Join Tom and Todd, seasoned motorcyclists with over 30 years of riding experience, as they dive deep into the exhilarating Tail of the Dragon road. This episode is a treasure trove of insights for motorcycling enthusiasts!

Route Insight: Discover the 318 curves of Tail of the Dragon, stretching over 11 miles in the Smoky Mountains. Tom and Todd share their experiences and offer tips on navigating this iconic road, revered by riders worldwide.

Todd and Tom delve into essential motorcycle gear, covering jackets, pants, gloves, and boots. They discuss the benefits of leather and textile materials, and offer practical advice on choosing gear that suits different riding conditions.

Planning Tips: Get valuable insights into planning your motorcycle trip, focusing on pre-trip maintenance, route planning, pacing in group riding, and physical readiness.

Listener Q&A: Tom and Todd answer questions about their backgrounds, riding preferences, and personal experiences, offering a glimpse into their motorcycling journeys.

Episode 004 - Route Highlight - Tail of the Dragon Ride Report

Transcript:

(00:42) covered before we Kickstart today's journey we'll ask you to log in and sign up to our BMR Rider alerts it's our way of keeping you in the loop with the latest rides tips and stories we promise no spam only of the essentials to enhance your motorcycle Adventures please join the B BMR crew today and we'll put a link in the show notes this next segment or the first one of the day is about motorcycle gear reviews and tips and we call it the toolkit um you know this is a great episode it's about the tale of the

(01:44) then the materials are either usually textile or leather um and I just say you know you want to be comfortable I think the first thing that happens is you have an expectation of um like what you feel like motorcycle gear is some people like leather and that's cool and some people don't and then they end up in textile it's like I feel like it's like you want leather or you want not leather right um so you know I don't know it's a great option leather is a great option it's usually a little more expensive but it

(02:40) and it's I don't know the solid is better for the cooler times I have both I pretty much use mesh all the time when we ride I mean we don't ride when it's super cold and then I'm riding a big old honk and Gold Wing that you know pretty much nothing penetrates it anyway so um some of the allseason gear can be leather or textile just tends to be some of the higher end products I think I think that's when you start looking at some of the nice Harley leather gear or you look at the um um you know some of

(03:36) too but I've never gone that far so yeah and uh the other thing about the like the mesh jackets the textile jackets um you know a lot of them come with like elbow pads you know shoulder back armor you know there's armor built into them and even with that uh being meshed they they still keep you pretty cool and there's lots of vents so uh that's what I use kind of a mess jacket with the armor built in and um generally you know we're riding in warmer temperatures most of the time and I've just got a t-shirt

(04:35) don't know that's I've thought about that a lot I guess and I'd really like to try some of the medium gear and maybe have bulk up on the layers a little bit so I want to do a little more research on that but some of that will be in the post that we have so secondly gloves um I love gloves I have at least eight pairs of gloves I like leather gloves unless it's raining um you got to get something that works for you but I love full finger gloves and I love the to get them leather that wore in and I just I

(05:32) and with gloves on uh I can't touch my phone it it it won't react so I use the fingerless gloves a lot um but you know my gloves aren't waterproof so when it does start raining the only way I can keep my hands dry is what you just mentioned is I get out you know some surg surgical gloves some people use them or by the the food preparation gloves you know it's those real thin uh I don't know if they're latex or just kind of a rubber plastic material but super thin you know you can carry 20

(06:27) wrist to the fingertip you really got to try some and see what's good for you um I think once you find a style I'd highly recommend just get a nice pair of gloves they really matter some have padding in them if you have a little more vibration um it it it's worth the investment you're really rid in them all the time yeah so how about foot Gear boots um I well I recommend getting a good set of boots uh don't do what I did I uh bought some off a a website um based on other people's uh recommendations or

(07:26) trip and walk around with them or go someplace where you can go to your local bike shop and find some boots and and walk around with them as well as uh ride with them a little bit but it yeah good boots make a difference they do I will say too based on your bike there's a big difference in bikes you know you got Adventure bikes completely different ride and cruisers and touring bikes not every boot works for every style of bike I know when I was riding standards that were a little more you know like sporty

(08:20) have a little more um a lot of those will have like a flex point at the ankle so that when you when you Flex that foot that's what the difference is so because that otherwise you're fighting the boot and you're fighting that whole like upper mhm that's that's the reason so yeah it's you'll it's a big difference you'll I'm just going to get a whole new set of boots I'm going to make sure I try them and walk in them and I bought a really nice set of work boots that

