North Georgia mountains (The Gauntlet)

197 into Clarksville is worth a mention. Runs along the river and is both technical and beautiful.

If the Derbi Senda I have for sale on Supermotojunkie doesn't sell by then I will be at true grits with a for sale sign on it.

I want to take the family out on lake winfield scott in the kayak that weekend but I'm not sure if it's allowed due to the recent shut down. I had the Duke up there last weekend but couldn't tell if the park was closed or not.

 

Did it years ago on an offered new NS50 (stock w/full fairing). Had a great time, won a plaque. These days you'll be under-cheating on a 4T 80. The original organizer, Ben Cheatwood, says: "Cheating is not only permitted, it's encouraged."

I personally know of several guys running Lifan 125cc engines in everything from ZB50s to Cub 50s, and I've even seen a CT1 (175cc 2T) engine in a YSR50 chassis! Sounded nothing like a 50.

Since the event began at the introduction of the MB5, I've never heard of anyone being penalized or disallowed for over 50cc. Go have fun, and expect to get your butt kicked.

 

The area was a hoot in 1985 when I lived close by, I have little interest in going up there now. It's a zoo. Between the angry locals (and I don't blame them), tourists, bicyclists and every sort of nutter on a motorcycle you can imagine what exactly is the point?

And "The Gauntlet"? Really? SMH.

 

I went to TWO for the 50cc Run one year. Britt and GT had a chrome Z50 in the restuarant. I asked if I could get it out and polish it up. I was there as a vendor selling Derbis and Metrakits. Britt hung out with me as I polished that Z50 up like a brand new one. Then she encouraged me to ride it..... Before it was put back in the restuarant, I was doing wheelies all the way down the straight in front of TWO...... good memories..... good people....

 

Thanks all. I've made some adjustments based on the comments.

 

Some people belong in the zoo.

The grit has a big following. I had fun the one time I did it, over 15 years ago, when a friend asked me to ride his NS50 because the grit was the only time it ever got ridden, and he had a conflicting enduro. We had mutual friends that were doing it so I took him up on it. It was fun, I was legal, and I can say I've been there, done that.

 

The owner's of High Valley Resort (Frank Cheek's, RIP, campground) told us last weekend that Lake Winfield Scott was closed due to the shutdown. There is a local church that held it's services at the park and they were having to use the campground's pavillion for their services because they couldn't get in.

 

Ive known about it for a while but never have made it out. wish I had known about it when I had my CR125 powered, calimari prepped YSR! thats the only machine Ive had that would literally "peg" the speedo LOL

Im more interested in seeing all the wild minibikes people have built than anything but I have an XLR and XRL mini that are both street-able. they are fun as long as its flatland or downhill. how long is the route they do? mine buzz so hard at speed (~ 55mph) that it numbs your balls after 20min.

 

Hey, there's Britt Lynn.:up:

 

You don't have to slow down on the Spree, that much is certain. I only went halfway and that was still the longest I've ever ridden (or will ride) on that thing. The Mongonator of Borg was hilarious with all those wires flailing about. Grit fun run would be one of the few reasons I would go up there now.

 

I've found I've made it up there about once a year for the past three or four years. I think those roads, the scenery, and being alone on a bike makes for a pretty relaxing day. Except, two of those times, I had to listen to a lecture and talk my way out of a ticket. One was for a relatively slow steady 3rd gear 45mph pace up blood mountain, the other for said wheelie over a rise in the intersection in front of a cop. The other two, I deliberately chose rainy days. I just put on my rain gear and go. There's no traffic, the roads are still fun, and I like riding in the rain.

 

I know the roads all too well.. 60 from rockpile to TWO was always my fav even with the tarsnakes! (until temps get hot enough to make them greasy) 180 is just as incredible, I ran up on a black bear in the middle of it once that I would have nailed if it didnt do a superman right off the mountain! what a sight.. I couldnt believe it! I turned around just to see if it was OK, felt bad about it but it was nowhere to be seen. it was that good section right before the bird sanctuary pull off, where its atleast 200' drop and no room off the pavement edge for even a guardrail!

with bicycles nowadays its really too risky to run even a mildly spirited pace where you hug the inside up there these days though except at night but not many are willing to join you in that and it has its own risks as well. (but worth it!)

last several years Ive stayed on the forrest service roads for the most part. they are just as awesome if not more so anyway and you may even see the officially extinct eastern mountain lions on 42 if you rip it thru there fast enough to catch them by surprise, those are some bigass cats!

BTW the ranger camp has some incredible, hardly used backroads that go for miles too that are definately worth scoping out! theyre are actually the curviest, slickest, gradiest (if thats a word) roads Ive ever ridden! semi knobbies required.. awfully slick in some spots.

weird deal is you have to enter the military base thru the last gate to get on them, its never manned at least the times Ive been thru there which Ive never understood since anyone can get on base through there.

BTW there is more dirt and gravel roads than paved ones all over these parts.. dont mis out yo!

 

some smucks had been oiling the corners on 19 /60 north of Dahlonega.. lots of leaves coming down and gravel on some spots due to rain run off that has not been cleaned up yet. Wildlife is on the move now so be wary.. other than that its great to live here, come on down!

 

Part of my problem is I cannot help but compare it to riding up there in the 80s and early 90s.

 

I know those FS roads youi speak of apexspeed. I used to race the Fools Gold 50/100 miler every summer. It uses those and most of the singletrack around there. Thats a tough hot race(mid Aug).

On another note..you and I rode together on bicycles down 60 from Woody Gap to Rock Pile during that bad rainy day Six Gap ride back around 07 or so. We chit-chatted about roadracing, and riding motos on those very roads up there.

 

They don't call it true grits for nothing.

 

Know what you mean, it has changed a lot since those days. Which is why I have some 'secret' loops that I show no one, except friends from out of town that have no idea where they are when I take them there, so couldn't tell anyone how to find them if they're lives depended on it, because I don't want them to wind up being mapped out in a magazine or website like the gaunlets/coolers/deals, etc., etc. And even those well known roads are still fun but, like driving in metro Atlanta, you have to know when you can go where, and when to stay away.

 

Lumpkin County, around Dahlonaga, has a history of making arrests for reckless driving when they catch a bike passing on the double yellow. I've known a couple riders who got bit by that one a few years ago.

Hwy 28 from Highlands, NC down through GA to SC is awesome but very twisty, lots of blind turns with few passing zones. Very easy to get caught behind leaf peepers.

There is a great BBQ place on US129 near Hwy 180 & Richard B. Russell. I forget the name but it's about half a mile north of the Booger Hollow general store.