Georgia 2009
A year ago this same time I was fortunate enough to be invited down to Georgia by my good buddy, Scott. He had acquired a free cabin for a week in Helen, Georgia, very near some of the stages of the Tour of Georgia, so great for riding!
This year my new team Half Acre Cycling chose Blairsville, GA as the destination for our inaugural spring training camp, just minutes away from Helen. I was psyched. I signed up right away. I couldn't wait to return to the mountains and those screamin' fast descents. Oh, and those climbs too.. :(
The only real similarity between the two trips was the view from my window as we pulled out of town. In fact, this was the view from my window for almost the ENTIRE ride down to GA. The only thing that changed was the amount of daylight.
Our three cars met up at Montrose beach, distributed bikes, people, and gear, and headed out of town at 8pm for the 11+ hour drive. We planned to take our time driving through the night and arrive in time to eat breakfast at the Waffle House, get a quick ride in, and then get settled.
Our first gas stop in Indiana..
5 bikes on a little Focus!
Despite mother nature's best efforts, we arrived safely in Blairsville the next morning around 8am and made a beeline for the Waffle House! There we replenished our food stores and excitedly chattered about the rides to come! It was becoming clear that there was no plan for where to ride, so if I wanted to get back into the mountains I was going to have to find a map and make some suggestions. Just then a lovely young woman sitting at the bar asks it we're cyclists. Turns out she and her friends are also down in the area for spring training.. for 6 WEEKS! They had been down for a week already and had some good routes mapped out in the area, and had maps that I could use to get back to the major Gaps in the area. We made plans to meet up later.
The HAC gang departed, and after getting a little lost, found the realty office, checked in, got into the cabin and suited up for our leg stretching ride.
Afterword we got settled into the cabin...
The view from our back deck!
To be continued...
This year my new team Half Acre Cycling chose Blairsville, GA as the destination for our inaugural spring training camp, just minutes away from Helen. I was psyched. I signed up right away. I couldn't wait to return to the mountains and those screamin' fast descents. Oh, and those climbs too.. :(
The only real similarity between the two trips was the view from my window as we pulled out of town. In fact, this was the view from my window for almost the ENTIRE ride down to GA. The only thing that changed was the amount of daylight.Our three cars met up at Montrose beach, distributed bikes, people, and gear, and headed out of town at 8pm for the 11+ hour drive. We planned to take our time driving through the night and arrive in time to eat breakfast at the Waffle House, get a quick ride in, and then get settled.
Our first gas stop in Indiana..
5 bikes on a little Focus!
Despite mother nature's best efforts, we arrived safely in Blairsville the next morning around 8am and made a beeline for the Waffle House! There we replenished our food stores and excitedly chattered about the rides to come! It was becoming clear that there was no plan for where to ride, so if I wanted to get back into the mountains I was going to have to find a map and make some suggestions. Just then a lovely young woman sitting at the bar asks it we're cyclists. Turns out she and her friends are also down in the area for spring training.. for 6 WEEKS! They had been down for a week already and had some good routes mapped out in the area, and had maps that I could use to get back to the major Gaps in the area. We made plans to meet up later.
The HAC gang departed, and after getting a little lost, found the realty office, checked in, got into the cabin and suited up for our leg stretching ride.
Afterword we got settled into the cabin...
The view from our back deck!
To be continued...
