Advice wanted on The Dragon

[lytehouse]

John & I have been discussing trailering the bikes out to Tennessee to ride the infamous Dragon and from you guys who live in the area, is the end of April kinda safe as far as weather goes or would May be better?
We will be staying in Cleveland, TN. (if my brother oks that).
Also, besides the Dragon & Blue Ridge Pkwy, is there anything else I should add to the ride list?
Thanks

 

[regder]

Ummmmmmm, so you're going from the biking mecca of Colorado, and going to ****hole that is the eastcoast to ride bikes? :spank:

The Dragon is nice (too much traffic on the weekends btw), but there are a million and one roads that are infinitely nicer in CO. For my money, I would go to California instead. It has better everything.

If you must go out east. The Snake is like The Dragon but much longer and with way less traffic. Cherohala Skyway, Devil's Triangle, Moonshiner 28, are the main roads that come to mind immediately around The Dragon.

You could do the opposite of my regular trip to the gap. Ride The Dragon for a couple days, then head north via Blue Ridge Parkway and then Skyline Dr. Then boogie back to wherever along the interstate if time is limited.

April is going to be sketchy, the weather takes a while to warm up in the mountains, or rather what we call mountains out east. Even May might be chilly.

Once again, go to California instead.

 

[lytehouse]

LMAO redger!! Well, I've been in Colorado for a bit now....been there rode that! :Sport:
California in on the short list for next year....and I do have family in Tennessee that I haven't seen in a few years now. And besides, I want to see for myself what all the fuss is about The Dragon. When I lived there, I was a silly teenage girl on a 125cc pos!

 

[Humperdinkel]

How bout trailering your bikes ɹǝpun uʍop & riding the famous Mt Nebo/Glorious here in beautiful QLD & then 99 bends in Tassie

 

[QwickFliCk]

John & I have been discussing trailering the bikes out to Tennessee to ride the infamous Dragon and from you guys who live in the area, is the end of April kinda safe as far as weather goes or would May be better?
We will be staying in Cleveland, TN. (if my brother oks that).
Also, besides the Dragon & Blue Ridge Pkwy, is there anything else I should add to the ride list?
Thanks

i am also planning to do the same this upcoming summer. ill be keeping an eye on this post

 

[FB400]

Make sure you check out Cherohola skyway - my favorite

 

[J_Slyter]

LOL regder, I'm sure some of the guys back east would say you are selling the riding out there short. Since we were going to TN anyway to see Lytehouse's brothers, trailering the bikes instead of flying sounded like a good idea.

We pretty much spend May through October riding the CO mountains and have experienced parts of every state in the west and a little bit of Canada (still lots more to explore though). I've never ridden east of the Colorado/Kansas border except for a quick trip to Lincoln, NE where I bought my Ducati. I've driven east a number of times and just thinking of riding across eastern CO, Kansas or any other state bordering CO to the east makes my butt hurt, but if I'm going to be near the Smokies anyway, it would be nice to have the bikes.

Cleveland, TN seemed to be getting warm (high 70's) by the last half of April, so that seemed like the earliest we would go, knowing that the mountains would be a bit cooler. We have lots of experience with that in CO, but I'm assuming the temp change is not as drastic since our mountain passes are 12,000+ft. I was hoping to avoid rain as much as possible, and since the saying is "April showers bring May flowers", was concerned that late April may be rushing it a bit.

 

[J_Slyter]

How bout trailering your bikes ɹǝpun uʍop & riding the famous Mt Nebo/Glorious here in beautiful QLD & then 99 bends in Tassie

The conversation has come up more than you may think. Well, not the trailing part.

 

[OZXJR]

There is also the G.O.R and the fantastic Adelaide Hills :rockon:

 

[acniss]

I can't tell you about the Dragon since I never have been on it. But I have heard its really busy on the weekends and the cops love it. I live in Asheville and there are a ton of great roads in the area. I have fun just on the back roads. The Rattler is fun and not very busy at all. I have heard good things about the Skyway. The weather in unpredictable all spring long, rain is always a factor in the afternoons to and its spotty you might hit some in one turn go for a few miles and be dry. I keep a watch and maybe when you are here we could meet and ride some local roads.

 

[PhotoAl]

April or even early May can be cool but also may be very nice. Recommend that you ride during the week as too many crazy folks on the weekends. By crazy I mean don't know that the yellow line in the center of the road means you stay on the right side...

Also folks around here tend to put sand and gravel down when we get snow and ice so if you go too early there may be some still hanging around - sand and gravel that is.

While you are in the area don't forget about Barber's Motorcycle Museum in Birmingham.

 

[Cameronhall]

Please be careful on moon shiner's road. It is a great road but coming off the dragon with great banking in the curves, moon shiner's road is just as tight and fun but no banking and it will sneak up on you.

