So it has been a while since I have posted up about a recent ride. This hasn't been due to lack of riding, in fact I have been on the bike every weekend for 8 straight weeks, going on 9! Since the Deals Gap Ride, which can be found below, I have started a new job which is going great and Dad got a new bike (2007 FJR 1300). I really haven't had much time or felt like sitting here in front of the PC. However, I did finally get around to taking care of it...
In addition to the ride report there are videos of the runs we made on Deals Gap and pictures that I have yet to purchase from some of those runs. At some point this summer I am going to reformat my hard drive on this 4 year old PC. Once that is done I will be able to edit the videos and hopefully with some software better than Windows Movie Maker. I will be sure to post those videos and images as they come about.
So if you have some free time, grab a class of your favorite beverage and work your way through the Deals Gap Ride 2009.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Day 1. Wednesday, June 3rd
Well it was finally June! I had been waiting on this day for 6 months. It was time for the second annual Deals Gap Meet with the FZ6 International Forum. I had reserved my spot around the first of the year and in the past couple weeks I had managed to get Josh and John to come along as well.
After my little accident the week before, I spent a lot of time going over the bike checking lines, hoses and hardware for possible failures. Nothing seemed out of place except the scratches that came as a result. Once I had my bike prepped for the trip I began working on Jon’s GSXR-600. Jon hadn’t been around much due to other priorities at the time, and I felt that his bike needed a good once over to be sure it was road worthy. After all, he was riding with Josh and I, if his bike broke, we were all screwed. There weren’t any loose screws, and all his fluids were good and the tires were in decent shape. However as I made my way around the bike I noticed that his rear brake pads were toast! I made a few phone calls before heading off to work to let Jon know that his pads were shot and that they needed to be replaced before we left. Fortunately he was able to find a set of rears and we installed them later that evening while packing up the last minute items.
8:00 AM, we were fueled up and heading west. The horse play started early as Jon reached over and shut Josh’s bike off at the intersection leaving the gas station. We thought it was funny, Josh didn’t. (Surprise) Our route took us down 85 to 74 to Lake Lure and then on down 74 Alt to Asheville. We made our first stop at the bottom of Lake Lure to stretch and let some traffic go on ahead. A few minutes later we headed on up to make the cleanest pass on 74 ever. We had never had such luck coming up this road, we honestly had it to ourselves! Past Chimney Rock we continued across 74 passing where we normally turn down Hwy 9. Shortly after this intersection of 9 and 74 the cars that we got behind started moving over and waiving us by. We were really at a loss as to why they were doing this. The three of us waved as we went, trying to figure out why everyone was being so nice. About a mile later the curvy road signs showed up and we were thanking the cars about a mile back! 74 Alt ended up twisting its way damn near all the way to Asheville! It was a good stretch of road with some nice curves and as they got tighter I could see Jon in my mirrors all over my rear end needing some more room. So I waved him on, only to see him again once we got to a stop light just shy of I-40.
Once in Asheville we stopped for gas and grabbed some lunch at a BK there off the highway. I looked over the map while inside, double checking the fact that I was really unsure on how exactly we were going to get there…
Sure enough once we were on the road I got us side tracked and turned around some where around Silva and that area. A couple hours later, after running all back roads were ended up in Robbinsville, NC. We stopped at a small gas station there on the skyway to ask directions as to where The Treetops were located, to be greeted by a family of chickens that were living somewhere around the gas station. The Treetops was a couple miles down 143 on our right, I was afraid I was going to miss it as the road was so darn twisty, I really wasn’t looking for a small gravel road on the shoulder… However we did end up finding it and pulled into what we would call home for the next few days. Anthony, Brian and Nick (I think) were the only people there at the time. Shaggy (Mark) showed up a bit later as we were unloading.
After we got unloaded and talked with the guys a few minutes, Josh and Jon were eager to get up to the infamous US129 to see what it was all about. They really had no clue what was coming.
We stopped at the store to look around for a few minutes and check out the tree of shame. I mounted up the cameras as I gave them the basic run down of warning signs and what to look for and we took off heading north.
After the first pass I pulled off at the gravel trap at the north end with Jon right on my tail and Josh not too far behind. I quickly took off my lid and watched their expressions as they dismounted. Ear to ear grins for both of them. Jon seemed to be in awe and didn’t say much more than, “that was amazing” while Josh couldn’t stop talking about it. We looked at each others tires joking about the chicken strips when I noticed something interesting about my tires. I had gotten the Avon’s pretty darn hot and I had the “rubber buggers” accumulating on the sides like the road race guys! I took a few shots and the three of us headed back down to the store. We took a different order this time trying to get everyone on camera. Jon took point with Josh in the middle and the FZ bringing up the rear. A bit later we were back at the store to pull the cameras off and B.S. about the last run. We headed back the house to call it a day and eat some dinner that Anthony was working on before we left.
The guys were stoked…
After my little accident the week before, I spent a lot of time going over the bike checking lines, hoses and hardware for possible failures. Nothing seemed out of place except the scratches that came as a result. Once I had my bike prepped for the trip I began working on Jon’s GSXR-600. Jon hadn’t been around much due to other priorities at the time, and I felt that his bike needed a good once over to be sure it was road worthy. After all, he was riding with Josh and I, if his bike broke, we were all screwed. There weren’t any loose screws, and all his fluids were good and the tires were in decent shape. However as I made my way around the bike I noticed that his rear brake pads were toast! I made a few phone calls before heading off to work to let Jon know that his pads were shot and that they needed to be replaced before we left. Fortunately he was able to find a set of rears and we installed them later that evening while packing up the last minute items.
