Mountain Biking at Gwinnett's Beautiful Harbins Park

OVERVIEW:  Dust off that mountain bike, top off those tires, and join us for a moderately paced 2-hour mountain bike ride on the single-track trails of beautiful Harbins Park, one of Gwinnett County's largest and newest parks, about seven miles east of Lawrenceville.  (See detailed directions and address below).
  These relatively easy trails are suitable for riders of all experience levels (provided you're in good physical condition) and for mountain bikes or hybrids (bikes with tires fatter and knobbier than road bikes and also reasonably efficient on smooth paved surfaces).
  If your schedule permits, feel free to explore more of the Park's extensive trail system on your own after our group ride.

EVENT PLAN:  After introductions in the parking lot at 3:00 PM we'll conduct a brief refresher in mountain bike riding technique and bike maintenance & inspection tips.
  We'll begin the group ride at about 3:20 on one of the shorter and easier loops which will give us an opportunity to check out our equipment and assess the various skill levels within our group.  We'll adjust our pace and choice of trails accordingly and likely will divide into two or more subgroups (which would also be a courtesy to approaching bikers who would find it easier to pass us on these two-way trails that are very narrow in many places). In various open flat spaces beside the trails we'll take occasional stops to regroup, adjust clothing & gear, etc.
    We expect to arrive back at our vehicles by a little after 5:00 PM.  Although the total distance covered in our initial two hours of riding will likely be under 10 miles, as we mentioned above feel free to explore some of the other nice loops afterward if you'd like a more strenuous workout.

FOR A DOWNLOADABLE COLOR BIKE TRAIL MAP of Harbins Park go to the following SORBA webpage and click on "Our trail map":
http://www.sorbagatr.org/trails/trail-harbins/

CONTINGENCY PLAN in case UNPAVED TRAILS ARE CLOSED (due to rain, etc):  We'll still consider going ahead with the event but would ride instead on the Park's 3-mile paved trail system and perhaps on some of the scenic public roads in the area.  We also may opt to enjoy a little hiking at the Park.  By 9:00 AM on the morning of the ride we'll assess the situation, and if there's a change in the above event plan we'll contact all registered riders ASAP by email and/or phone.  If we have to cancel the event entirely due to weather, we'll tentatively schedule Sunday March 27 (also at 3:00 PM) as our "rain date."
    Gwinnett County has a Hotline (770-978-5270) reporting the status of their parks' trail systems which they occasionally have to close due to muddy conditions or rain.  They normally update the recorded message daily.
  WEATHER ADDENDUM on MORNING of EVENT, MAR 20: It's expected perfect mountain biking weather today!  Only about a 20% chance of showers and a ride-time temperature in the high 60s. We suggest you wear comfortable synthetic shorts and a light-weight shirt!

FROM the I-85/ I-285 INTERCHANGE in NE ATLANTA: (Allow about 35 minutes for the 26-mile drive from this interchange to Harbins Park.) 

1) Take I-85 North about 10 miles and exit at GA-316, Exit #106 (bearing right here toward Lawrenceville and Athens).

2) Take GA-316 East about 2.0 miles and exit to your Right at Sugarloaf Pkwy.

3) Turn Right onto Sugarloaf Parkway, go about 8.4 miles and exit to your Right at New Hope Rd.  (Your GPS may not show that Sugarloaf continues to this point.)

4) Turn Right onto New Hope Road and go about 5.3 miles to Luke Edwards Rd.

5) Turn Right onto Luke Edwards Road and go about 0.5 mile to Harbins Park on your right.  We'll meet at 3:00 in the free parking lot near the restrooms.   Charlie expects to be in his dark green Honda Civic.

The following DESTINATION ADDRESS for Harbins Park may be useful in case you'd like to prepare a custom map or directions from your point of origin or wish to use your vehicle's GPS navigation system en route:

  2995 Luke Edwards Rd, Dacula, GA 30019

Free Event with Free Parking!