Saturday, May 31, 2014
Start Odo: 1936
End Odo: 2012
Miles Covered: 76
Destination: Dawsonville, GA
Weather Outlook: High: 84°F, 29°C | Low: 66°F, 19°C & PM Thunderstorms
Origin: Alpharetta, GA – Exit 12, GA400
I had planned to put in a 4-5 hour ride for the Grand Tour of Georgia 2014. But on Friday there had been Thunderstorm alerts and a late Friday night led to the plans being shelved. Come the morning, there were no signs of clouds in the blue skies, never mind Thunderstorms! I felt fairly cheated. But the ride craving had germinated. I had to get a ride in. The remaining GTGA 2014 locations that I have left to check in to are a fair distance away, so a quick GTGA ride was not an option. It would have to be a quick short ride up and down the back roads. The earliest window of opportunity was quickly taken and I decided to go for a quick romp to Dawsonville and back. This would also serve as a ride out to buy our ‘Syndicate’ PowerBall lottery ticket from a little further away from the usual local stores. A sub 100 mile ride.
This time I took the Top Box off and instead tagged on the saddlebags. This to see if the wibble wobble in gradual turns was caused by the TopBox as suggested by fellow FJR veteran riders. In a rush to get out, I left without my GoPro camera. I had planned to take video shots with the camera mounted on the Highway peg on the left, allowing for a ‘Wheel’s Eye View’ of the ride. This will have to wait for another time.
Nice back roads ride into Dawsonville, GA. This time I took some time to take pictures of the bike with Nascar #02 car. Then on to the local store to pay the Stupid Tax – buy the Lottery tickets and homeward bound. On the way back I decided to run along SR53 – past the Atlanta Motorsports Park – AMP. That is a nice stretch of road with sweeping curves and decent straights. I then switched the TomTom Rider to ‘Winding Route’ mode. And that turned out to be fun! It took me left, off SR53, onto a small street called Sweetwater Church Road with a left turn about 3miles down that road. It was nice little winding street. Just as I settled down to enjoy the street, asphalt gave way to a dirt track, fairly used so it was a decent dirt track. A track with lush green trees lining it on both side all the way. GoPro would have been perfect here. Instead I pulled out the iPhone in video mode and shot a short clip as I rode one handed! I assumed that the dirt track will give way to asphalt soon. It did. But there was a closed barrier to stop all further travel in that direction. The barrier was probably there to stop through traffic going through the Dawson Forest City of Atlanta Tract – Forest. A quick photoshoot and back to SR53 and recalibrate route to be homeward bound again.
The video was created on the iPhone using the images and video clip via the iMovie app and then uploading directly to YouTube at 1080p resolution. It took some time uploading. I am surprised by the resolution achieved in the posted video. From the last time I used iMovie – the resolution was pretty rough – either iMovie app has now been updated or YouTube has. Either way, I ain’t complaining!
The visual bits: