Blood Mountain (a local favorite)

[Soupskin]

Met up with a bunch of sport bikers from a local forum for a ride today.  Weather was fantastic, 70 and sunny.


Route: Google Maps Link

Left my house (A on the map) at 8:30 this morning to meet up with 2 riders who live near me.  We 3 hopped on the Interstate and headed north to meet 4 more riders at point B on the map.  The 7 of us then headed for Riders Hill to meet more.  There, 5 more riders showed up making the group 12.

Scenes at Riders Hill:







We left Riders Hill at 11:30 AM for the top of Blood Mountain.  The roads there are very technical and in great condition.  Sadly I didn't have my camera on me for that leg.  But just as well since I was rusty from nothing but commuting for the past 4 months.  Last time I was up this was way Oct 31.  If you use the Google Maps link above, you can zoom in on the roads for a close up view of the curves.

Scenes from the top of Blood Mountain:





The trek down the other side of Blood Mountain was great too:









Then we headed towards Helen on the Richard B Russell Scenic Highway.  It started out great...









Then it got nasty on the dark side of the mountain.  It was still covered in ice, gravel, sand and salt:







Then we pulled into Helen:









The town was packed.  Apparently we weren't the only ones glad that winter has finally broken.











All the local eateries had hour and a half waits for a table.  So we just grabbed a quick bite at Wendy's and then headed back to the city.

About 215 miles round trip.  Fantastic time and I'm so looking forward to getting up there much more this year.  My new Michelin Pilot Road 3's kicked much butt too.

[fishball]

Were you completely surprised by the ice and snow on the mountain?  Still riding in February sounds great to me.

[Soupskin]

Were you completely surprised by the ice and snow on the mountain?  Still riding in February sounds great to me.

Yes!  The general consensus is to not try that road again for at least a month.  There wasn't any ice on the road but the wet gravel and salt was scary.  It's going to take a while for that to clear up.

[cmyers]

great stuff Soup

[fortyhourdays]

Cool pictures.  Are you using a helmet cam?

[isleofmanfan]

You mentioned being rusty, and thats exactly what I've been thinking I'll be when I finally get to throw a leg over the literBandit.  I'll have an all new dance partner to learn, plus the mandatory four months of down time will put an extra bend in my learning curve.

Nice to see such diversity in your ride group.  That should have brought out some interesting riding stories.  For some reason the pics look better on this forum than on Facebook.

[Burgi]

Whats the story behind Helen? Some sort of touristy place?
We have to be careful in the canyons here after rain. Dirt, gravel and sometimes whole hillsides come down on the roads. 

[hppants]

Nice report Soup.  I'm envious of your backyard, with it's 3rd dimension.  What's it like riding with sportbikers as opposed to Nh'ers?

[FearThis SC]

Great report and Nice Pictures Soupster! 

[Soupskin]

Cool pictures.  Are you using a helmet cam?

No. For these I had a cheap point and shoot camera on a lanyard that I wore around my neck.  When I wasn't using it, I would stuff it in my left pocket.  To snap a shot, I would just pull it out and start clicking many times without even looking in the view finder and then delete the crappy shots later.

Whats the story behind Helen? Some sort of touristy place?
We have to be careful in the canyons here after rain. Dirt, gravel and sometimes whole hillsides come down on the roads.  

Yeah, it's a total tourist hole that caters to bikers.  Air brushed t-shirts, leather apparel and fudge out the wazoo.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen,_Georgia

Nice report Soup.  I'm envious of your backyard, with it's 3rd dimension.  What's it like riding with sportbikers as opposed to Nh'ers?

Not much different really.  There were some good riders and some slow riders and me somewhere in between.  The majority of them are on ~600cc bikes that weigh half of my Bandit.  There was also a BMW and an Aprilia, those things were sick.

Then there were some great riders that left everyone in the dust and were waiting for everyone at the bottom of the mountain.

Honestly I was quite apprehensive about meeting up with this group after my last experience with local sport bikers.  Thursdays are popular bike nights at a couple eateries here in town.  People meet up at various gas stations and then converge downtown at 1 or 2 spots.  I decided to join them after reading about it on the forum but I ended up going to the wrong gas station and met up with a bunch of squids.  Being in a group of 20-30 sport bikes doing 100+ through Atlanta traffic on the highways is not my idea of fun.

Turns out the forum members are mostly 30+ years old and safety conscience.  They encourage everyone to go to the track and test yours and your bike's limits in a controlled environment.

Needless to say, I'm left with an overwhelming desire to build (salvage title) a track bike now.  Don't really want to risk my daily driver (Bandit) on that.

[fishball]

and fudge out the wazoo.

That doesn't sound too appealing. 

[fortyhourdays]

and fudge out the wazoo.

That doesn't sound too appealing. 

I vote this for quote of the day!
 

[tomb raider]

Fantastic Soup, Hey. What is that RWB bike ?    Rusty feeling is how I felt this week. Way out of  shape.....  We have a place like that for Tourist on top of the mountains. I plan out seeing both this summer on the bikes...

[chromy]

Great ride report Soup.  Too bad about not being able to sample the local food.

[Soupskin]

Fantastic Soup, Hey. What is that RWB bike ?    Rusty feeling is how I felt this week. Way out of  shape.....  We have a place like that for Tourist on top of the mountains. I plan out seeing both this summer on the bikes...

BMW S1000RR...  with traction conctrol and ABS...   

[pw363]

great report and pic's. keep up the good work.

the rwb bike looks like the bmw 1000rr?

[luckylindy]

 Great report and pics Soup.

[JB1290]

Great report, Soup. I am totally jealous right now. 

[cjbear11]

Nice report!

[roadrunner]

thanks Soup!  Great ride pics.  Helen looks like a nice destination -- too bad you had to settle for Wendy's (not that there's anything wrong with that) .. 

[ariwhiteboy]

Very nice soup, I wished I was up there with you.  Maybe when I get a nice break I can head up and do a Helen/Blood Mountain ride with you as a warm up for the NC rally.