Tail of the Dragon - U.S. 129 - 2020

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mattness

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So there we was. We decided we was gonna do a boys only run to the Dragon. In the middle of the Covid 19 pandemic. I must admit we was awfully nervous. Was everything going to be closed? Was the cops gonna pull us over and harass us due to out of state plates? Was the hotel we booked months prior even going to be open? Several riders on the forums was saying they're doing charge backs because Fontana resort and others were closed and not answering the phones anymore. We already booked, and we already had PTO in. We just decided to risk it and go for it.

We spent several nights getting each bike cleaned up, fresh fluids, new tires, brakes, carbs on the zx6r, etc to get ready for the ride. Once we hit southern tennessee we knew supplies would be limited and a garage would be something only to dream of.

We always pray for a safe trip and we always follow the golden rules.
Never ride alone in the mountains
and
Never ride at night

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We left late in the evening to dodge all rush hour traffic and do the 6 hour drive as easily as possible. We got a basic hotel right before the smokies in a town called Alcoa. They had an electric car charger so they was technically a 4 star hotel. We crashed cuz it was late and got up early to go ride. Their covid safe breakfast had koolaid jammers. So it was worth it in my book. I drank like 6.
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We went straight to the trucks without even pooping and immediately hit the road. We wanted to get to the dragon early with the trailers before the traffic started and we'd be pissin people off.

You know you close when you start seein them mountain bugs.

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Man the air was clean, the water was so clear you could drink it. Not a cloud in sight. 75 degrees. If it ain't Heaven then its still pretty close!
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We got to the gap early as you can see in the pic the shadows are still long. We unloaded the bikes and got ready for the first ride of the weekend with some of the FZ1 guys.
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What dragon run doesn't have a tree of shame pic right?
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Our first stop was actually back the way we came some guys wanted to try this new diner out I think it was called pit stop? someone correct me please.


Yes I wear a modular helmet im gettin old. They're just so dam convenient and easier to take on and off if you wear glasses.
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Race cars boys! shts gettn real!
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Sadly it was some of the best food we had on the trip. Especially for the price. More on that later. Seriously remember this.
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So anyways we headed back to the gap cuz our room was ready and we unloaded everything and i just heard something deep down in my soul. I turnt around and saw a vmax come up the hill from ole' moonshiner 28 and pull into the store across the road. I turnt to my dad and said
"I gotta go, that was a VMAX"
my dad was like no vmaxes have more of a pulse to the sound
I said i know but this is stock exhaust

I ride my max across the road and i see it clear as day. All murdered out black VMAX. This thing was immaculate. Unlike mine, since mine has like 10+ seasons on it now and is showing it's age. (It getting thrown through the wall of the trailer and the CBR landing on it didn't help much either)

I shut my bike down and dismount and look over at the seating area and I saw a man eating ice cream and wearing an old military surplus jacket. I said thats ur max isnt it? he said ya and that he had just bought it. Literally riding it home to Kentucky. Said his name was Clay.(if my memory serves me right. If youre here on the forum say hi! he said he loved him some gen 1s too. Anyways it looked like a storm was comin in and i was eating out of the palm of his hand. He jumped on his quiet max and headed up the dragon. I never saw him again.

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We rode all day around the dragon and some more guys from the fz1 forum landed in and they wanted to do a group eat at topoco lodge. Unfortunately half the seating was blocked off due to covid 19 and social distancing.
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Sadly for 2 pizzas that weren't very good and drinks it was WAY too much money.
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So anyways we said our goodbyes to the fz1 guys and headed back to the gap for the night before the feral hogs and bears and deer and sht came out and wrecked us. As we was driving I saw something in the ditch and i told my dad to turn around cuz there was a bike down. My dad said no that was a trash bag. I said no dad it was a bike wreck im for REAL. So dad turnt the truck around and sure enough it was a trashed 929 in the ditch with an oil stain everywhere.
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Its hard to tell in the pic but his left arm was BUSTED up at the shoulder. I mean it was a ragdoll. He wrecked on a straight away and the bike slammed hard to bust the engine case. we also saw a small skid which appeared to be from the front tire. The bike was also kinda stunted out with the mini brake lever on the clutch side of the bar and an idle adjuster knob thing and the fact that it barely had a lick of plastic on it. It was pretty obvious that he went to do a stoppy and his front tire didnt grip and he slammed down.

