Hi there, for those of you who have read my introduction story into my 4 days, 1550 miles trip from Chicago to the Tail of the Dragon, US 129 last year the remaining of the story is long overdue.
It has to start at 6 am, that's when I woke up in my 20 dollar tent I recently purchased from Dicks Sporting Goods, it was raining outside and the temperatures were in the mid 40s. The camping site in southern Kentucky where we spent the night was about 170 miles away from the tree of shame, the place where we were suppose to "start our real adventure". It was wet, water had gotten into a corner of the tent and I was embarrassed to admit in front of my friends that has happened. I was the one taking longest to pack all my gear back on the motorcycle, for some reason it slammed it had multiplied, because I didn't remembered being as bulky the night before. First stop we did was in Heiskell, Tn just north of Knoxville, everybody got fuel again, filled up with gourmet sausage egg & cheese biscuit, a Pilot speciality and decided to put our rain gear on. There was nothing serious but the forecast said plenty of rain possible in the afternoon. Thanks God for weather maps and smart phones these days because it really helps with planning your trip. Well, three hours, two more fuel stops and one slow speed tip over later we ended up at Gap's deal motorcycle resort. We finally reached Mecca, we were already ampped up from the views, the smells, the turns on US 129 even before we got to the unofficial starting point of the Tail of the Dragon. Took another break, let all the feeling sink in, get a cup of coffe, get dry a bit, the weather was not at all kind to us. We all had the rain suits on and still got wet like dogs. My Rev'it waterproof gloves proved to be not so waterproof, my Speed and Strenght boots even though I had them for less than three weeks looks deformed, I could have sweated they increased two sizes in width and one in length and were soggy to say the least.
Standing and taking pictures by the Tree of Shame did nothing but bring in the obvious thought that was going though the minds of everybody in our little group: enjoy this, you've come so far for this but Dear God, don't crash! You knew in the back of your mind that would complicate the logistics of our trip quite a bit and we needed to go as smooth as possible.
We hoped on our bike, the whole six of us, closed the visors of our helmets and off we go! I can't describe the cacophony of emotions, excitement, fear, pride, shame because I didn't have the guts to tell my family exactly where I was going because they kinda disapprove this past time hobby of mine. All of this went away after the first two corners, all you could focus on was the bike and the road, no two corners were the same and yet you could not afford to settle into a rhythm, it was one turn at the time, all 318 of them. You really find out where you stand as a technical rider on the Tail of the Dragon. You find out how many mistakes you've made and how many times you saved your own hide, your ride and your pride from the always present possibility of an embarrassing accident. You know they take pictures of you, you've seen them yourself, but the moment you arrived in front of that canopy and you see the guys pointing their lenses on you all you can think is: should I wave to the camera or not? Will I look cool on my bike when I'll see the pictures later on today or not? Which hand can I safely remove from the handlebar to wave? It's too late, we've already passed the camera guy and I haven't waved or tried to pose on anything, I was enjoying it too much. It feels longer than usual to do 11 miles, I could have sweared I've seen 40, 50, even 60 mph on my odometer, I've also seen 15.
At some point you realize what you do it's so cliche, I mean do we really have to take pictures in the same places like everybody else, maybe I'm just bitter because my phone battery is dead and I have to ask somebody else to take a picture with me when I'm riding.
Oh, forget about everything Mike and just enjoy yourself, one of my inner voices is telling me, little did i know that by the end of the run I will do a dreaded faux pas in motorcycling: buying a pair of Harley Davidson rain boot covers from the only Harley Davidson store in the area. I was soaking wet, I just finished the Tail of the Dragon, I had some pretty good pictures and nobody crashed, nobody! It was a pretty good day!
It has to start at 6 am, that's when I woke up in my 20 dollar tent I recently purchased from Dicks Sporting Goods, it was raining outside and the temperatures were in the mid 40s. The camping site in southern Kentucky where we spent the night was about 170 miles away from the tree of shame, the place where we were suppose to "start our real adventure". It was wet, water had gotten into a corner of the tent and I was embarrassed to admit in front of my friends that has happened. I was the one taking longest to pack all my gear back on the motorcycle, for some reason it slammed it had multiplied, because I didn't remembered being as bulky the night before. First stop we did was in Heiskell, Tn just north of Knoxville, everybody got fuel again, filled up with gourmet sausage egg & cheese biscuit, a Pilot speciality and decided to put our rain gear on. There was nothing serious but the forecast said plenty of rain possible in the afternoon. Thanks God for weather maps and smart phones these days because it really helps with planning your trip. Well, three hours, two more fuel stops and one slow speed tip over later we ended up at Gap's deal motorcycle resort. We finally reached Mecca, we were already ampped up from the views, the smells, the turns on US 129 even before we got to the unofficial starting point of the Tail of the Dragon. Took another break, let all the feeling sink in, get a cup of coffe, get dry a bit, the weather was not at all kind to us. We all had the rain suits on and still got wet like dogs. My Rev'it waterproof gloves proved to be not so waterproof, my Speed and Strenght boots even though I had them for less than three weeks looks deformed, I could have sweated they increased two sizes in width and one in length and were soggy to say the least.
Standing and taking pictures by the Tree of Shame did nothing but bring in the obvious thought that was going though the minds of everybody in our little group: enjoy this, you've come so far for this but Dear God, don't crash! You knew in the back of your mind that would complicate the logistics of our trip quite a bit and we needed to go as smooth as possible.
We hoped on our bike, the whole six of us, closed the visors of our helmets and off we go! I can't describe the cacophony of emotions, excitement, fear, pride, shame because I didn't have the guts to tell my family exactly where I was going because they kinda disapprove this past time hobby of mine. All of this went away after the first two corners, all you could focus on was the bike and the road, no two corners were the same and yet you could not afford to settle into a rhythm, it was one turn at the time, all 318 of them. You really find out where you stand as a technical rider on the Tail of the Dragon. You find out how many mistakes you've made and how many times you saved your own hide, your ride and your pride from the always present possibility of an embarrassing accident. You know they take pictures of you, you've seen them yourself, but the moment you arrived in front of that canopy and you see the guys pointing their lenses on you all you can think is: should I wave to the camera or not? Will I look cool on my bike when I'll see the pictures later on today or not? Which hand can I safely remove from the handlebar to wave? It's too late, we've already passed the camera guy and I haven't waved or tried to pose on anything, I was enjoying it too much. It feels longer than usual to do 11 miles, I could have sweared I've seen 40, 50, even 60 mph on my odometer, I've also seen 15.
At some point you realize what you do it's so cliche, I mean do we really have to take pictures in the same places like everybody else, maybe I'm just bitter because my phone battery is dead and I have to ask somebody else to take a picture with me when I'm riding.
Oh, forget about everything Mike and just enjoy yourself, one of my inner voices is telling me, little did i know that by the end of the run I will do a dreaded faux pas in motorcycling: buying a pair of Harley Davidson rain boot covers from the only Harley Davidson store in the area. I was soaking wet, I just finished the Tail of the Dragon, I had some pretty good pictures and nobody crashed, nobody! It was a pretty good day!