Hi Paula! Glad you guys got home safely.
Our ride from NE Georgia to Fontana Village (where we stayed) was supposed to be about 150 miles. Every map I found said that US 23 in NE GA becomes NC 28 in North Carolina, so we just had to stay on that (Fontana’s on 28 ).
Turns out that US 23 does not, in fact, become NC 28.
We found this out about 50 miles after we were supposed to get off 23. So we had to double back, which turned our 150 mile ride turned into a 250 mile ride. Ah, whoops…
(And we thought that was a serious test of endurance -- until we found out how far Paula and her husband had ridden.
)
So Saturday morning, after a night of not very much sleep (still hyped up from the ride Friday), we took NC 28 to US 129, and down 129 three miles to the Tapoco Lodge, where we were meeting. I believe that stretch of 129 is also considered part of the Dragon; if not, it should be. Very twisty, downhill most of the way, and the pavement was in… well, questionable condition. Okay, it terrified me.
It scared me to the point where, when we got to the Tapoco, I actually told Paula and her husband that I wasn’t confident that I’d be able to ride the Dragon, and asked if it would it be okay if we
didn’t.
And Paula and her husband, rather than roll their eyes and smack me off the back of the head, were very nice about it, agreeing that if I wasn’t sure I could do it safely, it shouldn’t be done.
Paula’s husband, meanwhile, needed gas; and the closest place to get gas was at Deal’s Gap -- right back up that three mile stretch of 129 that I had just ridden and never wanted to see again. It was easier this time, since it was uphill; by the time we got to Deal’s Gap I felt better about it, and thought I might actually be able to pull off a Dragon ride.
I don’t remember exactly when I changed my mind (at Tapoco or at Deal’s Gap?) but upon telling Paula and her husband that I would, in fact, ride the Dragon, they
once again did not roll their eyes and smack me in the back of the head, and did not yell “Make up your mind already!”
They’re very nice people. And very
patient, obviously.
So we rode the Dragon, emerged unscathed, pulled off at the Overlook near the TN end, got off our bikes, looked at each other, and said, “That was it?”
Turns out it’s not so bad. It's challenging, definitely -- but it can be ridden without any carnage ensuing.
(Although there was one guy pulling his bike out of the weeds when we got there.)
(Of course, I don’t think I hit the 30 mph speed limit for longer than 2 seconds – I kept it around 20 or thereabouts, I think, for most of the ride. But don’t tell anyone.
)
It was at the Overlook that Paula’s husband performed a truly
saintly good deed, returning a dropped beer cozy to a fellow rider who was about to ride the Dragon in the other direction. That’s why I was so nervous about riding it – I didn’t have any beer with me!
From the Overlook we continued on up 129 – straighter now, but it ran alongside a river; a beautiful ride on a sunny morning. Made the left on 72, another left on 411, and a left on 360 (IIRC), stopped for lunch at the Cherohala Market on 165, and then rode down 165 and onto the Cherohala Skyway. We turned off onto a forest service road, continued on a few miles, and stopped at Bald River Falls (gorgeous), took some pictures (not necessarily of each other); turned back, got back on the Skyway, and pulled off at an overlook and marveled at the view.
Got back on the Skyway, and pulled off at another overlook a couple of miles later. Then got back on the Skyway, and pulled off at
another overlook a couple of miles later… and
another… and
another… Finally it got silly, so we stopped at every two or three overlooks, or just kept riding; at the pace we were going, if we hadn’t done that, we’d still be there.
The Skyway becomes NC 143 on the NC side; we came down off the mountain and continued on a very twisty portion of 143 to US 129. (People who know the area say there are plenty of local roads as challenging as the Dragon, and they’re not kidding.
) Headed up 129 back to Deal’s Gap, gassed up, bought t-shirts (as in been there, done that, and yes, we got the t-shirts) and called it a day, about 9 or 10 hours after we began.
I took over 50 pictures that day. I’ll go through them later on and post a few. They don’t do the ride justice, though.
GaThumper, we did see Killboy (or whomever works for him/them) – we came around a curve and saw the zoom lens aimed at us. I hope nobody can tell from his pictures how slow I was going. I can show people the pictures and let everyone think I’m cooler than I am. 8)
So I got to go on a great ride, and I got to ride with very cool people. Paula, thanks again to you and your husband -- we had a blast riding with you!
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