8:00 AM, we were fueled up and heading west. The horse play started early as Jon reached over and shut Josh’s bike off at the intersection leaving the gas station. We thought it was funny, Josh didn’t. (Surprise) Our route took us down 85 to 74 to Lake Lure and then on down 74 Alt to Asheville. We made our first stop at the bottom of Lake Lure to stretch and let some traffic go on ahead. A few minutes later we headed on up to make the cleanest pass on 74 ever. We had never had such luck coming up this road, we honestly had it to ourselves! Past Chimney Rock we continued across 74 passing where we normally turn down Hwy 9. Shortly after this intersection of 9 and 74 the cars that we got behind started moving over and waiving us by. We were really at a loss as to why they were doing this. The three of us waved as we went, trying to figure out why everyone was being so nice. About a mile later the curvy road signs showed up and we were thanking the cars about a mile back! 74 Alt ended up twisting its way damn near all the way to Asheville! It was a good stretch of road with some nice curves and as they got tighter I could see Jon in my mirrors all over my rear end needing some more room. So I waved him on, only to see him again once we got to a stop light just shy of I-40.
Once in Asheville we stopped for gas and grabbed some lunch at a BK there off the highway. I looked over the map while inside, double checking the fact that I was really unsure on how exactly we were going to get there…
Sure enough once we were on the road I got us side tracked and turned around some where around Silva and that area. A couple hours later, after running all back roads were ended up in Robbinsville, NC. We stopped at a small gas station there on the skyway to ask directions as to where The Treetops were located, to be greeted by a family of chickens that were living somewhere around the gas station. The Treetops was a couple miles down 143 on our right, I was afraid I was going to miss it as the road was so darn twisty, I really wasn’t looking for a small gravel road on the shoulder… However we did end up finding it and pulled into what we would call home for the next few days. Anthony, Brian and Nick (I think) were the only people there at the time. Shaggy (Mark) showed up a bit later as we were unloading.
After we got unloaded and talked with the guys a few minutes, Josh and Jon were eager to get up to the infamous US129 to see what it was all about. They really had no clue what was coming.
We stopped at the store to look around for a few minutes and check out the tree of shame. I mounted up the cameras as I gave them the basic run down of warning signs and what to look for and we took off heading north.
After the first pass I pulled off at the gravel trap at the north end with Jon right on my tail and Josh not too far behind. I quickly took off my lid and watched their expressions as they dismounted. Ear to ear grins for both of them. Jon seemed to be in awe and didn’t say much more than, “that was amazing” while Josh couldn’t stop talking about it. We looked at each others tires joking about the chicken strips when I noticed something interesting about my tires. I had gotten the Avon’s pretty darn hot and I had the “rubber buggers” accumulating on the sides like the road race guys! I took a few shots and the three of us headed back down to the store. We took a different order this time trying to get everyone on camera. Jon took point with Josh in the middle and the FZ bringing up the rear. A bit later we were back at the store to pull the cameras off and B.S. about the last run. We headed back the house to call it a day and eat some dinner that Anthony was working on before we left.
The guys were stoked…
Day 2. Thursday, June 4th
Looking at the radar last night it looked as though the rain would be rolling in sometime after lunch for sure. So we made plans to make a short loop in the morning, come back for lunch and see what the weather was doing. A few of the guys that showed up early, Todd, Brian and Mark were ok with this and joined us for our early morning departure.
We headed out going west on 143 (Skyway) taking it all the way down to Tellico Plains, TN. The morning fog hadn’t quite lifted yet when we rolled through so it got a bit difficult to see up around the peak. (5000 ft) We pulled off at the top overlook, I snapped a few pictures as everyone wandered around and talked. When we headed back down out of the clouds, the sun poked through for a bit before the impending rain clouds moved in. This was the first time I had been on the Skyway with out a passenger so the speed that I was able to carry through the corners was nice. Heading west bound there are no decreasing radius corners and everything is very open. This road allows a rider to build confidence in every corner and I was starting to get some miles in on the sides of the tires! The road was clear for the most part, turtles seemed to be the debris of choice though. As I found out later, it was mating season which would make since I suppose. In then end I believe we dodged 3 or 4 before we got to Tellico Plains.
We headed out going west on 143 (Skyway) taking it all the way down to Tellico Plains, TN. The morning fog hadn’t quite lifted yet when we rolled through so it got a bit difficult to see up around the peak. (5000 ft) We pulled off at the top overlook, I snapped a few pictures as everyone wandered around and talked. When we headed back down out of the clouds, the sun poked through for a bit before the impending rain clouds moved in. This was the first time I had been on the Skyway with out a passenger so the speed that I was able to carry through the corners was nice. Heading west bound there are no decreasing radius corners and everything is very open. This road allows a rider to build confidence in every corner and I was starting to get some miles in on the sides of the tires! The road was clear for the most part, turtles seemed to be the debris of choice though. As I found out later, it was mating season which would make since I suppose. In then end I believe we dodged 3 or 4 before we got to Tellico Plains.
40 miles later we had arrived in Tellico and we turned right, heading north on 360. We pulled in at a small gas station; I figured some of the guys would like to take a little stretch break. We chatted for a few minutes before heading on our way. On the map 360 looked like a nice twisty road, but in actuality it was a nice little farm road. There were a few nice corners but the scenery was the real highlight. I forget now how long this road was, but it didn’t take us too much time to get up on 441.Now the plan was to take 441 up to 321 and bring the Foothills Parkway down to 129. I started rethinking this idea as we worked our way down 441, a four lane highway. Off in the distance I could see the clouds beginning to work their way in. I wasn’t a 100% on the amount of time it would take to do the FHP and since I had never rode with these guys before I wasn’t too sure about their feelings towards rain. I think it was something like 20 miles down 441 and we came up on the 129 intersection. There was a small service station there on the corner so I pulled in there. Josh, Jon and Mark topped off the tanks and we discussed the route situation. Brian was about fed up with the highway and the general consensus was to head back towards the house. Judging by the movement of the clouds, this was probably the best idea.
