[theg1ant]

Dad just dropped the bomb that we are picking up and moving from dc down to atlanta So now im trying to find out what kind of riding there is to enjoy within 2-3 hours of the city. I know we arent far from Tenasee or North carolina. What kind of downhill racing , street riding, dirt jumping, and freeride material is there in the area? I know that someone in disorder 7 (vories i think) rode at georgia tech for part of his street segment so that sounds promising. It will also be nice to know how far you have to go to get some decent xc riding in. Thanks for the info

 

[ChrisKring]

Windrock in TN. Only 3.5 hours north.

 

[rapp]

Isaqueena up at Clemson. That's only a couple hours North for you I think. That and lots of stairs at Clemson itself.

 

[theg1ant]

thanks for the info. What kind of race series to riders in the general area attend? With dads new job we will have the time and money to travel back up to pa and diablo for racing but i would like to know what other races are down there besides sugar mountain.

 

[onearmedbandit]

go to ridesofa.org or sorba.org and go to the freeride part and u will find everything u need to know, on sofa. the race series is there to.
there is tons of street and xc by u.

central park isnt far either and u'll find pics on sofa and sorba of that palce, its like dj'/freeride area. as for real trails/dj's u gotta know the right people. There is a new awesome trail in ellijay that is about to open, its the only "local" place, other wise ur driving outta state.

 

[ulockjustice]

i grew up in atl and went to GT for 4 years as well. The street riding downtown is the ****. Georgia Tech's campus alone is enough for a couple hour ride (stair gaps ranging from small to huge, ledge drops, skinnies, rail gaps), and surrounding stuff midtown/downtown (bellsouth building etc.) is also solid. we used to routinely hit up 4+ hours street rides.

The dirt jump situation in atl isnt so great these days. there used to be killer ones at the starlight drive in downtown, but theyve fallen to disrepair/moto use. Not sure the exact situation out there, but a couple of days worth of digging with enough people and they could be revived. Theres a freeride park up 400n ~ an hour from atlanta at central park. It has some elevated bridges and dirt jumps as well. Some of the jumps dont flow together all that well (pedal like hell to hit one, then slam on the brakes so as to not totally over shoot the next etc.), but its a pretty solid place to ride, and is constantly being worked on.

If youre into park riding at all, the factory skatepark in newnan is ~45 min south of the city and is the bomb diggity. They have 'bike nights' a few days a week, but dont relly care if you show up and ride whenever which is nice. Theres a woodward park about 25 min north of town as well, which is stricter on the bike nights (wed and sun nightts im pretty sure). I personally dont like that park as much as the factory, but its still pretty fun. theres also a mtn bike contest at the factory on feb 18th if youll be in town by then. it was a blast last year.

As far as freeride/DH type stuff in the area, theres central park for freeride-y stuff. Theres also some DH runs in th works up at carters lake, which is an hourish or so north. check out rideSOFA.org, as theyre the ones building it. (and also central park). Apperently theyre reviving the DH runs at clemson as well, which is 2 hours up 85. Windrock is up in TN about 3.5 hours or so. although not really 'DH' we did shuttle runs on big bikes up at bear creek sometimes, which is in ellijay GA (~ 1 and change north).

As far as XC goes, there are 3 or 4 decent spots withing a 45 min drive of ATL. the horse park in conyers (where they did the 96 olympic mtb) is prob the most challenging these days. Blankets creek is 35ish min up 75 and is good for a few quick laps, although the sorba folk seem intent on removing any and all roots/technical aspects of the trail to cater to newbies on huffys for some reason. Same basic situation at yellow river trails (pours out a 40 for the fallen homeboy) which are about 35 min east. they used to be a blast, but now you could pretty much do the entire trail system on a golf cart. its ok for singlespeeding or again blasting out some laps, but its not exactly the most fun or challenging trail anymore. If you drive north to the mtns a bit there are amazing trails at bear creek, windy gap, bull mountain, and a slew of others. check out the north Ga off the beaten path book if youre into the XC stuff. it has a good listing of and directions to all the good ones.

thats about all i can think of for now. ATL is pretty cool. youll dig it.

 

[theg1ant]

thanks alot ulockjustice. Im not feeling quite as bad about my riding situation as i was last night

 

[dhbuilder]

thanks alot ulockjustice. Im not feeling quite as bad about my riding situation as i was last night

i've been riding mt. bikes since 1985.
and have ridden alot in about 19 different states.

you'll not find much better riding of any kind than northern georgia, western north carolina and a small section of east tennessee.

have fun finding out about all of them.

 

[fatbaldguy]

there are dirt jumps on the northeast side of atl. they are full on bmx trail style. if you're interested and dont mind digging ( paying dues )
let me know

 

[theg1ant]

Id be glad to help depending on how big they are. Dont want too big or too small ya know?

 

[JeffD]

We have great street and some basic DJs in Macon (1.5 hours south). KILLER DJs in Augusta @ 2 hours east of ATL and some burly DJs hidden in thre southside of ATL in addition to the other stuff folks have mentioned.