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2016 NATIONAL ROUTES & RIDING INFORMATION, HELEN GEORGIA
North Georgia, Western North Carolina, and Eastern Tennessee harbor some of the best riding in the Southeast United States. A select majority of these roads rank among the top rated roads to ride in America. But I think most of you know that, and that is also why we have invited you to come ride in our Backyard.
The names of a few of these roads may ring familiar in your mind: The Tail of the Dragon, Moonshiner, Blood Mountain, Wolfpen Gap, and the Cherahola Skyway. Although these routes remain very popular with riders of all abilities, you will have the opportunity to sample them whilst the majority of the populace is working during the week. All of the fore mentioned routes, and many more, will be within your reach during the 2016 National. It is up to you to decide what adventure you choose each riding day.
As in typical COG fashion, nearly two dozen preplanned routes will be available for your daily adventures. The routes currently in draft range from a short and sweet 38 mile out and back to Brasstown Bald, Georgia’s highest point possessing an incredible vista, to the ‘Super Loop’ which stretches nearly 350 miles throughout North Georgia, North Carolina, with excursions into Tennessee. The Super Loop and a handful of other routes contain an overabundance of curves that will satisfy riders looking for a day full of challenging twisted roads. And we have not forgot you dual-sport riders. Several routes will be available right along with the paved road information.
Most of the initial route postings will be for early planning purposes and will have minor updates as we add more specifics to give you as much information as possible to plan your Ride to Eat stops along the routes. We do have a few favorites we want to share. Finalized routes will posted online and also available at Rally Central. The Rally schedule will have times that a designated representative will be available for loading routes to your gps and also to answer any questions you may have in relation to the routes and local riding.
As a bonus, I will also be posting a few options that you can use to plan your inbound leg as you meander your way towards Helen. Only suggestions of course, cuz nobody wants you to ride too many curves before they get to Helen. 😉 I think the southern entry may be the only direction that does not have a string of twisty roads on the way in. But I’m sure those fellas, and gals, have already been here.
Cheers, and safe travels.
Randy Gardner
2016 COG National Route Meister
Crews will be paving on US129 that week from Cleveland to Neels gap during the day.
There is a project starting that will pave thru Helen, but we will restrict their work hours to night time only during the rally. Honestly, we don’t expect them to start until July, so it shouldn’t even be a problem.
There is a potential that crews might be working that week finishing paving on 75 Alt from US 129 to SR 75. This should be the only work that will have traffic impacts.
Additional construction and travel information through Georgia is available at: www.511ga.org
Downloadable Routes
For the .GPX files, right-click the GPX link and select Save Link As and then save it to your computer. This will download the GPX files as a GPX instead of opening it up as a XML. (sorry, quirk of HTML Browser)
Wheels Through Time GPX PDF
Wheels Through Time with BRP GPX PDF
Moonshiner Dragon Krambonz Cherahola GPX PDF
Tail of the Dragon GPX PDF
Waterfalls and Hickory Smoke BBQ GPX PDF
The Dam Tallulah Falls Loop GPX PDF
Crazy Eights GPX PDF
Georgia Insanity GPX PDF
Brasstown Bald GPX PDF
Chicken Strip Eraser GPX PDF
Six Gap 80 per loop GPX PDF
The Gauntlet GPX PDF
Just a Day Ride GPX PDF
Super Loop GPX PDF
All 14 routes in GPX and PDF (Click Here) Updated as of 6/5/2016 Please download this for the latest and smoothed out information.