"Nonster" (noahnic)
05/03/2016 at 11:30 • Filed to: None
8
28|
"Nonster" (noahnic)
05/03/2016 at 11:30 • Filed to: None | 8
| 28 |
There are many iconic driving roads throughout the world. If you’ve watched any Top Gear you’ve probably seen their breathtaking jaunts on roads such as the Stelvio Pass. I’ve never been there, its on my bucket list but the arrangements for such a trip are prohibitively expensive for me right now. Thankfully the Great Smoky Mountains right here in the US of A are a pretty solid breeding ground for great driving roads. One road in particular is known as the Tail of the Dragon.
Spoiler alert: I didn’t die
Full Disclosure: I grew up in Florida so my standards for fun twisty roads are pretty damn low.
The Tail of the Dragon is Route 129 right at the Tennessee-North Carolina border. All the roads in this area of the Smoky Mountains are pretty incredible, but the Dragon is the primary draw for Motorcycles and Sports cars thanks to an 11 mile stretch with 318 curves
This road is very tight and technical with some mid-speed sweepers to low-speed hairpins and everything in between and a lot of them are decreasing radius turns too. The road surface was surprisingly good and clear of debris or gravel.
So I decided what better way to break in my new-to-me SV650 than take a moto-camping trip down to Tennessee to check things out.
I packed up everything in a waterproof dufflebag, strapped it to the bike, and set off. I had to time things just right, because it was supposed to rain on Thursday in Cincinnati and on Friday in Tennessee. So I left early on Thursday to dodge the rain and so I would have plenty of riding time down there that afternoon.
Before too long I made it to the promise land...
aye there be dragons
Deal’s Gap makes a pretty good base to work out of since they have gas, a little restaurant, and lodging.
There was a nice variety of bikes and cars around and everyone was super friendly. Then you finally see the fabled Tree of Shame
It’s a slightly morbid display of the vehicular sacrifices made to feed the Dragon. A warning and reminder to ride your own ride and to stay within your limits.
A week prior I had gone on a ride with some friends on some twisty roads in northern Kentucky and I was feeling pretty confident in my riding abilities. I still have a lot to learn and still consider myself to be a motorcycle newb, but I felt that I was doing pretty good.
That got thrown out the window immediately. The first run down the Dragon was a humbling experience. This was a much more challenging road than anything I had ever experienced. The “fun” roads I had previously ridden had plenty of distance between turns to set yourself up for the next one. Here the turns are relentless and line selection was critical. To keep any kind of pace I had to adjust my brain to work out a nice smooth, continuous line through multiple corners instead of treating the curves like discrete events.
After a few reconnaissance runs at a nice easy pace I started to get a feel for the rhythm of the road and began to up the pace as my confidence grew.
I’d like to point out that I’m in full gear with one glaring exception. I’m wearing regular jeans. This is really stupid. I’m fully aware of the fact that they offer virtually no protection. This combined with the extra weight on the tail means I was usually taking pretty conservative lines and not pushing it very hard. I still think its stupid to ride such roads without real motorcycle pants.
I also took so Gopro footage and threw together this video complete with crappy electronic music backing track!
After riding the dragon several times I decided to move on to other roads. Another highly recommended road was the Cherohala Skyway. This road is simply stunning. There isn’t much scenery along the Dragon, and usually you’re too focused on the road anyway. The Cherohala goes high into the mountains and is all high-speed sweepers that climbs to around 5400 ft.
Through some of the bends it feels like you leaned over for an eternity as you wind you way through the mountains.
Unfortunately my gopro crapped out on me so I don’t have any more good images of this awesome road. Eventually after a few tanks of gas, the sun was coming down so I decided to setup camp and crack open a few beers.
