Playing in the Twisties

There is a highway up the hills that I enjoy more and more as I gain more experience.  This little highway isn't too long, isn't too short, isn't too narrow, isn't too tight.  It is just right.  (Do I sound a little like Goldilocks here?)  The more I ride it, the more comfortable I am on it.  The more comfortable I am, the faster I can ride it.  Vicious cycle.  Lately I have been traveling north on this highway, which just happens to mean the twistiest part is uphill and on the inside.  Which I enjoy to no end.  I am pretty comfortable with it downhill, but haven't been running it in the direction lately.  Have a look and see if you think I enjoy this roadway enough?  I believe I picked a pretty cool song to go along with the ride, so turn up the volume.

North on Hwy 75/17 from Love Of A Motorbike on Vimeo.

This all started because we finally decided to take a ride with our favorite meetup group.  Mr. Oilburner involved us long ago with a great Meetup (.com) group in our area that embraces diverse riders, rides and riding styles.  The organizer is a great guy that can handle any situation and really can take charge if necessary.  I didn't ride with them when we initially joined up since I didn't feel experienced enough for group riding.  But we would regularly attend the weekly Coffee and Chats to shot the breeze.

That is all utterly useless information to you, isn't it?  Back to the story.  A ride was planned to run up to Hiawassee and see where we go from there.  It is a fairly uneventful ride with just some good, quiet roads.  Except for Helen...but I've already told you that a thousand times before.

Taking some time to cool of with refreshments and chats.

While my back was turned someone snuck a safety lanyard onto my GoPro.  He had actually accomplished this little task down near Atlanta and I am just noticing. So for those of you who have been concerned about the suction not holding, it now has a safety belt thanks to Fearless!  (Thank you, Fearless.)

The video above was taken minutes after leaving Helen.  I do enjoy that little highway.  We all sorta scattered and went at our own pace.  Some of us were held up a little by other riders.  But there were creative ways to deal with that at times.  :-)

The congregating point in Hiawassee was a little fuel station where we just stood around and waited for everyone to catch up.  The looming decision was lunch.  Hiawassee is rather small and doesn't have a large selection of fair.  Shoneys, Mexican or a steak buffet place was thrown out there, but no one really wanted to make a decision or vote.  So I squeaked up and just said Mexican.  Official vote of 1 ruled. 

It was a nice little place that we basically had to ourselves.  I believe everyone tucked in.  Conversation went the way all conversations go when you put a bunch of enthusiasts in a small area.  Some tales were told that may or may not be believable. 

Time to leave.  The watches said it was about 3 pm.  Two of the party needed to be home by 6. The leader said it was girls choice for the route home.  The three of us just looked at each other.  I was game for anything.  I didn't have time restrictions. Suggestions flew, no one bit. Like lunch, no one could decide on particulars.  One lady suggested a route that would have been great flying down the twisties on Hwy 60.  (Another mecca!)  But the distance would have made it too long a time. 

I finally piped up on a route I have taken quasi-reglarly.  I knew it would get us towards Atlanta by 6-ish and was full of twisties for the thrill lovers.  The leaders kept raising their eye-brows and giving side-long glances as I tried to explain the route.  They finally gave up and just told me I was being awarded leader status.

Here is video of the most playful portion of that route.  It also has some good music to ride along to.  Hope you enjoy.

West on Hwy 180 from Vogel from Love Of A Motorbike on Vimeo.

I think I managed to set a pretty good pace.  The gentleman behind me might have enjoyed going a little faster, but he wasn't pushing me.  Strangely, today it was mostly empty of traffic.  It was nice to enjoy without too much concern for vehicles.

Stats:
224 miles
Great riding with new and old friends
A little warm, but a good day

Twisties in the Rain

The morning wake up ritual continues: groggy, coffee, "When we going riding??"

Mr. Oilburner and I managed a slightly earlier kickstands up time today.  But Brother was doing exceptionally well given his time zone change.  I think Brother would have been happier to get moving earlier, but Mr. Oilburner and I still have the classic problem of slow feet sometimes.

