Fall Charity Rides in North Georgia

Tour de Tugaloo, Molly loved the brownies.

I feel like singing when the weather turns "brisk" in the Fall. When there's a chill in the air in the morning and it warms to the perfect 73 degree temperature. The song in my head at this moment? "It's the most wonderful time of the year!" Yeah it's a Christmas song and we're not there yet but it's in there so I'm singing it. If you search my blogs of the past you'll find more extensive reviews of Georgia Charity rides but here's a look into the future.

Fall in Georgia means Charity Rides! The weather is perfect for riding. The leaves start turning. Road racing season is over so guys aren't trying to rip your legs off on a ride. (Unless your hopelessly addicted to Strava) Charity rides can be a one time event to raise money for a worthy cause or can be organized every year to benefit anything in the world. For $30-$50 you can ride a marked course at varying distances with vehicle support and food stops along the way. There's no end to the people you can meet and the sights you can see. I love them!

Six Gap Century

For me the Grandfather of Charity Rides is the Six Gap Century in Dahlonega, Georgia. I've blogged about it in the past. Six Gap 2011 This year I'm riding it with my good friend David Shabat and others. I plan to make a poor man's videography of the journey. We'll see.

Next up will be the Good News for Gainesville Ride. This ride is reletively new but is a compelling ride because of it's benefiting charity (Good News for Gainesville) and the fact that the sponsors are all area churches. I love the folks that organize this one. They make life worth...riding.

Then I'll ride the Hills of Habersham from Clarkesville, Georgia. This ride is up in God's country and features some traffic free riding that I enjoy regularly because I work up there. You can ride this one and then head over to Cornelia for the Big Red Apple Festival! I'll probably meet my family there.

Then I'll be directing the Lt. Governor's Century Ride from Chestnut Mountain, Georgia. This thing is going to be huge thanks to the powerful political clout that the Lt. Governor's office provides. There will even be a festival hosted by the United Healthcare Cycling Team where kid's can ride and get instruction on safety. There will be giveaways and a silent auction. The ride is challenging and takes you through old towns in North Georgia. The riders get Chic-Fil-A for lunch after the ride!

Goofy-ness happens when you haven't slept for 36 hours.

The next weekend could be as epic as you like. There's the 24 Hours of Georgia mountain bike race in Watkinsville, Georgia or the George Hincapie Gran Fondo in Greenville, SC. I haven't been asked to be on a team at the 24 Hr race so the fondo is in the cards. They've announced that TJ Van Garderen, Christian Vande Velde, Cadel Evans, Ted King, Brend Bookwalter, and others will be there. We'll see what it looks like as I get closer to the event. It's a lot of money for the fondo ($170).

Then we'll have the Tour de Tugaloo! This one has been going on for years. It takes place way up in Toccoa, Georgia and crosses into South Carolina. I've done it twice and plan to ride it this year with my family. It can be really cold in November so if you don't have some good cold weather clothing you'd better get you some. I love these folk too! They really take care of the riders and always have hundreds of cyclists each year.

The people who organize each of these events take good care of the riders. You roadies are the customer after all. So I wouldn't be afraid to try any of them.

In my lunch time surfing I read the article below. It's really funny and helps make a great point about the perception of cyclists by ... non cyclists. I've noticed that in city areas like Gainesville and Buford some of us are not being very smart about where we ride. If you live downtown you should take time to find a route out into the country that doesn't impede the flow of traffic on busy main roads. A better idea would be to throw the bike in the car and drive 10 mins to a church parking lot or something and start from there. Riding a route on busy roads inside a large city doesn't make sense for lots of reasons. If you want to keep on cycling then you need to consider something more than "it's my right" when you leave the house. You make enough drivers mad and they'll vote to take away your right to ride...or worse.
Anyway, check out this article.

You’re a cyclist so you’re bad! - BikeRadar Magazines

And now I'll leave you with something funny and maybe I'll see some of you at Six Gap this weekend.