Bybee, Tennessee

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Before I get to the good stuff we need to have a short lesson in road etiquette, especially pertaining to motorcycles. When someone approaches you from the rear going significantly faster than you, you should let them pass when you get the chance. I’m not talking about excessive speeding, but only when you are going slower than the posted speed limit. This is usually only true when the car being followed has nobody else in front of them. If you are following another vehicle, than there is really no need to let the person pass you because they will just get stuck behind the car in front of you. And a comment about this situation too, if you have a long line of cars being held up behind you, you should let them all pass when you have the chance. I don’t want to sound rude or cocky, but I get VERY frustrated when I approach cars that have plenty of opportunity to pull off the road to let people pass, and they just keep going on their way. When I approach, I usually follow at a safe distance at first, then slowly work my way in to signal that I would like them to let me pass. All of this is only true if there are no passing zones along the way, as in areas of tight twisties.

I faced this situation a few times yesterday, and a couple of them were fellow bikers! I find it hard to believe that drivers don’t know what it means when a motorcyclist is less than 10 feet off your bumper, giving a high/low beam headlight flash, and maneuvering back and forth in the lane. I know the road does not belong solely to bikers, but don’t think that everyone has to go at the speed that you want to. And I do hold this standard to my driving too, I pull over when I see there are faster drivers stuck behind me. So are all drivers going to be reading this? Probably not, but the message might get across to some, it might be entertaining for some, and it helps get my frustrations out.

Ok, now on to better things that people actually care about. Yesterday was totally sick riding, sick in a good way! I don’t think there are words to describe it fully. I took a lot of winding roads most of the way, most of them wandering through the mountains and small towns. I did catch some more of the Blue Ridge Parkway, always a good time on there since it is very scenic and not much traffic. Oh and I almost forgot it is a road with awesome 45mph sweepers the whole way.

I was anticipating riding Tail of the Dragon all day! It made my day much longer to go and ride the Dragon, but it was something that had to be done. The closer I got, the more bikes I would see. I stopped at a local bike shop to get a keychain that proved I rode the Dragon, and then made my way up to Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort which sits right before the real fun starts. There were plenty of bikes sitting around, maybe 30 or 40. There were all types of bikes, anywhere from dual-sports to cruisers to sportbikes. Some guys were well-prepared for riding with full leathers, while others just had t-shirts and shorts on. Those people just make me cringe. I was running a couple hours behind schedule so I didn’t have much time to sit around and talk. There were a few people I was briefly talking to there that were just amazed that I rode my bike all the way from Oregon. I hear that there is a “wall of shame” tree at the resort, and everyone that wrecks their bike must nail a piece of their bike to this tree. I wish I could have seen it, but like I said I was behind schedule. I also met a guy about my age that rode his dual sport all the way from Louisiana. We were both a little behind schedule so we didn't have a whole lot of time to chat, but he was about my age and is a college student at the moment.

The Dragon is definitely one of the best roads you will ever ride on in your life, assuming you like tight and slow-speed twisties. The road condition is nearly perfect. And some other cool things about the road are many banked corers, lots of hills and sudden elevation changes (this makes it especially fun when you have to deal with elevation changes that are before, in the middle, or coming out of a corner), and the technical skills needed to ride fast. I think even when I was pushing pretty hard, I wasn’t able to go faster than 50mph in any “straight” section of road. I have to admit I thought I was in heaven for a little while. And I was pushing the bike pretty hard, even though I was all loaded down with luggage. I could have pushed a little harder, but I didn’t want to place anything on the wall of shame, or have to put the bike on a palette and ship it home. It was not worth the rush to be going home with injuries. I only saw 4 cops on the Dragon, and they were all stopped together right at the end. I did my friendly wave and went on my way. One local guy told me that last year the cops would hand out tickets to bikers for anything imaginable, but this year he said they are not as stict.

While I was out riding I saw a couple guys stopped by the road, and one of them was in the ditch holding his bike up. I stopped to make sure he was ok, and I think the only thing severely injured was his ego. I think his bike was rashed up, but he was still able to ride it home. He wasn’t sure what happened, but I think he was pushing very hard and either his front tire washed out on him or he low-sided. He had full leather on, and it looked like it did its job perfectly.

Yesterday I dropped my helmet again, I was pretty irritated. I left my helmet on the ground for a few minutes, and when I picked it up there was a huge spider in it! I freaked out and managed to drop my helmet on the asphalt in the process. It chipped the paint nicely too.

Oh, and I almost hit a deer last night, how could I forget that? I was getting to Ray and Sylvia’s house when it was almost dark out, and I hate riding at this time of night if I can help it. But last night I couldn’t do anything about it. I saw one jump right in front of me while I was going 55mph, and did not have any time to do anything. Then I look right behind him and there is another deer just getting ready to dart across the road too. I managed to drive right between the 2 deer! I was shaken up a little, my body almost weak from the thoughts of what could have happened. And then all kinds of thoughts cross your mind. The first is usually thanking the Lord for watching out for you. Others include me not being in cell phone reception at the time, nobody knowing where I was, the doubt of someone finding me to help, me getting seriously injured or killed, and the list goes on and on. But I came out ok, and that is all that matters.

Unfortunately I will not be going back to the Dragon today, like I originally planned. There are a couple reasons for this. First it is almost 2 hours from here just to drive over there. And second I have this feeling that if I go back, I will want to push the bike even harder and that could lead to disaster. I better stick with my feelings, and just let it go. Instead I am going to head into town to grab a coffee, and do a loop of about 100 miles today. I think it will be on some pretty nice roads, from what I see on the map. Road conditions and pavement conditions are always hard to see on a map though. But it should be a scenic tour.

…(continued from previous text, post-ride)…

I just got home from a local ride today. I had to make a change of plans, because the road that I thought was paved ended up being gravel. But it all worked out, and was still a great ride. There was a stretch of about 10 miles with AWESOME curves. It was barely behind the Dragon as far as the overall experience, but had sections that were even more technical than the Dragon. The further out that I went the more debris that was on the road, but overall it was still nice road. I found myself getting tired from pushing the bike through all the tight corners. Some of the corners were so tight that I was somewhat bogging the bike in first gear just to make the turn. Where the road turned to gravel was where the road intersected the Appalachian Trail. I took advantage of that and parked my bike right on the trail. Now I can say that the bike rode on part of the AT! But as I was pulling out of the photo shoot, a park ranger drove by. I thought for sure he was going to ask me why my bike was parked up there, but he just kept going. I was leaving right away so I followed behind him for a while, VERY SLOWLY! I don’t know if that is just how this guy drives or what, but it was excessively slow. Finally he let me pass and I went on my way. The posted speed limit on the road was 30mph, and there were rarely times I would even hit 50mph.

I stopped for lunch at a huge whitewater rafting location. There was a little café there, and I was able to sit outside and enjoy the weather. Which brings me to my next topic of discussion. It is decently humid here, and pretty hot. Basically anywhere I stop where I am in the sun I start sweating, even while I am just standing there. I think the Midwest will be worse, so I have to remind myself that this is just warming me up for what is to come.

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Photos

BRP
View from the parkway

Highest point in the BRP
Yep, I was there.

Scott
A guy I met at Deals Gap motorcycle resort. He rode that thing all the way from Louisiana!

The dragon
...before I destroyed the dragon

parking lot
at Deals Gap motorcycle resort

view
from the end of the dragon

this is what makes me happy
I jump for joy whenever I see a sign like this! This was on my day trip today.

AT
I even rode my bike on the AT!