This day was threatening rain.  We took it with a grain of salt and headed towards the mountains.  Brother wanted twisties!!  He insisted that he could handle it.  Mr. Oilburner and I would look at each other with that knowing look.  He might think he knows twisties...but he hasn't seen anything with our roads out here.  Fine.  Brother wants twisties, we were gonna give him twisties.

We headed towards Suches and planned to take Hwy 180 over to Helen.  One of the twistier roads in the area.  We were hoping to have lunch at Two Wheels Only (TWO).  That would give Brother a break between Hwy 60 from Dahlonega, before hitting 180.

Hwy 60 north of Dahlonega is a fun little road that has to be shared by motorcycles, bicycles and sports cars during the summer.  We had it to ourselves on a rainy Monday!  Allowing us to go whatever speed we were interested in.  Brother was confident enough to go the speed he was most comfortable with.  So saying, he was obeying the speed limit instead of attempting to keep up with Mr. Oilburner.  Like yesterday, he looked extremely comfortable.

We stopped at the top of the pass to show Brother the Appalachian Trail.  Tis the season and many hikers were milling about.  It was so eventful that we didn't even dismount the bikes.  Just a quick discussion and we headed on our way.  TWO was only a couple miles down the road.  As my luck would have it, TWO was closed.  We stopped to take a few pictures and gawk at some of the demolition scenarios they had on display.

We weren't terribly hungry and didn't have any issues with continuing on our route.  Our luck held and the rain started just as we turned onto Hwy 180.  Hey, I never said it was good luck.  Figuring that it wasn't going to let up we let Brother suit up in the Frog Togs.  Mr. Oilburner and I were wearing our waterproof gear already.  I enjoyed watching Brother taste real twisties with winter gravel still sitting in some curves and the rain coming down pretty hard.  And since Mr. Oilburner and I are connected I was able to give updates on Brothers learning progression.  I couldn't fault his caution on those hairpin turns.  180 is a stupendously fun and curvy road if you know it.  Encountering it for the first time in the rain is daunting and he did well.

 Hwy 76 was a different story.  The rain was still obscuring visibility and coming down hard enough to sheet across the road.  Brother's speed slowed down to 20 mph.  Which isn't completely unreasonable considering that is the posted/recommended speed limit around some of those turns.  I chuckled down through the wireless.  It took Mr. Oilburner asking me if he was leaning into the corners for me to notice that Brother was starting to manhandle the bike a little more and that bike was barely leaning around any of those curves.  :-)

I was anticipating the hairpin turn marking the last of the tight curves to see how Brother would handle it.  I wasn't anticipating how I would handle the sheer embankment encroaching the edge of the pavement.  It was a little disconcerting executing my perfect lean, trying not to wobble as I realize I am looking directly down the washout.  Hiccup...  Wish I could have gotten a picture of that, but I wasn't about to take my hands off the wheel.

Yeah!  Our luck held out a little longer and the rain stopped just as we came out of the mountains.  Of course...  We stopped at the first place we spotted for lunch and shrugged out of the gear.  My jacket weighed about 10 pounds more then it did when I first put it on.  And my shorts were wet and sticky all the way up to my derriere.  Damn waterproof gear ain't so waterproof.

Helen, GA is also known as Alpine Helen and revels in all things Germanic.  It is a little on the tasteless/tacky side and a huge tourist trap, to me.  But visiting in the off-season provides plenty of parking spaces, easy access to eateries and actually walking space on the sidewalks.  So we laughed about our luck and antics over delicious bratwurst and sauerkraut.  We tripped through a few stores looking for souvenirs for Brothers family.  I lucked across a place selling Haribo Raspberries.  Brother bought homemade fudge and divinity and I buy packaged candies.  :-)  We let Brother sightsee, being his first time.  He takes all the pictures, I merely tag along.  Nothing exciting.

By the time we gathered our gear and ourselves the clouds were clearing away, letting the sun shine through. 

See?

My luck...  :-)


Stats:
180 miles
Brother's first treat of GA twisties...and he even had to do it in the rain
Rain in all the twisties, clear skies coming home on the highway...
Maybe even our first time actually eating German food in Helen, not just funnel cake.  ;-)