We dodged another turtle, this time he was on his back rolling around trying to get himself upright, poor fella. Eventually we got to the upper dam there at the lake on top of 129. Mark mentioned that he wanted pictures of the dams so we pulled off there for a few minutes and I snapped a few shots as well.
The traffic had started to pick up a bit since yesterday but it still appeared light compared to years past. A few people flashed their lights in warning as we headed south down 129. There at the gravel trap there were two THP sitting and watching the bikes go by. Josh had asked to get some pictures from the overlook at some point, so once we got there we pulled off again. Several bikes were gathered on both sides of the overlook, but there was still plenty of room to move around. We mounted up the cameras again, to take another stab at some video since Jon erased the ones from yesterday accidently.
We made a clean pass down only seeing two more officers sitting in the construction area; however we were warned about these two by a couple guys at the overlook. When we stopped at the store we ran into Anthony and some other guys from the meet. Mark and Todd headed back to the house from there while Brian stayed with us to complete the loop down 28 to 143. Oddly enough, when we were about to leave, the guy who warned us about the THP was carrying a welcoming slip (Ticket).
We continued down 28, literally, down with a 9% grade to Fontana Village. The road was nice and smooth and the turns were predictable. We all wished we were heading north at this point as the twisties are easier to carve when going up hill. A few turns shy of Fontana Village and we were hit with a down pour, the rain had caught us. I hurried up and pulled under the covering at the gas stop there on the corner of Fontana Village. We got off the bikes and talked with a couple guys on SV 650’s that had beaten us to the shelter.
The rain wasn’t letting up too quick so we went on inside the store and each got a couple hot dogs and a coke for lunch. We figured since we were hogging their pumps we should at least support them. We sat out the rain for about 20 minutes and the rain started to slowly let up. It wasn’t too much further to 143, so we suited back up and headed out.
On the way in we got behind a couple slower bikes and a local in a car who was tail gaiting the heck out of the bike in the rear. When she found a spot to pass there was a large Ford truck coming at her that was moving along pretty good. I laid back hoping this didn’t get ugly and watched as that lady squeezed her way in between that large truck and the lead bike.
A bit later the bikes motioned us on by and we eventually caught up to the crazy car, she was stuck behind a slower car this time. At this point we were in Robbinsville and apparently the local grocery store must have had a sale on milk or something. She passed the slower car on her way through the turning lane, only to get stuck with on coming traffic. I scooted over in my lane, got right up on the side of car and let 139 db of ear piercing goodness go. I like my air horn. There was no since her behavior, especially around bikes.
By time we got back to the house it was getting to be close to dinner time. I took an extra run down the Skyway escorting a Semi to Tellico. He really didn’t need it, but the driver asked for one when I started talking to him via the CB. I figured I owed The Bike God’s one after my little incident the week before.
Back to the house with my good deed done, Josh was washing his bike and the rest of the guys were playing pool and having a few cold ones. The rain came in late that evening and hung around till morning.
Day 3. Friday, June 5th
Jordan’s Great Uncle Jesse, lives in Cullowhee, NC which is the home of Western Carolina State University. Jordan’s Maw-Maw and Uncle Jesse and I believe Jordan’s mother, Susan all grew up in the house that Uncle Jesse still lives in today. When Uncle Jesse came to Lexington for His/Jude’s first birthday party I mentioned the bike trip to him and said that we should get together for lunch at some point while I was up that way. Cullowhee isn’t too far from Robbinsville, so while I was over it would be a great time to get over that way and spend some time with him and to get some riding on that side of the mountain. Turns out that Maw-Maw was heading up to visit on Friday, however her times were certain at that point, but we would call each other Thursday and figure it out.
Thursday evening was a wash out once we got in and it looked as though it was there to stay for a while. Maw-Maw called rather late that evening to my surprise to inform me that she would be there a little sooner than expected and that we could meet up at Uncle Jesse’s around lunch time. From there we would contact each other as the day went on because the weather was still looking a bit iffy.
Friday morning, I awoke to the sound of rain hitting the roof top. A quick check of the weather channel showed a small area of moisture was over Robbinsville while the rest of the front had moved on. The cloud got stuck… Looking at the hour by hour it seemed as though it would be gone within the hour, so I went ahead and started packing up the rain gear and got Josh and Jon up. A little bit latter they were ready to go, but the rain hadn’t really let up. I am not opposed to riding in the rain; I just really didn’t want to leave in it. So we played some pool and killed another hour until it started to let up. Time was against us at this point as we needed to be near Silvia by lunch time.
I talked they guys, mainly Josh, into leaving and assuring him that it would be dry at the bottom and explain the whole cloud stuck on the mountain scenario. I think all the other guys in the house though we were nuts, but I knew this moisture was not everywhere, I had experienced this before.
So we went towards The Gap, heading north on 129. We quickly came to realize that the moisture was still there as well. We stopped at the store and took a few pictures on the loading dock since no one was there. The rain picked back up so we went inside for a bit to let it die off again. Josh’s jacket was extremely well vented and in this moisture he was not only cold but wet. The rain/moisture wasn’t too bad so I let him use my rain coat to help him out and we took off down 28 again in the rain..
Thursday evening was a wash out once we got in and it looked as though it was there to stay for a while. Maw-Maw called rather late that evening to my surprise to inform me that she would be there a little sooner than expected and that we could meet up at Uncle Jesse’s around lunch time. From there we would contact each other as the day went on because the weather was still looking a bit iffy.
