Tag: Tail of the Dragon
Brief description of what to expect from posts here.
GREAT ROADS: Cherohala Skyway
I first came to ride the Cherohala Skyway a few years after it opened, in 1998 or ’99. I rode up with a group of CMA friends from the Atlanta area, and we spent a day riding the parkway from Robbinsville NC to Tellico Plains TN. After a hearty late lunch at the popular Tellicafé on the western end of the skyway, the group turned around and rode back across that afternoon. It was early October as I remember, and the mountains were awash in the colors of autumn- gold, orange, red, purple, with pine evergreen interspersed.
It was magical. I was hooked.
Return to Iron Horse
4 1/2 years. That’s how long it’s been since the last time I rolled in and set foot on the grounds of Iron Horse Motorcycle Lodge in Stecoah, North Carolina. Had it really been nearly that long? My memories of our last trip here in many respects feel like yesterday. Phil, Ted, my friend Lyle, and myself, all enjoying one of the most beautiful, colorful autumns in recent memory, up in the mountains of western North Carolina. We stayed in one of Iron Horse’s creekside cabins, waking to the gentle burbling stream every morning. Delightful meals, even more delightful people, nightly campfires, and exceptional hospitality by owner Jerry Goss and his staff. We even rode a trio of Yamaha Nikens, those mechanical silverback gorillas, across the famed Tail of the Dragon, along the Cherohala Skyway, and a stint on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Iron Horse owns and operates Wolf Creek Rentals, just down the street from the lodge. More on that shortly.
I remember it all as if it were yesterday. And yet it’s been almost five years. Too many years.
Ken’s Op-Ed: Riding the Tail of the Dragon, Pt. 2
It seems that while riding on the fabulous roads that lead to and from the Dragon, some of the riders in the group got separated from each other, which is not unusual. It was before GPS, but they all had maps, and the route was not very complicated. But one guy (I’ll call him Jack . . . short for Jackass) fell quite a bit behind, whether intentional or accidentally. At some point he decided to catch up to the group. So he began to speed up and got frustrated by the slower moving traffic on the two lane roads. “Jack” began to pass cars and other traffic by crossing the double yellow lines and passing on the left and right at breakneck speeds. Apparently, some of the folks he blew past were startled and other drivers got the crap scared out of them. Someone among them called the police on Jack for riding like a crazy man.
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Ken’s Op-Ed: Riding the Tail of the Dragon
I first rode the Dragon way back in 2007 when they referred to that area as Deals Gap, and it boasted a small 1-story motel with a place to stop for some refreshments and food, and of course a souvenir shop. I took some photos, bought the t-shirt. It also had a huge old tree, with hundreds of pieces of motorcycle wreckage hanging ominously from it’s many branches recovered from the numerous crashes, (sometimes fatal) warning folks what had occurred on that road, and what may happen if ridden beyond one’s capabilities. The “tree of shame”, they call it.
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2024 Yamaha MT-09 SP: Taming the Dragon
I was recently in beautiful east Tennessee for the 2024 Yamaha MT-09 SP press launch. As many of you may have seen, my man Rob was out for the press launch of the base model MT-09 back in the spring, and I came to put this SP version through it’s paces. I was super excited because not only would I get to ride this amazing motorcycle, but I’d get to check an item off of my motorcycle bucket list- to ride the legendary Hwy. 129, the Tail of the Dragon.
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