the old bike before I do anything else.

You're starting from downtown so it's gonna take you 30 minutes just to get "outside" of Atlanta :).

It depends if you want to go for the twisties or a relaxed country-side ride. If you don't want to go north you can take Ponce heading east and go towards Stone Mountain. But with the huge growth in population out that way, I think traffic might be a problem.

The best routes are going to be straight up GA400 towards the mountains. You can take a left on 356 (off of 400) and then head north towards Dahlonega. That ride is relaxing without too much traffic and not extremely twisty. Dahlonega is where the "fun" starts. You can 60 up to Suches (fairly sharp curvy) and stop at TWO for lunch. Or take 129 north up to 76 and eat in Blairsville.

There's tons of good routes but I need to get an idea of how long a ride you want to go on, and why types of roads.

Found Dahlonega and 60, looks like a fun road. Couldn't seem to find 356 though, not off of 400 anyway.

Where/what is TWO?

Probably a 4+ hour ride I'd think. Head out, stop for lunch, then come back. Something that's nice and twisty and fairly senic.

You and I will have to head up some time so you can show me some roads.<ul><li><a href="http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Dahlonega,+ga&amp;spn=0.308105,0.518260&amp;hl=en">http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Dahlonega,+ga&amp;spn=0.308105,0.518260&amp;hl=en</a</li></ul>

This is one that I like to do when I want do a short-ish ride:

1. GA400 north. Go past Dawsonville outlet mall and GA53.
2. A little bit north of 53 turn left onto Hwy 136. This is hilly with gently sweeping curves
3. Turn right at next intersection heading north on Hwy 9.
4. Follow 9 into Dahlonega. This turns into GA60 as you pass 19.
5. This portion of 60 has some tight stuff and will be a good warm-up.
6. At the rock pile you want to follow the road to the right on 19.
7. Turn left onto 129 when 19 dead ends at Turner's Corner. 129 is pretty fun with lots of higher speed sweepers with lots of 3-lane to pass slower moving vehicles while going up the mountain.
8. As you pass Vogel State Park on your left, you want to make a left onto 180. 180 is somewhat hidden and you won't see it until you're on top of it. Just start slowing as your pass the state park.
9. Turn left onto 180. This portion is very twisty with some really sharp corners. Go slow since it'll be your first time on this road.
10. 180 will take you into Suches. Turn left when 180 dead-ends into 60. There's a BP station on the right hand corner where you can gas up if you need it.
11. As you turn left onto 60 you will see Two Wheels Only on your right. It's a motorcycle "resort" that allows only motorcycles to park in their lot. Good food, lots of other bikes to look at, and lots of people to talk to. They stop serving lunch at 2. The parking lot is gravel.
12. Eat.
13. Turn right out of TWO onto 60 heading south. This will take you back to the rockpile that you passed earlier.
14. When you get to Dahlonega, you can either go straight at the light where you came from, or turn left onto 19 to get to GA400 for a quicker shot back home.

Here's a video going north on 129 from Turner's Corner:
<a href="http://www.gormanonline.com/videos/street/129N From Turners Corner.wmv">http://www.gormanonline.com/videos/street/129N From Turners Corner.wmv</a>

Westbound section of 180 from 129:
<a href="http://www.gormanonline.com/videos/street/2003/180W.wmv">http://www.gormanonline.com/videos/street/2003/180W.wmv</a>

those [bike] cyclists coming out of the corners freaked me out in the 180W video.

here's a recent edition of the 129N mtn drive in Jan.<ul><li><a href="http://www.vizualflux.com/vids/jeep_vs_audi_mtnrun.wmv">right click and save target as</a></li></ul>

It's someone I know in a motorcycle organization of which I'm a member (http://www.floribamariders.com).

If you're into track days you may want to consider joining too. The group rents out tracks and the individual rates are very good.

I assume you're probably a member of some. I'm considering joining one or maybe even autox this summer with the bmwcca since they hold the events 2 minutes from my house.

Actually I don't know much about the various track day "clubs". PCA and BMW are the big ones. There's always Panoz Racing with the Road Atlanta track days of which you don't need to be a member.

Perhaps some other folks might have an idea?

Most of my track time is done on the bike.

<ul><li><a href="http://forums.audiworld.com/southeast/msgs/9911.phtml">Look here. I don't think it's too late, if you get signed up right now.</a></li></ul>

http://www.floribamariders.com/CS for the new beta test forum.

They go down to Jennings quite often and it's usually pretty cheap. I think there's one coming up on June 11 and the cost is only $90 for the day if there's more than 10 people. You got full leathers? (1- or 2-pc)

Perhaps on another weekend I'll take you on my longer route. Plan to spend most of the day riding :).