Questions about Deal`s Gap Rumors?

nplenzick said:

I thought the Dragon was way over rated when I rode it two years ago. Very narrow in spots and not very much room for late apexing or experimenting with different ridding techniques . In some areas it reminded it me of a wide bicycle path. I got my T shirt and then visited the Cherohala Skyway which reminds me of a 25 plus mile racetrack. A real joy! A nice mix of corners, from fast sweepers to hairpins with very little traffic. It's also about as wide as the average roadcourse at a racetrack so there's a good amount of room for trying different ridding techniques. The Skyway is in a remote area so if something goes wrong it could be sometime for emergency personal to reach you. Something to keep in the back of your mind!
There's also a pretty neat road that goes from Ashville to Bat Cave and Lake Lure, it's not very long, just a few miles but great fun and it leads you to the second most photograph lake in the country ( Lake Tahoe is the most).
A word to the wise, I believe this will be the largest MOA ever and I suspect that every law enforcement agency will know about it in the area, so keep a heads up for them!

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I rode my car this morning (healing from Roto-Rooter surgery) to my favorite crooked road to count the curves across the mountain. It is about 30 or 40 miles of Interstate from the Rally location. The road's pavement is excellent as it was recently paved, there is very little traffic, no guardrails, sheer drop-offs and there are CURVES. The mountain part is a little over 5.5 miles with almost 125 curves. Almost 100 of them are "substantial". To get there, you simply exit onto Rt 80 from I-81 (exit 24) in Virginia. You will meander through the country about 10 miles until you get to the mountain. After you cross the mountain, you meander on another 4.5 miles until you come to a stop sign. Turn left at the stop sign on to Rt-19 and that takes you back to I-81 in Abingdon. Best crooked road I know.

Another Great Road

While we will be in the area, I'm sure many will want to ride the Cherohola Skyway which is only 35 mins. from the Dragon. Like the Dragon, the Cherahola is patrolled quite often. I have seen in the past 4 years a radar set up/road block on the Tenn. side and then you figure ahhhhh, lets open it up the Police are behind us only to go around the next corner and find the NC Police set up. Also worth mentioning is that the road does not ride the same in both directions so cation is required. There are a few curves that the "line" changes (or appears to) just when you think you have your line drawn. There is a web site on the Cherahola I saw a few years back that goes into more detail about this. Worth looking up. I am pretty sure it was a link off of the tail of the dragon site.
This is an awful beautiful road to ride so why rush it? Do the limit and enjoy the views.
You have to at least try the Dragon if you haven't all ready but, rest assured that there are a LOT of better roads in the area. One, a 15 minute ride from Deals Gap will find you on a road all to yourself .... okay, maybe two cars over 30 miles. This one road has spots marked 15 mph. You better take heed as they really do meen 15 mph. and....great trout fishing too !

also be sure to check out some of the roads around Boone, Banner Elk, Blowing Rock, Grandfather Mountain, and Roan Mountain...take a trip to Mast General Store...gee, so much to do right in the area without having to ride half a day just to get to the dragon...

and then that road #603 leading from Troutdale Va to Damascus is a hoot too...

The Movie

I just watched the movie made by madmaddog14 on the R12GS and that really looks like FUN. A nice ride at a nice pace! It just gives me the itch that much more to get to the Nat`l. and do all those great roads, especially the new ones our fellow riders keep talking about. We are planning on (tentatively, at this point) coming down the week before the Rally and ending up in Johnson City on that Fri. Hope to see some of you there! beemerred

Hi, All,
Back in 1973-4, I lived and worked in Spruce Pine, NC. I often rode to Johnson City, TN and/or other locations throughout the NC/TN mountains. That was just a year after I had uncrated my new Dunstall-Norton 810 MkII. Yes, it was FUN in those days. I just wish I could remember the roads!

osbornk said:

I rode my car this morning (healing from Roto-Rooter surgery) to my favorite crooked road to count the curves across the mountain. It is about 30 or 40 miles of Interstate from the Rally location. The road's pavement is excellent as it was recently paved, there is very little traffic, no guardrails, sheer drop-offs and there are CURVES. The mountain part is a little over 5.5 miles with almost 125 curves. Almost 100 of them are "substantial". To get there, you simply exit onto Rt 80 from I-81 (exit 22 I think) in Virginia. You will meander through the country about 10 miles until you get to the mountain. After you cross the mountain, you meander on another 4.5 miles until you come to a stop sign. Turn left at the stop sign on to Rt-19 and that takes you back to I-81 in Abingdon. Best crooked road I know.

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I second that route 80, Ken! It is also one of my favorites. Especially over Hayters Gap! A good way to get up to the Breaks Interstate Park.

I've been meaning for weeks to go ride up that way, now that I'm in this part of the country. If no other obligations present themselves next week, I might just go up for a mid-week night or two in the area and really give it a thorough exploration.