Talked to a guy I know the other day who rides. He told me about some of the trips he and his buddies take. One was the Tail of the Dragon. Huh, what is that you said. So the next thing I did was Youtube the Tail of the Dragon. NOW YOU ARE TALKIN, CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.

I have mostly stayed local and done some trips around CO. I think about 4 hours is the longest trip I have done. Luv CO but, now I am looking far and wide for good ride and seeing what TN and NC have to offer has started me thinking........okay, somewhat obsessing over taking an out of state trip to Ride the tail and several others.

What are your best trips on a bike and how do usually pack. I have a K1600 with to side bags but no back bag. Is there an easy way to carry what gear/clothing you need without it getting stolen. How long are your days and to be a good unrushed trip, how many days to you need?

Not to leave you car guys/gals out, what drives do you like?

I was riding TOD before it was called TOD. US129, or Deal's Gap. is one of the best bike and car roads in the eastern US, but it has become a victim of its own popularity. Weekends are packed with bikes and cars, some wanting to blitz through it, others dragging along looking at the scenery, and the two aren't compatible.

I was a motorcyclist until 1987, and quit because I wanted to become an old man and knew I wouldn't if I continued to ride sportbikes, which is what I liked. I had a 1974 Kawasaki Z-1B 900 for a number of years and rode the Gap, as we called it then, five or six times a year, I only live 2-1/2 hours from it. After the Z-1 I bought a 1985 Ninja 900 and continued to go there a lot. I also did fairly long road trips on both bikes, and put over 45K on the Ninja in just two years, including two trips to Daytona for Bike Week, and a trip up through New England and another to Ohio (twice) from western NC. Did a lot of track days on both bokes, then went endurance racing for a couple of seasons riding a 600 Yamaha with a team of guys. It was after that I decided to quit riding on the street altogether.

Quite a few years later, I bought a 2000 Miata (in 2009), did a bunch of performance mods to it (high performance suspension and supercharger), and started going back to TOD until I sold it in 2017. I sort of wish I'd kept the car, it was a lot of fun.

The Appalachians in NC and VA have some fantastic roads, you can ride for weeks and never repeat the routes. I never went out west, one of my regrets; there was just too much good riding and driving here, with too much boring land between here and the Rockies.

The two pictures of the Ninja, the fuzzy one was a track day at Watkins Glen, NY with the California Superbike School. The other one was a track day at "The Rock", Rockingham Motor Speedway, a now defunct NASCAR track that had an infield road course. The picture of the Miata was made by "Killboy", a noted photographer on Tail of the Dragon. The car was pretty darn fast, in stock trim the 1.8 liter 4 cyl makes 106 horsepower to the rear wheels, but with the intercooled centrifugal supercharger and some cam work, it made 225 hp to the wheels. Not bad for a car than only weighed 2250 pounds full of gas.

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I've ridden Tail of the Dragon countless times for many years. I pretty much live at the base of Holston Mountain in Upper East TN, just up the road on US421 is The Snake, it crosses three mountains and consists of 489 curves in 33 miles.

Hair Trigger, that looks like a 900 Ninja (maybe 1100?), had two of them in the past. Bought the first one new in '85, it tried to kill me in '92, the guys with me said that bike flipped about 10 times and me about the same...lots of broken bones, chipped vertebrae, and skin loss!

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Boulder canyon to Blackhawk and back. Coal creek canyon and peak to peak highway were all favorites 30 yrs ago

I too have ben riding the Tail of the Dragon since the '70's. One of my favorite places to ride. (Below: Four different trips on four different bikes.)









My favorite motorcycle trip was in 1979 when a buddy and I rode the length of the Blue Ridge Parkway and the Skyline Drive. Took our time and camped along the way. This was before both roads were such tourist attractions and we pretty much had the road to ourselves. Great scenery, great pavement, and great riding.

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Los Gatos to Santa Cruse. Many years ago. I was riding a Yamaha XT, one Lunger when a 911 wanted to push me. Off we went, I managed to push him in the corners, but his power put him past me in the few straights, I ended up directly behind him in downtown Los Gatos, gave him a nice thanks wave and motored on. Boy o boy was he pissed; his lady friend loved it though.

