Rode US129 "The Dragon" This Weekend

[kyle]

All I can say is wow, what a great ride! A friend of mine and I rode down, he on his Viffer and me on the Fazer. Had a great time and got some great video with the Gopro and his ContourHD. US129Photos.com was out there, too, and I just spotted another FZ6 rider while going through their photos. I didn't think there were any others out there.

This guy:
PhotoReflect - Xtreme Sports Photography - The Dragon July 24th Saturday 2010

Here I am:
PhotoReflect - Xtreme Sports Photography - The Dragon July 24th Saturday 2010

And my friend:
PhotoReflect - Xtreme Sports Photography - The Dragon July 24th Saturday 2010

I'll have to upload the video after I get a chance to edit it, although I'm sure my pace will be boring for some. I did improve a lot out there, though. Highly recommend you travel out and ride the dragon if you haven't already.

 

[lonesoldier84]

Your friend and you look a lot alike.

One day I'll get out to the east coast. In the meantime there is a big ugly bit in the way called the prairies that prevents me from doing it.

Looks great though. Look forward to the video.

 

[kyle]

Your friend and you look a lot alike.

Oops...didn't realize those links to the next photo are javascript doing some kinda asynchronous DHTML tomfoolery, so I must have pasted the same URL twice.

Let me just post a link to the album I made from them:
PhotoReflect - Xtreme Sports Photography

Seemed that every time we went by the cameras we were crawling. Hopefully when the pics from Sunday are posted there will be a couple where we are in a deeper lean.

Crap, looks like I goofed the link to the other FZ6 out there. I'll fix that above, too.

 

[Mutineer]

i recently heard about this road from a group of Mitsubishi Eclipse drivers who apparently come from all over to drive it every year as part of a club. Not sure if I could make the ride from Boston, though...

-M

 

[CCHOUSEKY]

Ahh...the Dragon. LOVE that road!!! I've only been able to make it down once, last summer, but I'm going back before the year's over.

OP, you live in Bristol and you just now made it over there??? C'mon...lol...you've got one of the best motorcycling roads in the world in your own state! You should definitely get over that way more often.

Plus, there's a TON of other great roads in that area.

Mutineer, you just recently heard of the Dragon??? Man, you HAVE to make it down this way someday. I promise you, it's something you'll never forget. Heck, I live about 4 hours from it and we trailer down, stay right at the bottom of the hill, and ride until our hearts are content.

It's definitely something to put on your bucket list!

 

[regder]

I ran Deals Gap three times on Friday, and there was another FZ rider with a green touring jacket behind me on one of the runs

here is the best pic I've found of me so far

 

[AngelFZ]

Thanks for sharing the pictures!!!

This indeed is something I'd realy like to do!!!!!
If I remember correctly, for me to get there it would be about 8-10 hours, so just for the roundtrip I'll need 2 days!!!!

You guys living closer are very lucky!!!!!

 

[regder]

Google says 636 miles, that's one day trip no problem on a fizzer

Just do it, the dragon really does deserve all the fame it has attracted

 

[TampaFZ6]

I am very interested in riding the dragon and my wife really likes TN area so we may trailer up the bike.

 

[nextfriday]

It's funny what attracts me to the area. Not the road or other bikes. But the scenery, trout fishing, and smokey mountain national park. There are many nice places to ride there. Not just the dragon stretch. Hope you take time to experience all the area has to offer. (gezuz, i sound the the state tourism board)

 

[AngelFZ]

Google says 636 miles, that's one day trip no problem on a fizzer

Just do it, the dragon really does deserve all the fame it has attracted

I'm not questioning the fizzer capabilities, I'm questioning my current long range riding capabilities!!!!!!! and time off.

The longest trip I've done so far on the fizzer has been about 235 miles. About 600 miles should not be a problem, even though I'm trying to build up for that first. One of the next trips I'd like to do is a Florida coast to coast to coast, more training!!!!!!

 

[kyle]

I ran Deals Gap three times on Friday, and there was another FZ rider with a green touring jacket behind me on one of the runs

here is the best pic I've found of me so far

Yeah, that must have been the same guy I spotted in Saturday's pics. We didn't get there until 7 or later on Friday, so I guess I just missed you.

OP, you live in Bristol and you just now made it over there??? C'mon...lol...you've got one of the best motorcycling roads in the world in your own state! You should definitely get over that way more often.

Hey, go easy - I just started riding this past fall . I also have US421 (The Snake) within about 20 minutes of my home and all kind of great roads up my way .

It's funny what attracts me to the area. Not the road or other bikes. But the scenery, trout fishing, and smokey mountain national park. There are many nice places to ride there. Not just the dragon stretch. Hope you take time to experience all the area has to offer. (gezuz, i sound the the state tourism board)

Yeah, I suppose I'm just spoiled and accustomed to having all those things close by. It really is a beautiful area.

Anyone ever ridden "Hell Bender"? I don't remember the name of the highway, but it connects to 129 a little past the motor lodge heading south. It looked really fun on the map, but we didn't find the time to ride it. Definitely next time, though.

Oh, another thing - I've never seen folk ride cruisers like I saw up there Friday night. My gosh - people riding $20k Harleys dragging their floor boards and making us look silly.

