3 days 1500 miles Blue Ridge and the Dragon
Thread Starter
|
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 6,899
Likes: 3,412
From: OH
3 days 1500 miles Blue Ridge and the Dragon
Left Northern Ohio on Friday morning to go ride the blue ridge and the dragon. Rode straight through to NC only stopping for fuel and to relive the blader.
Saturday morning we got up on the parkway and went up to Mount Mitchel elevation 6500ft. This is the only place that we stopped that I could take a few shots. The pictures do not do the area justice at all. We rode 300miles of the parkway over to the dragons tail and rode that thing.... wow what a section of road that was. I guess they had just reopened it when we got there as someone ate it pretty bad and they had to get the ambulance in there. There was the traditional paint and blood on the road. After the dragon we road back and stayed the night in Johnson city.
Got up on Sunday and checked the radar. We had planned to ride the top side of the blue ridge and some other areas but decided trying to get home 500miles in the rain would suck so we headed back. There is a famous road in Ohio that they call the mini-dragon 555. It runs from the Ohio river to Zanseville. I plugged it into the GPS and hit that... now this is the only incident that we had. The road is very much like the dragon with all the switchbacks. The difference is that the dragon is low speed. This road you can fly. I went through a corner and it shocked me so I looked in my mirror and saw my buddy lock it up smoke everywhere then a huge plume of dust as he ended up in someones front yard.. saved it but he was shook up so we just putted the rest of the way home.
I had a blast.... Role call was 6:00am on the bikes by 7. Two 12 hour days and one 14 hour day. 500 mile days only eating breakfast and then dinner when we finished at the end of the day was rough but cant wait until the next trip
Saturday morning we got up on the parkway and went up to Mount Mitchel elevation 6500ft. This is the only place that we stopped that I could take a few shots. The pictures do not do the area justice at all. We rode 300miles of the parkway over to the dragons tail and rode that thing.... wow what a section of road that was. I guess they had just reopened it when we got there as someone ate it pretty bad and they had to get the ambulance in there. There was the traditional paint and blood on the road. After the dragon we road back and stayed the night in Johnson city.
Got up on Sunday and checked the radar. We had planned to ride the top side of the blue ridge and some other areas but decided trying to get home 500miles in the rain would suck so we headed back. There is a famous road in Ohio that they call the mini-dragon 555. It runs from the Ohio river to Zanseville. I plugged it into the GPS and hit that... now this is the only incident that we had. The road is very much like the dragon with all the switchbacks. The difference is that the dragon is low speed. This road you can fly. I went through a corner and it shocked me so I looked in my mirror and saw my buddy lock it up smoke everywhere then a huge plume of dust as he ended up in someones front yard.. saved it but he was shook up so we just putted the rest of the way home.
I had a blast.... Role call was 6:00am on the bikes by 7. Two 12 hour days and one 14 hour day. 500 mile days only eating breakfast and then dinner when we finished at the end of the day was rough but cant wait until the next trip
Cruiser
Joined: Jul 2008
Posts: 121
Likes: 0
From: Jefferson,GA.
brp
Some Fire Dept. buddies and I just completed the same ride, we went from Cherokee all the way up the Parkway and on to Skyline drive to end up in the Shanandoah Valley. We would come back to gatlinburg via the interstate, the longest ride on the trip, it was only 425 miles. Too much to see not to stop and take it in, took us five days round trip: three on the Parkway and two on interstate to get home. Beautiful ride..
Tim
Tim
Elite HDF Member
Joined: Jul 2005
Posts: 3,968
Likes: 34
From: Lockport Township, IL
Fortunately for me, when I did the parkway, I had 14 days to kill and was able to do many little side trips, like Grandfather Mountain. Probably did not make more that 300 miles in any given day, and far less on some days. That is a beautiful area to ride and to just wander. Some of the best scenery and roads were when we just took a random turn with no idea of where the road was headed.
Thread Starter
|
Ultimate HDF Member
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 6,899
Likes: 3,412
From: OH
Some Fire Dept. buddies and I just completed the same ride, we went from Cherokee all the way up the Parkway and on to Skyline drive to end up in the Shanandoah Valley. We would come back to gatlinburg via the interstate, the longest ride on the trip, it was only 425 miles. Too much to see not to stop and take it in, took us five days round trip: three on the Parkway and two on interstate to get home. Beautiful ride..
Tim
Tim
I will go back again when I have more time to enjoy it.
Road Captain
Joined: Aug 2009
Posts: 647
Likes: 7
From: Corning, Ohio
555 is only about 5 miles from home. Try 78 from Glouster to McConnelsville or maybe 536 from Hannibal to Woodsfield sometime. Either one will sharpen your floor boards. Have to agree, the BRP is something to behold. Scenery seems to be better around each turn.
Thread
Thread Starter
Forum
Replies
Last Post