Friday morning, I awoke to the sound of rain hitting the roof top. A quick check of the weather channel showed a small area of moisture was over Robbinsville while the rest of the front had moved on. The cloud got stuck… Looking at the hour by hour it seemed as though it would be gone within the hour, so I went ahead and started packing up the rain gear and got Josh and Jon up. A little bit latter they were ready to go, but the rain hadn’t really let up. I am not opposed to riding in the rain; I just really didn’t want to leave in it. So we played some pool and killed another hour until it started to let up. Time was against us at this point as we needed to be near Silvia by lunch time.
I talked they guys, mainly Josh, into leaving and assuring him that it would be dry at the bottom and explain the whole cloud stuck on the mountain scenario. I think all the other guys in the house though we were nuts, but I knew this moisture was not everywhere, I had experienced this before.
So we went towards The Gap, heading north on 129. We quickly came to realize that the moisture was still there as well. We stopped at the store and took a few pictures on the loading dock since no one was there. The rain picked back up so we went inside for a bit to let it die off again. Josh’s jacket was extremely well vented and in this moisture he was not only cold but wet. The rain/moisture wasn’t too bad so I let him use my rain coat to help him out and we took off down 28 again in the rain..
Towards the bottom 28 the sun began to poke through and the light bounced off the wet leaves and road as we came through this tunnel of trees. It truly was breath taking to witness this. A mile or two later we entered into a valley to witness the clouds lifting off at the lower elevation. At the next wide spot, which was a small store, we pulled over so I could get some pictures of this clouds moving away.
We wandered a way down 28 over to 19 and some how got in around Cherokee. I thought I knew where I was going, but I didn’t. At every stop Josh was wanting to do a burn out or was revving his bike, doing those squid things. So Jon and I decided that Josh would really be better off on a Harley. All he wants to do is rev up that bike, do a burn out and complains every 100 miles about being tired. To top it all off, every evening when we came in he would wash his bike. It had rained every day up to this point. Jon and I thought it was very funny, Josh didn’t.
We eventually made our way into Silva and down into Cullowhee. Now when you start getting close to the school the DOT have the side of the road marked with a separate small lane for bicycles on the shoulder. To my surprise when get to those, Josh comes rolling up beside Jon and I in the bicycle lane! I guess his Schwinn was equipped with a motor?
We stopped in front of the school, before climbing the mountain to Uncle Jesse’s house. There is no cell service up there, so I went ahead and called his house to see if he was available. He was and had been waiting for us to arrive. I called Maw-Maw real quick to let here know where we were and to find out her ETA. She was closer than I thought, so we just headed on up to Uncle Jesse’s.
Once up top, Josh and Jon were amazed at how quiet everything was up there. The loudest noise was that of the creek running across the road from the house. Uncle Jesse greeted us and pointed out the large tree that was missing. Turns out only a sliver of that large tree was still living before the power company cut it, the rest had rotted away! It was a wonder the thing was even standing before they cut it.
Maw-Maw showed up a few minutes later and we headed back to Silva to eat at the Jarrett House. This place is always good, and we usually eat there every time we go up that way, which doesn’t bother me! Josh and Jon were in for a real treat. An hour or so later we left after Josh had stuffed himself full of Catfish and Jon indulged on the vinegar pie (which was actually really good). We were so full we struggled to get back in our gear and had to rest for a while in sun shine to let our food settle for a bit! Yes, I said sun shine. It wasn’t raining where we were!
We eventually made our way into Silva and down into Cullowhee. Now when you start getting close to the school the DOT have the side of the road marked with a separate small lane for bicycles on the shoulder. To my surprise when get to those, Josh comes rolling up beside Jon and I in the bicycle lane! I guess his Schwinn was equipped with a motor?
We stopped in front of the school, before climbing the mountain to Uncle Jesse’s house. There is no cell service up there, so I went ahead and called his house to see if he was available. He was and had been waiting for us to arrive. I called Maw-Maw real quick to let here know where we were and to find out her ETA. She was closer than I thought, so we just headed on up to Uncle Jesse’s.
Once up top, Josh and Jon were amazed at how quiet everything was up there. The loudest noise was that of the creek running across the road from the house. Uncle Jesse greeted us and pointed out the large tree that was missing. Turns out only a sliver of that large tree was still living before the power company cut it, the rest had rotted away! It was a wonder the thing was even standing before they cut it.
Maw-Maw showed up a few minutes later and we headed back to Silva to eat at the Jarrett House. This place is always good, and we usually eat there every time we go up that way, which doesn’t bother me! Josh and Jon were in for a real treat. An hour or so later we left after Josh had stuffed himself full of Catfish and Jon indulged on the vinegar pie (which was actually really good). We were so full we struggled to get back in our gear and had to rest for a while in sun shine to let our food settle for a bit! Yes, I said sun shine. It wasn’t raining where we were!
After a few minute nap, we were on our way to Franklin, NC and Hwy 64 to head down Wayah Rd. Some where on 64 I think it was we came up on a large advisory sign for trucks and motorcycles showing sharp corners and a posted speed limit of 35 mph. Well we were on a highway of sorts and it was a 4 lane so we knew it wouldn’t be that bad. We were all in the right lane as we approached the corners. The were just good sweepers! I ended up behind some small car entering the first corner in the right lane and I as went to pass I looked in my mirror to see Josh on my inside with a knee out and gaining quick. As he passed I flipped him off and then ducked in behind. The three of us started our way down a rate much quicker than the advised. Several corners later we came into a left hander we were still in the left lane, Josh pulled away a bit as he accelerated a bit harder out of the last sweeper. He dove in and gave it all she had but he wasn’t able to maintain his line. He leaned has far as he could, I mean that bike was down! I backed way off expecting the worse, he drifted over into the right lane and was headed to shoulder. Thankfully the corner opened up and he pulled it off with out dropping it. He dropped way back shaking his head as were pulled into Franklin. I motioned to him asking if we needed to stop, he waved me on so we kept on rollin.A few miles later we were on Wayah Rd. Things had changed a bit since I had last been on it. They had spread small pea sized gravel all over the road for the first couple miles. It was rather odd to say the least. I am not sure if they are working on the road of if they did it to prevent bikes from going so fast in the “rural” area of that road. Eventually the gravel let up, right before the best part actually. The road surface isn’t the best on that road so it is hard to really push the bike through the corners. There was a lot of gravel and busted pavement, but the scenery was great! We came up on a lake towards the end of the road and pulled off on a wide spot for some pictures. This particular spot had a nice ladder going down the embankment leading to the lake.
