Since wife went to Vegas....I flew to Nashville to meet up with a friend of mine to do a little riding... 3 days and over 800 miles.... my rental RGS really made me appreciate my RGS.....
Cherohala Skyway, Tail of the Dragon and Foothills..... What an epic weekend!!!
Glad you enjoyed yourself. Definitely agree with JTB on the Dragon about being overrated. Rode it a few times when I lived in the Midwest about 10 years ago.
At speed... the Cherohala is a VERY nice ride... agreed. Being this was my first time on the TOD, I liked it and pushed myself to get THE RUSH. I had 4 rockets hold me up.... unreal.... I slowed down for a few minutes and started gettin' it again.... caught them in 35-45 seconds. LOL!!!
Me & a buddy rode out there a few years ago. It was a good time, but the Dragon was crowded. We got held up by 2 jackballs doing about 25 mph on Honda cruisers on one pass through it. Every time we'd go to pass, they'd speed up or move to the center of the road so we couldn't get by them. Some people are just dix.
Love the area, glad I did the TOD, but totally agree every where else is better. Did it on my old bike, not the RGU yet. I have been told by several friends that the Moonshiner 28 is epic.
Dragon is a pain but you gotta do it at least once up and back down.
Wife and I have ridden it at least a dozen times makes a good cut thru to the Cherahola or over to the North Georgia Mountains as well.
Of course cut thru to Cherokee and grab a few miles of the Blue Ridge over to Asheville is a good route too. Nice pics both of you guys.
Headed back that way mid October if we can put it together.
That is a great place to ride. We always go up and ride "Devils Triangle" in TN after riding "Tail of The Dragon"... Last year we found "Back of The Dragon"... It is Route 16 from Marion VA thru Welch WV, super twisty, white knuckle riding.>
Did it a few years back...had a good time on it. Loved how the motel catered to bikers...had buckets and such for washing bikes and more bike parking spaces than car. If any of you are ever out here in Colorado...we've got some spectacular rides.
Looks like you had fun. Buddy and I did it this past August and thought that it was over rated and crowded but glad we did it. There are some other rides in the area we really liked. We stopped by the visitors center in Maggie Valley and picked up a NC Smokies Motor Touring Guide. One of the rides is called "Most Challenging Roads" and it was a blast. Couple of areas were the road itself was not very well maintained but otherwise fantastic.
Hell, some of the best roads down there don't even have names (yet). Route 276 from Waynesville down to where it intersects with US 64 is a great ride also. The Diamondback, rts 226 and 226A up around Little Switzerland put the Dragon to shame. Just no photo dogs to make it famous.
If you're talking about hotels near the Dragon, check out Two Wheel Inn. I think its in Robbinsville. Nice little place that has garages attached to the rooms. Make reservations though.
If you like to have a drink or two with dinner or after a ride, forget the Robbinsville area. It's a dry county. We stay in Maggie Valley when we go down there. Lots of choices there.
I would tend to agree with most about the Dragon,but I definitely don't think the word to describe the Dragon is" overrated" , I would say it is way to "commercialized", because if your ever lucky enough to go thru without traffic it is a great ride . In my opinion, the roads around Western N.C.. Eastern Tennessee, Southwest Virginia, and Northwestern Georgia are some of the best motorcycle roads in America , that's because of all the choices. You could spend a week in those areas and never come close to seeing or riding all the roads. Of course i may be a little biased because I can be on the Blue Ridge in an hour or Maggie Valley area in 2 1/2 hours.
A group (ten or more) of us planning trip for next year. Would be looking to ride for a four to five day period. Please include mentions of good food and adult beverage stops. All suggestions welcome.
We stayed at Mountain View Cabins in Tellico Plains, TN.... BEAUTIFUL! and $89-$129 a night! Log Cabin 2 story condo style...back porch overlooks the Tellico River.
It's about 50 miles away from TOD, but is at the base of Cherohala Skyway... so makes a nice run to the TOD... and you can stop at Thunder Mountain General Store and Deli ( Moonshiners series shot there )... Ken and his wife run the store and GREAT folks!
OBB
It looks like you are having fun! It's always a fun ride thru the Dragon plus all of the roads thru Tennessee and the Carolina's. I rode 1700 miles in July that included the Dragon, Blueridge and many other roads. The picture below is when we there 4 years ago, we stayed in Townsend.
From Bristol TN, ride south on route 421, the "Stripped Snake". Stop at the Shady Valley country store for a helmet sticker... Then, thru the cool college town of Boone NC and Blowing Rock, take route 221 down to the "Diamondback"... Little Switzerland was cool, but too expensive. I stayed at the Skyline Village Inn, where they cook burgers or steaks at you're request. Cold beers too. There is at least one more twisty-ass road between there and the "Tail", can't think of it's name right now...
We did the TOD a few years ago. Now that I've done it I'm not in a hurry to go back. We literally got the last 2 rooms in town that night and it was on a weekday, so make reservations. 2 folks in our riding party were not happy about the fact that it's a dry county. We rode the BRP this year, I'd do that again in a heart beat. Enjoy your ride.
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