What's up bitches?!

Just letting you know that I've set up a Facebook page for the WH3 ride #306 on JUNE 28 to get an idea of who'll show up to camp on Saturday/Saturday night/Sunday a.m.

Facebook link is here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=209133420124&ref=mf

Otherwise, it's going to be a fun ride through downtown Rome traversing ATV trails and other twists and turns I discovered while living and working there as a reporter/editor at The Rome News-Tribune back in the day.

Saturday is BYOB (booze and/or bacon for Sunday a.m. breakfast if you're so inclined). We'll definitely do a bonfire Saturday night and someone will hopefully get some upside-down Apple Pie shots circulating like the good old days.

Meantime, some of you may remember the last trail(s) I laid in Rome back in 2002/2003 - not including Barnsley Gardens (which has gotten so ridiculously expensive that I'm boycotting the bastards).

So this ride won't be out at Berry College campus straight up Lavender Mountain and back down and all that bullshit.

Although if you want to take a spin out there I'm game for sure.

Just expect a fun, fast, cross-stitched tour over the rivers (Etowah, Oostanaula and Coosa) and through the woods with some historic sites and beer/water stops thrown in for good measure.

For camping we'll have the front of my childhood friend's three-acre lot mostly to ourselves.

But absolutely NO DOGS OR KIDS. Kids will get eaten by coyotes and dogs will meet the same fate if you bring them.

AND - if there is ANY heavy rain the day before the ride or that morning you can bet all the money in Obama's stimulus package that I'm bailing for Park Tavern on 10th Street and Monroe in Midtown Atlanta.

Check the Wheelhopper forum the weekend of the ride for updates.

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FACEBOOK PAGE POSTING TEXT AND DIRECTIONS HERE:
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Get your mountain bikes ready to ride through northwest Georgia's City of Seven Hills - where the rivers meet and the mountains begin.

Arrive Saturday June 27 after 11 a.m. if you're planning to camp. It's free to camp and will be on private property (actually a three-acre front yard of sorts about a mile outside the city limits).

BYOB Saturday and you may want to bring stuff for the bonfire and any grilling/cooking.

Space is limited so the first 10 wall posts here to confirm their camping status are definitely in; otherwise you'll need to call the number listed below to verify space.

The official ride will jump off at 1 p.m. sharp on SUNDAY with long and short options, beer/water stop, scenic views and all the other twists and turns you can expect to find on an out-of-town Wheelhopper adventure.

NO CHILDREN OR DOGS. NO EXCEPTIONS.

Directions to the start:

1. Take I-75 north out of Atlanta to exit 290 toward Rome.

2. Exit at 290. At the bottom of the exit ramp, turn left at the traffic light onto Hwy-20 NE/Canton Hwy/GA-20 (heading west and back under I-75 going toward Cracker Barrel).

3. Take Hwy 20 until it dead ends at a traffic light just past the hospital. There will be a gas station right in front of you (and a couple blank billboards). Take a left at that light and then an IMMEDIATE right onto the ramp to Hwy 41/Joe Frank Harris Parkway/GA 411 (it makes a sharp right curve up the hill to a stop sign).

4. Take Hwy 41/Joe Frank Harris north past the QT gas station to Hwy 411 west toward Rome (you can't miss the green DOT sign at the exit "ROME" and there should be a Lamar billboard there next to it that used to have Holiday Inn as the advertiser.

5. The on-ramp curves around to the left and you'll be on Hwy 411 proper (split-lane highway) headed straight for Rome. THIS IS A HAUL so don't freak out if the drive seems endless because it's like that stretch of GA 16 south of Macon that seems to go on forever.

6. Finally, you'll enter Floyd County/Rome where you'll begin to see the roadside signs and pass a Wal-Mart on your right.

7. Not far ahead, you'll approach an interchange of sorts.

8. STAY to the LEFT and continue south on 411 which will at that point morph into US-27.

9. A few miles ahead you'll intersect Walker Mountain Road (there's a traffic light and convenience store there on the right).

10. Turn right at the light onto Walker Mountain Road and then take an IMMEDIATE right onto Cave Spring Road.

11. Take Cave Spring Road about a mile and 1/2 and look on the left for a rancher-style fence with iron gate, duck pond, balloons or other markers waving you in to the camping site.

THE PROPER ADDRESS IS: 1710 Cave Spring Road, Rome, Georgia 30161

ATTENTION: This address is spotted wrong on Google maps! Pay attention to the directions above and all landmarks in the descriptions!

For any other inquires, email riderwriter@yahoo.com (THE BEST WAY TO REACH THE HOST) or call 404.783.6362 the weekend of the ride.

FOR ALL OTHER INFO, including what to expect on a Wheelhopper ride (helmets required, etc) visit: www.wheelhopper.com

ON ON!

Sounds awesome.  Wish we could make it. 

This sounds too cool! Don't camp so if anyone is interested in riding up Sunday, let me know.
Just remember, friends don't let friends ride up alone.
Eagle Snatch

Puff - we are so bummed we can't make it - we've got plans for that weekend that we can't get out of.

Primer (& Service)

Yeah. I'm bummed too. Because I'd give ANYTHING to get out of this and resked for next month or whenever.

Seriously - let's just call it a wash and figure something else out because this trail's too good to miss.