We woke to iffy weather, so we decided not to take another run down to Georgia. If we got down there and the rains came as forecasted, we'd be looking at another return trip like yesterday - which no one was interested in. Taking a page from our last day in the Dolomites, Jim and I suggested we repeat the "greatest hits" of the area. Granted we'd only been in this area 2 days so we didn't have that much of a portfolio to choose from, but we also knew we could easily get back in the future. We saddled up to hit the Dragon while the skies were clear.
Had a great ride up, and hung around a bit chatting with people. On the way down we stopped at a few locations we get action shots of each other and other riders. The road was quite a bit busier than it had been on Tuesday, but still not crazy by any means. I don't think I saw a bike with me on the way up, though I did let someone by on the way down.
Early morning dam
Fog
Not much happening yet
Jim's first sticker on the Versys
Dave's back tire has been slowly leaking for the whole trip
Little shop across the street from Deal's Gap Resort
Me
Peter
Dave
He's trained the dog to ride on the bike. Holds on to the keys, IIRC
Dave coming down
Jim coming down
Peter coming down
Picked a nice spot to shoot action
"Bones" was one of the first to oblige
Just the Versys
The Versys mit owner
You get a wide variety of riders on the Dragon
Watching the action
This Rocket owner was from Canada and staying at our hotel
Nice knee-down shot
Rider #2 very nearly rode up the back of Rider #1
Peter's practicing safe shooting
HOLY CRAP! I've not seen a Ducati Desmosedici in action before. I bet the guy on the 1098R (5th bike back) thought he was the shiznit until the RR showed up.
Forgive the blur, I was shaking from excitement (or the shutter speed was too low - one or the other)
The Hero cam was the #1 accessory
The double-yellow flumoxed some people (photo by Peter)
My best pic of the day - pity I don't know the fellow
Those supermoto's can LEAN
My first Killboy pic - Woo-hoo I'm famous now (ha!). I've ordered a CD of pics of the four of us.
We were having a great time watching people blast (and occassionaly meander) by, but eventually hunger got the best of us and we headed back down to the Resort for some grub. By now the place was packed with bikes, and we scored one of the last tables inside. Burgers were actually very decent.. We did some shopping at the store, and planned out a route for the rest of the day. We wanted to see the big Fontana Dam (largest in the east) which was close by, and then do the top of 28 that some people call Hellbender 28. After that we can regroup and decide how to finish the day. First up though was another run up the Dragon.
Lunch at the Dragon
After another fun run on US129, we headed off to Fontana Dam, which turned out to not be the easiest thing to find. After a nice run up the twisties of 28 it took some careful studying of the GPS to find where the actual dam was. We thought we would be able to see it from the road, but turns out you need to go a couple miles on a side road to get to it. It started raining pretty good before we got to the dam, enough that we had to stop to don raingear again. In the short 10 minutes it took to get from our rain stop to the dam the sun came out and was roasting us. Sigh.
Spillway at Fontana Dam
OK, that's a pretty big dam
The view down
On top of the dam in "missing man" configuration
After a quick trip to the visitor center, and some ice cream, we rode over to the other side of the dam for another viewpoint. Not much to see over there. I thought I had a brilliant photo idea - have the guys head back over the dam and I could get a cool long-shot of their bikes crossing, with mountains in the background. I should have payed closer attention to the height of the railings in the picture above though. By the time they came into view in the middle of the dam the only thing I could see was the top of their helmets. Not impressive in the least.
We rode back onto 28, and took it back down to 143 and into Robbinsville. 28 really is a great road, and in the course of 2 days we'd ridden a good chunk of it. On another trip I'd like to route the whole length into one of our loops. Not much traffic, perfect pavament and a great mix of sweepers, turns and hairpins. You could do a lot worse.
Sometimes it's tough when everyone is so damn agreeable. We still had a lot of daylight hours to kill and needed to decide how best to do it. Our top choices were a return to the Cherohala, or back to the Dragon. No one seemed to have a clear preference, so after several rounds of "I don't care" we agreed on the Cherohala. As we rode into Robbinsville, Jim asked over the Q2 "Hey, did you want to run the Dragon again?". I guess I've travelled enough with Jim that he was able to sense my leanings. When we stopped for gas in Robbinsville I approached Dave and Peter about the proposed change, and of course got back "OK, whatever". We hatched a plan to do the Dragon and get back in time for a relatively early dinner. Good travelling companions these guys.
Dave and Peter have been riding together for years, yet had never switched bikes. At my urging they swapped rides. Dave now wants a KGT.
Peter on the RT
Once again we headed into those 318 curves that make up The Dragon. The lower section of the gap was dry but there were areas near the top that were still damp in the shaded areas. We hung out again at the top for a while, and I ran into "Bones" from the picture I took earlier in the day. I showed him the pic on the camera, and got his e-mail address to send him a copy. It started to look like weather might be coming in, so we regrettedly headed down for our last run on this (in)famous stretch of tarmac.
Up we go (Killboy pic)
Another good Killboy shot (these Killboy pictures are probably out of sequence)
Peter leads the way (Killboy pic)
I love this pic! (Killboy pic)
I left some graffiti at the top (people have left markers there to help you out)
Yes, life is good
Chatting with some other riders
What else can I say about The Dragon? It was one of the most fun roads I've ever been on, and a place I felt very comfortable exploring (and expanding) my own limits. I know I had the Multi leaned over more than it's ever been, even though that's still a long way off from what's possible on that bike.
Dave getting his lean on (Killboy pic)
Me (Killboy pic)
At the empty resort at day's end
"Not a closed course track" Riiiight.
But they're 14 good miles
Hey look, I'm in a picture!
I completely missed the spillway shooting water on the left side of the pic - I thought it was just fog until I rode a little further
Getting dinner that night turned out to be quite the adventure. All week I had been riding by the BBQ place in town thinking it looked pretty good, so we had decided to try it out. When we rolled into Robbinsville I stopped to check the place out while the guys went ahead to the hotel. Walked in the place, and it was empty. My response to "what time do you close" was "about now".
We enjoyed the pizza last night (and drinking on the porch) enough that we decided to give that a repeat. Called the pizza joint, but their driver has the night off. When we gassed up earlier in the day we smelled some good fried chicken inside the Sunoco station (go figurre), so Jim and I talked the guys into walking there. Of course when we got there the grill was closed. Turns out the pizza place was just another 1/4 mile up the road, so up the road we went. Turns out the pizza place was really a convenience store, with one girl inside making pizzas. No place to sit either. 20 minutes later we walked back to the hotel with our pizzas.
Another good night of conversation, Fat Tire, and friends. Tomorrow we leave for a whole day on the Blue Ridge Parkway.