Adhoc ride in the middle of the week to Tail of the Dragon and Skyway
Riders : Nivin | Behram
Days : 2
You can never go wrong with Tail of the Dragon! 900 miles - 2 days
We started with all back roads from Chapel Hill to Fontana Lodge. Nivin had some awesome back roads and all without any kind of GPS. It was my first time on TN 212 and that road was amazing. Due to my last minute reservations, Nivin ended up staying at Deals Gap vs me at Fontana. We had an amazing dinner at Fontana though it was extremely busy
Day 2 - Behram
Next day I left early 5:15am to meet Nivin. He needed a little more time so I ended up leaving for the Dragon and then to Skyway. Took the legendry picture at Tree Of Shame and the Dragon. Did entire loop and headed back home since I had to be home before 4pm. Nivin had his own share of fun at the Dragon and then took all backroads back home.
Day 2 - Nivin
Day 2, morning was cold and dark up in the mountains. Tired from 10hr riding yesterday wanted to start late and sleep in. But behram was already up and running. He really wanted to do the skyway loop and leave early to make it home before 4. My plan for now was enjoy the morning in front of the deals gap motel. Fun to see the serene peaceful morning, fog filled base of dragon waiting for the first motor head to arrive. You can see all the local flying by, commuting for their work. Fascinated at the speed these guys carry through there. After all packed up and checked out, headed out to make passes at the gap before the tourists arrive. Made couple passes also made sure I got good video recording this time. Getting closer to noon, decided was not that tired and going to do back roads till Winston Salem and then slab home. That’s another 8hr trip at least. Aim was to avoid the freeway through Asheville and other high traffic area at noon time when temps touch 95. Plan was to climb upto high altitude in the mountains where it’s not only fun twisty but also much cooler. Started with a great climb up the rattler, so much better to ride it up the mountain. Being old school I just look up maps plot a route in mind and go. Unfortunately if I miss a turn or the road is blocked then the whole route falls apart. That’s exactly what happened, the road which looked excellent and squiggly on google Maps was 197 which cuts right across mount Mitchell and put me closer to climb to roan mountain. But it started as newly paved wide amazing road and then abruptly stops and turns into full gravel road. The locals said that part is at least 15 miles long and very technical and treacherous to take the 600 lb busa. Turned around and from there started the “man syndrome” I won’t look at maps, or ask direction or use GPS when riding solo like this. Kept going in the north east direction, took so many great and fantastic roads. All these unnamed unmarked but great pavement and twisty. Ended up some part through the blue ridge parkway black mountain over look and finally at little Switzerland loop. After almost 5hrs of back road fun I started the decent down south. This time plugged in home address and just cruised. By then it was already 5pm and heat wave subsided. Things didn’t go as planned as I merged way west of Winston Salem and had long slab on 40 ahead of me. Thankfully the busa eats up the highway commute like water drops on hot pan. Thankfully made that highway commute in much less time than gps predicted and without any tickets. Home by night, washed the bike and hit the bed. Looking forward for another long runner soon.
Even though we couldnt ride back together the second day, all in all it was a great trip!
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