Quiet country roads to ride near Atlanta?
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Quiet country roads to ride near Atlanta?
Hey folks,
Just getting back into road biking, and looking for some quiet country roads to put on some miles and experience. Preferably within an hour of Atlanta. A nice 20 to 40 mile loop would work. Thanks!
Just getting back into road biking, and looking for some quiet country roads to put on some miles and experience. Preferably within an hour of Atlanta. A nice 20 to 40 mile loop would work. Thanks!
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Here's one to the northwest and one to the northeast: Beautiful Backroads Century 31 mile option near Cartersville and Lake Rabun near Clayton.
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Short version, there is no such thing as a Quiet Country Road Near Atlanta. Too many SUV's.
Longer version, there are some very good routes around the city, and some very good options.
For 'just getting started' The Silver Comet is fantastic (and for shorter loops, there are several 10-15 mile greenways around the city). These are great until you get to a point where you want to ride at speeds over 12-15 mph.
Once there,you want to start finding some good road routes. I find that hitting the group rides around the area is a great way to find routes, but also meet folks who know more routes. I personally know the Alpharetta, Roswell, Milton, Cumming area pretty well, but don't venture much east of GA-400 due to traffic density.
Once out here though, you can work your way into the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, and have a gorgeous and sometimes torturous ride, but you will want to keep that to weekdays, because the weekends, many of those roads turn into Motorcycle playgrounds and those guys create additional dangers.
Longer version, there are some very good routes around the city, and some very good options.
For 'just getting started' The Silver Comet is fantastic (and for shorter loops, there are several 10-15 mile greenways around the city). These are great until you get to a point where you want to ride at speeds over 12-15 mph.
Once there,you want to start finding some good road routes. I find that hitting the group rides around the area is a great way to find routes, but also meet folks who know more routes. I personally know the Alpharetta, Roswell, Milton, Cumming area pretty well, but don't venture much east of GA-400 due to traffic density.
Once out here though, you can work your way into the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, and have a gorgeous and sometimes torturous ride, but you will want to keep that to weekdays, because the weekends, many of those roads turn into Motorcycle playgrounds and those guys create additional dangers.
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The southern crescent has lots of excellent routes which are quite light in traffic. I particularly enjoyed riding in and around Jackson in Butts Co.
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If you like a bit of a climb and stuff with a nice valley ride,etc. bing or google Sugar Valley, GA. Follow that up to Pocket Rd. Over that hill is another hill but in the valley are some nice rolling roads. It's up I-75 NW of Calhoun.
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Here's a "Pocket Ride" loop posted at ridewithgps. Here's that area at Strava.
If you go almost due West out of Sugar Valley the road that takes you over the East ridge has 3 big switchbacks and a whole bunch of little ones. Fun to climb over and more fun to descend.
It looks like riding out of Dalton might be interesting too.
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Where in ATL? There are a LOT of rides in the Peachtree City/Senoia area. It is extremely bike friendly. I ride with a small group and we would love to have you join if you would like.
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You wouldn't happen to know whose markings are the orange arrows that run from Harp Church out to PTC and back would you? I live in Fayetteville and have YET to find those folks. The church doesn't know...
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Hmmm.. Not right off. I can ask around though. Maybe email/Facebook the Southside Cycling Club. They would probably know.
Last edited by Hammondc; 07-21-14 at 08:25 AM.
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Yeah, I have asked at the bike shop in PTC and they don't know. I have seen groups of individual riders and none of them seem to know, just like to meet there as a good central spot. The only other time I have seen an organized ride I was in the car heading somewhere and haven't seen them since. It's not a biggie since I ride with Southern Crescent or the Mobile Social when I want to "group" ride, it would just be nice to actually ride to a starting point instead of driving.
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Here's one to the northwest and one to the northeast: Beautiful Backroads Century 31 mile option near Cartersville and Lake Rabun near Clayton.
There are many riders that start at the AB brewery up there on Busch Drive (same starting place as the Beautiful Backroads Century -- the BBC). AB doesn't mind folks using the parking lot on the weekends as a staging area, but there aren't any facilities nearby.
A better starting place up that way is the Sosebee Cycling Park at the corner of Simpson Road and Cass Pinelog Road. There is plenty of parking, lots of shade, a picnic area, water, changing rooms, and a porta-potty. There are also several routes that originate from there (shown on a map at the park) and the BBC route goes right by the park. I regularly head up there and do anywhere from 30 to 50 miles on a weekend. The riding in that area is much calmer than trying to ride around Atlanta or one of the suburbs.
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I would also like to add: Outspokin Bikes in Woodstock does regular group rides on Saturday morning that start at the Hickory Flat Publix (corner of Hwy 140 and Cherokee Drive). They have a 15 mile route and a 30 mile route that they regularly use, although they vary the routes as well. All their rides head east on Lower Union Hill Road and use many of the roads east and northeast of the Publix, and they usually aren't the only riders on those roads on a weekend. The roads are pretty quiet on a Saturday morning considering that its outer suburbia, and there are enough riders on the roads that the local drivers seem to be acclimated fairly well. If you are interested I can send you some of the routes that I've used in that area. The Publix parking lot is a good starting place, and the local shops don't seem to mind.
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I'm partial to the North / NW part of Ga. Roswell, Alpharetta, Cumming and Milton. These areas have top notch cycling roads but traffic can sometimes be bit of a hassle. Then there is White, Cartersville etc. which are awesome as well and less traffic. You can find grouprides pretty much everywhere within and around atlanta.
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Of course when I was sort of living in ATL I also racked up many miles looping Stone Mountain.
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