Meeting Recap--February 27th, 2016

A brisk, but promising day brought eight of us together (three riding) for our monthly meeting and a chance to further discuss our ride plans for March and the camp-n-ride in June.

Larry had some bad news regarding access to the overlook at Pigeon Mountain. Apparently the heavy rains earlier in the month caused a land slide that closed the only paved up the mountain. While this may be corrected sometime this year it certainly won't allow a ride up by March 12th. We looked at an alternative way up but this would require about six miles of gravel, and given the mix of motorcycles likely to participate that idea was scrubbed. However it was decided to still ride out to the Pigeon Mountain area probably incorporating the Pocket, Villanow and LaFayette in the ride. More details later, as the 12th approaches.

Next up for discussion was the Camp-N-Ride currently scheduled for June 10th through June 12th. Larry had some concern with Saturday traffic in the National Park and especially the fact that Cades Cove is restricted to bicycles Saturday mornings. He suggested we see if June 9th through June 11th schedule would be acceptable to those planning to go. Larry will be sending out an e-mail explaining the suggested change and soliciting feedback.

Since we have members that might not be familiar with all the resources on our website we took a tour of it especially focusing on the ride reports of trips we may like to do again this year. Two destination rides that provoked a lot of interest were Trail Riding School and Zip Lining in Lula. Take a look at these and let me know if you are interested in either or both.

We also looked through what is available in the Weblinks section of this site.  There's a lot there that can be entertaining and informative and worthy of a perusal, perhaps on a rainy day.

After the meeting three of us, Dave, Garret and I combined V-Stroms and Ural for a ride up to the Gilmer/Fannin border and the Toccoa Riverside Restaurant. Once we got past the construction and non-responsive traffic signal in Hickory Flat we had open roads and beautiful vistas all the way north. The restaurant, that was burned to the ground a few years ago, has been recovered, and remains a delightful stop when on the road. Here's a one minute video of our visit: