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who has ridden Deals Gap/Dragon

nine_inch_rear

nine_inch_rear

Active member
Joined
Aug 30, 2005
Location
Dublin
Moto(s)
08 Duc Hyper S,
Name
Stephen
God, tons of carnage.. for those of you that have done it, care to share your stories, good or bad?
 
Dis_gonna_b_gud.gif
 
The Dragon is a bit of a tourist trap.

A lot of not so good riders on it and a fair number of crashes. Seems every group event someone bins it.

It's a cool road (usually in great condition) if you can get an open run and the Tennessee State Troopers aren't camped out all over the damn thing. Their enforcement is petty and stupid most of the time. My NC friends earn "Performance Awards" up there.

There are other great roads with many fewer idiots and much less enforcement in the area. Killboy has the best photos for an idea of what it's like.
 
I talked to a couple of guys at the Mad River Burger Bar (Hwy 36...my normal ride!), who had ridden the Dragon, and they said it didnt have anything on Hwy 36. Yes, its famous and has lots of morons crashing, but....
 
It's a great road. The people who own the store/restaurant/motel at Deals Gap have done a great job marketing it. If you're in the area you should ride it but don't make a special trip. I can think of about a dozen local roads that are as good or better.
 
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I rode it back in 1998 with a guy that knew the area very well. We did that one first, then he took us on other lesser known roads. A couple of which I preferred. I don't remember the designations of those roads, but I just dug my journal of that trip out of my stash (with the idea of writing a ride report) so I'll re-read it and see what else isn't to be missed in that area.
 
Been there,
Done that,
Was cool back in the day.

But the riders with testosterone poisoning and enhanced law enforcement because of the noteriety has abraded the shine away. I prefer 52 and 76 through N. Ga. up around Ft Mountain SP and then onto Blue Ridge Ga.

No one up there 'cept this weird kid with a banjo and the promise of 'Deliverence'.
 
It's the Hwy 9 of the South.

Cherohala Skyway and buncha other local roads are less crowded and have less of a testosteroney scene. If you go, camp at the motorcycle-only campground in Cruso, NC and talk to the owner--he can point you in SO MANY right directions. http://blueridgemotorcyclecamp.com/
 
boney said:
It's a great road. The people who own the store/restaurant/motel at Deals Gap have done a great job marketing it. If you're in the area you should ride it but don't make a special trip. I can think of about a dozen local roads that are as good or better.
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That. Also, there's a lot of freight traffic. I remember coming around a corner and having to come to an unexpected stop due to a semi with a very large trailer trying to negotiate a hairpin.
 
Never been, but I've seen so much footage of the place I feel like I have been. Semi trucks sweeping flocks of Harleys off the road in a single turn, every squid thread I've ever seen has at least one picture from there and even Discovery channel did an unflattering piece on it.
No thanks, I'll pass.
My rule of thumb is: If you've heard of the road and you're not a local, there are much better roads to explore.
 
Did it in 2010 when I lived in MD, had a good time. The Dragon was ok but I liked Cherohala and surrounding roads better. Also went to Blood Mountain in Georgia, that was a great ride but heavily patrolled. I don't think its any better than the SC mountains as far as riding. It is a source of income for the area and caters to people that want to get away and ride. Great BBQ in that area I ate like a champ! I've got riding buddies on the east coast, if they offered up a bike and planned a trip I would go again.
 
I rode it when I was stationed in Fort Campbell in the early 2000's. It's a nice road but if you don't get out during the week in the early morning or so, there's too much traffic including trucks that ignore the warnings that they shouldn't be up there.
 
I live 3hrs away. and have not ridden it. to damn far of a ride. :|

my back gets pissed I mean REALY pissed around the 2hr mark.
 
I rode it in 2010 or '11- on my way from PA to visit my brother in Atlanta.

It's TIGHT - as in rather technical, and sees more traffic than it deserves just because of the reputation, in my opinion. Lots of corners marked with spray-paint on the asphalt "SLO" one was marked "SLO - OIL !" and there are visible evidence of many, many bike-drops (oil stains on road) and there is NO run-off on most of it - just a rocky drop-off with very little road-edge except for a couple spots where the photographers hang out.