Then the rain started coming down at around 9:30pm and didn’t let up all night. There was a brief reprieve the next morning which I took advantage of to pack up camp. The next part of this trip was to meet up with some friends for a cabin weekend in Gatlinburg. It was only a 2 hour ride through the scenic Smoky Mountains State Park, but the heavy rain turned what would have been a fast, fun, and enjoyable ride into a wet, cold, and nerve-wracking adventure. My rain gear did its job, but my waterproof gloves and water resistant boots proved to be anything but. The fog was thick and the roads had heavy run off which brought gravel into the equation. I’m not afraid of riding in the rain, but the full combo of rain, gravel, cold, and poor visibility made for a pretty miserable ride.
But it was still 100 times more fun than being in the office!
I made it to Gatlinburg without incident and made a b-line for the hottub in the cabin and cracked open a beer. The rest of the weekend was a great time with friends, but the solo adventure to the dragon was by far the best part.
Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
> Nonster
05/03/2016 at 11:36 |
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I have to make it to this road.
bob and john
> Nonster
05/03/2016 at 11:39 |
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I need to get there this summer...
MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
> Nonster
05/03/2016 at 11:39 |
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My uncle, cousins, and I took a road trip there on our bikes, best road trip hands down. We camped as well and it poured the first half of the day we were there. Unfortunately I laid my bike down taking a wet corner a bit fast, but it was, thankfully, mostly cosmetic damage and i was able to still ride my bike.
Hammerdown
> Nonster
05/03/2016 at 11:40 |
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One of the best motorcycle roads in the nation. Well done! Looks like a fun trip.
PS, you and I use the same tent.
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Nonster
> Hammerdown
05/03/2016 at 11:44 |
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Nice! It was my first time using that tent and it got a thorough test thanks to the heavy thunderstorm that night it i was perfectly dry and warm.
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Nonster
> MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
05/03/2016 at 11:46 |
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ouch that sucks, glad there was no serious damage to you or the bike
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Hammerdown
> Nonster
05/03/2016 at 11:47 |
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It doesn’t have much extra room in it but it packs up small. I set mine up for the first time in the rain (I don’t advise it) and was struck by how simple it is to set up.
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MasterMario - Keeper of the V8s
> Nonster
05/03/2016 at 11:53 |
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Yea, it was the weirdest crash ever though. Most of the road had dried out by that point so we were going at a decent pace, then we get to this one corner that’s still wet. I realize I’m going in a bit hot so I stand my bike up and hit my brakes to stop, well my front wheel hit an oil slick (this was the first rain they had gotten in 2-3 weeks) and proceeded to lock up, then once off the slick it grabbed like a son of a bitch (I may have still been newbish and grabbed the front brake harder when things started going south). My rear end came up and i did an endo and proceeded to fall to my side, i kind of jumped off the bike on to my feet and the bike fell on its side breaking the front fairing, peg, rear fairing, tail light, and denting the tank.
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Nonster
> bob and john
05/03/2016 at 12:00 |
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yeah you do, its soo nice when all the cars in the area just know to pull off to let the bikes through
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Nonster
> Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
05/03/2016 at 12:01 |
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then you can be Daily Drives a Dragon drove a Dragon down the Dragon
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Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
> Nonster
05/03/2016 at 12:05 |
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It’s so close. But I have a car that probably will fall on its face if confronted with a corner.
McMike
> Nonster
05/03/2016 at 12:05 |
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I found the Dragon neat, and was glad to cross it off the list of things I wanted to do. I actually liked some of the other roads we continued on afterwards that weren’t so tight.
Like this Rt 28
Dragon was too tight for me
Sounds like you had a great time.
BobintheMtns
> Nonster
05/03/2016 at 12:06 |
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Cool trip, congrats.
I used to HATE riding in the cold rain on long(er) trips... Just the whole shivering for hours... ugh... It reminded me of belaying a slow partner on some cold-ass alpine route. But then I realized that it gives you time to truly absorb and become one with your misery.. You just sort of recede into your brain, forget about your body and it’s sensations... and just motor on... I still think it sucks to ride though hours of cold rain/weather, but now I appreciate how much tougher it makes you, and I enjoy that aspect of it....
