Help from Florida

[agg5910]

Hey guys/gals, I am from Jacksonville, Florida and new to this site. I have a group of guys that ride together and we try to take a road trip once a month to a new place. FATS sounds like an awesome place to come ride and we are looking at doing a road trip there within the next month. It is between a 4-5 hr drive for us, so it will be an overnight trip. I have a few questions:

Where is the best place to stay? Augusta?

What type of shape are the trails in now in relation to how much rain have ya'll been getting? I see they are closed after rain..we have been getting rain almost daily, but we really need it here..it's sandy.

If we drive up and it rains and FATS is closed, are there any trails near there or in Georgia that would be worth the 4-5 hr drive?

Any other information you think we might need to know for this road trip.

Thx for the info....

[safetybreak]

definitely worth coming up to ride. i would say that the trails could use some rain if anything. saturday and sunday they were so dry that you could taste the dust. the sand loosens up and makes some of the trail a little more tricky. there are plenty of other trails in the area, but not in the same realm as fats. let me know if you come, as i am always looking for riding partners. i would especially be down for a night ride. i live 80 miles south, so i do not know of good places to stay. others can suggest camping or lodging for you.

[seenvic]

The trails really only close here in the winter because of wet conditions. I'd say you are safe to drive up here. FATS needs some rain right now.

Augusta, or North Augusta is the best place to stay.

This site has the info on the other local trails. All good, but not many folks drive 4-5 hours to ride them. Folks make 4-10 hour drives to FATS quite abit. Or at least more often than I thought they would based on my conversations in the parking lot.

[Virginia Bill (fka Jax Bill)]

You defininitely want to ride all of FATS as much as possible - I'm from Jacksonville as well and went up there last month for my 40th birthday and rode FATS, Long Cane and Hickory Knob. See my post/thread at General Discussion - Could someone prioritize my trail list. I highly recommend FATS and Long Cane - I am still having withdrawal symptoms and plan to get back up there as many times as possible. The only trail I enjoyed as much as those was Razorback. Where do you ride here?, maybe I could meet you for a ride. E-mail me at [e-mail] if interested.