Atlanta Motogymkhana

For those who haven't seen it before, motogymkhana is a time trial where riders maneuver through tight paved courses set up using cones. For the past few years, I've been practicing with an informal group every couple of weeks to hone our riding skills and control of the motorcycle. It's very popular in Japan and has been making its way around the world to Europe, Australia, and multiple locations around North America including California, Toronto, Alabama, and NYC.

I would to like to get some events going and add Atlanta to that list.

Any and all types of bikes are welcome to join in. I've practiced with riders on everything from dual sports, ADV, standards, sportbikes, cruisers, goldwings, supermotos, and scooters. I've also practiced riding 2-up with my wife.

I'm new to the area so I need suggestions on a large empty lot with good pavement that we could use on a weekend. The weekend of 8/13 and 8/14 look like good candidates for a practice run.

Here's what the pros look like. I'm nowhere near that, but hope to be one day.



Here are some pictures from some of the past practice sessions in NY.











Who's in?

So this is like a 'slalom' event for bikes. Sound great!
I'm interested and I'm in the Atlanta NE area if anyone wants to consider doing this. I may be able to help with the event. How do we get this local?

I've been practicing some slow speed maneuvers ever since taking the MSF Ultimate Bike Bonding class.
Think I'm ready to speed up the maneuvers.
I'm in.

sckill
That's an impressive lean with that S10, 2up at that!

There isn't much needed to set up except for cones and an empty parking lot. I have cones, but we just need an empty space to practice. Any suggestions?

The parking lot across from the Cumming Fairgrounds would be ideal. You just have to make sure it's not being used by one of the local drivers ed cars. That might cause one of the young drivers to poop their pants

Don't they have a farmers market every SAT?

You mean that big parking lot at the intersection of Castleberry Rd and Dogwood St? That lot looks perfect! I'll have to find some time to scope it out.

Up in NYC, I used to practice at Floyd Bennett Field which is an old airport turned national park. It was hit or miss with park rangers with some having no problem as long as we kept the size of the course reasonable and others booting us the instant they saw a cone on the ground.

Who owns the Cumming Fairgrounds lot? Assuming the lot is not in use by any event, what's the likelihood of getting kicked out?

Let's find out!

Turner Field when there's not a game is great.

I've been interested in giving this a try.

I just saw an empty lot that could work. I'm sure a less visible/high traffic place would be ideal to keep Lookie Lous from stopping but maybe it would be fine. It's a business commercial lot that is out of business and hasn't been used in a while so pretty unlikely anyone would try to run you off. Directly across Buford Highway from the Buford Highway Farmers Market. The Aerial views looks like it's used as a semi-truck pullover/sleeping place.

5593 Buford Highway Northeast, Doraville, GA 30340

Shannon

that's a defunked Kmart

Theres lot's of unused pavement available on Sun mornings around most of the malls. Ask the GSP about using some of their lot near Gwinnett Place. If your ok with having a ride to get somewhere you could try Atl dragway or some of the closed outlet mall space around Commerce.

Are we looking for a permanent meet location with all the proper permits
or doing nomadic meetups here and there?

First order of biz, meet
who's in?
weekend of 8/13 and 8/14

Stopped this morning and talked to the gatekeeper (Mr. Horton)
Nay! The usual reasons: public responsibility, liability, upkeep etc.
I did see some driving practices in the lot, but I think as soon as they see a group of riders,
we'll get the boot; the cumming police station is right next door so it will be swift and undignified.

We may have better luck finding private lots which need some TLC. I found some potential lots around the Gwinnett Mall area.
If you google Jeju sauna, there is a nice unused lot right next to it (Wild Bill's?). AFAIK, it is not used by them.
For example offer free lot cleanup before and after use; lot owners would love that.

Let's use the Wild Bill's parking lot for the first meet. If it doesn't work out, then we try the lot by 5593 Buford Highway NE next time.

I'm hoping to set up a decent size course and practice areas for GP-8 and Trykhana.

You guys should check with motorcycle dealerships that run MSF programs. I heard Hourglass may have some space.....I'll talk to my program manager about our facility...only problem is they're often used on weekends. I've always wanted to try as well.....as soon as my airhead is running again I'd love to give it a go!

Hourglass has acres of pavement.
Yamaha or Kawasaki in Kennesaw might be another option.
I'm up for stopping by to see whats going on. Not sure I want to get all ATGAT for dragging knee in a pk lot in August.

It tends to be busy during the weekend as well but what about the MSF campus in Alpharetta?

I scoped out a couple of spots today. The Honda Rider Ed Center in Alpharetta would be great, but I'll need to call tomorrow to see if we can get permission to use the lot while courses are not in session. There was a MSF course today and the whole lot was being used, but those courses are held about once a month.

There are two lots by Wild Bills. The one in front has tar snakes all over the place and would be terrible for motogymkhana. However the lot behind the building was quiet and had better pavement. Downside is that there are bushes and shrubs planted in the back lot so we have to be more careful with course design.

I also checked out the back lot at Lanier Technical Institute. Best pavement out of all the locations and completely empty lot, but hilly and probably furthest away for most people.

If we can use the honda center, then great. Otherwise I'll be the back lot to Wild Bills.

The Alpharetta Honda Facility is booked up. Course Schedule
The other option would be DDS facilities, some of those with road test facilities have decent lots
and they are usually not open weekends.
The Lawrenceville facility looks nice.
Cumming looks even better.