| Author | Message | ||
     Bigbird |
Going to Deal's Gap on Memorial Day and Labor Day has become a tradition for me. Since I started working in the motorcycle business having two days off in a row has become scarce, but having 3 days off in a row usually only happens twice a year. 3 days happens to be the minimum amount of time required for me to get to Deal's Gap, have a good solid day of riding, and still have enough time to get home and get ready for the upcoming work week. But this Memorial Day weekend was even more special than others. In conjunction with our local BRAG club we put together a 4 day trip, and when the Cleveland BRAG chapter learned about it they decided to go too. 4 of us left from Centennial Park Harley-Davidson/Buell on Saturday morning May 29th at about 8:00. There was 1 XB9S, 1 XB9R, 1 S3T, and 1 Honda RC51. Our ride down was uneventful, the weather was on the warm side but still pretty good, and we covered the 450-mile trip to our Hotel (Fontana Village) in about 8 hours including two sit-down meals. Even though we rode the Dragon on our way to the hotel I didn't get to really enjoy it because my XB was pretty loaded down. In addition to my personal effects I was carrying a pretty substantial amount of tools, fluids, a couple of spare drive belts, tire repair tools, an air compressor, and a few other odds & ends. Of course it turns out the only thing we used from my road repair kit was a quart of oil, but it's better to be safe than sorry. Once we were at the hotel we quickly checked in, unloaded, and headed back to the Dragon. I'm sure most of you know what the Dragon is at this point, but for those of you who have never been there it would be tough to imagine just how perfect this area is for motorcycle riding. Aside from the over-advertised "318 curves in 11 miles" stuff you should know that the pavement is nearly perfect and almost always devoid of gravel and garbage, there are no driveways for the entire 11 mile length, the scenery in the area is incredible (even though you won't have time to notice when you are riding the dragon), and the people and businesses are very motorcycle-friendly. Aside from the dragon almost every other road in the area is an incredible ride. In my opinion riding at the dragon is more fun than a track day, costs less, and doesn't require safety wiring  As for the scenery, having seen 47 states and most of Canada so far in my 2 & 4 wheel travels I haven't found many places that equal or exceed all that the Smoky Mountains have to offer. Once I arrived back at Deal's Gap with an unloaded bike I was ready to reacquaint myself with the Dragon. As I pulled in to the gas station I saw Jason and the gang from Cleveland. We talked briefly and decided we would all meet later for dinner. My brother in-law Tony (RC51 rider) decided to ride the dragon with me. Although I've been there several times before it is nearly impossible to memorize all of the curves, and having been almost 9 months since I'd been there I started off cautiously. Tony was also interested in a controlled pace since he'd never been there before. In fact none of the 11 people who ultimately showed up for this trip had ever been to the area before. So we ran the Dragon a couple of times at a moderate pace and decided to try to find everyone for dinner because it was starting to get dark. Fontana Village was having a Barbecue that evening, and that was where we found the Cleveland gang for dinner. Unfortunately we were late and they were done barbecuing. So we went back to the inn to catch dinner at the restaurant. Unfortunately they were done serving also. With the only other dinner choice being some chips from a vending machine we decided we'd have to ride somewhere to get dinner, even as tired as we already were. We rode 30 miles to Robbinsville and ate at Sweetwater barbecue. It was good but I was so tired I almost didn't want to eat. We finished dinner and rode the 30 miles back to the hotel. Having logged 600 miles in a little over 12 hours on that cinder block Buell calls a seat I was so worn out when we got back to the hotel I was more than ready for bed. However as I was peeling off my riding gear everyone showed up at my hotel room and we wound up discussing the next day's riding plans and telling lies until about midnight. As soon as everyone left I'm pretty sure I was asleep before I even hit the bed. The next morning we met the group for breakfast. "The group" had grown quite a bit. In addition to the 4 of us who rode down together there were 2 more members of our BRAG group who showed up as well as a 3rd non-member who came down with them. That brought the total to 11 people including the Cleveland gang.  After breakfast we all agreed to meet at the gas station at Deal's Gap. It had been raining that morning and the weathermen were originally predicting rain the entire day. While we were having breakfast they changed the forecast to say we would have a few nice hours in the afternoon before the rain came back. We met at the gas station to work out our game plan.   We decided we would go ride the Cherohala Skyway while the dragon was drying out from the morning's rain. Out of the 11 people in the group there were 9 Buells, 1 RC51, and 1 Victory cruiser. We left and met up with everyone shortly before we got on the Skyway.  