We asked him what happened and he said his front tire just locked up and he didnt know what happened.

We went and got his bike and rolled it back and loaded it up on his buddys trailer for him. His friend that was drivin the truck was PISSED. Apparently they JUST got here from way up north. And i mean literally unloaded the bikes, went 2 miles and crashed. They thought the trip was over. We watched over the next few days and it was hilarious. Turns out they took him to knoxville or robbinsville or whatever and got him a sling for his busted arm, then they had him ride bitch on a harley with his buddy the whole time. baahhahahhah h hah h ah ahah

but for real im sure he was in some pretty serious pain. But hey they didnt have to go home /shrug

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So anyways we head back to the resort pretty exhausted and crash and get rdy for the next day

Unfortunately we woke up to the worst thing possible on a bike trip. RAIN. We sat out on the benches in front of our rooms and chewed the fat with some of the other riders and chilled.
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We headed into the diner at the gap to get some breakfast and waited for the rain to pass. The diner is the same ol same ol
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Breakfast wasn't bad honestly it was only like 4 bucks for this big juicy hog of mine
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So anyways the rain pretty much cleared out and it was about time to ride and the roads was drying and what not.So anyways we see our neighbors woke up and they had a stretch kit on their busa or whatever and i mentioned how i came down here with a stretch kit guy in the past and he was so slow he pretty much couldnt ride with us and when he got home he immediately went back to stock. the guy said not me bro. this thing HANDLES. i said haha cool.

so anyways, this couple that stayed next to us the guy decided he was gonna ride the dragon alone and she was gonna sit on the bench and wait. Seems normal right? Well we stood and talked to her about where they was from and their trip how long r they gonna be down for etc u know the usual friendly vacation motorcycle banter. Well she went to the store and got him a shirt and what not and like 40 mins went by and we decided we was gonna gear up and get the bikes ready to launch.

So anyways an hour and like 15 minutes has gone by and this guy still hasn't come back yet. He said he was just going to the overlook and back and his girl was back here on the bench literally chewing her nails off. A couple more fz1 forum guys show up and we help unload their bikes and like 2 hrs has gone by and this guy still hasnt shown up. So im like ok wtf is goin on. So i walk down by the diner to where a couple guys just pulled in and i stood between each as they took their helmets off and i said, have either of u seen a black stretched busa? and one guy said oh ya hes on his way here, but uhh... ya bro he is SLOOOOOWWW. i said haha ok thanks. So i went back and let his girl know he was alive and well and on his way back.

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A group of us hitting the skyway
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so anyways we decided to pull up to this diner for a bite to eat and it was getting to be more like 90 degrees and humid from the rain earlier and we got up there and the door was unlocked but the place was like shut down or closed. It was a little cooler than outside so we secretly hung out for a minute before we hit the road again. It was miles before we found another place to get our refreshments.

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We ended up eating at like grandmas diner on wears valley road and ill tell u what it was the BEST and CHEAP
 
Required vmax picture

also note my plate is NOT custom.
M129HW

A friend pointed it out to me i was like WTF!!

MOTORCYCLE
129
HWY

us 129 is the tail of the dragon
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The overlook. Ran into some friendly riders here that travel all over the US. Cool peeps. U can usually get cell signal right here and usually a breeze too to cool off.
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Some stickers for the local bike culture. Gotta take it all in.
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So anyways we had topoco lodge again, i got like trout bites and a glass of water cuz i wanted to spend less than 40 dollars. I didn't really like them but we alrdy dropped the cash and i just went for it.

I woke up at like 12:50AM with the WORST heartburn of ALL time. OF ALL TIME.

I was thinking like wtf am i possessed by the dragon or am i about to have a heart attack orrrr

And thats when at like 12:55 i started to gag and my mouth was salivating like crazy like i was drooling it was so bad.

And dats when it dawned on me that i was about to blow.

at 1:00 am i realized i couldnt stop it and this was coming out. I stood in front of the bathroom mirror after doing a slow walk of shame cuz i FELT terrible.
I stood in front of the mirror like huffing and puffing and drooling cuz like my body wouldnt let me swallow. anyone woulda thot i was rabid

Finally at like 1:35 or so i just started putting my finger in the back of my throat like to force gag myself. Cuz i was getting tired and it was crepeing up on 2am and i just wanted to get this out of me and go back to bed.

