Just a little twisty Action Today....

[xrated]

I've been riding motorcycles since 1971 and for the last 20 or so years, for me it's all about the twisty stuff. I live less than 20 miles from the world famous "Deals Gap" or as many like to refer to it as "Tail of The Dragon. US Rt. 129 is a long road, but that specific section, "Tail of the Dragon" is an 11 mile stretch of road with .......318 turns in it. Yep, not a typo....318 turns in 11 miles.

So today, after putting a new rear shock on my bike last week, I decided to take a ride and test the new shock and all of the setting that were dialed in by my suspension guy when I bough the shock. So I made a pass in, then turned around and came back out. Stopped for a few minutes to hydrate and made another pass in, turned around and came back out. So today's total for turns is approx. 1,272 turns while I was smiling from ear to ear. That is all!

[Hoopy Frood]

That road will create lots of smiles. Fer shure.

[xrated]

That road will create lots of smiles. Fer shure.

Yep, and those type of roads are Everywhere down here. When I lived in the St. Louis area, I had to ride all the way down to Potosi to find some decent twisty stuff. The Ozarks has it's share too.

[Hoopy Frood]

Yessir, done the Pig Trail and down around Mountain Home, Harrison, and points further south. Good fun. And The Three Twisted Sisters in Texas. And The Devil's Highway, aka Route 666 in Arizona. And Wolfe Pen Gap Road. And Utah 12. And Cottenwood Canyon. And so on, and so forth. LOL

Peggy wants to head that way this fall, we haven't been out that way in quite some time.

[txloser]

Sounds like fun. I’ve driven but not ridden Deals Gap.

I do miss riding. Mostly sport touring bikes(RT’s and a Concourse 1400). A GS and Tenere as well. Been about 8 years since since I’ve swung a leg over a bike now. My favorite around here was NW Arkansas.

[Hoopy Frood]

Sounds like fun. I’ve driven but not ridden Deals Gap.

I do miss riding. Mostly sport touring bikes(RT’s and a Concourse 1400). A GS and Tenere as well. Been about 8 years since since I’ve swung a leg over a bike now. My favorite around here was NW Arkansas.

Shoot, you're not too far from The Twisted Sisters. Good rides, but the road surface detracts considerably since it's sometimes hard to tell if it's loose gravel or just lousy chip and seal.

[xrated]

Yessir, done the Pig Trail and down around Mountain Home, Harrison, and points further south. Good fun. And The Three Twisted Sisters in Texas. And The Devil's Highway, aka Route 666 in Arizona. And Wolfe Pen Gap Road. And Utah 12. And Cottenwood Canyon. And so on, and so forth. LOL

Peggy wants to head that way this fall, we haven't been out that way in quite some time.

I've only been down south of Branson once, and that was years and years ago. We picked up Rt. 14 and took it over to where Rt 7 heads south and rode that all the way down through Russellville and on into Hot Springs. My riding buddy at the time had a good friend that was over in Little Rock, so we rode over there and visited for a day or so then headed back home. I kind of wish I had done more AR trips while I lived in the St. Louis area, but I'm pretty content with the roads around E. TN and North GA too. I remember when we first moved down here and doing 350-400 mile days....all of us on sportbikes. We'd do that several times a year. Anymore, and about 4 hrs and a couple hundred miles and I'm ready to call it a day.....well, I should say my body is ready to call it a day. I'll be sore tomorrow after 4 passes through Deals Gap. LOL

[xrated]

Sounds like fun. I’ve driven but not ridden Deals Gap.

I do miss riding. Mostly sport touring bikes(RT’s and a Concourse 1400). A GS and Tenere as well. Been about 8 years since since I’ve swung a leg over a bike now. My favorite around here was NW Arkansas.

I'd like to have a dollar for every pass through there that I've made since moving here in 2006. I had a ST1300 for about 6 years and now, I've got one of the new Suzuki GSX-S1000 GT+ bikes. It definitely a SPORT-touring bike. Removable hard bags, Electronic Cruise Control, Quickshifter, 3 driving modes, ABS and Traction control.....but it's more like a 1000cc Sportbike.

[jim_de_hunter]

Dragged my Jayco 195RB through Deals Gap last year right after we bought it. Nobody believes that I caught a poorly driven Mini while pulling through dragon.

[xrated]

Dragged my Jayco 195RB through Deals Gap last year right after we bought it. Nobody believes that I caught a poorly driven Mini while pulling through dragon.

Well, one thing is for sure, that's not the road to be pulling a camper through. I've been up there literally hundreds and hundreds of times and over that time span of 2006 till now, I've escorted full size tractor trailers through it. Every once in a while, a tractor trailer driver gets bad info and sees it as a shortcut to get to wherever he/she is going. Most of us locals will get in front of the tractor trailer (there's no place for them to turn around up there once they get on it) and stay a turn or maybe two ahead of them, warning oncoming traffic to stop and get over. You should see the look on some of their faces when they are pulled over because we've waved them down, and all of a sudden, a few seconds later a full size tractor trailer comes around the corner. A lot of the corners up there are so sharp that they have to get completely in the oncoming lane to be able to make the corner....so we run cover for them. Every once in a while, there will be a Blount County sheriff's Deputy up there and he or she will take over and we go on with the rest of our ride. And one thing is certain, they will be receiving a ticket when they get to the bottom or the top, depending on which way they are headed.