We were running short on time because we had a group photo scheduled with Killboy at 6 on top of the skyway. Once we got back into the Robbinsville we noticed the clouds and the damp air felt like rain. It seemed as though we made a good choice to leave. A quick stop by the house on the way up the skyway to discover that one of the riders and fallen hard and got pretty banged up. The fog was very thick at the top and several had come down because there was no way to get a decent photo in that fog. I got online looking for a number or some contact info to try and get a hold of Darryl. The rest of the group was still at the pull off waiting and as I was leaving to go up there with them, Darryl pulled in. He decided to move it down to the first overlook on the skyway so I went on up to the top to bring the rest of the guys back down.IT WAS FOGGY! The ceiling was about 3800 feet and once you were in it, it was cold, windy and wet, but no rain. I told the group what was going on and thanked them for staying up there, took a couple quick picks and headed back down.
After the group photo, the three of us headed back to The Dragon to try, once again, recording Jon from the front. Darryl said the road was clear and dry for the most part so we headed that way.
He was right, it was clear and we finally got some good footage! Videos to follow later. We got to the top, tired and worn out. Chatted with a few guys at the top and then eased our way back down working on lane/line position. We got home a bit late for food, fortunately there was still some chicken Alf redo pasta stuff that Steve made on the stove. We ate the rest of that and then crawled in the hot tube to close the day.
He was right, it was clear and we finally got some good footage! Videos to follow later. We got to the top, tired and worn out. Chatted with a few guys at the top and then eased our way back down working on lane/line position. We got home a bit late for food, fortunately there was still some chicken Alf redo pasta stuff that Steve made on the stove. We ate the rest of that and then crawled in the hot tube to close the day.
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Day 4. Saturday, June 6th
Today is a special day for two reasons. First, it is my Papa’s birthday up in Wisconsin. Happy Birthday! Secondly, and one that should effect us all, today is the 65th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy. D-Day, what seemed to be an impossible mission became a victory, but with staggering loses. It is because of their courage and determination that we are able to enjoy freedom today. I would like to take a second and thank all the troops in our armed forces defending our country and to thank the families of those soldiers who have paid the ultimate price. They will never be forgotten.
After the long ride on Friday, Josh and Jon were beat, and to be honest I was as well. So we made plans the night before to head up the Foothill’s Parkway towards Gatlinburg and then head up 441 through the Great Smokey Mountain Parkway. 441 follows this really nice river/stream that travelers and locals always seem to be swimming in every time I have been by. This would be a great way to relax and have some fun off the bikes for a day.
Saturday morning we all slept in, there was no need to leave early since the GSMP was just down the road, so to speak. We eventually got rolling, packed up some towels along with our “swim trunks“and our “Flippy-Floppies.” We set out I guess around 10:30 or so heading across 143 to take 28 north. We had wanted to go up 28 for some time as it has some nice corners leading up to the store going up a 9% grade.
Once on 28, Jon took point and Josh quickly passed me to chase him down. For some reason this morning I really wasn’t feeling it. Something finally clicked with Josh as he took off and pulled away staying right with Jon. We gathered back up just before the intersection of 28 and 129 there at the store. Once the store was in sight, Josh and Jon both stopped in the middle of the road. The store was packed. They had never seen so many bikes before. Keep in mind, every time we had been up to store this far there had only been 20 to 30 bikes at the most. The entire parking lot was filled to the brim with bikes and the only way you could get in from 28 was through the small path left open to get up to the fuel pumps then across to the parking lot! We ended up parking behind some ones enclosed trailer while Josh and Jon went to use the restroom.
About the time we were going to leave, the owner of the trailer came up to us asking if we could move our bikes. He had been hit head on by a Porsche on 129 a little bit ago, and needed to load his bike up. Fortunately the rider was ok and he had a back up bike to roll out. With all the traffic up there, we knew there was no way to set a good pace. So we all eased up 129 hugging the white line. In the first corner a bike had gone down and went off the embankment, and a few miles later there was another head on between a Grand-Am and a cruiser that had the rode shut down. Turns out there were 4 head on before noon that day on the gap! We made our way safely up 129 to the Foothills Parkway. On up a few miles we pulled over to get some pictures on an over look.
We suited back up heading on to 321 then to 441 through Townsend and onto the GSMP. This road is really a traffic nightmare during the weekends. It is a really nice winding road following the river, but so many people are on it and with that come some really slow people. I finally pulled over a few miles up at a nice wide spot were some people had already pulled off as well. At this particular spot there was a nice set of rapids as well as a large “pool area” with direct sunlight. We unpacked, changed there behind the bikes, and slowly entered that COLD mountain water. All the rain from the past couple of days had brought the water level up some and increased the flow across the rapids. The current was strong, stronger than I had really expected it to be. I found this out as I tried to swim across it to a large rock that over looked the pool. We were planning on jumping off that large rock into the river; however after checking the bottom we found there was a large rock in the middle that limited the depth. We swam around for a bit and found a better spot down stream to jump in at. It didn’t take long before we realized that with all this moving water there were a lot of good skipping rocks to be had on the shore. An hour later all of us were dry but our shoulders were sore so we decided to head on back to the bikes.