Cool, Sunday's pics are up. Looks like there was another FZ6 rider directly behind me on a red one. How did I not see these?

My new favorite pic (of ME ):

I know I passed the cameras at least twice, but I only see the one pass on Sunday. Oh well, I guess they missed me the other time (the time I swear I was leaning more .)

 

[jeffanitam]

That old far is me! My name is Jeff Miller, 63 ys old and I ride the Dragon three or four times a month during the season. I live in Knoxville and often have lunch at Deals Gap. Just came back form an 1800 mile tour of the Alps.
Looking forward to seeing you at the Gap, ride safely.

 

[ant_mb]

Anyone ever ridden "Hell Bender"? I don't remember the name of the highway, but it connects to 129 a little past the motor lodge heading south. It looked really fun on the map, but we didn't find the time to ride it. Definitely next time, though.

I've ridden it many times. It's a freakin blast, as most of the roads in the area are. I probably won't be making this year, but I'll be back next for sure.

The scenery is truly amazing!!!

 

[regder]

Yeah, that must have been the same guy I spotted in Saturday's pics. We didn't get there until 7 or later on Friday, so I guess I just missed you.

By 7 I was stuck in the middle of the Cherohala with a blown clutch. Great trip though, can't wait to get back.

 

[Ron P]

I did the Dragon last year with my brother and it is a fun little road. I had a good time, but I don't my brother did. I don't think he was ready for all that turning. Here's a pic on my K1300S.

BTW, the saddle bags are all filled with bourbon from my stop in Kentucky.

 

[kyle]

That old far is me! My name is Jeff Miller, 63 ys old and I ride the Dragon three or four times a month during the season. I live in Knoxville and often have lunch at Deals Gap. Just came back form an 1800 mile tour of the Alps.
Looking forward to seeing you at the Gap, ride safely.

Wow. Cool. I never called you an old fart . I'm all for the high vis stuff .

I've ridden it many times. It's a freakin blast, as most of the roads in the area are. I probably won't be making this year, but I'll be back next for sure.

The scenery is truly amazing!!!

Cool, definitely plan to hit that one next time.

By 7 I was stuck in the middle of the Cherohala with a blown clutch. Great trip though, can't wait to get back.

Ouch. Get that fixed yet?

I did the Dragon last year with my brother and it is a fun little road. I had a good time, but I don't my brother did. I don't think he was ready for all that turning. Here's a pic on my K1300S.

BTW, the saddle bags are all filled with bourbon from my stop in Kentucky.

Yeah, if you aren't ready to learn to corner, you've picked the wrong road . Love the bike.

So, I uploaded a video to youtube without editing it and forgot it was one where I forgot to turn the camera off at the end, so it was rejected for length. I'm trying to decide on video editing software now. My desktop is getting very long in the tooth, so I may be going with a new computer as part of the decision.

I messed around with iMovie a little bit in Best Buy and was pretty amazed at how smooth scrubbing through clips was, etc., but then while messing with my friends mac on the trip, realized this comes at the expense of having to do lengthy imports before ever starting the project. He also had final cut express, but I was bummed by having to wait on clips to render before previewing them to the point that now I'm thinking the up front import is the better option.

Right now I'm having a look at the trial version of Premiere Elements on my work laptop that is a little more modern (Core 2 Duo, 2.66GHz, 2GB ram) than my desktop (an old single core, non HT P4 @ 2.4GHz and 2GB of ram), but crippled by some encryption software and McAfee so it's running like pure ass. I'm also not following the workflow so far. HTF can I add a clip to the project without dragging it to the timeline? Argh. Oh well. I'm sure I'll have the same frustrations while learning any of these.

 

[CCHOUSEKY]

Hey, go easy - I just started riding this past fall . I also have US421 (The Snake) within about 20 minutes of my home and all kind of great roads up my way .

I'm just messing with ya...lol. I just found out a couple of days ago that I'm heading down there in 2 weeks, so I'm pretty darn STOKED!!! My first trip of the year and it's gonna be EPIC. I hope I get to see some of you guys down there!

BTW, the saddle bags are all filled with bourbon from my stop in Kentucky.

Niiiccceee...you can't come through Kentucky without picking up some of the sweet science, right? :thumbup: BTW, I love your bike. Very, very nice!

 

[pugnacious33]

It's funny what attracts me to the area. Not the road or other bikes. But the scenery, trout fishing, and smokey mountain national park. There are many nice places to ride there. Not just the dragon stretch. Hope you take time to experience all the area has to offer. (gezuz, i sound the the state tourism board)

I agree, the roads don't have to be super twisty to make for a great ride. I know the area well, some of the other great rides are the Cherehola Skyway, the Foothills Parkway, Little River Road and the road going up and over the National Park (441 I think), and all of the Blue Ridge Parkway).

 

[kyle]

OK, I downloaded a trial version of Sony Vegas, and it is much more intuitive (at least to me). Threw a video together and I just noticed that I left out a clip I really wanted to put in. Oh well:

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hci1zFmSHX0]YouTube - Deal's Gap Ride 2010[/ame]