Great Smokey Mountains and the Dragons Tail...

Made the mistake this morning of ordering a large orange juice with breakfast. "A pint! Why that's very nearly an armful" as the late Tony Hancock would have said....

Headed off for the Great Smokey mountains http://www.nps.gov/grsm/photosmultimedia/index.htm, missing out the last section of the Blue Ridge Parkway. I was advised I'd not get over the mountains unless I did. In retrospect I could have taken it in as I managed to put another 80 miles on after Deals Gap.

Someone has made a great business out of a piece of road http://dealsgaptv.com/. The Dragon is 11 miles of road through the mountains with 318 bends. They have a bar, a restaurant, motel and shop selling all sorts of memorabilia. Lots of bikes there of all sorts. Passed a dozen sports bikes (or crotch rockets as the hotel clerk called them) coming the other way, all with their knees down in the corners.

There are photographers strategically located on 3 of the bigger bends. I didn't stop to look at mine conscious of the fact I would have looked a big girl cruising round on Roci.

In the UK, where a road like this would also attract lunatic speeders, measures would be put in place to slow down riders and the police would be lurking to catch and fine offenders. In the USA? Make the road as safe as possible. Put in perfect cambers to make cornering as safe and enjoyable as possible and let riders get on with it. If you're speeding at the bottom though, watch out. I saw 2 biked pulled over. But that's fair...

Mind you, the policy does have a price. There is a tree in the Motel car park hung with parts recovered from crashes. But hey, everyone knows what they're risking.

The rest of the ride through the mountains was fabulous. Warmer and warmer.... :o). Stopped eventually in Cookeville. Just wanted to reduce the distance into the Nashville as much as possible. The weather forecast was foul...