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Looks like a blast!
Well, 'cept for the dirt part.
I honestly cannot describe how epic the riding is down here.
I would like to defect. I've been working on my usage of y'all vs all y'all.
Is anyone interested in a 3 bedroom cape in southern NH? I'll be back for my tools and the track toy. You can have the rest.
There's a couple really cool waterfalls on Rt.28/Rt.64 in Highlands. One is Bridal Veil Falls, and there's a big one off the side of the road on the way to Bridal Veil. It's around 2 hours from the house. If you continue down Rt.64 into Cashiers, there's a pretty good BBQ place, Carolina Smokehouse.
May happen tomorrow:
http://goo.gl/maps/INOi1
Hitting to road from Highlands to Georgia in the dry was fantastic. Much better than in downpours like last year.
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This truck.. that curve.. yeah, not your side hombre.
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Here at TheIglu school of motorcycle training we teach the "look ma, no hands" technique.
Notice our fearless instructor is dragging part of the forest with him.
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tis true. i banged a right to check out the water fall when we were leaving tapioca plains. took a couple of pics and continued on. the road ended up being closed several miles down so i turned around and and took the cutoff to uncle toms cabin. that eventually dumped me out onto the cherry cola . BTW i make up my own names for places/roads. Val kilmer was one i used last year too.Quote:
Originally Posted by nhbubba
ill be back down there in 2015 for sure
remember to use "youins"..thats yall plus 3
if you guys had any sack you would do what Lisa and I did last year
http://www.mapquest.com/?version=1.0&hk=9-IjgxA7qT
Who the fuck uses mapquest anymore?! :poke:
Lead the way, I'll be right behind you. That's way longer than any of the routes we took this week. But I'd be game.
Although I think we filled out our 'sack' quota for today. Started the day with a run up "the dragon". Then over to the cherry cola. Checked out the falls, but turned back to stay on the pavement. Then positively RIPPED up the cola back to NC. Quick swim in the river, then a hot tub soak, then dinner. After dinner we rode up the dragon for a night time run. Quality day here in paradise.
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We are done now, all my shit is packed. Tomorrow AM we load the bikes and start back to reality. Sucks.
In all, a really amazing week. Clayton set pace for most of it. Chris was in the #2 slot for most. And I swept.. if you can call the last guy of 3 sweeping. Pace was perfect. Clayton and Chris are both guys I'd ride anywhere with. My front brake pads are toast. Claytons tires on the 'strom have had it. But no crashes. No performance awards.. Really, a helluva good deal all around.
At dinner Clayton tempted fate. "It is amazing, we haven't had ANY crashes right in front of us all week. Normally there is at least one."
Bam! On our way up the dragon for a night run a cruiser goes sideways right into a ditch in front of me. I wish I had the camera rolling. Nothing but rear brake. It was the stereo typical thing. Before I even got the bike turned around I saw the guy in my mirror standing and heard him shout "I'm okay". I parked behind him with the hazards rolling and my headlight on him so we could asses the situation. Bike was marginally fubar cosmetically, but shockingly okay to ride. (It'll buff right out!) Guy thumbs the starter and she coughed to life. Not long after I made it to the overlook we saw him and his buddy roll by. In all, could have been way worse.
We saw and heard emergency vehicles headed up the cherry cola today. Word has it a guy went down, banged his shoulder and had them air lift him off the ridge. Seems you see nearly everything down here.
I should get some sleep for the ride home. But am still kinda amped. This place is amazing.
I hear it is cold back home..
Chasin the rabbit!
I miss the Kenny Chesney!
A mellow run of the dragon after breakfast on Friday. On the lookout for the expected LEOs.. didn't find any.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVtoFfXVzQ8
that looked awesome !!! how was the road condition overall ??
one of my fears is coming into a turn with a thin line of dirt/rocks ...
how was the traffic?? looked nice in your vid.
Road conditions down there are very, very good. Compared to what I know here in New England the roads are smooth, well paved, and free of debris. They even camber the corners for you!
Local traffic is polite, respectful if you respect them, etc. I met very few vehicles on the road with local plates that didn't pull over for us and waive us by or slow down in the straights so we could easily pass. Some of those locals rip! First day on the dragon I thought we were moving at a pretty healthy pace, only to look in my rearview and see a Ford stoopid duty right up our asses. Turns out those things have more cornering grip than one might think!
Out of staters are the same anywhere you go. The one incident I did see (HD rider locked rear brake) was after we spent a mile plus on the dragon trying to get past a slow moving pickup with MI plates. Pickup driver told us "We were looking for a place to pullover, but couldn't find one!" (There are very clearly marked pull-offs all over that road!!!)
Traffic quantity depends on where you are and when you're there. Tons and tons of bikes on "the dragon" during the day; some you want to be around, a lot you don't. After 5-ish it was less so. Once the sun went down it was dead. (I have a really wild video of us running the dragon at night. Waaaay cool.) Lots of very slow traffic on the road through the National Park north of us. That was a fun, relaxed ride, but I'd be okay if I never did it again. I see enough winnebegos here at home thanks.
Overall, the place is truly a riders paradise. Clayton did not oversell the week.
EPIC !!!! glad you guys had a safe trip.!!!
id love to run it sometime !
Next year.....Quote:
Originally Posted by caloots
Track logs for the week:
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Red : Sunday - Local ride, gap, shopping run to Murphy, nothing super exciting
Green : Monday - Devil's Triangle north of Oak Ridge TN, way fun
Yellow : Tuesday - Smokey Mountain National Park, senic, lots of people
Blue : Wednesday - Solo mission in the rain up NP and dirt forest roads over to TN for lunch, back on the cherry-cola, very wet, no people anywhere!
Magenta : Thursday - South to Highlands, on to SC, GA, epic roads throughout
Cyan : Friday - Mello gap run, lunch in TN, RIPPED back over the cherry-cola
White : Friday PM - Night time gap and return via the Val-Kilmer
i just cant believe da roads out there... that is just awesome !!!Quote:
Originally Posted by nhbubba
we need to have an Isle of Man Deals GAP !!!
The first year I traveled to the area, I came up behind a school bus dropping kids off, I thought to myself, "these roads are so twisty, there won't be a place to pass and I'll have to follow the bus forever" then as we started moving, to my surprise, I had a hard time keeping upQuote:
Originally Posted by nhbubba
I had intended to buy some photos from the photogs down there to compliment my absurd collection of track day photos. And now I've finally gotten around to doing so.
You would not believe how many black V-Stroms there were at the 'gap the week we were there.
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I want to go back.
Let's go.