RCinNC
Well-Known Member
I just got back Wednesday from an eight day, 2000 mile ride through North Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. Here’s the overview:
I’ve lived in NC for about 15 years now and have somehow missed riding the Tail of the Dragon, though I’ve made it to the Back of the Dragon, the Claw of the Dragon, and probably some other part of a dragon’s anatomy that I’ve forgotten about. I decided to correct the oversight this summer.
We got hammered with a full day of riding in the rain on the second day of the trip. We rode through on the Copperhead Loop through the DuPont State Forest and the Pisgah National Forest to see some of the waterfalls, one of which was the Looking Glass Falls:
And another was Triple Falls:
On the morning of Day 3, when I started the S10, I got a flashing ECU warning on the screen, along with an ABS warning light and a TCS that shut itself off and couldn’t be turned back on. This was the first time in all the miles I’ve ridden that there was a problem with the bike itself (last year I had a battery failure in Galax, VA). The bike still ran normally, and the brakes worked fine. After the bike warmed up, the ECU warning disappeared, the ABS light shut off, and the TCS came back on. I rode it down to the Waynesville Cycle Center, who checked it out and found some codes. One was for a low voltage in the fuel injector, which I’m pretty sure was from last year, and an 11/25 code for a front wheel sensor. The tech figured it was due to all the rain the previous day, and that if it was his bike, he’d just ride it. So, with fingers crossed, off we went. The guys at Waynesville Cycle Center treated me great, and I can’t say enough good things about them.
We headed down to the Thunder Road loop, Newfound Gap, and Clingman’s Dome. On our way out of town in Cherokee, NC, we caught sight of these guys, grazing right along the side of US 441:
The trip up the mountain to Clingman’Dome was perfect, right up until we reached the summit. At which point the clouds rolled in so fast and so thick that we had a hard time seeing the bike in the parking lot. I think even Edmund Hilary would have gotten nervous. So much for the spectacular view from the top; we had to ride back down to about the halfway point just to see this:
After that we headed up through Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, TN, where I learned a valuable lesson; never ride through Gatlinburg on a Friday night in summer unless you have a sexual fetish for bumper to bumper traffic. That area has really grown since I was last there about a decade ago.
To make up for the traffic, we had some live entertainment at our motel that night. A troupe of acrobats were performing right outside our balcony:
Day 4 took us out to Cade’s Cove, where we passed through this very cool tunnel on the way there on Laurel Creek Rd:
The loop around Cade’s Cove was bumper to bumper, but we were compensated with some beautiful scenery like this:
We caught sight of a young black bear rushing across the road in front of us and into the high grass. He was gone before we got the camera on him.
After that we were off to the Foothills Parkway, then the Tail of the Dragon, then onto the Cherohala Skyway. The Dragon was, surprisingly, not nearly as crowded as I thought it would be for a summer Saturday. Lots of Harleys, lots of naked bikes, but those of us of the ADV persuasion were severely underrepresented. My girlfriend took some photos and video of the ride on the Dragon, but trying to shoot around my giant head exceeded her photography skill set.
She did get a photo of this sign, on the way to the Cherohala Skyway. It reminded me a lot of the one on the Moki Dugway out in Utah:
Day 5 was just a long ride from Vonore, TN up to Roanoke VA. Day 6 took up up into rural West Virginia, where we rode up to a diner we like to eat at called the Gateway, in Riverton. On the way there, I hit this milestone:
And no ride in that part of West Virginia would be complete without a stop at Seneca Rocks:
Day 7 took us down to the Fayetteville WV area, where we rode down under the New River Bridge:
Day 8 was the ride home, where this was my odometer reading as I pulled into my driveway:
Just over 2000 miles of really excellent riding through great scenery on a ton of terrific twisty roads. That weird electrical glitch that happened on Day 3 never returned. I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t break that 100,000 mile mark, but that’ll come soon enough. All in all, a pretty damn fine way to spend a week.
I’ve lived in NC for about 15 years now and have somehow missed riding the Tail of the Dragon, though I’ve made it to the Back of the Dragon, the Claw of the Dragon, and probably some other part of a dragon’s anatomy that I’ve forgotten about. I decided to correct the oversight this summer.
We got hammered with a full day of riding in the rain on the second day of the trip. We rode through on the Copperhead Loop through the DuPont State Forest and the Pisgah National Forest to see some of the waterfalls, one of which was the Looking Glass Falls:
And another was Triple Falls:
On the morning of Day 3, when I started the S10, I got a flashing ECU warning on the screen, along with an ABS warning light and a TCS that shut itself off and couldn’t be turned back on. This was the first time in all the miles I’ve ridden that there was a problem with the bike itself (last year I had a battery failure in Galax, VA). The bike still ran normally, and the brakes worked fine. After the bike warmed up, the ECU warning disappeared, the ABS light shut off, and the TCS came back on. I rode it down to the Waynesville Cycle Center, who checked it out and found some codes. One was for a low voltage in the fuel injector, which I’m pretty sure was from last year, and an 11/25 code for a front wheel sensor. The tech figured it was due to all the rain the previous day, and that if it was his bike, he’d just ride it. So, with fingers crossed, off we went. The guys at Waynesville Cycle Center treated me great, and I can’t say enough good things about them.
We headed down to the Thunder Road loop, Newfound Gap, and Clingman’s Dome. On our way out of town in Cherokee, NC, we caught sight of these guys, grazing right along the side of US 441:
The trip up the mountain to Clingman’Dome was perfect, right up until we reached the summit. At which point the clouds rolled in so fast and so thick that we had a hard time seeing the bike in the parking lot. I think even Edmund Hilary would have gotten nervous. So much for the spectacular view from the top; we had to ride back down to about the halfway point just to see this:
After that we headed up through Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge, TN, where I learned a valuable lesson; never ride through Gatlinburg on a Friday night in summer unless you have a sexual fetish for bumper to bumper traffic. That area has really grown since I was last there about a decade ago.
To make up for the traffic, we had some live entertainment at our motel that night. A troupe of acrobats were performing right outside our balcony:
Day 4 took us out to Cade’s Cove, where we passed through this very cool tunnel on the way there on Laurel Creek Rd:
The loop around Cade’s Cove was bumper to bumper, but we were compensated with some beautiful scenery like this:
We caught sight of a young black bear rushing across the road in front of us and into the high grass. He was gone before we got the camera on him.
After that we were off to the Foothills Parkway, then the Tail of the Dragon, then onto the Cherohala Skyway. The Dragon was, surprisingly, not nearly as crowded as I thought it would be for a summer Saturday. Lots of Harleys, lots of naked bikes, but those of us of the ADV persuasion were severely underrepresented. My girlfriend took some photos and video of the ride on the Dragon, but trying to shoot around my giant head exceeded her photography skill set.
She did get a photo of this sign, on the way to the Cherohala Skyway. It reminded me a lot of the one on the Moki Dugway out in Utah:
Day 5 was just a long ride from Vonore, TN up to Roanoke VA. Day 6 took up up into rural West Virginia, where we rode up to a diner we like to eat at called the Gateway, in Riverton. On the way there, I hit this milestone:
And no ride in that part of West Virginia would be complete without a stop at Seneca Rocks:
Day 7 took us down to the Fayetteville WV area, where we rode down under the New River Bridge:
Day 8 was the ride home, where this was my odometer reading as I pulled into my driveway:
Just over 2000 miles of really excellent riding through great scenery on a ton of terrific twisty roads. That weird electrical glitch that happened on Day 3 never returned. I was a bit disappointed that I didn’t break that 100,000 mile mark, but that’ll come soon enough. All in all, a pretty damn fine way to spend a week.