I went to the Rx7 meet at Natahala Village (amazing). I stayed at the Microtel inn which was really nice. we had one RX8 go off the side of the mountain and was caught by a tree. It was the kid's 21st B-day. DO NOT MISS stopping by the TREE OF SHAME it will get your mind right before the ride .

Ill post picture this weekend

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Make sure you check out Cherohola skyway - my favorite

+1 on the Cherohola.

Re the Dragon, I can't compare it to the western twisties but have rode it many times (on many different bikes-my 04 FJR shown below).

Due to lots of corners on the Dragon, with NO guard rails (on a good part of the corners) and large drop off's, you NEED TO PAY 100% ATENTION to the road and ride your speed. There's lots of blind corners, speeds can drop to as slow as 10 MPH(super tight, hair pin) to easily 100+ MPH. If running at speed, there is a spot you WILL become weightless as it'll drop off slightly (very cool)...

I have personally seen a ZRX 1100, approx 70' down the side of a mountain when the rider looked back briefly at his wife and her bike. That's all it took to go off road.

Also saw a VTX 1800, imbedded in the side of a mountain (Forks bent back beyond repair, min injuries to the older rider) after a sharp turn with different elevations

Foothills Parkway is a nice ride (not dangerous unless in the triple digits) and rarely busy...

 

[mountaincycle]

acniss – I totally agree..
we have a ton of great roads in the area :thumbup:… plus the blue ridge parkway and of course Mt Mitchell the highest mountain in the Eastern United States.

 

[Water Bear]

I can't tell you about the Dragon since I never have been on it. But I have heard its really busy on the weekends and the cops love it. I live in Asheville and there are a ton of great roads in the area. I have fun just on the back roads. The Rattler is fun and not very busy at all. I have heard good things about the Skyway. The weather in unpredictable all spring long, rain is always a factor in the afternoons to and its spotty you might hit some in one turn go for a few miles and be dry. I keep a watch and maybe when you are here we could meet and ride some local roads.

This is my experience with the BRP. It can be dry on one side of a tunnel and raining on the other, and you never quite know what you're going to get. Water proof everything before you go.

 

[yamihoe]

I would not hit up the dragon on a weekend, go in the middle of the week. there is WAY too much traffic for it to be safe or fun on a weekend.

but the skyway, blood mountain, us29 are all great roads as well....
depending on my schedule I may ride up and meet you there

 

[lytehouse]

depending on my schedule I may ride up and meet you there

Thank to everyone who offered advice....once we get the details nailed down, I'll post up and see who all would like to meet :Sport:

 

[J_Slyter]

+1 on the Cherohola.


Due to lots of corners on the Dragon, with NO guard rails (on a good part of the corners) and large drop off's, you NEED TO PAY 100% ATENTION to the road and ride

Guard rails? What are guard rails? Most of the mountain roads we ride don't have guard rails because the snowplows push the snow over the edge in the winter (or spring for the roads that close over the winter). As far as drop-off's, one of my favorite roads hugs the north rim of the Black Canyon. If you ride it west to east putting you in the right lane, sometimes you can see the river if you crowd the white line along the right edge of the lane. Attached a pic, is this what you mean by drop-off?

Thanks everyone for the terrrific feedback and advice. Sounds like we will have a great time. Definitely will be avoiding the weekend since we will be on vacation and probably be there between M-F and doing the CO-TN-CO drive over the weekends. Just hope it stays relatively dry when we are there.

Oh, and just kidding on seeing the river. On the curves along the canyon I'm usually leaned too far over to see the river...I think that's part of why Lytehouse rides her own bike now. I used to get slapped on the side of the helmet a lot coming out of tight curves. LOL.

 

[FIZZER6]

I've been to the Dragon and the Smoky Mountains 5 times now.

The Dragon is best enjoyed early in the morning or just before dark if you don't want to deal with traffic and speed traps.

One road that is often overlooked that ends right at the start of the dragon is the Foothills parkway. Some of the best riding I've ever done was following 2 other bikes on this road when the lead bike was running a radar detector. Positive blast!

The downside to running on twisty, east coast mountain roads is you never know when a branch, a woodland rodent or a large deer will be around the next turn to great you! Keep your eyes open and scan as far ahead of your line as you can!

I've ridden in a lot of east coast areas but the Smoky Mountains is definitely one of the best places to ride. Parts of Eastern KY and southern WV and the entire southwest tip of VA are also excellent with little traffic.

 

[Water Bear]

depending on my schedule I may ride up and meet you there

That actually is a tempting idea...I think school lets out early this time around, and the BRP and especially the Dragon are the kind of roads that are really best ridden with a group.