(09:10) have your ankles covered and the reason for that is is because one of the first things that's going to happen if you go down on your bike is your ankle or foot is going to be on the ground and uh having a nice thick piece of leather or Tex stle that's you know really designed for that is is key so don't skimp on boots gear or gloves or jackets I mean they're really just important and do they need to have a metal toe they don't have to the ones I have a composite toe it's plastic you know it's just a little

(10:08) three uh if you missed it go back and check that out uh it's a really important step of any trip um and then route planning with a bike with a trip like the taale of the Dragon uh you want to really get a good idea of the day and what the road has to offer you know watch some videos of you know people that have ridden the road that that'll give you a really good idea what what's in store for you we usually watch two videos the nights before we watch motorcycle crash videos right just in general and then

(11:03) and I can tell you from my experience I had I had ridden motorcycles for 10 or 12 years 15 years before I ever read rode in a group and for the first time riding in a group all of a sudden all I could focus on for some reason was my distance from you know behind the person in front of me and my distance in the lane am I in the right side or am I in the left side am I am I doing the Stagger correctly and you know getting outside of my little lane you know and you you stagger so that if the group comes to a quick stop at least you can

(12:03) Riders you know kind of talk to them about that say look um yes it's important but don't Focus all your energy on just that well I think too like when we're doing the regular riding part we we keep the Stagger when we can when you get on technical roads like some like the tail of dragon some of these other ones we're going to talk to like that kind of goes out the window like let's not don't worry about that at all in fact just let's just go single file let's just be safe you know you

(13:00) and challenge yourself say all right let's see how we do you know and let's see if I can do this but you know to ride 6 700 miles to get to the Tail of the Dragon just to crash and wreck your bike it's it's just not worth it you know I mean just take your time and um if someone is pushing you and and you know wanting you to speed up just pull over or get to the side and let them come yeah wave them by there there's a few places on Tail of the Dragon you can kind of just get off the road and let

(13:55) talk about it a lot we stop just hydrate you know just get more water just rest more I mean we're pretty good about not staying up crazy late but you know you got to get that sleep and you get something to eat you know like you kind of forget sometimes you get on a bike and we got you know Twizzlers in the back of Mike's bag and pretty soon you haven't had anything decent but sugar and who know and Red Bull but um yeah so but just I think mentally preparing yourself for that days when you're going

(14:50) some call it the best road best one of the best five roads in the world the destination the destination but it it is a journey it's not just just you know your run-of-the-mill road um I don't know it's a cool challenge I think for every Rider it's located in the Smokey Mountains um between te Tennessee and North Carolina um it gets its name from the shape of the road it kind of if you look at it zoomed out it does kind of look like the back of a dragon a dragon's tail um I think the official

(15:48) there's no driveways uh there's no merges that you know come up into the road or go off the road so uh you know once you start that 11 M section uh you're on it until you're done yeah and yeah I don't forget that I'm on a bike I mean it's you got to pay attention on that road but um you know there's I remember if you get even close to the center lane uh the center line excuse me and there's so many blind Corners there um I'm someone's going to be coming in your lane right believe me

(16:40) you know you kiss the headlight yeah so like you do have to be super careful and like you said it's notoriously someone will will come into your lane when you're riding and that's it's a little scary and you almost guaranteed very better be prepared for it so well you know tell us about your first time on the D Dragon Todd like maybe what what what do you think or what do you what makes you what do you remember oh gosh it it was exhilarating I I we started at uh the Deals Gap restaurant and uh you

(17:44) and it just I remember thinking to myself who would ever build this road like what what was this built for you know but uh you know they had to follow a you know long the Mountain Ridge so um I just remember being one of the most amazing roads up to that point that I'd ever been on yeah I agree I've been on the dragon three times I think in 2012 2015 and 2020 it was intimidating the first time for me I was riding an old bike 78 Gold Wing and I don't know it it was fun but also interesting I like that

(18:50) um there's a Dragon's Den Grill now I don't think we ever ate there when you've been there the first time we went there we had a burger it was cool it was good you know tree of shame I drank a lot of coffee there remember one time and then they also offer actually motel and camping for motorcycle only and so that's kind of a cool thing too to just be right in the middle of it but that's Deals Gap North Carolina um but yeah there's also um a lot of roads that are around there but uh I was just trying to

(19:52) like you're on your way man it was just the coolest thing um just I don't know when we think when I think about uh the tail Dragon I think about that old guy I wish I would have got his name because I didn't but and he had a leather that he bought I swear to God he bought that leather that day he bought that helmet that day and he bought that bike wow so it was pretty cool um but yeah I mean your favorite spot that's right there yeah you mentioned the Fontana Dam uh it's nicknamed The Fugitive Dam because

(20:46) place to stop but it's usually busy I mean it's hustle it's bustle and so I know a couple times we've moved over there to that Fontan Dam because people stop take a picture and move on yeah and it's a it's got It's a nice place to stop and just kind of take five yeah and it's just right there I was just thinking too you like the place across the street from I do from uh killboy yeah killboy yeah and then one thing we didn't mention and another one of the favorite things that you and I both have

(21:40) coming through a corner and leaning uh they do the best job they do such a great job and you go on their website after you've ridden the road and uh you just find the date and time that you rode the road and uh you know all the pictures are in sequence and uh you just order them through their website I always buy a bunch of pictures because you know where else can I get a picture of myself riding my bike you know and I put those on they're so good like you said they're really good pictures such good action shots and you know focused

(22:35) roads like that touch or really close to touch and tail so yeah the cherala cha cheralla Skyway y um what what's significant about that I'm trying to remember well that one um is just part of the Cherokee and n a n aala National Forest it's nothing super specific I think it was just been there for a long time it was kind of one of the original like paths that people used um that goes from teleco Planes to Robinson North Carolina just stunning views I think um is one of the things there with that one and then then I

(23:44) that he's riding on the edge of a cliff then that's a good time to ride it but uh yeah it's super Scenic and the switchbacks are incredible yep um we rode it at night and then we rode it later in the day um once in each Direction uh you almost have to do it that way just you know see different things yep so the technical triangle is 44 mil long but the kind of root of it the you know I think they kind of Devil's Triangle is a cool name but Tennessee 116 is really that like the two pieces of the triangle 262 miles

(24:51) look in but that was it now this last time we were there completely changed they have a brewery they have a restaurant they have a distill they have uh an outdoor concert venue they do tours it's cool though I mean it it was great we went in we got to go there yeah we had lunch you know we stopped in The Distillery and you know oh yeah I didn't get to go we did a tour yeah it was it was a lot of fun I'm jealous yeah hey another road uh we got to mention is Blue Ridge Parkway yeah uh 469 miles and

(25:51) see it you know that smoke rising up it's beautiful yeah so Foo Hills Parkway I'm not sure if you rode that one or not before but one of the cool things and if you can only catch a part of it on the south side of this section of that road I think might be some of the best views of the Smoky Mountains it's just it's what you would imagine to be a perfect picture with a road in a in the Smoky Mountain so that's a good one there and then I know uh Moonshiner 28 that's a great Road uh it's got another name I

(26:50) com podcast all the information you need will be there but you can subscribe on Spotify Amazon music Apple uh pocket Cs and YouTube uh roadside Q&A uh this interactive segment is where we answer your questions and we take any suggestions you have for topics and then we'll provide insights and advice based on our years of planning trips and writing experiences and we have a question so John uh asked us about where we're from and what kind of bikes do we ride how long we've been riding yeah because we haven't really talked about

(27:53) and um you know I bought a motorcycle right away and got my license and uh just kind of incrementally gotten bigger bikes y um and then of course when you guys got bikes um I think that's what really when we started riding you know taking group rides and things like that and it's just been fun ever since and knock on wood I've never had an accident uh John also ask where you're from you're from Illinois originally I'm from Iowa but I grew up riding dirt bikes just in the yard you know I guess

(28:54) we spur out of yeah South Central or yep Southeast I Iowa and uh so when we're we're talking about where we're going and where we're coming from uh that's that's where we're leaving that's kind of destination y yep we're starting there yep so I have one accident small incident with a deer but uh you know we all survived yeah little road rash later everything was kosher so but no thanks John for that question please ask more questions we'd love to share more we'd love to answer specific questions if

(29:57) your Parts um for me I think um the planning part the first time we went down I know we missed a bunch of these roads and we sure certainly could have rode them I think we were further out went way around came back and uh yeah I think just thinking planning these roads are amazing spending time at the um Deals Gap motorcycle um Resort there's a lot of people there to talk to there's a lot of bikes there you know like the guy that I was talking about like I wanted to get his name I want to know who he is