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1996 Atlanta Olympic Trail
44 reviews
4.52 of 5
I decided to relist this trail because it has received bad reviews in the past. Trail maintenance and marking are much better, and this really is a great ride now.
This trail is NOT for beginning riders. If you don't want to ride over rocky, rutted and rooty terrain, don't ride here. If you ride it anyway, don't rate the trail poorly because "its too hard"! This is what an Olympic venue should be like, it should be hard.
For those not up to the challenge of an "Olympic" trail, you are welcome to ride the less challenging equestrian trails as long as you yield to the horses (I rarely see horses).
The trail is divided into two segments. The first starts by going through the opening in the fence and turning right along the fence. This part of the ride is not as technical as the 2nd segment although it has more and bigger climbs! If you follow the markings you shouldn't get lost, though be advised that the first segment does cross horse trails numerous times. (also, they do occassionally run "Cross Country" foot races here. These races are on the horse trails, but the markings for their routes can be a bit confusing to bikers. Just avoid anything that looks like a grassy road, and stay with what looks like single track).
The first segment will dump you out onto an equestrian trail very near the big field you parked by. Go LEFT! You will almost immediately enter the field. Go RIGHT and stay along the edge of the field. You will wrap around the field and eventually as you approach the road, the trail will drop off to the right. Follow this until you come to a spot where you can either proceed straight (really a bit to the right) or make a very hard left that immediately climbs back to the road. Take the left. You will cross the road. As soon as you hit the trail go RIGHT (returning riders will be coming down from straight ahead). You will be riding up-hill on a bumpy granite slab. Follow this until you hit another road. Cross and follow the road to the left for a short distance to where the trail takes off again on your right. You have more "slick rock" to go (its granite not sandstone so "slick rock" is a misnomer, but oh well). You will bear to the right so you are crossing the grade of the rock. The trail will drop to your left over a nice rock jump before hitting single track again. There is a trail here that crosses. Avoid it. You will need to go left and sharply down to stay with the main trail. Follow the much more "Technical" single track until you hit the road again very near where you crossed it before. Cross again and follow the road to your right watching for the trail on the left this time. You will hit the granite again and run roughly parrallel to the route you took up the granite. You will come back to the road. Cross and go right along the road. You will see the parking lot when you cross.
From Atlanta take I-20 East. Take exit #82 (GA Highway 138). At the top of the ramp go left. Stay on 138 until you see signs for the Georgia International Horse Park. Turn right. After a short distance you will see a white fence on your right. Beyond the fence is a large field. Park in the gravel lot near the fence.
Summary: I've ridden the Atlanta Olympic Course twice now, and it is a terrific course. The first loop (Southside of Centennial Olympic Pkwy) is more of an intermediate course. I found it takes me right around 30 minutes to complete not pushing too terribly hard.
The climbs are longer than Blanket's Creek, Big Creek, or Chicopee (except Chic's final climb is a bear).
Cross the Parkway to hit the slick rock side - now at least in my opinion you're clearly on an Olympic (Advanced) course. It's really fun and I hope to conquer it eventually. But unfortunately the second part of slick rock kicks my butt. I haven't mastered it yet, but eventually I'll be able to ride it without coming out of my clips. Also on today's ride there were two spots where some water was running across the rock on an approximately 30 degree traverse. It truly was slick.
Then about 2/3 of the way around, there's a fairly long steep hill with some obstacles (bigger rocks and roots on a steep incline) that so far has caused me to have to pop out of my pedals. But it's really cool, and will be an accomplishment for me when I can make the entire loop without popping out of my pedals.
Recommended Route: Run the southside intermediate loop first to warm up, then get psyched and run the northside slick rock loop.
Other recommended trails in the same area: Blankets Creek - love the South Loop and Dwelling
Big Creek - fun advanced loop and free ride park has a nice gully to climb.
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Summary: I would like to start out by saying..this is a GREAT ride, I am very out of shape and had ALOT of trouble on the uphills, but wow...a great work out and i plan to ride this trail every weekend.
Every uphill, you are rewarded with a great downhill, a few good drop offs, a few good jumps, and very fast downhills....great ride!!
this trail is for the brave, stupid, or experienced. the downhills are fast, steep, have sharp turns and have alot of roots and rocks. And the uphils will test you Will and determination!
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Summary: This is a jewel just outside Atlanta. Estimated distance was 9 miles.
There seems to be only two loops. We hit this mid week with locals spewing with details. This trail is worthy of being proud of. From the parking lot a right loop and a left loop. The Right loop is smooth with some grinding hills but plenty of flowing decents to reward you for the effort. This ride will use practically every gear on your bike. Easy enough to ride at night with lights with no major obstructions.
The Left loop is about half granite and half dirt single track trails. The granit section is difficult but a lot of fun. The left loop should only require a couple get offs but it could be mastered with practice.
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Summary: This is a great trail, well thought out and very fun. The onloy drawback I can see is having to pay $5 everytime you ride it. Second section is more technical than the first and the first wasn't technical (IMHO). Great trail for speed and bike control at speed.
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Summary: This was a great trail. Just rode it on 4/9/06. I entered the side by the parking lot and had a lot of fun carving through the pines and bombing up and down the hills. It was nice to be able to carry so much speed through the trail. But I kept thinking to myself this is an Olympic trail??? I know there has to be harder stuff. So then I came back out by the parking lot and crossed the road. There was the fun stuff. The granite slabs were great to play on. Especially the one nice steep climb on it. There was much more technical features on the second half which kept me happy and the constant elevation changes make for a great workout. Even the friend I was riding with mentioned, "How many times does this trail climb the same ridge!?!?!"...lol and it does. Overall a very super cool trail. Worth the ride whenever your in the area.
Recommended Route: Follow the signs, the path is pretty clear.
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4.52 of 5
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