Once we got on the skyway we had a tendency to separate out a little. A few of us were running fairly fast up front, but every so often at one of the turnouts we'd pull over and wait for everyone to catch up.  It was quite foggy up there at 5200 feet. The pictures don't really show how poor the visibility was. Here comes Stu...  Here comes Jason...  And then it happened. Jason pulled in to the turnout we were stopped at, and at first I thought it was the fog. But then I smelled the burning oil.  By his own admittance Jason's bike has lived a colorful but rigorous life. Apparently it was telling him it wasn't very happy with his choice of riding style that day. He decided he would coast back down the mountain and pull off to wait for his buddies to finish their ride with us. At that point they would get their truck and pick him up. Onward we went. Once we dropped a few hundred feet in elevation we were able to get some occasional glimpses of the scenery   As we continued on towards Tellico Plains we dropped down to about 3000 feet in elevation. The weather was noticeably hotter and sunnier. Just by chance at one of the pull-offs we managed to do a completely unplanned, unrehearsed orchestrated parking job. I thought it made a nice pic:  We finished the ride to Tellico Plains and grabbed a nice but mediocre lunch at a place called "Bistro" if memory serves. I'd give it a solid 8 for atmosphere and ambience, and a shaky 5 for the food. I might have scored them a 9 if their guitar player/singer dude had quit assaulting us when he originally said he was going to. Instead when we sat down he felt as though he had to play us a few songs. I like live music, but in order to enjoy live music it must be 1) live, and 2) music! After lunch we decided to go back the way we came. The fog had lifted yet a little more and I was able to get a couple of higher altitude pictures.   We made our way back and a few of us hit the dragon for a while. Others went back to the Hotel. The weathermen lied. Gee, imagine that! The weather stayed nearly perfect all day and evening, and we didn't see any rain until the middle of the night. After riding the dragon until we were completely worn out we went back to the hotel for dinner. We attempted to put our riding gear in the room but the electronic key thingamajig wouldn't accept either of the room keys. No matter what we did we just couldn't get in. We decided to deal with it after a quick dinner. When we got to the registration building the lady called the maintenance guy to go look at our door. His master key wouldn't work either so he started "brainstorming" with his partner in crime to try to figure out how to get in. There was no adjoining room and when he asked us if the sliding glass door was locked he looked at us pretty strangely when we said "yes". It was as if he couldn't understand why a door would be locked in the first place. Then he suggested that we just go stay in another room and they would figure out how to get us in the next day. Obviously that was unacceptable so ultimately they wound up taking a crow bar to the sliding glass door. Once we were in the room they decided that was good enough and told us another maintenance guy would fix the door the next day. So I took the door apart to see if I could fix it that night, only to find that some of the electronic contacts that read the key were broken off inside. The next day the head maintenance guru replaced the whole assembly. The Next day (Memorial Day) we were back to the original 4 who had ridden down together. Everyone else had to go back home, and once again it was raining. In fact over breakfast one family was telling us that they had camped nearby the night before, and a couple of people who were camping next to them had been lifted off the ground in their tent by the winds (or tornado, I never found out what it really was). I was so worn out from riding I had slept right through everything but a single clap of thunder. Once again the weather people were predicting a good solid day of rain, but we decided we were going to ride anyway. Sometime shortly after 11:00 we were getting ready to leave in the rain when all of the sudden the sun appeared. We took advantage of it and got under way. We decided to do a loop up through Cherokee NC, Gatlinburg TN, Down the Foothills Parkway, and finally back to the Dragon. On the way to Gatlinburg we went up to Clingman's Dome. I believe this is the 2nd highest mountain east of the Mississippi, rising just a hair over 6600 feet. The parking area is at about 6300 feet.     The ride up was very slow but worthwhile. The wind was howling and as the air was being forced up the mountain it was cooling and condensing the moisture into clouds. Sort of a rainmaker in action, which is something us Ohio folk don't get to see very often.    