A few of us around here have finally taken a break from working on our outdoor industry clients and gotten into our mountain bike groove this summer. It feels good. Atlanta has the good fortune of being situated 3 hours from a few of North Carolina’s best trails–the Pisgah/Brevard area and the Tsali/NOC area. I’ve been a huge fan of Tsali for about 16 years and it has been named a Bike Magazine top trail (or something like that) so we rode there 2 weeks ago and in Brevard 3 weeks ago. Let me say, for as long as I’ve been a proponent of Tsali, we rented some Santa Cruz full-suspension bikes from The Hub and had way more fun at Brevard. So I have to say it, after 16 years of being a Tsali, and a hard tail fan, I moved my riding allegiance to Brevard and I’m in the market for a full-suspension 650b. It doesn’t hurt the Brevard, NC has one of the coolest bike shops in The Hub. They have a tiny bar in the back of the shop that serves regional beers. That was two and three weeks ago. It was tough to admit that I’ve fallen out of love with Tsali, but after about 18 miles on the left and right loops, the thrill was gone. Perhaps I can blame it on too many tree roots from too many wheels traveling it over the past 16 years.
Last weekend we decided to travel only 1.5 hours to a spot near Dahlonega in N. Georgia. Guess what? After switching my allegiance to Brevard, I suddenly had a new favorite trail system that’s even closer to home! I’m not even going to say the name of this one because I like it so much. It’s anywhere from 12-26 miles of single track with some seriously fast and flowy sections, plus of course, a lot of good climbs. Yep, summer is on–3 weekends in a row of great rides with some mid-week local trails mixed in. And now I’m mid-flight to the Outdoor Retailer Summer Market and I’m sticking around to ride the chair-lift delivered tails and downhill of Park City on Saturday. Make that four weekends of epic rides!
And the “everything else” part of this blog post? Well NOC near Tsali has amazing white water kayaking and rafting. And Brevard, (Transylvania County, NC) has amazing waterfall hiking and a slick rock natural water slide for cooling off.
If you’re at a bike or bike components/accessories company and are looking for a new agency, please give us a ring. I promise we’ll take you to my favorite new, undisclosed trail system between meetings.
-Mark Sorensen
Creative Director