I’ve owned and been a fan of the Stugart line on cars, for years, but many owners need to get their egos in check. If you can't drive it properly, Ya should not have bought it, or just putter around town with it, and look cool.

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Always Stay Strong!

If you go to TN & NC, go in the fall, late October. Nice weather, gorgeous fall colors. I was driving my Lexus SUV which does handle pretty well for a mid-size SUV, but sure wished I was shifting gears in my Mini Cooper S! I hope to do that this fall.
If you haven't been there, the Black Hills has great bike riding roads. Just don't go during Sturgis unless you like crowds.
The Needles Highway is the best known

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Super Snooper

My Harley days have ended, but I remember the Natchez Trace in Tn. and the Skyway into N.C. as two real nice ones..of course Sturgis

West coaster here, and a cruiser rider. While I enjoy the twisties and carving canyons, I prefer a less technical ride with amazing scenery. The Black Hills are amazingly beautiful, but the admonition to avoid Sturgis is a valid one. Especially if you aren't there for the party. Traffic at that time, even hundreds of miles from Sturgis proper, is HEAVY. Hard to see all the beauty around you if you have to keep an eye on the frat boys who rented Harley's and have no idea how to ride. Mt. St. Helens is a beautiful ride as is Crater Lake National Park and the ride to it. Down the coast is a beautiful ride on Hwy. 101, but you will be going slower than you'd expect. The scenery keeps people going a little slower than they would in say, Kansas. But my favorite rides in the west are the roads in central/eastern Oregon. Nice meandering roads with great scenery and things to see and do.

As far as carrying stuff, I usually had so much gear strapped to that bike they called it the Pack Mule. I really got into the bike more than on it. But I had a tent, sleeping bag, pad and pillow, and even a wool blanket if it was gonna be cold. I had clothes, tools, a chair, a soft side cooler (empty), lantern, Jetboil, coffee making gear, usually a bottle or 2, some snack type food etc. I had large detachable saddlebags, a big bag on the passenger seat, a luggage rack behind that with all kinds of things strapped to it, a tank bag and a dry bag strapped to the front above the headlight.
I once pulled in at the start of a trip to get some gas. The attendant looks at all the stuff on the bike, chair, cooler, etc. and asks, "Going camping?" I told him, "No, I'm moving. The refrigerator is gonna be a bitch."

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The best I can with what I got

How in the H E double toothpicks did you shove all that under the hood of a Miata?

Love to go in the fall but, hunting starts around the beginning of October and goes on from then. Also don't want to have to deal with too much bad weather. Not sure what it is like in September.

If you're talking about my bike, it's a 1985 900; that's the biggest displacement Ninja made that year, the 1000 wasn't until 1986. Looks like you're on a Yamaha V-Max, can tell from the intake scoops. Those suckers are quick and with the right set of pipes sound like a NASCAR V8.

It will fit without much trouble, but I pulled the A/C compressor and condenser (it's a convertible, right??) and the PS pump and there was more than enough room. Without power steering, the car felt more connected and steering effort past walking speed was not a problem. It also dumped about 40 pounds, which was about how much got added back with the supercharger and its oil cooler. The intercooler fit just in front of the radiator and cooling was great without the A/C condenser in there. I originally had a water-to-air intercooler but changed to an air-to-air a bit later. Car made 15 psi boost and was a sub 5 second 0-60 car, would leave about ten feet of rubber on the 1-2 shift (5 speed) if you shifted at red line (7200).

I had at least 2 of the bikes mentioned a Kawasaki ‘75 Z1b and a ‘84 Ninja 900. The Z1 stayed stock the ‘84 Ninja 900 got Keihin CR carbs, Murray 4into1 exhaust, flowed head, Megacycle cams, Weisco 948 piston kit. I bought it new and it would beat Suzuki GS1100’s easily even when stock after the mods it was stupid fast. I never made it to Deals Gap and that’s probably a good thing.

When my wife and I first moved to Vonore, Tennessee we went sightseeing and somehow ended on the "Tail Of The Dragon". IIRC (?) 300 hairpin curves in 11 miles. At the end we were in North Carolina. I turned to my wife and said "We have to return the same route". My wife said "Maybe you Bud, but I have a credit card and I will fly home if neccessery".

Don't remember her name-she was a Canadian Nursing Student at Touro hospital in New Orleans-wayyyyy back in college days

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ex-boss

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The Pig Trail in Arkansas and then on to the Oark General Store.