Here is a picture of the walkway going to the top of the mountain:  I didn't walk the path because to me vacation means lots of fatty food and as little exercise as possible. In fact by this point in the trip simply breathing and regulating heartbeat was about all the exercise I needed. There were also some interesting rocks with trees growing out of them:  The mountain atmosphere up there is really tough to describe. One can look out over the landscape and see that it is often a brutal and harsh climate, and many of the trees have some fairly tortured shapes from the wind. Yet at the same time there is something eerily peaceful about being up there. It was cold and windy but I could have stayed there all day. The only thing that could have made it any better would have been for all of the noisy yapping people who were completely oblivious to these incredible surroundings to just go away. At about this point my brother in-law Tony (who happens to be several years my junior) was buckling under the weight of my hectic pace and seemingly boundless energy He checked in to the Iron Butt Motel for a little snooze.  As much as I hated to leave We finally left Clingman's dome and stopped just below the 6000 foot mark for a few pictures.   Although I am probably the world's worst photographer I do like to experiment from time to time. On the way down the mountain I found a spot that looked like it would make a good backdrop for a couple of bike pictures. I wasn't disappointed.     At the Tennessee/North Carolina border I shot a couple more pics.   From there we went into Gatlinburg. It was the mental equivalent of being shocked with a cattle prod. After 2 long days of mountains, seemingly endless pavement, and utter peace we found ourselves in the middle of chaos. Gatlinburg is a mess. Too many people, too many tourist traps, lots of useless junk for sale all over the place. We stopped for lunch and before we could even get seated everyone was asking how quickly we could get back into the mountains. I couldn't have agreed more, and as soon as we were done eating we got the hell out of there. We stopped for gas in Pigeon Forge (another tourist trap) and Mike found himself a new bike to ride.  From there we went back into the mountains. We rode as much of the Foothills Parkway as we could before it was detoured onto some back roads, which were still quite beautiful. Those back roads ended at route 129 just before the start of the Dragon. Once we were there Stu and Mike rode to the gas station at Deal's Gap, and Tony and I went out on the dragon to shoot some pictures. I won't bore you with all of them, but here are a couple of each of us:     We met up with them again at the gas station when we were done only to find that we were basically the only ones left besides a stray dog. At this point it occurred to me that the weathermen had lied yet again. Once the rain quit we had another nearly perfect day.    Reality was setting in. The trip was almost over, and soon I'd be trading the mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina for the hills of Southeast Ohio. Mile after mile of beautiful scenery and exploration would soon be traded for work and responsibility. Attempting to avoid thinking about all of these things too much I climbed back on the bike and headed for the hotel. After packing everything up I got a few hours sleep in preparation for the 450 mile trek home the next day. We checked out of the hotel and departed at about 9:00 under beautifully sunny skies and cool temperatures. After a short souvenir stop at Deal's Gap we rode the dragon for the last time and left the mountains for good. The trip home was relatively uneventful. We had a little rain in northern Kentucky, and once we reached Cincinnati Stu and Mike continued towards Columbus while Tony and I stopped for a Pizza, which turned out to be excellent. Shortly after leaving Cincinnati we got caught in a cold 50-something degree rain which stuck with me for the remaining 125 miles home. 3.5 days, 1390 miles. A great trip on a great bike. Thanks Erik. My arse is broken. Try to design a better seat next time. P.S. For those of you who have never been but are considering a trip to Deal's Gap and/or the smoky mountains do us all a favor. Tread lightly, don't upset the locals, and try to keep the area the fantastic, motorcycle-friendly place it is today. edited by bigbird on June 05, 2004 | ||
| Jerry_haughton |
wow, what an awesome ride report and killer photography! nicely, nicely done Bigbird!!! i was lucky enough to ride the Dragon-Cherahola Skyway-BRP-Wayah Bald area exactly once, and your excellent words and photos took me right back. THANK YOU!  FB | ||
| Blake |
Awesome tale bird! THANKS!!! Brought back some real good memories. I remember the hike up to Clingman's dome well. Great workout. | ||
| X1m511 |
Bigbird,my wife is a creative memories consultant,she said that you did some great journaling , I have to agree. Great job.the best pictures have that x1m in them, just kidding. | ||
| Turnagain |
Gregg, Thanks for the trip! I've only been there once, but that place has a way of working itself into your psyche. I've recently gotten cabled up, thanks to work and my hope is to eventually telecommute. Then things should open up as to being able to relocate, as long as there's cable access. So now I'm thinkin'..... thanks for your time you put into the write-up & pics, Steve(2) | ||
| Noface |
Looks like the folks that run COT have added on since I been there last fall. Is that a pavillion, or did they make the store bigger? Great pics dude. I stayed at the KOA in Tellico last time I went. That Skyway is sweeper capital of the world for sure. Did you notice your bikes had a little less power up in those mountains? Or maybe it was just me wringin' the snot out of my XB. Great report and a nice read. Jody S. | ||