While we were there a man came by us on a tube making his way down the river. Jon brought up the tube guy as we were leaving and said that we should look into renting some tubes to ride down the river on. Back in Townsend we had seen some places offering rentals for 8 dollars that included a shuttle to the drop point. It was getting late in the afternoon so we figured we could probably get a couple runs in at least. Back into town we went looking for that 8 dollar special.
Cowboy Tubing is where we ended up. We parked the bikes around back under a shade tree and out of plain sight. We paid our 8 bucks and jumped in the van. Turns out that all the tubing places on this river dropped you off at the same point and then you got out of the river behind their store front. We got back in that cold mountain water and started floating away. It was a pretty relaxing ride until we came up on a set of small rapids. We bounced our way down, laughing at each other and joking that we were “extreme.” Down the river before we got out we made our way through 3 more rapids, each one offering some different challenges, but for the most part fairly calm. The ride lasted about 40 minutes so we decided to go again.
This time, Josh and Jon lay on the stomachs on the tubes. I really didn’t like this idea seeing as how our butts would drag the rocks from time to time when sitting on the tube… Everything was going fine, Josh ended up getting stuck at the beginning of the first rapid and while Jon and I were laughing at him we didn’t realize we were heading for this really crappy area where the water was turning backwards on itself. Jon bounced out of his tube when I gave him a nudge, then as I got in the snarl. My tube flipped me over backwards and I did a back flip under water and hit my head on the rock which was causing this disturbance. I lost my bearings and ended up getting drug the rest of the way down the rapids. The rocks were extremely slick so it was all I could do to get a hold of anything to stop myself. At the end of that set, my tube had come to a rest, so I swam over to get it and hop back on. Jon asked if I was alright, which I was for the most part. My head hurt and I had water up my nose, but it could have been worse. The only bad part was that we were heading for a second set which was very rough compared to the first. The current was taking us towards the right side, which was where a lot people were gathering. About the time we got there they all started yelling at us to swim to the left and to avoid where we were heading. Turns out four kids had just gone to the hospital after going down the same rapids we were heading for. We started paddling with our hands like crazy. Suddenly, Jon started acting like a rock; his tube had punctured and was going flat. Mine however was fine, but I couldn’t get out of the way in time and down the rapids I went. Once again I was thrown from the tube and tossed down what amounted to a very sharp set of rocks. Funny how the water hadn’t eroded them yet… Some guy stopped my tube and waited on me to get my breath and come get it. I ended up resting on the shore before going after it after fighting the water for a few minutes
When I was tossed that second time I felt a few rocks catch my feet, hands and stomach. So I checked myself for significant bleeding. It all appeared to be minor cuts and scrapes so I eased back into the water tripping and falling a few more times before I got to my tube. By this time Josh had made his way down and picked Jon up on the way. They some how managed to ride together on one tube. Yes, it looked as gay as it sounds and everyone was staring. It didn’t take them long to realize that their set up wouldn’t work down the next set of rapids so after I went on down the next set, which by the way was the scariest thing I have done after falling out of that tube twice. I got out of the water and began walking back to the store front. When I got there I noticed two guys walking back as well. Josh and Jon had gave up on the two-up idea, Jon was wearing his deflated tube around his neck
The store attendant gave me some alcohol wipes to clean my cuts. We all dried off and got changed and headed to a local Pizza Hut to sit down and get our heads back before spending any amount of time back in the saddle. We had gone from riding mode, to relax mode, to survival mode and we were still a little ways from the house. Sitting at the Pizza Hut, devouring our stuff crust we somehow began laughing at the scenario and how it unfolded. How we went from near drowning to laughing about the drowning, I will never know. We sat for about an hour and dusk was working its way in so Josh and Jon topped off the tanks and we headed back the way we came.
We stopped for a moment at the intersection of the FHP and 129 and decided that we would just ease down The Dragon. That lasted for about a mile. There was no one on the road and the accidents were clear, we had the road to ourselves. This time around I worked on shifting my weight to the inside of the bike by hanging off the motorcycle. With 318 curves there was a lot of movement happening and by the end I was beat, my the thighs felt like they were on fire. My pace really wasn’t that much quicker, it was more about learning the technique than anything. We stopped at the store to talk about the run. I asked Jon how my form looked and if there were any major flaws in my body position. We sat there for about 10 minutes resting when one of the FZ members, Scott and his wife, Alicia (I think) rode up. We began chatting about the days events with them when Scott stopped us and said, “Boy’s the sun is about to set, lets’ take this up to the overlook. We have a story or two tell as well.” So back up The Dragon we went. This time I took rear, Jon decided to chase Scott & Alicia, since they are semi-locals, Scott knows the road pretty good. I brought up the rear fooling around practicing the “hanging off” technique, but about 4 miles in my thighs had given out and I just eased up to the overlook.
A few bikes had gathered at the overlook along with a few of the locals in their trucks to watch the sunset. It truly was amazing from up there. Scott informed us of the events that unfolded with the group as he was the tour guide for most of the group. We shared our story and I showed off my injuries. We stayed at the overlook for about a half hour or so before Josh headed back down to the store. He wasn’t too sure about riding back down in the dark. Jon, Scott and Alicia and I headed back down around once the sun had set and we ran out of stories for the day. Scott and Alicia took point with Jon following and I pulled up the rear again. We went at a bit of a slower pace, but still moving along pretty good in a tight formation. Scott had his high beams and extra lights on and with the three of us close together, we lit the road up pretty well.