I got there mid-week after a couple days of rain and had the place mostly to myself, on my loaded FJR1300 (translation = slow riding) and STILL ran up on a couple of SLOW MOVERS in Harleys BLATTING-away at walking speeds on my first pass. I turned around and re-ran it a couple times just because I was there. ( how's that gas station with the race-gas at the pump near one end ? nah, no motor-heads around HERE !!! )

The funny thing is that there are SO MANY really great roads in that region - you really can't list them all, there are hardly any bad ones from Gatlinburg on South to Dahlonega - the whole Smokey mountain area is replete with parkways, skyways, the Nanchez trace and plain old AWESOME country roads - if you get the chance to ride in the area DO IT !! And even pay a visit to 'The Dragon" if you must - just don't base your whole trip on it, 'cause its just not THAT awesome and I'd personally avoid it like the plague on a nice weekend because I'm guessing it would be knucklehead central - on my way back North I bypassed it because it was a beautiful Saturday and the siren call of the weekend Hero was in full effect. Of course I hit the Blue Ridge Parkway and had a great ride up to Asheville and beyond - that really is some beautiful country there, to be sure.
 
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Rode it in 2004. Definitely one of the best roads on the East, link it together with the entire Blue Ridge Parkway and Shenandoahs if you can. Have friends/family in the area, so hoping to go back someday.

Agree with Hawaiirider, very tight rather technical. Go early in the morning on a weekday to avoid other riders and traffic. Didn't have any oil (or cross the line semi trucks) issues when we were there. I'd been on the bike for 2 weeks or so by the time we hit the dragon, so was "one with the bike" and couldn't stop grinning from ear to ear. What is it, 211 turns in 11 miles or something? It's as good as the top of the 1, in my opinion.

I honestly think from the pictures and being there that most of the accidents are harley riders low siding from trying to lean to far, or at least that was the case in 2004. Saw one downed harley as we were riding out after stopping for gas at the motel.

YMMV.
 
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Lived in NC for years and it's a great road. Many, many other roads around it that are awesome and less congested but it has a certain rhthym to it that is really fun. The key is to go up early (like 8am) and leave once the popo, cruiser (read: slow as molasses) peeps, and car enthusiasts arrive (around 9am) and go play on the other roads. You can do the same at the end of the day in opposite order. A little warning though; do a lap or two at an easy pace to learn it first. There's a couple corners that'll sneak up on you and there are high odds that cars or other bikes will be coming the other way, so it's a REALLY bad place to cross a double yellow. In fact, be sure to leave space at the apexes since plenty of dumbasses might be invading your lane.

killfile said:
What is it, 211 turns in 11 miles or something?
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318 in 11 miles. It'll get your tires warm. :D
 
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Roadstergal said:
That. Also, there's a lot of freight traffic. I remember coming around a corner and having to come to an unexpected stop due to a semi with a very large trailer trying to negotiate a hairpin.
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Semis aren't allowed anymore now.
 
Rode it. At night just to spice things up. Fun with a capital "F me!".

I lived in Nashville at the time, my next door neighbor was a slave to the siren call of the Ducati, while I was riding a ZX11d at the time. He had more fun with less effort. I stopped less frequently for gas and ass breaks and always ended up with a higher cumulative average moving speed over the course of our weekends. We always managed to find each other at meal time. I like that kind of 'riding together without riding together. We shared a mutual destination but rode our own ride.

We'd do what we called "BBQ Week" rides, leaving Nashville late Monday and hopping across TN, hitting all the good BBQ joints we could find en-route to Deals and Cherohala. There are two things in east TN - LOTS of great moto roads and lots of really spectacular BBQ joints. By the time we rolled into our respective driveways on Friday afternoon we were shagged, full of Q and pretty well sated on twisties for a couple weeks.

We never tired of those rides.

Would I make a special trip to ride Deals? Hell no. It's full of morons now.
 
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