In the shot above, Al Bullman gets his camera out to capture the scene below Looking Glass Rock by Hwy. 276 in the Pisgah National Forest north of Brevard, NC. This was around the second week of October, 08 - cool temps, no bugs, light traffic - it doesn't get much better than that.

It's like being a kid in a candy store - living here in the mountains of western North Carolina is living the dream, whether you're a hiker, a cyclist, a kayaker, a backpacker, or a devotee of riding fast over twisting asphalt backroads. Riders travel here from all over the world to ride the legendary Dragon, aka Hwy. 129, that snakes aroundt the western end of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The Dragon has around 318 curves (the number varies according to the source) in about 11 miles of twisting mountain asphalt.
On most weekends during the warmer months, you'll find hundreds of bikers and drivers hanging out along the Dragon, especially in the vicinity of Deals Gap, just a few hundred feet below the Tennessee line on the North Carolina side of the Dragon. It's a fun place to visit, (and the food at the Deals Gap Resort is really good!), but for riding, I prefer the thousands of miles of backroads that lace other regions of western North Carolina, eastern Tennessee, western Virginia, and northern South Carolina and Georgia. It's one big twistie playground, and I'l try to deliver a taste of some of my favorite rides in these pages. In some, I'll lay out specific routes, while in others, I'll simply offer a few shots of things that I enjoyed seeing along the way - discovery is a big part of the adventure, and I really don't want to deliver a step by step description of each ride. However, if you would like more info about some of the topics, feel free to contact me. Motorcycle touring is a terrific low-impact way to enjoy the southern mountains. I've gotten back into it after a long absence. I raced in motocross, enduro, and flat track back in the 70s, but being around for my daughter as she was growing up was more important that hitting the track each weekend. I'm not sure what it was that gave me the bug this time, but here I am with a Ninja in the basement. Now I'm looking at upgrading to a more touring oriented ride - either a Vstrom or a Beemer.

Hot Springs 145 mile Loop Ride
Oct. 17, '08.

The Dragon - Hwy. 129