December 1999

by Bill Rogers

I had the privilege of attending what I thought was a very important meeting the other night. As you all know, the Bike Club has been working with the Forest Service to provide (hopefully) guidance and input about the new Tanasi trail system at the Whitewater Center. There have been a few setbacks in the past, mainly due to a lack of funding. Planning and building new trails can cost a lot of money. Apparently that problem has been solved with the revelation that the money has been approved to move ahead with the new trails. This meeting, held at Greyfriar's Coffee Shop, was a first step in joining several user-groups into one cohesive unit. After much discussion, it was decided to send Daisy Blanton and Chris Gilligan to meet with the Forest Service and gather more information. I'm looking forward to their findings. After that, we will have more of an idea where we are going with this, but it looks very interesting.

One other item of interest came from fellow mountain-biker Robert Johnston, whose Bendabout Farms has hosted a couple of NORBA races recently. Robert had some terrific news to report. If you will remember, a couple of years ago a parcel of land on Lookout Maintain which included the area we call Five Points was put up for auction. For newer members, Five Points was once one of the most popular riding areas around. Unfortunately, it has been closed to the public for the past couple of years. According to Robert, that is about to change. A new parking lot is being constructed, a work day has been scheduled (Dec 11th) to clear the trails, and it will re-open to the public as a mountain-bike park in the near future - how sweet is that?

Tony, Danny and I went on a 3-day road trip a couple of weeks ago. Our plan was to spend Friday and Saturday night in Helen, Ga. During the day Saturday, we were going to ride the race course in Helen, Ga., then drive over Sunday morning to Dahlonega to ride Bull Mountain. What we didn't know was that Saturday was the date of the collegiate mountain-biking national championships-right there in Helen! Since we couldn't ride the race course, we went to the local bike shop to ask about other rides in the area. With directions and maps in hand, we set off to ride the Hickory-Nut Trail. We were warned that this was a tough ride- and it was. After a nine-mile climb, with an elevation gain of about 2300 feet, we found the singletrack downhill ("turn right at the orange arrow"). Unfortunately, we couldn't see the trail for all the leaves. At times we were riding in leaves up to our hubs they were so deep. To compound the misery, rocks of all shapes and sizes were hidden under the leaves, which made for some very adventuresome riding.

Then Sunday came, and we were rewarded for our patience. The Bull Mountain Trail in Dahlonega, Ga. is one of the sweetest trails anywhere, with some of just about everything I like in a trail. Long (3½ miles) climbs, roller-coaster sections, fast, twisty downhill and practically all singletrack. What a terrific place to ride! It's really not that far away and we are already making plans for a return trip. If anyone is interested, give me a call.

[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Tips & Reviews ] [ FTF 2000 Recap ] [ FTF2000 Update ] [ MTB Techniques ] [ Trail News ] [ Where's the Trail? ] [ Festivasl & Tr Work ] [ Ride Notes ] [ Shops_2 ] [ Shops_1 ] [ Bad Weather Tips ]