| Bigbird |
my wife is a creative memories consultant,she said that you did some great journaling Thanks for the compliment! I just tell the story like I experience it. I take lots of pictures and don't write anything down until I get home and write the story. The pictures are usually all I need to bring back the details of each day. Then things should open up as to being able to relocate, as long as there's cable access. So now I'm thinkin'..... You BASTAGE! Did you notice your bikes had a little less power up in those mountains? Or maybe it was just me wringin' the snot out of my XB. As air density drops so does the volumetric efficiency of a piston engine. Explained in english it basically means that because there is less air at higher altitudes a piston engine creates less power. But the fuel mileage gets better. | ||
| Xb9er |
After 2 long days of mountains, seemingly endless pavement, and utter peace we found ourselves in the middle of chaos. Gatlinburg is a mess. Too many people, too many tourist traps, lots of useless junk for sale all over the place. Bigbird forgot to mention the asinine drivers that we encountered on the Gatlinburg trip.  Even that only dampened our spirits briefly because we knew twisties could be reached only a short distance in any direction. The Deal's Gap trip was a great learning experience for me and during one of our discussions we all agreed that we came away better riders from the trip. It was amazing that even the side roads leading to the Buell roads were much twistier than anything I've seen here in Ohio. One detour we took had a section more suitable for SuperMoto bikes but the XB's handled it well, I thought. On my return to the Columbus area, just as I waved goodbye to Stu at I-270 and I-71 and only about 18 miles from home, a severe thunderstorm hit. The storm was accompanied by a strong wind from west to east which blew me across from the left half of the center lane to the white stripes and almost into the right lane three times. Traffic was very heavy as all this happened at about 5:30 on Tuesday afternoon. I managed to ride off to the right side of the interstate where I stopped and put on my rainsuit jacket over my leathers. The leather pants were already soaked and I didn't feel like standing there much longer so I started the bike and had to work my way across three lanes in order to make the left hand exit onto I-70 westbound. The storm was starting to weaken but heading west into the still strong wind was lots easier than getting blasted from the side. I was truly impressed with the wet traction of my Sportec M-1's as I had to accelerate from the side of the road to the prevailing traffic speed (about 60 mph) very quickly. Then I had to brake and accelerate to get around a couple of cars as I crossed over to the leftmost lane in a very short distance. I had to do all this riding through water flowing in sheets across the pavement. I have come to the conclusion that the engineer who laid out the Tail of the Dragon was also an artist. That 11 miles of pavement winds like a series of brushstrokes on a canvas carved out by geologic forces a few hundred million years ago. Can't wait to go to Deal's Gap again!! Mike. | ||
| Xb9er |
Noface. The owner of C.O.T. told us they are adding on a restaurant. The carpenters were working as we made one last stop before leaving on Tuesday morning. It's quite a large building and looks like there will be plenty of seating. From what I could see on the inside, it seems like it will be kind of a cafeteria style place. Mike. | ||
| Jb2 |
Bigbird, Great report! It's always a treat to see it again through someone else's eyes. I've called this my riding home for over 30 years and made my 12the consecutive Memorial Day trip this past weekend. Wished I knew you guys were going to be there.http://www.photoreflect.com/scripts/prsm.dll?eventorder?photo=04RK002M0J0171&sta rt=0&album=0&adjust=-1 You posed an interesting footnote regarding the locals and their attitude towards motorcyclists. The first time I ran "the road" Deal's Gap was a motel with a gas station/bait shop. When Pete and Doris started catering to bikers it's popularity grew by leaps and bounds. Sad part is some of the locals aren't real enthused about the two wheeled invasion there. We usually avoid the the Backbone on the busiest days but we had a new rider in tow and went against our better judgment. We saw numerous bikes across the centerline and several fingers displayed by locals who were passed on double yellows. It's hard to confine the human spirit to laws of the road when you're riding a piece of tarmac like the Dragon but the truth is locals have already had their fill and your advise rings true. There was a woman on a FLHT who went down just past the state line and the call was on Marysville, TN. They had several emergencies in progress and would NOT dispatch one of the only remaining ambulances to the crash(35 miles away). I believe she was on the side on the road for nearly two hours before emergency services arrived. Your observation has me thinking maybe I'll start limiting my riding there to "off times". Glad your crew made it home safe, ours did too.  Ride Safe, JB2 |
