| Author | Message | ||
     Whodom |
Well, it's been a busy fall for me which has kept my riding down to local jaunts. I had planned a big trip to Black Mountain, NC for Labor Day weekend but gave that up for an extra work assignment and a chance to make some needed extra money. Winter's coming fast (even here in SC) so I had been hoping to get one ride in to the mountains before really cold weather sets in. I sent around an e-mail to the motorcyclists I know at work but everybody else had commitments. One guy that used to work with me that now lives in Atlanta was interested. Twisties in South Carolina are few and extremely far between. I can count the decent curves within 50 miles of my house on one hand. Now in the upstate of SC, there are a few good roads, but the closest is about 220 miles away. A really good road is Highway 276 up through Caesar's Head State Park.  Caesar's Head is named for a rock formation in the area protruding rom a sheer cliff. You can make a good loop by taking 276 up from SC into NC and onto Brevard, NC, which is a nice little college town and a good place to take a break and eat. From there, you take 64 west to 178. 178 leads back south into SC with the best twisties that I know of in the whole state. So, with one person lined up to meet me for the ride, I get stuff together Friday night for an early Saturday departure. It's a chilly (~39 degrees F) Saturday morning and the bike's loaded. I've got long johns on, jeans, long sleeve shirt, insulated riding pants, winter jacket with liner and an extra liner, balaclava on under the helmet, and my Widder heated gloves.  Four hours later at 11 AM I meet up with John.  I meet my friend John at a gas station/convenience store near the Highway 276/highway 11 intersection. Highway 11 is the Cherokee Foothills Scenic Highway, which is a nice ride, but not much for twisties. 276 twists, turns, and climbs up the mountain at Caesar's Head and there are a couple of VERY short passing sections. Unfortunately traffic was really heavy (late season leaf watchers I guess) so the run up the mountain was less than satisfying. Only one other bike was there in the parking lot with us, but we saw more later.  At the top, the view (as usual) was unbelievable. You can see a LOT of upstate SC from the overlook.  Here's a pretty good pick of Caesar himself:  and here's a shot of me:  and my friend John:  We headed on up to Brevard, got there about 12:30 PM and had a decent lunch at a local drive-in/eatery. Then we headed out highway 64 and over to 178.  Luckily we only had one car in front of us when we got close to the twisties and we were able to get around him (safely and legally) before we got to the serious twisties. Man, I really need some more time on this road. It's got some really good turns on it as well as a couple of serious butt-clinchers. One is a sudden hard left dipping down onto a NARROW bridge with concrete sides followed by an immediate and very hard right. I've ridden this road twice and that one snuck up on me both times. We only saw a couple of other bikes- a Gixxer taking a break and a guy on a V-strom who looked like he was burning the road up pretty well on his way up the mountain. After about 15 minutes of serious twisties the curves eased off a little and luckily for us, we backed off and we more-or-less taking it easy on the following straight. I say lucky because a SC Highway Patrolman was keeping a watchful eye on us from his Chevy Camaro patrol car. Luckily he must have decided we were going slow enough not to bother. We ran up on an unexpected detour which put us back on Highway 11 a couple of miles west of where we expected in Sunset, SC. We took a break here.  I'd have loved to have made a few more runs but I had a LONG ride home to look forward to. John and I headed west on Highway 11; he followed it to I-85 and then west to Atlanta. I turned off on 133 and followed a bunch of backroads through some neat, old little towns in upper SC. I took a break for some gas and a snack as I approached the interstate near Fountain Inn, SC.  Note to self- Avoid parking in obviously oily/greasy parking spaces. I was careful not to drop the bike after this but the front tire was slick as eel-poo leaving the parking lot. Finally, about 7 PM I roll into my driveway.  The odometer shows my mileage for the day, which is about 200 miles more than my previous record:  I was a tired puppy Saturday night. The bike (as usual) never missed a beat and averaged about 50 MPG. I did OK but I definitely need a seat upgrade for this kind of long-distance riding. The only other thing that bothered me was my throttle wrist which was aching like a bad tooth ache for about the last hour. A throttle lock would help that. Hopefully, the next time I can make it an overnight trip which would have been much better- more time to ride the twisties and more time to recoup from the 220 mile trip up there. If any of you are ever in upstate SC, these are some great roads to try. Hugh (Message edited by whodom on November 13, 2005) (Message edited by whodom on November 13, 2005) | ||
| Bigdaddy |
Hugh, Thanks for the ride report -- good stuff! Next time you're going that route let me know and I'll do my very best to join up. I'm located 20+/- miles north of Gastonia and consider the everything west of Shelby my personal playground :-) G2 | ||
| Whodom |
Will do Greg. I thought about posting here and trying to get some other BadWebbers together but I figured it was too short a notice for a group effort. I know we have at least one Badwebber that lives in Greenville. Maybe we can have a Badweb weekend in the area some warm weekend this winter. | ||
| Bigdaddy |
Hugh, Sounds like a good time. I only work a couple of days per week,,,but it's always the weekends :-( There's 3 Badweber's in my house that'll go :-) G2 | ||
| Dave |
Good pictures and nice ride report Hugh. My brother, Dad, and I met you in Dahlonega, Ga this last spring during the Buell demo @ TWO. I was on the '99 Nuked Demon S3. DAve | ||
| Whodom |
Hey Dave, Thanks for the compliments. It was nice meeting you in Dahlonega. Hope to see you at March Badness again this year. Hugh | ||
| Jb2 |
Whodom, SC178 is one of may all time favorite roads. I had a good friend slide sideways through that bridge when he hit the apex too fast. He came out the other end okay but we had to pry the seat loose from his ••• when we stopped. Did you stop at Bob's Place or drive past it? There's an awesome waterfall about two miles from Bob's called Twin Falls. A nice 60 footer that falls onto a set of sliding rocks. Great pics and story. JB2 (Message edited by jb2 on November 15, 2005) | ||
| Whodom |
JB2, That is one cool road. That dropping hard left/narrow bridge/climbing hard right will definitely cause you to damage the vinyl on your seat. Thanks for the info on the waterfalls. We didn't stop anywhere; sure wish I had had the time. I definitely plan to spend a full couple of days up there some time next year. Hugh | ||
| Orion1 |
Hugh, Let me know the next time you head into WNC. I'm near Asheville and ride 215 and 178 a lot. By the way, I too and a Mech Engineer born in '56! |
