Ride Report: Twisty Butt Ride Part Two

27 March 2010:  Suches to Clayton

From Suches, we took Wolf Pen Gap Rd (SR 180) to US 19 toward Helen.  My beef jerky was giving me a little bit of energy and my mind was beginning to really wake up.  As usual, I fell back a little so I would not be distracted by the others.  I'd made the decision to do this shortly after I decided to do the ride.  It was the only way I felt I would have a chance to complete the entire 500 miles.

Earlier in the month when we rode Wolf Pen Gap, there was snow.  As we passed through, I noticed it was all gone.  Thankfully, so was most of the gravel.

Since I'd only been on this road once in terrible conditions, I was being extra careful.

Turn right here

It took less than a minute for me to catch up and for the group to be on our way again.

The green is starting to appear.  A shot of me before they disappear.

Or is it me disappearing off of the tail end?  Either way, the ballet of us moving together was a sight to behold.  I wish I had my camera mounted so I could have shot some video of it.

We passed Turners Corner Cafe at the base of Blood Mountain on our way toward Helen.

We take Alt-75 over toward Helen before turning onto SR 356 to SR 197 North (my new favorite road) to US-76 on into Clayton were we gas up before attacking Warwoman Road and leaving Georgia.
turn right onto SR 17/75

I didn't notice until we were nearing Helen but for such a beautiful day, we did not encounter much traffic.

All together...for now

My new favorite road

Lake Burton

Lake Burton Fish Hatchery

Just past Moccasin Creek State Park

Here I come

76 to Clayton

By the time we reached Clayton, the weather was finally warming a little.  It was around 11:15 a.m.  We'd already been on the road for going on 4 hours.  We had 8 hours to go and at least two more hours before we'd reach the half way point.

Getting lunch:

This picture reminds me that I didn't drink enough fluids during this ride.  I didn't want to have to go to the bathroom too often, it seemed to take away from my rest time.  In fact, this was the first time I went to the bathroom on our second stop.  I tended to go every other stop.

Gotta go, gotta go!

Our progress so far: