The tale of The Tail of the Dragon
Wednesday morning in Sweetwater started out nicely (see my previous post on replacing the instrument cluster) and I headed for Tellico Plains and the Tail of the Dragon. This was one of the places I was really looking forward to on this trip. First up, from Sweetwater to Robbinsville, I took the Cherohala Skyway. Here’s a shot from one of the high points in the road, looking out and down at the Skyway at a lower elevation:
And here’s the Atom in the same spot:
Next up was Wheeler’s Motorcycle Repair and Tail of the Dragon gift shop, where I picked up all the swag I could fit in the Atom (which wasn’t a lot – I got 2 T-shirts, a polo shirt, a patch, a 129 road sign replica, and 3 DVDs of Dragon runners):
I also collected info from Dragon runners coming south on conditions on the Dragon. There were reports of several downed trees at blind curves which had only been partially cut away, as well as some wet conditions on the road from the previous night’s rains.
Then it was on to the Dragon itself. The road and environment remind me a lot of the woods where I grew up, so I was pretty comfortable with the route right away, only lacking familiarity with the actual roadway itself.
This is a road that the Atom really shows its skills on. I managed to do an average speed of [censored] through the Dragon, and the only things that kept me from going faster were concerns for going around a curve and finding slower traffic / a stuck truck / a downed tree. This would be a great road to do faster runs on, as long as it could be closed in one direction and have spotters reporting that the curves ahead are clear. Given the amount of business that Dragon riders bring to the area, maybe they’ll consider this in the future. Though, since it crosses state lines, it may be difficult.
Again, about the Atom on the Dragon – no matter what the Dragon threw at the Atom, the car stayed glued to the road. I didn’t have any tire noise or loss of grip, even when going around 15MPH hairpins at 35MPH. And the car didn’t bottom out – ever.
Killboy was out at his usual spot, so there will probably be pictures of my Atom up on his site (http://killboy.com/) shortly.
At the Overlook I stopped and chatted with some bikers who were heading the other way. All of the following shots are from there:
Lastly, here’s another “art shot” for the folks who keep asking for them. This one is of the “Ariel” logo on the driver’s seat as seen in the side view mirror:
