What a day. We rode highway 321 out of Pigeon Forge to Townsend and then used the Foothills Parkway to meet up with the tame section of 129. 129 follows a reservoir on a flat road until it turns inland through deals gap. You know you are close to the "The Tail" when you see the signs warning truck drivers not to proceed, with a reminder that this is the last chance to turn around. Only a moron truck driver would continue, and some do every year.
Brian turned on his GoPro at the side of the road and off we went. I was familiar with the road from last time but did not have the turns memorized so i kept the speed down but accelerated aggressively out of the turns. Last year, the bike was shod with Pirelli Scorpions, essentially a street tire and they held well. This year, it was a lot colder and the Michelin Anakee 2's have a more blocky design, so there is less rubber contact, so I wasn't sure how the bike would respond. Good news is I didn't drop. Got a few wiggles on heavy breaking and throwing her sideways, but nothing out of the ordinary. Had a blast, but of course measured the ride my the number of mistakes made that lowered my time (way too many). Traffic was very light so we could have a lot of fun and no cops.
I pulled over to the side at one section and got video of Brian and John powering through a turn.
We had brunch at Deals Gap and relived the finer sections of the ride. Fun, WOW. We were all a bit sore from throwing the bikes around, but John really got a workout slapping that big 700 pound Harley in ways that just weren't meant to be.
John had to return to Atlanta so we decided to ride with him to Highway 19. On the way, we ran into road construction so the GPS gave us a short cut. Good line, except 9 miles in, the asphalt turned into dirt road. No problem for the GS, big problem for the Harley. Time to turn around and head back to the main road. Brian and I turned left to head back to Cherokee and catch the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway and John turned right. Great riding with you John. (John made it back under sunny and warm skys by 4:30)
Brian was getting emails from those watching our route, who commented that we were running in circles. They were right. This was not a fast route home - it was all about the long, fun way home.
The entrance (or exit, depending on your direction) to the Parkway is a long climb that ends in the highest point on the road. It's here, at over 6,000 feet, that the clouds were dumping sleet and hail on us. Good news - it wasn't wet, bad news, makes for fun mountain riding. Outside temps dropped to 4C, so the road did not freeze but it was steaming, which says the cold was a sudden drop.
Fortunately, the road starts dropping and temps warmed up and the sleet eventually went away. Unfortunately, we were in and out of rain all the way. With few cars on the road, we could set up a good cadence of sweeping through the turns. One learns a lot about the technical aspects of riding a bike in those conditions. We had a quick coffee at the Pisgah general store (which serves a still empty campground on the mountain) before dropping into Asheville, for a night in the Aloft Hotel. This is a very european styled hotel in downtown. A very funky overnight stay.
This morning, a fog covered the hill tops, sun came and burned off the fog and then clouds rolled in. There is a weather system north east of us, centred where Hwy 77 and 81 converge. Hopefully the Parkway will keep us from getting that far today, and that the weather clears for tomorrow. We'll play this one as it evolves.
Brian turned on his GoPro at the side of the road and off we went. I was familiar with the road from last time but did not have the turns memorized so i kept the speed down but accelerated aggressively out of the turns. Last year, the bike was shod with Pirelli Scorpions, essentially a street tire and they held well. This year, it was a lot colder and the Michelin Anakee 2's have a more blocky design, so there is less rubber contact, so I wasn't sure how the bike would respond. Good news is I didn't drop. Got a few wiggles on heavy breaking and throwing her sideways, but nothing out of the ordinary. Had a blast, but of course measured the ride my the number of mistakes made that lowered my time (way too many). Traffic was very light so we could have a lot of fun and no cops.
I pulled over to the side at one section and got video of Brian and John powering through a turn.
We had brunch at Deals Gap and relived the finer sections of the ride. Fun, WOW. We were all a bit sore from throwing the bikes around, but John really got a workout slapping that big 700 pound Harley in ways that just weren't meant to be.
John had to return to Atlanta so we decided to ride with him to Highway 19. On the way, we ran into road construction so the GPS gave us a short cut. Good line, except 9 miles in, the asphalt turned into dirt road. No problem for the GS, big problem for the Harley. Time to turn around and head back to the main road. Brian and I turned left to head back to Cherokee and catch the start of the Blue Ridge Parkway and John turned right. Great riding with you John. (John made it back under sunny and warm skys by 4:30)
Brian was getting emails from those watching our route, who commented that we were running in circles. They were right. This was not a fast route home - it was all about the long, fun way home.
The entrance (or exit, depending on your direction) to the Parkway is a long climb that ends in the highest point on the road. It's here, at over 6,000 feet, that the clouds were dumping sleet and hail on us. Good news - it wasn't wet, bad news, makes for fun mountain riding. Outside temps dropped to 4C, so the road did not freeze but it was steaming, which says the cold was a sudden drop.
Fortunately, the road starts dropping and temps warmed up and the sleet eventually went away. Unfortunately, we were in and out of rain all the way. With few cars on the road, we could set up a good cadence of sweeping through the turns. One learns a lot about the technical aspects of riding a bike in those conditions. We had a quick coffee at the Pisgah general store (which serves a still empty campground on the mountain) before dropping into Asheville, for a night in the Aloft Hotel. This is a very european styled hotel in downtown. A very funky overnight stay.
This morning, a fog covered the hill tops, sun came and burned off the fog and then clouds rolled in. There is a weather system north east of us, centred where Hwy 77 and 81 converge. Hopefully the Parkway will keep us from getting that far today, and that the weather clears for tomorrow. We'll play this one as it evolves.
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