Some 1,400 riders are expected to arrive here Friday morning as the BRAG comes for an overnight stay in Washington. Some 1,400 bicycle riders will arrive Friday morning as the 2009 Bicycle Ride Across Georgia (BRAG) comes to Washington for an overnight stay.

Live music and extended shopping hours are planned downtown to welcome the BRAG riders, said Washington-Wilkes Tourism Director Ashley Barnett. "Come downtown Friday night to welcome all of the BRAGers and their families. This is a family-oriented event, that Washington is proud to host as an overnight stop."

Most riders will be spending the night camping at the now-former high school complex, with buses running to help the visitors to town. "We will be shuttling them from the school to downtown, to the B&Bs and hotels, and out to the Kettle Creek Battleground. All the restaurants and lodging in the city are preparing for a large number of visitors Friday night," she said.

Vendor sites are available at the BRAG campground for church, youth, and civic groups. "If you would like to be a vendor at the school that Friday, you can set up for free," Barnett said. "Just call the Chamber of Commerce at 706- 678-2013, and please be set up by 10 a.m. and there until 6 p.m." In 2006, fund-raising vendors like the youth of First Methodist Church sold hot dogs, hamburgers, onion petals, and drinks to the arriving riders and reported that they cleared more than $1,000.

W-WCHS Principal Steve Echols said volunteers are preparing the Gordon Street high school complex, now being vacated, to prepare for Friday's visit. "We now have lots of empty classrooms for riders to camp in Friday night," he said, "and they really prefer air conditioned spaces rather than the gym."

During their 2006 visit, hundreds of riders slept on air mattresses and pads on the high school's gym and hallway floors. Others slept in tents and motor homes on the school grounds, and all made use of the shower facilities brought in on a semi-trailer parked by the school. Vendors of bike gear, clothes, and other useful items filled the middle school parking area.

The week-long BRAG covers 381 miles at an average of 54 miles a day. The BRAG 2009 route starts next week in Hiawassee and goes through North and Central Georgia to Clarks Hill Lake on the South Carolina border.

As before, motorcycle-mounted Wilkes County EMS units will meet riders at the county line. In 2006, riders commented on the four Wilkes County paramedics who rode the course on their personal motorcycles to be able to reach injured riders quickly. Shawn and Jeff Hackney, Tina and Bruce Bailey each covered a section of the course on their bikes.

"I was so impressed that y'all had your EMTs meet us at the county line," one rider said. "And on their own motorcycles. That's just unheard of."

"That was really top-flight professionalism on their part," said Dave, a doctor and rider from Atlanta. "None of the big counties thought to take care of us this well, and it means a lot."

Wilkes County deputies, Tignall Police, and Washington Police will provide assistance with traffic. The ride is not a race, so riders will be arriving throughout the morning, and leaving beginning early Saturday morning.

Friday's "Battle of Kettle Creek Ride" will take riders from Elberton to Washington, with visits to the Norman community, Tignall, Rayle and the Kettle Creek Battle site. "You will see the little BRAG markers painted on the route coming in from Elberton. It would be great to have all of our citizens along the route to give them a big warm welcome to Wilkes County," Barnett said.

Riders will cross into Wilkes County on Highway 17 from Elbert County and roll into Tignall at the 27-mile mark of their 63-mile Friday ride. The route will turn right in Tignall at Independence Street, and riders will have a rest stop at Independence United Methodist Church. The route will turn onto Clark's Station Road, turn left on Callaway Road. The riders will take a lunch break at Clifford Grove Baptist Church. Back on Callaway Road, the route turns right on Highway 78 for a short ride through Rayle, turning left on Philomath Road.

From Philomath Road, the route turns left onto Sherrer Road, then left again on Courtground Road. Another rest stop is planned at a home on Courtground Road. As the riders pass Warhill Road, they have the option to take a side trip to the Kettle Creek Battlefield site. From there, they will approach Washington via Stoney Ridge Rd, Gold Mine Road, then Skull Shoals Road into Washington. They riders will cross Whitehall Street onto Hospital Drive and come in the back entrance to the school.

Leaving Washington early Saturday morning, riders will depart from the front of the school, up Depot Street, east on West Robert Toombs to Poplar Drive, then to the Danburg Road. The first rest stop will be the Sandtown home of Steve and Marie Echols several miles out Danburg Road and riders will cross into Lincoln County on their way to the finish at Clarks Hill Lake.