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Tuesday, October 18, 2005
Day 6. Deals Gap!!!
Headed out of London Sunday morning.
Weather was still crappy at the start, but cleared up about he time I got back into TN. I continued taking 2 laners down to Knoxville. Traffic sucked and the road work made it suckier. Thankfully it didn't last long and I was headed down US 129.
The entire area down that way is full of good places to ride.
Deals Gap is kinda special. 318 turns in an 11 mile stretch!!!
My Bestest Buddy, Steve, has been trying to get me down there for a long time. But seeing as I didn't have a bike for a long time, it seemed kinda stupid for me to go. I shoulda had a bike and went. The "Tail of the Dragon" as it's called is everything it's billed as. A very cool, highly technical road that will bite you in the ass if you screw up. People get in over their heads every weekend and crash. Being the pussy I am, I took it easy and didn't ride all to aggressively. I kept an eye out in the mirrors for the really fast guys and waved them by when it was clear.
The above shot is the gas station at the NC end of the Gap. I lost the pics taken at the TN end somehow. Bummer. I spent about an 1/2 hour at the TN end when I got there just scoping out the bikes. Lots of cool stuff. Some of these guys are waaaaaaaaaay serious riders. Some are like me, marginal. Some of the marginal guys THINK they can ride really fast and run wide over the double yellow and make shit dangerous for everyone. I took it easy and still had a great ride, while being safe for everyone.
Hung out at the NC end at the gas station for a little while and met some nice folks. DynoDan is a guy who posts on the Concours owners forum and he spent a few minutes giving me a few routes to ride. Nice guy and Thanks!!
Rode all afternoon around the area and found a nice place to crap out for the night. I will definitely be back at the Gap next Spring.