Tail of the dragon

To day I went for a ride on the tail of the dragon .Sitting in front of my computer riding every curve like I was there while my Swing frozen solid in my garage.Right Its the best that I can do till spring time.

Whats "tail of the dragon"

and go on U tube riding the tail of the dragon.Its a 11 miles stretch with 317 sharp curves. It a awsome place to ride , I would like to go there one day.

RArch wrote:

Whats "tail of the dragon"

RArch,

It is "poser" central. It is a short stretch of US-129 in Eastern TN/Western NC that traverses "Deals Gap". It's real name is Deals Gap, but those who want to show they are "in" call it the tail of the dragon. It is 11 miles in length and there are 318 curves in that short span. Now then, each minor bend in the road counts as a curve. The posted speed is 35 MPH, but as there are many hairpin curves the speed gets a good bit lower at times. It is heavily patrolled and it is quite technical at times.

Rather than link you to a video, here is a link to an official site: http://www.dealsgap.com/

Kim and I have ridden it, we live so close, but I would reccommend NC-28/GA-28/SC-28 as a much better ride. First it is every bit as curvy just spread out over a longer distance and you can take a breath and see some sites as you ride. Deals Gap requires full attention to the ride and there are few guard rails. It is a fun ride, but over quick and covered with way too many wannabe's.

I'll second what Dale said - NC 28 is a much nicer road than the Dragon.

Also, the Cherohola Skyway (NC 143) is another fantastic road in the area. When I was there last summer, the pavement was in fantastic condition and you could fly through it.

The Cherohala Skyway is one of the really great roads in that area and is such a well maintained road that it invites motorized exuberance, although be cautious as it is also fairly well patrolled.

At this point in time it is closed to traffic going all the way through due to a landslide: http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2013/jan/17/landslide-closes-cherohala-skyway-between-nc-and/

Cherohala Website: http://cherohala.org/

The Cherohala Skyway has been reopened to traffic.

http://www.cherohala.com/

I'd expect a delay at the slide location. I'm not sure how they did the work around, just glad that road is open again.

Nice shot of the damaged road, albeit rather cropped.

I ride through that area, and have never taken great pains to go do the Tail of the Dragon. Did it years ago in a car, before it got all trendy and poser infetsed. My last trip, I thoight about it, but instead, got up before sunrise, and went into the Smokey mountains park on the the other side (in NC), and went to see the elk herd. It was incredible.

I rode the rest of the way down to georgia with an elk noseprint on the upper right corner of my SWing's windshield!!!!!! I was surrounded by a herd of them. The only other people there all dove into their car when the herd started moving in. I, being on the scooter had nowhere to go. Elk are REALLY BIG close up!

I also ride in the mountains of North Georgia, a bit south of the Smokeys area being discussed. My best ride ever (most technical) was a back road leading up to Blood Mountain, which is part of the Appalachian Trail. I highly recommend that area of North GA for riding!!!!

I rode the Tail of The Dragon a few years ago with my Burgman 400....and it cost me over $1200.00 in repairs...it was not the Dragon that caused the problem, only my inability to replace a belt properly (which caused a complete engine top end rebuild).

There is a tree at the beginning of the Dragon called The tree of Shame were there are parts of motorcycles that the Dragon has consumed over the years..I have A FEW PARTS THERE MYSELF.

There are also a couple of spots were there are professional photographers who will take your picture while you are on a curve (looking cool), and you can go on the Dragon site and purchase the photos...pretty cool to do once. You do not have to ask for them to take the photos, they take the picture of every bike that goes through.

If you have never been there it is worth the trip. I will say there are some comparable roads in one of my favorite states to ride in,Kentucky. The picture here was taken on one of our rides on the Dragon. Howard

I rode it early on a Friday morning back in June of 2011. I took it slow and easy and went up hill to Deals Gap. A suggestion from my husband Bob, and Dale from this forum. I only had been riding less than 6 months.

I enjoyed it like many of the roads in that part of the country. I wouldn't go near it on a weekend that's for sure. Lot of other roads less crowded and just as nice if not nicer.

Cathyn is correct... on the weekends you MUST watch out for those crotch-rockets that want to take the turns at top speeds, that will cause them to be (at times) right in front of you in your lane.
I find the very best ride to be the Blue Ridge Parkway.