Beautiful day in the hood... The Dragon

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Took off kinda late really did'nt even plan on ridin' today but the warm sunshine changed my mind. Stopped by Lucky 13 to see if he wanted to go for a ride when he did'nt I took off for Deal's Gap, North Carolina.

Check out this I'm pretty sure he said it started life as a Mazda Miata    Maybe Wayne ( Solo1 ) should have chopped his to play with.He claimed it was street legal  

The Tree Of Shame just keeps growing and growing. The Dragon IMO will stand in the way of Tennessee ever getting to be helmet free with folks crashing left and right almost daily  
You will hear more as this ride report goes on.



On my last pass and headin' home I came upon this crash just north of the overlook. He claimed a " black tuner " ran him off the road. The pictures don't really show just how far he went off the bluff and the several trees he hit while doing so . His leg was in pretty bad shape however he did stand up when we finally got his bike to the top . I don't know this guy but we was the only ones that went down the ridge to hook the bike up. The guy that works for Deal's Gap pulled his bike out with his truck.While we was slowing everyone down for the accident another rider came through and said another sport bike was off the cliff at the other end as well near the stateline.






This is the rider he said he was from Georgia.



" The Money Shot "

Spring has sprung in The Great State Of Tennessee. Today was in the mid 70's with beautiful sunshine. They claim come Monday its possible we will be dealing with tornado's here  

[sandy]

I love the Miata. It'd be legal in AZ with eye protection.(goggles?) I'll bet it's light and fast.

[rainman]

hep it was a nice day today put all I could do was just set and think about it. but give me another week and I will be back on the fat lady.  Dr will will not let drive for another week and told me in a rather hars voice no motorcycles for at least three weeks. and in a laughing way I told him that I was paying to fix the vines in my legs not advise  
be safe joe and we will see you in may

[Rams]

Check out this I'm pretty sure he said it started life as a Mazda Miata    Maybe Wayne ( Solo1 ) should have chopped his to play with.He claimed it was street legal  

Pretty hard to believe it's street legal with out lighting, windshield and mirrors.  Well, maybe it's got mirrors.  Did it have tail lights?  Of course laws vary from state to state but, I have a hard time believing this "vehicle" meets the requirements.

Long ago, far away (in Kansas), my dad bought my little sister a new car for high school graduation.  Her boy friend rolled it.  Regardless, Dad was still making payments on it and decided to just cut off the damage and drive it anyway as his daily driver to and from work.  Looked a lot like what is pictured.  He checked with the local LEOs to ensure he was "legal".  He made sure the car met every requirement on the KS books.  He drove it for about two weeks always driving it as safely and legally as possible.  He finally parked it and then sold it for parts, even though he never got a ticket/citation, he was stopped by the local police, the sheriff or the KHP every time he drove it.  Said it just wasn't worth all the hassel.

[FloridaValkRyder]

Great ride report Joe. Sure would be nice to be so close to all that great scenery for a nice ride pretty much on a whim. I will never ride the Dragon again due to the sport bikes. Last time was about 3 years ago, late September, beautiful day to ride. I have ridden it probably 15 times on every bike I have owned, GW's, the Valk, etc. I Almost got run into by 5 different sport bikes and a car crossing the center line. The sport bikes were passing me inside my lane. I wasn't poking along either, doing the speed limit most of the time. When I got to Deals Gap, I stopped for awhile and talked to a trooper. He said the sport bikes have ruined it for a lot of folks. I then waved farewell to the Dragon forever. Too many other nice roads up there to risk being killed on that one.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

Check out this I'm pretty sure he said it started life as a Mazda Miata    Maybe Wayne ( Solo1 ) should have chopped his to play with.He claimed it was street legal  

Pretty hard to believe it's street legal with out lighting, windshield and mirrors.  Well, maybe it's got mirrors.  Did it have tail lights?  Of course laws vary from state to state but, I have a hard time believing this "vehicle" meets the requirements.

Long ago, far away (in Kansas), my dad bought my little sister a new car for high school graduation.  Her boy friend rolled it.  Regardless, Dad was still making payments on it and decided to just cut off the damage and drive it anyway as his daily driver to and from work.  Looked a lot like what is pictured.  He checked with the local LEOs to ensure he was "legal".  He made sure the car met every requirement on the KS books.  He drove it for about two weeks always driving it as safely and legally as possible.  He finally parked it and then sold it for parts, even though he never got a ticket/citation, he was stopped by the local police, the sheriff or the KHP every time he drove it.  Said it just wasn't worth all the hassel.

This is the other picture I took I think it has tailights and I'm pretty sure the black things where the mirrors go is headlights...He left while I was still hangin' out shootin' the sh!t with other riders and he was wearing a helmet.... I ask him if he had to wear a helmet he said " I don't know " but these tires will kick up rocks that will knock your teeth out. ( You can see the full face helmet in the picture ) .

[Valkorado]

"The tree of shame just keeps growing and growing."

Why?  Seriously, is the road really all that fierce, or are most of these crashes due to inexperienced riders going too fast for the conditions?

I respect the riders who tame the Dragon skillfully (Smokin' Joe).

I live in Colorado.  I like to ride the mountain twisties a lot, but crashing ain't on my list of fun or cool things so I ride them to my ability and enjoy testing the laws of physics without trashing myself or my bike.  It's almost like some of these guys want to experience what it feels like to wipe out on Deal's Gap.

[hbeck32]

I was up there last year on the 4th of July weekend talking to some riders at the store, one said that if you did not go down you were not riding! Well I guess I have never or ever be riding.

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

I was up there last year on the 4th of July weekend talking to some riders at the store, one said that if you did not go down you were not riding! Well I guess I have never or ever be riding.

I've been on motorcycle's since I was 12 and took my first ride over The Dragon in 78 or 79 on a bike. That was LOOOOOG before The Dragon was The Dragon it was just a nice road to ride a bike and the store had gas a few cold drinks and a few packs of crackers with dust on them and was owned by a old man and woman.... I've never wreaked , crashed or went down up on that hill and I've been across it hundreds of times.... Come close a time or two 

[DIGGER]

last I heard last year that the police were really shutting down the dragon speeders......have they backed off?

[Smokinjoe-VRCCDS#0005]

last I heard last year that the police were really shutting down the dragon speeders......have they backed off?

They will be there they come and go until the posers and zip-splats start running off the straight up and down hollers smackin' trees , crossing the yellow line and hiiting cars and bikes during their " riding season " .

[hbeck32]

I know what you mean Joe, my first trip through that area was on a 305 Super Hawlk back in the early 70s, we would hardley ever see another bike back then, in 1976 my buddys and I bought 3 new  Goldwings and we went from Brewton, Al up to that neck of the woods 13 times during the Spring, Summer and Fall of that year. Every where we would stop it would cost us about $2.00 now every stop is at least $20.00.  Boy those wer tha days!            Later!!!!