Down at the bottom, Josh was sitting on a bench with Darryl Cannon, AKA: Killboy, and his wife, Lori. Along with them were a few of the locals and they were all just hanging out, bench racing. We introduced ourselves to the locals and pulled up a seat and began B.S.’ing the night way. Darryl and some of the store workers began working on pulling the bikes out of the ravine from the accidents earlier in the morning. They tell the owners of the bikes to come back in the evening to pick up their bikes as they do not like to remove them during peak hours. This way they don’t have the rubber necks causing more problems and they don’t have to shut the road down. We offered to lend a hand but they had it under control. A little bit later the owner of the store came by with an SUV loaded full of oil dry and some other goodies from Sam’s Club. We helped her unload and restock the store supply while we were at it.
Every now and then a local would gear up and take off making a night run up The Dragon. They seemed to enjoy making night runs better than day runs, crazy bastards. Since Darryl had recently wrecked his 750 he was out playing around on a 120cc pit bike. He had a large headlight mounted to the bars and was in his full set of leathers as well. A bit later he put his lid on and dared the locals to come catch him. The locals laughed and agreed. They wouldn’t be able to, and they admitted it.
We headed back to the house around midnight after stopping on the bridge and getting some shots of the dam all lit up. Unfortunately these didn’t turn out as good as I had hoped, oh well. We pulled in shortly after midnight, all the guys were in the garage so we shared our stories with them as we unloaded and called it a night. Lesson of the day, “Tubing Sucks!” [Thumbs Down]
After the long ride on Friday, Josh and Jon were beat, and to be honest I was as well. So we made plans the night before to head up the Foothill’s Parkway towards Gatlinburg and then head up 441 through the Great Smokey Mountain Parkway. 441 follows this really nice river/stream that travelers and locals always seem to be swimming in every time I have been by. This would be a great way to relax and have some fun off the bikes for a day.
Saturday morning we all slept in, there was no need to leave early since the GSMP was just down the road, so to speak. We eventually got rolling, packed up some towels along with our “swim trunks“and our “Flippy-Floppies.” We set out I guess around 10:30 or so heading across 143 to take 28 north. We had wanted to go up 28 for some time as it has some nice corners leading up to the store going up a 9% grade.
Once on 28, Jon took point and Josh quickly passed me to chase him down. For some reason this morning I really wasn’t feeling it. Something finally clicked with Josh as he took off and pulled away staying right with Jon. We gathered back up just before the intersection of 28 and 129 there at the store. Once the store was in sight, Josh and Jon both stopped in the middle of the road. The store was packed. They had never seen so many bikes before. Keep in mind, every time we had been up to store this far there had only been 20 to 30 bikes at the most. The entire parking lot was filled to the brim with bikes and the only way you could get in from 28 was through the small path left open to get up to the fuel pumps then across to the parking lot! We ended up parking behind some ones enclosed trailer while Josh and Jon went to use the restroom.
About the time we were going to leave, the owner of the trailer came up to us asking if we could move our bikes. He had been hit head on by a Porsche on 129 a little bit ago, and needed to load his bike up. Fortunately the rider was ok and he had a back up bike to roll out. With all the traffic up there, we knew there was no way to set a good pace. So we all eased up 129 hugging the white line. In the first corner a bike had gone down and went off the embankment, and a few miles later there was another head on between a Grand-Am and a cruiser that had the rode shut down. Turns out there were 4 head on before noon that day on the gap! We made our way safely up 129 to the Foothills Parkway. On up a few miles we pulled over to get some pictures on an over look.
We suited back up heading on to 321 then to 441 through Townsend and onto the GSMP. This road is really a traffic nightmare during the weekends. It is a really nice winding road following the river, but so many people are on it and with that come some really slow people. I finally pulled over a few miles up at a nice wide spot were some people had already pulled off as well. At this particular spot there was a nice set of rapids as well as a large “pool area” with direct sunlight. We unpacked, changed there behind the bikes, and slowly entered that COLD mountain water. All the rain from the past couple of days had brought the water level up some and increased the flow across the rapids. The current was strong, stronger than I had really expected it to be. I found this out as I tried to swim across it to a large rock that over looked the pool. We were planning on jumping off that large rock into the river; however after checking the bottom we found there was a large rock in the middle that limited the depth. We swam around for a bit and found a better spot down stream to jump in at. It didn’t take long before we realized that with all this moving water there were a lot of good skipping rocks to be had on the shore. An hour later all of us were dry but our shoulders were sore so we decided to head on back to the bikes.
While we were there a man came by us on a tube making his way down the river. Jon brought up the tube guy as we were leaving and said that we should look into renting some tubes to ride down the river on. Back in Townsend we had seen some places offering rentals for 8 dollars that included a shuttle to the drop point. It was getting late in the afternoon so we figured we could probably get a couple runs in at least. Back into town we went looking for that 8 dollar special.Cowboy Tubing is where we ended up. We parked the bikes around back under a shade tree and out of plain sight. We paid our 8 bucks and jumped in the van. Turns out that all the tubing places on this river dropped you off at the same point and then you got out of the river behind their store front. We got back in that cold mountain water and started floating away. It was a pretty relaxing ride until we came up on a set of small rapids. We bounced our way down, laughing at each other and joking that we were “extreme.” Down the river before we got out we made our way through 3 more rapids, each one offering some different challenges, but for the most part fairly calm. The ride lasted about 40 minutes so we decided to go again.
