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No good reasoning as to why the wife and I waited all these years to take in Deals Gap and it's surrounding routes, but now that we have, it's abundantly clear why it's such a well loved area. The riding there is second to none that I've ever experienced, aside only to track time. Not to mention the awe inspiring views. I spent the first half of last week tuning up the truck, the bike, and overhauling my trailer so the wife and I could trust in it all for this trip. Met up with Granda080 and Oldschoolsdime92 at an eagerly early 345am Thursday morning. We reached the Dragon right about noon to sunny skies and perfect weather conditions, so I got to enjoy driving it first on our way to check into our cabin at Ironhorse Motorcycle Resort in Robbinsville ( for anyone curious, it's a great place to stay, well ran, good people, and plentiful amenities ). Once we got unpacked, unloaded the bikes, and suited up, we went right for Rt129. Took a parade lap the first pass in heavier than expected traffic, but a couple hours later we got a fairly clean run at it and really dug in at a much better pace. I like the Dragon, it's tight and technical turns bring exhilaratingly quick transitions, one after another, in an almost neverending succession. But, I honestly enjoyed a lot of the other routes we'd ridden the following day a bit more. Rt28 is a lot of fun, and better suited for the long gearing of my ZX14. Cherohala is a big favorite too. Even Foothills Pkway was enjoyable as a nice, easy ride of long sweeping turns and sweet overlooks. Friday, we rode an awesome twisty route from NC, to TN, down to northern Georgia, and back. I believe we have Pauly to thank for the coordinates? Blood Mtn was a blast. The beautiful elevation changes where most every corner is so sweetly banked, easily enabling extraordinary entry speeds that eventually shear away at your front tire until it's down to nothing, making you stop at the nearest dealer who gladly helped get me in and out at just over an hour. So, I nod my head with huge props to Union Powersports in Blairsville, GA and their excellent service of a last minute customer. The ultimate culprit was a less than credible tire gauge that had lied it's ass off prior to us leaving the house. Their mechanic showed me the true pressure was at about 22psi, semi-hot. So ambient pressure that morning was likely sub 20psi, but the janky gauge had read around 32-34ish. Needless to say, that turd of a tool went into the garbage to be replaced with an accurate instrument. Sadly, less than 5 minutes after we left the dealer is when the worst part happened. Torrential downpour. For the entire trip back to Ironhorse. I'd wager it was similar to what Noah experienced when the Earth flooded. Water was filling our boots, soaking our buttcracks, and running behind our helmet's visors, rendering us all virtually blind but for what was barely within our headlamp's range. We aren't fair weather riders, we've been caught in the rain before, no big deal. But this storm seemed to follow our every move with a non-stop dumping of buckets, thunder, and lightning. But why stop? Once you're soaked and out in the middle of who-the-fuck-knows, embrace the hate and mush on. Took us over 3 hours to journey back from just outside Blairsville to Ironhorse. We got to see Bridal Veil Falls for all of 3 seconds as we rode past it, Oldschool pointed up, we all looked, wife and I chuckled to one another over our Sena coms that the rain was coming down harder than the falls were, and kept riding. I'm just happy I didn't have to limp it through that storm on a bald front tire in the twisty hills, or I may not be here today to tell this little tale of conquering adversity. Albeit somewhat mild adversity, 'twas still a dangerous mission. Saturday morning we all decided not to ride since the forecast showed rain all day, our gear was still soaked, and our pruned hands and feet had just dried out. So after breakfast we headed into Maggie Valley's famed Wheels Through Time Museum. Awesome place to visit for those that haven't been. There's a ton of history on display in that building, and quite a bit of it still runs. The owner fired up a few pieces to boast his handy work, pretty impressive to see something over a century old start right up and run. Nabbed some lunch before heading back to the cabin. Wife and I went to the Gap store for some keepsakes and took a spin for a bit to take in some more scenery before we packed up to ready our jettison the following morning. Got back to the homestead about 5pm today. Glad to say none of us went down, and we all had the best time. Looking forward to the next trip down there. Pics to follow

I also had a job change that prevented an earlier trip. I loved the sena, as we all know I am a noob. I am on my 4th season and third bike. Hellmutt gave me a few heads up and granda talked me through a couple of tight corners. After my lowside at Mid O last year I have issues with turns that are tight down and then back up. I found the sides of my tires and had a blast. pics to follow

Thanks for sharing your experience. Every time I read 1 of these posts I get more and more determined to make it there.

I still have it torn down. I ended up remodeling the house to sell before we moved to Michigan for my job and the bike got pushed aside. Now we have a condo we are renting that has a small one car garage. I barely have any room to park the new bike in there. I will get it back together soon enough to get back out there. The Duc will see some track time

Beautiful pics. I need to make it down there on the bike. Glad everyone made it back safe

Definitely want to do this next year. Thanks for sharing.

06+ Kia Sedona. $5500 with 107k miles. $3000 with 91k miles, just needs 3 head gaskets.

Get back to the track with me and let's fix that

Stop second guessing the pros you clowns. We always go that weekend because that weekend is always perfect. I expect you to join us next year. Now I need to see your asses back at the track

Thinking about going down Labor day weekend. Who's in?

I'm not saying this was the same reason for Hellmutt, but I was a bit nervous going down there and I wanted to make my first trip with some close friends so I can experience it first my own way before trying to tackle it all with a group of people I'm only relatively familiar with. Hindsight, wouldn't have mattered, I was overthinking it in my own head. I'll be planning to attend with the rest of you hooligans next year.

Excellent review of your trip! Glad you had arrived home safe.

Not a chance, it is a flawed premise built on faulty logic using a small out of context piece of a much larger ruling. Seriously, it's a controversial fluff meant to drive web traffic and poses as Much validity as that time last month that Texans thought they were being invaded by the U.S. Government because of a training exercise. For those that even remotely think this has merit - ask yourselves: in the states that don't have carry and conceal laws, who is the group that is allowed to carry/conceal (not specific to their job like police, security, etc)? who is the group that is being discriminated against? And what is the basis for discrimination? I should add, that the article posted in the link (work of fiction?) also addresses something that the SCOTUS ruining does not address - reciprocity between the states. That being said, I doubt it will stop the crazies from trying to make some sort of hay with this. Might be a good show to watch if you like schadenfreude.

Awesome! I love the area and its past time to go back. Glad u had a good time Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

what BBQs are like when you're 30, single and male

Just picked her up boys. some obligatory pics. 08 CBR 600 RR Her odometer just rolled over 4k on the way home ; ) she's lookin' as immaculate as Emma Watson's face right now