As OLDBEAR would say. She was a double lunger.

…my favorite rides were the 9/11 America’s Ride from Shanksville to NYC and multiple trips from Miami to Key West.

Like others herein, I prefer more “cruising” versus “technical” trips.

But one trip to Key West was in a rainstorm and the Seven Mile Bridge was challenging, indeed.

Returning from the 9/11 Ride my friend and I hit beach traffic on a Sunday afternoon and then a veritable monsoon that found us in the middle of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge stopped in heavy traffic. Now that was technical.

Key West trips aboard rental HD Heritage Softails. America’s Ride on my HD FXLR.

Be safe.

As apposed to my one lunger BSA 441 Victor Special? I'm confused. What's that got to do with a nurse.

I'll second Arkansas as having lots of fun roads. I can't remember all the details, but about 40 years ago I went on a great drive with the BMW Club through the heart of Arkansas. We started at Mt. Ida where we pigged out on pies at the famous Mt. Ida Cafe. Then we took various scenic, curvy roads until we got to the beautiful Magazine Mountain overlook. From there, we made our way west and north to Eureka Springs. Though we were driving our four-wheel Bimmers, I would imagine that riding two-wheel Beemers along that same route would be just as much fun. Maybe Faulkner, our resident Arkansas guru, could add some suggestions.

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Lets see. Traveling with 15 - 35 Vettes a few times up in Maine. The ride depending on circumstances could be interesting. Speed limits tend to get a little abused some times!

Sticking with Vette, picking up my new 05 Vette convertible at the national Corvette Museum in Bowling Green Kentucky and driving home top down all the way to Northern NY. We took 3 days, did some sight seeing. Came home even with hats on and plenty of sun tan lotion with a rather good sunburn.

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Tail of the Dragon is a good ride. But in Tazewell Virginia they have the "Back of the Dragon, and the "Widow Maker". I perfer both over The Tail of the Dragon. And while you are there drop into Maggie Valley. But my favorite ride is the Skyline Drive, out of Front Royal, VA, to the Blue Ridge Parkway down to Cherokee NC. Five or six days of scenic bliss.

There isn't much in the way of mountain roads in Lower Alabama (LA) so most of my time was spent cruising the back sand roads of the Wiregrass, looking at the old share cropper shacks around the peanut fields. I'd climb a hill when I found one. That's my 69 RoadRunner in the back ground. I cropped the head of my ex-wife on purpose.

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The Dragon’s Tail was a yearly ride for me til I stopped riding about 3 years ago. I liked the boxer BMWs then went with the first gen Goldwings. Best trip was from south Alabama to Pikes Peak, Sturgis then through the Black Hills. Great scenery. ( 4,300 miles total on that trip)

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It wasn't very comfortable but it was definitely the most fun

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Had two after totaling the first one. This is a generic picture, and both mine were for both the woods and the streets. My favorite ride was on one wheel.
Maybe it was in the woods in some now fine places to live way before development. They were so much fun. The big Suzuki two-strokes took me on a lot of adventures.

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My favorite ride was when my '64 GTO beat the snot out of the '68 Z-28 everyone was scared of. There was a new sheriff in town that night.

1965 Chevelle Malibu, dark blue, 283cu. in., three on the tree. favorite ride- teaching my now wife how to drive stick. Great times. Forgot to mention bench seat!!!

Back of the Dragon is way better than TOD, I think. TOD is just 11 miles, BOTD is over 30, with no driveways or side roads. Not as many people seem to know about it. We used to do Miata rides up that way a lot, and if you stayed on VA16 into WVA, it got even more crooked, but the road condition would deteriorate some.

I was not driving thank God.

The small bus ride from Sorrento to Amalfi, Italy. About 45 miles of severe switchbacks, ultra narrow roads, with 1000+ foot drops on the right seaside (where I was sitting) with only a 2 foot high retaining wall.

Cars and busses wizzing by on the other side, people passing on blind curves in both directions, etc. Had a birds eye view of quite a few vehicles doing some serious corrections on those curves.

Not a single break in any retaining wall the whole way, the drivers are excellent but crazy, imo.

I was overjoyed to get to our hotel in Amalfi.

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