I'm not dead yet

Although I probably should be. That Dragon has TEETH. I managed to navigate every curve today, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit I was afraid for my life.



I never came close to going into a ditch, but that's because I never got out of third gear -- and some of the tightest curves I did in second. I'm sure I rode the Dragon much more slowly than anyone else there today. Everyone there was clearly a better rider than I am.


But my goal was to make it to the end alive, and that I did. Didn't go into a ditch. Didn't drop Baby. On the Dragon, anyway...

The top pic is of me standing at the north and south US Highway 129 sign at Deal's Gap, where you can refuel and buy Dragon souvenirs and snacks. The two below that are Baby getting fueled at a Dragon pump at Deal's Gap and the Gap souvenir shop. The next two are of the crossroads in front of the Gap -- the second one of the crossroads shows the road leading down to Robbinsville, North Carolina. Farther down still you'll see Google map and satellite photos of the Dragon.



The day hadn't started out completely auspiciously.

We'd arrived in Knoxville fairly late the night before -- getting to Harrodsburg to get the new shifter lever installed on Tuesday took longer than anticipated, and we got off the highway around Knoxville a couple of times before finding a motel in a neighbourhood we felt comfortable in. One of the places we stopped I was panhandled twice while I was trying to fill Baby's gas tank. Another woman approached me and tried to sell me a pocket knife. Oy.




Anyway, after checking late into the motel, I stayed up late to do some research, because I had an interview to do in the morning (this is a bit of a working holiday). Then I woke up early to do the interview. That was fine; I got enough sleep and was really pumped for both the interview and the ride.



We stopped by a motorcycle accessory shop near our motel on our way out of Knoxville. Bought a second disk lock for Baby's rear disk -- saw a scary video on YouTube that showed how easy it was to steal a bike when only the front disk is locked. A security camera caught two guys stealing a bike off a busy downtown street -- with a disk lock on the front disk -- by rolling it on its back wheel directly into a van. Took all of 30 SECONDS. Anyway, we shouldn't have stopped to look at bike bling... but we did.

So we were late heading out for US 129.
We got off the highway before reaching the Dragon to pick up some double-sided tape because I was going to try to attach the lens of the camcorder to the top of my helmet.


Marc took off without waiting to see if I was behind him when we left the store, though, and it took half an hour for me to find him. I finally got a call from him saying he was lost and ... where was I? So, he told me the corner where he was and I went and found him.




When I did, I rolled Baby into the gas station where he was waiting and proceeded to drop her on her right side. The entrance was canted badly, my tailbag was stuffed to the brim (laptop included), and she was top-heavy ... leaned too far and couldn't hold her up. At least it was her right side and I didn't have to buy another shifter.




But that made twice in two days I'd dropped her and this time I didn't have gravel to blame. But clearly I was carrying too much ballast, so Marc traded his (somewhat smaller and lighter) tailbag for mine.

Anyway, we lost another hour and got down to US 129 much later than planned.

But Baby felt much better without all the extra weight.

A good thing, because when we got on US 129 there was no where to stop before we got to where the Dragon waited. We'd originally intended to dump our luggage before riding her.


Ended up doing it fully loaded. Ho boy.

I've seen videos of people riding the Dragon.

The night before I left I looked at Google's satellite photos close up and joked to my friend Terry: I'm gonna die.

But I thought I was prepared. I'd taken the Turn2 course. I'd been on a few technically challenging rides in the last few weeks. By riding those at my own pace (admittedly a SLOW pace) I thought I was gonna lose it only twice: once because I was really, really tired (that's when I jumped the curb on Lil red bird's ride ) and once because I ran into gravel (on the ride heading up to meet the big ride to Aminal and Fozzy's barbecue).

Gravel is my enemy.

I thought "I'll just go REALLY slow."

Well, even REALLY SLOW... holey moley...

I WAS NOT -- I repeat -- I WAS NOT prepared for this. I don't know that anything could have.

John Reed had warned me about radically decreasing radius curves -- and he wasn't kidding. I'll ride it like a grandma, I said, laughing. Sheesh. I had no idea what I was saying. I had no idea of the reality represented by the Google map and Google satellite maps. See views further above of the especially challenging section of the Dragon approaching Deal's Gap.

By the time I finished -- by the time we got to Deal's Gap, where the technically challenging part ended -- so much adrenalin was pumping through my veins that you could have injected me into someone whose heart had stopped and got them going again.

There were at least a dozen of those 318 curves where I had to go so slow that the slowness itself was a problem. I had to push myself past my fear to goose the throttle.

Because we headed straight in, I hadn't had time to hook up my camcorder to record the ride. I finally hooked it up at Deal's Gap for the ride down to Robbinsville, but that section was really tame compared to the part we'd just finished. We decided to turn around and do it again, going north and uphill (which should be easier. Put the camcorder on Marc's bike for the ride back to the Gap. He zoomed ahead of me and when I arrived he announced he was too tired to try to do the technically challenging part again. I realized then that I was kind of tired, too. And it was 4:30 and we hadn't eaten since breakfast.




We decided to be reasonable and head to Robbinsville to find a motel. The pic on the right is a view of the river next to the Dragon on the lower leg on the way to Robbinsville. The next is of Baby waiting patiently while I take that photo. It started to drizzle as we got to Robbinsville, and we both were glad we weren't still on the Dragon when that happened. No way I wanna be on a WET Dragon.

If it doesn't rain in the morning, we'll try her again. If it does rain ... NOT A CHANCE. It would be a shame to come all this way and ride it only once, but my goal was to reach the end of it alive, and that I did.

If the weather doesn't cooperate in the morning ... I'll be back.