Oh, and you “slayed” this road.. not very cool of you. I’m sure there’s others that would of enjoyed riding after you... but no, you had to go and kill it... ;)
Slant6
> Nonster
05/03/2016 at 12:08 |
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I’m only like 2 hours away from it. I might bring the Dodge up for the summer and go dragoning.
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Nonster
> McMike
05/03/2016 at 12:09 |
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I liked that stretch too, but it was raining pretty heavily at the time so I wasn’t able to really enjoy that part as much
brianbrannon
> Nonster
05/03/2016 at 12:10 |
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How many Harley’s with helmet cams to record how slow they rode and not let faster riders by did you encounter?
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Nonster
> McMike
05/03/2016 at 12:11 |
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wait.......are you wearing a sleeveless, popped-collar polo?
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Nonster
> BobintheMtns
05/03/2016 at 12:15 |
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haha its got a fast respawn time so I don’t think it stayed down for long.
I get what you mean about just receding into your head and motoring on. I wanted to go on an adventure and what kind of adventure doesn’t have a little adversity?
450X_FTW
> Nonster
05/03/2016 at 12:16 |
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I bought kevlar jeeps for the street after watching a test of how well they work, They put a 150 lbs dummy in a pair of regular jeans and another in a pair of kevlar jeans. Proceeded to drag them behind a a truck for a few hundred feet and the regular was worn completely through. I bought mine for about $120 and they’re very comfortable.
As for the Tail, this was our route we do each year, makes for a great time
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Nonster
> Slant6
05/03/2016 at 12:16 |
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its fun, I was worried about it being too crowded, but since I hit it on a Thursday afternoon it was pretty quiet
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McMike
> Nonster
05/03/2016 at 12:20 |
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You say that like it’s a bad thing.
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Nonster
> 450X_FTW
05/03/2016 at 12:22 |
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So confession: I actually have a pair of Rev’it riding jeans, but I lost a good bit of weight so they’re really loose fitting now so I don’t like wearing them. I might see if I can get them tailored, but I’m just going to get some new riding jeans and/or pants soon.
I did that exact route, except I took 360 instead of 68. I really love the 143/165 section though.
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BobintheMtns
> Nonster
05/03/2016 at 12:33 |
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Haha.... I keed, I keed!
I do a lot of climbing, and I’m always hearing people say they “conquered that route” or they “conquered that mountain.” And I’m like, “that mountain will be there for a billion years after you’re dead.... but you ‘conquered’ it, huh?” I prefer to think that we didn’t do a thing to that climb or mountain, but rather, the only thing we conquered was the part of us that doubted that we could do it....
But I’m with you 100% on what you said about adventure without adversity... I think that would just be an “excursion” not an adventure.. Congrats again on a great-sounding weekend.. I’m a bit jealous as it was just cold and snowy here....
BZiel
> brianbrannon
05/03/2016 at 12:42 |
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Yeah, no kidding. That entire area has become a running joke of “trailered it up there” road cloggers dressed in their finest Sturgis t-shirts.
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Nonster
> brianbrannon
05/03/2016 at 13:03 |
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thankfully I was able to avoid getting stuck behind most of them since traffic was pretty light on the day I was there. The ones that were there seemed to be just dicking around at the General Store
Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
> Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
05/03/2016 at 15:26 |
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That makes it even more fun then!
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Daily Drives a Dragon - One Last Lap
> Wrong Wheel Drive (41%)
05/03/2016 at 15:31 |
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I don’t want to end up on the tree of shame.
Green Mountain Car Guy
> Nonster
05/07/2016 at 11:15 |
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Went through there once - but on 4 wheels! It was an awesome road and MOST of the slower people were nice enough to let us pass...but, an elderly couple in an Escape and a couple of Harley’s on the return run were not so keen to let us by. Next time I’m there though, it’ll be in something a little less wide than a Camaro!