After like 6 good strong gags i mean my ribs hurt and stomach felt like i tore it i mean my muscles was like spasming to get this trout out.
So much pain.

Finally i did a strong gag by just holding my finger in my throat and not pulling it like finger blasting myself.

Thats when i just BLASTED a half gallon of puke just BLUUUUUUHHHHH and i did a quick heave and BLLUUUUUHHHHH i puked like 5 or 6 times and i FILLED that sink with puke. I aint even kidding. There was still like scales and undigested fish meat in like cubes from where my teeth cut it. My body didn't digest this at all.

My dad woke up and yelled at me to shut up i told him i was like dad i been in here for an hour throwing up!!!!

he was like oh

he gave me tum or whatever and i went back to bed.

So now i have a 3rd rule when on bike trips. ONLY EAT FOODS YOU KNOW YOU CAN HANDLE. riding on a motorcycle is a risky time to be experimenting with food. Burgers and fries and sht like that ONLY.

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So anyways we're at the gap its like our last day there and we hear a big truck coming and we all stop to stare. Theres 2 beat up harleys on it.




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errybodys lookin errybodys gawkin
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Turns out this dude overshot a turn and hit a group of black bikers on harleys from like Florida or something. They didn't beat his ass. He did enough damage to his front end and wheel and stuff to where his bike wasnt ridable and the other guy it ripped off his highway bars and floorboards and dmgd his fairing and sht. if i wouldve hit someone in a grp like that i woulda stood up and ran like a btch. Everyone was cool though that grp of guys got their shifter kinda going and went on their way.

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Anyways our first day there and on like our first pass to the oerlook and back we passed a couple motards getting chased by a couple WAY too fast sportbikes. We got down to the store and not even 5 minutes later someone was pulling in saying someone died. We assumed it was the yellow sportbike and
ding ding ding. we was right.

The police did some work this pic is from like a couple days later. Orange markers must show the skid and the kitty litter mustve been for the blood.
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Head and foot written in paint by the litter. Rumor has it he bled out so fast there was no saving him. Apparently a motard ran him over from the oncoming lane and got his neck.
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His family showed up like saturday and all got out at the crash site and cried together. Rumor has it he had a very young daughter.
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Obituary
Jacob Dillard “Jake” Williamson, age 29, of Thorn Hill passed away on Thursday, June 4th due to injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident. He was a member of Lakeshore Missionary Baptist Church. He loved the outdoors, hunting, fishing, bike riding, motorcycles, tree climbing, and logging. He was a devoted and loving father, son, and brother and will be deeply missed by all who knew him.


R.I.P.
 
For those of you that haven't ridden the Smokies yet, know this. It is an amazing life experience not just a motorcycle experience. Yes it can be dangerous, but ride within your means and just cross your fingers that noone hits you.

I also recommend staying at the resort itself. Nothing beats waking up at 7am to some roaring harleys coming down the mountain or some zippy sport bikes launching for the day. Hearing all that really revs your heart and makes u want to jump out of bed.
When you swing that door open in the morning and that thick air hits you and the smell of them pines.... woooo boy. Just score some good weather and you're in paradise.

For those that haven't been in a long time, Foothills Parkway is finished finally and is probably the best motorcycle road around right now. The pavement is perfect, speed limit is nice, sweepers don't surprise you like cherohala skyway. It really is ALL that.


I'll see you guys soon at the vmax rally!

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Great account of the trip man, I really enjoyed it,
sounds like you prepped like a pro for the ride.
You wrote it and it read just like I was there.
Lucky for me I had a different room during the puke fest LMAO!!!!
How'd the big Max ride? Glad ya all made it home safe.
 
Can't wait to get down there at the end of this month for the VMAX Rally! A full week of riding, it's going to be a blast!!!!
 
Nice write up ! Yall stayed in Alcoa so yall were pretty close to my house in Maryville since they are like sister cities. I ride the mountains all the time by myself. I actually prefer riding by myself most of the time. Surprised to hear about the food at Topaco I have always had excellent food there but not real fast service.
 
The Dragon is a great ride. I went through it on my 2006 FJR. Here is a photo of my first MAX, 2003 at the Continental Divide in Colorado. Tripping is very cool.
 

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