1st Time Riding "The Tail of The Dragon" Deals Gap,NC

This past Friday I had some business in the mountains of NC, so I decided to ride the NT. I finished up work with plenty of time left to play. I met up with a group of cruiser guys from GA and they asked me if I wanted to join up with them and ride "The Dragon". I have always wanted to ride it and this was the perfect opportunity.

The sky was overcast and was a little chilly in the morning. Once we arrived at the Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort, the temps had risen to the low 80's.

On the ride up I rode very conservatively, being my 1st time on the (in)famous stretch of road. The ride down was a little more spirited.

It looks like you had a good time! With the way some people ride the Dragon, you make a good choice when you decide to ride it fairy conservatively.

When I rode the Dragon on Wednesday I thought I was riding aggressively until a guy on a Honda Grom blew by me. Those little guys look like a lot of fun.

Thanks Phil, it was a blast. I plan on taking my wife back in a couple of weeks (10/9). We will probably take my Triumph Bonneville. I just installed some new shocks/fork springs and I am dying to try them out.

The weekend after that, I am going for my 1st Iron butt(SS1k). I will definitely use the NT for that.

Warren said:

When I rode the Dragon on Wednesday I thought I was riding aggressively until a guy on a Honda Grom blew by me. Those little guys look like a lot of fun.

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I thought I was riding fairly aggressive on the way down, but the group I was riding with was already taking helmets off by the time I got back to DGMR.

That being said, I was determined to not "run out of talent"

that's great! The pictures are good too.....makes me jealous.....This is on my "to do" list for next year...thanks for sharing.

It is always best to keep some in reserve to make sure body and bike get home in one piece. Since I was riding solo I was keenly aware if I messed up I was a long way from home so I made sure to ride well within my limits.

Someone told me "don't ride any faster than you can think".

swingshiftssuck said:

that's great! The pictures are good too.....makes me jealous.....This is on my "to do" list for next year...thanks for sharing.

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The pics are really good. There is a company (www.129photos.com) that is posted in 3-4 spots on the road. They photograph every bike, car, truck, etc that goes by. You can go to their site and see a minute by minute view of everything that has been on the road. I bought the right to 3 of the pictures. They were $10 a piece, but as you can see they are great photos.

$10 a picture for something like that is a deal. Enjoy them.

Terry

That place can be a real zoo on weekends.

I rode it 4 times in 2 yrs!! fun, but elevation change is not that great, but curves and some tight ones are good. its just promoted real well now. I have crotch rockets pass me at times. the pro shots are real good. I bought some too. if you thought you saw same photographer at 4 different spots, probably was different ones. the 1st and biggest was killboy, and now I just can't remember who else, but I counted 4 different ones on my ride. just search tail of dragon photos, you'll get them. and 1 pro shot is now my avatar

I think Tail is a route too hyped. I enjoy 209 out of Maggie Valley, it was fun on a Saturday. I just looked for a route to Beaver, WV for the night and took 209 to I-80 to 16 (Back of the Dragon) and then to Beaver. Had to take interstate for part due to time spend at Wheels, to beat darkness. I did not count the curves, but there were many. Yes I did get a little lost but that is the fun of riding.
http://rideplanner.harley-davidson.com/rideplanner/road.jsp?roadId=755265&locale=en_US

i enjoyed taking the "Little River Road" out of Townsend TN. Its also called scenic Route 73. it goes through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park and eventually runs into US 441 that will take you to the Blue ridge Parkway. Its really a peaceful road that follows a river. To many tourists to make it a go fast road but it could not be more tranquil.

There are 4 different companies that take photos along that stretch of road Killboy, us129photos, 129slayer, and moonshinephoto.photoreflect. But Killboy was the original and usually has multiple spots along the road when it's busy. I've lost count of how many times I've ridden through there. I sometimes even go ride through deals gap on weeknights after work.
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Will. Wet road with leaves ? Looks like fun. I am sure you did not see many vehicles on the Dragon that day. Are there any conditions you will not ride in ? I guess to get over 100K in as short a time as you did means you can't just be a fair weather rider.

junglejim said:

Someone told me "don't ride any faster than you can think".

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That being the case, I would have to walk.

Warren said:

Will. Wet road with leaves ? Looks like fun. I am sure you did not see many vehicles on the Dragon that day. Are there any conditions you will not ride in ? I guess to get over 100K in as short a time as you did means you can't just be a fair weather rider.

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The only general conditions I don't ride in are ice and snow on the roads because It is usually so rare of a condition to occur or last more than a day in Knoxville, TN. That I don't get time to practice in those conditions in a controlled environment such as a parking lot. But I would also probably not try to ride through a tornado. That photo I posted at the Deals gap Resort was from a rare Novembner 1, 2014 snowfall. Here's the photo I took at the actual deals gap on November 1, 2014.
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That snow was so early in the year that nearly every tree still had leaves on the tree's so the weight of the snow ontop of the leaves just snapped down tree limbs and trees.

uh oh....roadblock!!!!!!!!!!!!!