[manimal]

i'll be in helen, GA for vacation w/ the in-laws the week of the Fat Tire Festival.
Has anyone been to one before? is there any DH or is it all XC junk?

there's a link on the SORBA site for it but not much info is given.

any info is appreciated.

 

[bigdrop05]

There was a big race there years ago.I went to check it out.Didn't even start biking yet.It was about 1997 or so.
There was a dual slalom course built & the DH if i remember was not that great & very peddally i think...Better get some good info before hauling the DH bike ! I'm guessing just XC if that ?
What's wrong with regular XC mountainbiking anyway's;you don't have to shuttle,wear hot stinky pads, or a full-face helmet.......

Great looking town though.My wife would really like it.
*Hey, when is the Fat Tire Festival there anyway's ??

 

[JeffD]

Pure XC, Brandon. Fun trail though. Me and the Missus are probably gonna go since it's her birthday weekend.

 

[Crazy Dan]

Last year we rode the last hill on our big bikes after we did a little freeride demo thing. They had rerouted the course because of tree problems so there was a steeper then normal downhill section. It was a hike 'n bike thing for us, short but fast and fun, at least two xc guys had broken collarbones that day on the waterbars on that section. It rained on the race day and the whole place was a mudhole.

Woody at the bike shop there used to do a paid shuttle to the top of somewhere in Helen, never did it just heard about, DVNT might know more.

 

[JeffD]

***That paid shuttle is a joke - it has some major climbs in it, contrary to Woody's claims. We took some out of shape beginner XC folks on it since Woddy said "his grandmother could ride it." They ended up doing a lot of red-faced pushing and one girl ate it at 25+ on a shady blown out turn***

 

[bigdrop05]

http://www.sorba.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=21

 

[Crazy Dan]

***That paid shuttle is a joke - it has some major climbs in it, contrary to Woody's claims. We took some out of shape beginner XC folks on it since Woddy said "his grandmother could ride it." They ended up doing a lot of red-faced pushing and one girl ate it at 25+ on a shady blown out turn***

Kind of what I thought.

 

[manimal]

http://www.sorba.org/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=21

yeah, the site doesn't offer much info. i posted this thread after reading the flyer. so what's the freeride demo like?

 

[Crazy Dan]

Probably won't be a freeride demo, as we ran into everybody's favorite lliability issues! We had some portable skinnies and some box jumps.

 

[FCLinder]

Hah!!! I remember the last race I went to there. I think it was part of the Cane Creek Series at one time. They had a NORBA national there back in the day. DH and DS course was very lame!!! I think the town is kind of cool though. I think the Flat Tire Fes is going to be more like a cross country Fes..... I will say it would be cool to see some of the old school venues to come back like that in the Nationals.

 

[Crazy Dan]

We talked about trying to get a Super D race together up there sometime.

 

[bigdrop05]

Old school venues are cool...

 

[manimal]

hmmm...so not really worth me going then huh? i'm not much into the whole lycra thing.

anybody know of any DH trails in that general area?

 

[Crazy Dan]

Nothing in North GA that isn't an XC trail. We hike n' bike some of them with big bikes, but nothing that qualifies as a DH trail here.

 

[manimal]

i rode some trails at chicopee easter weekend w/ my brother and loved it! i was on my demo and passed some XC dudes on a 2 mile climb. fell in love w/ my demo all over again. that place was fun, in gainseville, GA....not-too-tough climbs with some super fun DH sections.

we're considering moving there.....looking into the local PD now.

 

[DVNT]

If you're near chicopee bring your P bike.
Theres a jump park on the other side of Lanier called Cental Park.

A bit further north near Dahlonega is Bull Mtn.
It's got a hell of a pedal / push to the top ridge but once on the ridgeline it's an old school flowy trail with a great downhill. It's just dreamy. :love:

There is also a lot of fun runs in Ellijay but most are pedal / push.

Shuttle friendly trails are in the near future. I'll have to post more about that later.

 

[bizutch]

I saw some way cool stuff at a State Park, think it was called North Fork? Or Fork Mtn State Park...somewhere near that Bald that the tour of GA goes up? The mountain was super steep and had bike/hiking trails all over it but I didn't bring my bike to scope them out.

 

[DVNT]

Fort Mountain State Park.

Never ridden it, but there's supposed to be a 5 mile downhill run that descends 2k feet somewhere on the trail. But I think it's an out'n'back trail. Maybe an XC guy will chime in here.

It's really close to Windy Gap. Everybody's favorite shuttle run. :love:

Just let us know when you're in town.
We'll get a few guys up to ride somewhere.

 

[Crazy Dan]

Fort Mountain? Yeah there is some other cool stuff in that area, Bear Creek is a good run, you can shuttle it. Windy Gap is awesome, atv trail, last part of it has 20 - 30 huge water bars that send you sailing down the trail. Bad part is the shuttle route that is now closed took 45 minutes to an hour. It is a long pedal in and up, but it is a good ride down. (We have a great story about a helluva fun shuttle day up there in the area, ended up driving around more in trucks on dirt roads then we did on our bikes!)

Check this out for more info.
http://http://www.ellijaymountainbike.org/
or
http://nwgasorba.org/

If you guys are headed down sometime, just us a shout, we will show you around.

 

[bizutch]

Fort Mountain State Park.

Never ridden it, but there's supposed to be a 5 mile downhill run that descends 2k feet somewhere on the trail. But I think it's an out'n'back trail. Maybe an XC guy will chime in here.

It's really close to Windy Gap. Everybody's favorite shuttle run. :love:

Just let us know when you're in town.
We'll get a few guys up to ride somewhere.

there was a trail that went from up near the lookout all the way down to the campground that looked like oodles of fun, but didn't see a rock in sight from the road.

 

[Raaar]

If you don't mind pedaling & uhm, "exploring" a little, there are plenty of rock drops, and steeps to be had in N. Ga. While most of the popular trails are XCish (and over-groomed and over used), the terrain lends itself to some seriously aggresive trail riding and freeriding.

The terrain around Blue Ridge, Ellijay, Helen, and on over into Tn & NC is very similar to what you will find in areas like Vancouver and Portland- albeit on a smaller scale.