This time, Josh and Jon lay on the stomachs on the tubes. I really didn’t like this idea seeing as how our butts would drag the rocks from time to time when sitting on the tube… Everything was going fine, Josh ended up getting stuck at the beginning of the first rapid and while Jon and I were laughing at him we didn’t realize we were heading for this really crappy area where the water was turning backwards on itself. Jon bounced out of his tube when I gave him a nudge, then as I got in the snarl. My tube flipped me over backwards and I did a back flip under water and hit my head on the rock which was causing this disturbance. I lost my bearings and ended up getting drug the rest of the way down the rapids. The rocks were extremely slick so it was all I could do to get a hold of anything to stop myself. At the end of that set, my tube had come to a rest, so I swam over to get it and hop back on. Jon asked if I was alright, which I was for the most part. My head hurt and I had water up my nose, but it could have been worse. The only bad part was that we were heading for a second set which was very rough compared to the first. The current was taking us towards the right side, which was where a lot people were gathering. About the time we got there they all started yelling at us to swim to the left and to avoid where we were heading. Turns out four kids had just gone to the hospital after going down the same rapids we were heading for. We started paddling with our hands like crazy. Suddenly, Jon started acting like a rock; his tube had punctured and was going flat. Mine however was fine, but I couldn’t get out of the way in time and down the rapids I went. Once again I was thrown from the tube and tossed down what amounted to a very sharp set of rocks. Funny how the water hadn’t eroded them yet… Some guy stopped my tube and waited on me to get my breath and come get it. I ended up resting on the shore before going after it after fighting the water for a few minutes
When I was tossed that second time I felt a few rocks catch my feet, hands and stomach. So I checked myself for significant bleeding. It all appeared to be minor cuts and scrapes so I eased back into the water tripping and falling a few more times before I got to my tube. By this time Josh had made his way down and picked Jon up on the way. They some how managed to ride together on one tube. Yes, it looked as gay as it sounds and everyone was staring. It didn’t take them long to realize that their set up wouldn’t work down the next set of rapids so after I went on down the next set, which by the way was the scariest thing I have done after falling out of that tube twice. I got out of the water and began walking back to the store front. When I got there I noticed two guys walking back as well. Josh and Jon had gave up on the two-up idea, Jon was wearing his deflated tube around his neck
The store attendant gave me some alcohol wipes to clean my cuts. We all dried off and got changed and headed to a local Pizza Hut to sit down and get our heads back before spending any amount of time back in the saddle. We had gone from riding mode, to relax mode, to survival mode and we were still a little ways from the house. Sitting at the Pizza Hut, devouring our stuff crust we somehow began laughing at the scenario and how it unfolded. How we went from near drowning to laughing about the drowning, I will never know. We sat for about an hour and dusk was working its way in so Josh and Jon topped off the tanks and we headed back the way we came.
We stopped for a moment at the intersection of the FHP and 129 and decided that we would just ease down The Dragon. That lasted for about a mile. There was no one on the road and the accidents were clear, we had the road to ourselves. This time around I worked on shifting my weight to the inside of the bike by hanging off the motorcycle. With 318 curves there was a lot of movement happening and by the end I was beat, my the thighs felt like they were on fire. My pace really wasn’t that much quicker, it was more about learning the technique than anything. We stopped at the store to talk about the run. I asked Jon how my form looked and if there were any major flaws in my body position. We sat there for about 10 minutes resting when one of the FZ members, Scott and his wife, Alicia (I think) rode up. We began chatting about the days events with them when Scott stopped us and said, “Boy’s the sun is about to set, lets’ take this up to the overlook. We have a story or two tell as well.” So back up The Dragon we went. This time I took rear, Jon decided to chase Scott & Alicia, since they are semi-locals, Scott knows the road pretty good. I brought up the rear fooling around practicing the “hanging off” technique, but about 4 miles in my thighs had given out and I just eased up to the overlook.
A few bikes had gathered at the overlook along with a few of the locals in their trucks to watch the sunset. It truly was amazing from up there. Scott informed us of the events that unfolded with the group as he was the tour guide for most of the group. We shared our story and I showed off my injuries. We stayed at the overlook for about a half hour or so before Josh headed back down to the store. He wasn’t too sure about riding back down in the dark. Jon, Scott and Alicia and I headed back down around once the sun had set and we ran out of stories for the day. Scott and Alicia took point with Jon following and I pulled up the rear again. We went at a bit of a slower pace, but still moving along pretty good in a tight formation. Scott had his high beams and extra lights on and with the three of us close together, we lit the road up pretty well.
Down at the bottom, Josh was sitting on a bench with Darryl Cannon, AKA: Killboy, and his wife, Lori. Along with them were a few of the locals and they were all just hanging out, bench racing. We introduced ourselves to the locals and pulled up a seat and began B.S.’ing the night way. Darryl and some of the store workers began working on pulling the bikes out of the ravine from the accidents earlier in the morning. They tell the owners of the bikes to come back in the evening to pick up their bikes as they do not like to remove them during peak hours. This way they don’t have the rubber necks causing more problems and they don’t have to shut the road down. We offered to lend a hand but they had it under control. A little bit later the owner of the store came by with an SUV loaded full of oil dry and some other goodies from Sam’s Club. We helped her unload and restock the store supply while we were at it.
Every now and then a local would gear up and take off making a night run up The Dragon. They seemed to enjoy making night runs better than day runs, crazy bastards. Since Darryl had recently wrecked his 750 he was out playing around on a 120cc pit bike. He had a large headlight mounted to the bars and was in his full set of leathers as well. A bit later he put his lid on and dared the locals to come catch him. The locals laughed and agreed. They wouldn’t be able to, and they admitted it.
We headed back to the house around midnight after stopping on the bridge and getting some shots of the dam all lit up. Unfortunately these didn’t turn out as good as I had hoped, oh well. We pulled in shortly after midnight, all the guys were in the garage so we shared our stories with them as we unloaded and called it a night. Lesson of the day, “Tubing Sucks!” [Thumbs Down]
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