OH I'm so jealous!!! You're riding the Tail of the Dragon and I haven't even ridden out of my storage unit yet.

When you stopped in Petersburg you were maybe 10 minutes away from me! I wish I had known you were there I would have treated you to dinner and good conversation. You did the dragon the right way! When I lived in Concord N.C. we use to run up there all the time. now that I live in VA its a planned trip but I will be getting back up there soon. Great pictures and glad you had a good safe ride!

Great write up and pix. My dad, now 84 and I have been going to Deal's Gap since around 1990 when we read about it in one of the MC mags. Been there many times since. Your friends are correct, ride your own pace and weekends aree nuts/dangerous. Cherohala is out favorite ride, as well. We have ridden there from the Midwest, but prefer to trailer. The ride from Mpls and Chicago to Knoxville is a boring drag. In Sept my dad on his new 400 Ninja, my brother from the Twin Cities and a brother from Huntington Beach are going again. My write up, if any, won't be as good as yours, Kevin. But it'll be another great ride.

Ride safe all,
ominousone

Great thread Kofla. Thanks for sharing your trip with us. Awesome Scenery!

great review, I have also been to the dragon. You passed through parts of Virginia and W.virginia. Their are dozens of roads that are better than the dragon and less than half of the Traffic. If your group ever want to go to W. Virginia (which I have been their dozens of times) I would be happy to be your tour guide

Bbird

Great pics, glad you had a wonderful time! You took I-85 on the way home? When you went thru Durham you were only 35 miles from me.

Kof - Did Deal's Gap have actual cell service? Or just wifi? Last time we were there, zero cell service ... and I can't remember if they had wifi but I doubt it.

Great ride report! ... ya lucky bastidge!!

Looks familiar!

Guys may not realize, just a couple hundred feet to the left in these pics the road has a near 180 degree right turn, so stopping right there on the bridge isn't as dangerous as it might seem: Everybody's slowing way down, and really there doesn't seem to be all that much traffic on this road anyway. We stopped, parked, got off the bikes and stood right in the road taking pics, and not 1 car went by.

Great write up and pictures. I have been there several times over the years. The last time I was there (May 2017) was with my son. It was kind of a last hurrah for my son and I before he would be leaving to start Military life as a 2nd Lt in the Army. Both of us were on ZX-14s. We trailered down from NJ and stayed at the Iron Horse Motorcycle Lodge, which I highly recommend. It was such an amazing trip. Glad you had a great time.

Great write up sir. I want to go so bad! I’ve been within an hr from that area twice, but didn’t have my bike either time.

your living the dream Kofla, you and the bike compliment each other, that sounds like one nice loop.

streetsweeper

I'm jelly. I suppose I could haul my ass out that way but it's quite a trek from here...and I'm a big pussy.
I guess I'll just have to be happy with Hwy 36 and the Little Dragon out here.

Mad

Wait! What?? CA has something called the Little Dragon??! I gotta look that up! (he says all the way from Florida )

"just have to be happy with Hwy 36 and the Little Dragon out here"

sshhhhhhhhh!!

They have the claw of the dragon in Virginia

Looks like you had a great time. Thanks for sharing.

Move this Thread to "Ride Reports"

Kofla, thanks for the write up and pics. The Dragon is on my list someday!