For those of you interested in seeing my pics, here are a few of me and two friends riding the Dragon's Tail in TN
Killboy.com Photos. (http://killboy.com/) If they get any photos of you.. buy them. They are great. The only thing I didn't like is they send them on a CD so you have to wait for them (less than a week), but they are 3mb each so most ISP email account will kick them back. But check these out.

Love this one for the disappearing curves
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c295/donrcollins/05219.jpg


Again with the curves.... leaning for the right turn and you see the road to the left again.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c295/donrcollins/04792.jpg


You can see the two guys in the background that went with me. They are following me for photo reasons only.... much faster/better riders than I am :(. But hey... look at the tip of my shoe :D and you can see our faces.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c295/donrcollins/02294.jpg


We stopped and used my camera and the pics turn out good.

Group shot during our ride up

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c295/donrcollins/therideup.jpg


The bikes....

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c295/donrcollins/thebeginning.jpg


The sign

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c295/donrcollins/thesign.jpg


The "Tree of Shame" parts for wrecked bikes.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c295/donrcollins/treeofshame.jpg


Time travel anyone....

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c295/donrcollins/timetravel.jpg


Me

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c295/donrcollins/me1.jpg


Me again...

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c295/donrcollins/me2.jpg


Still me...

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c295/donrcollins/me3.jpg


Nice shadow

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c295/donrcollins/me4.jpg


going...

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c295/donrcollins/me5.jpg


Gone...

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c295/donrcollins/me6.jpg


The new look on my tail showing off the dragon decals

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c295/donrcollins/newtail.jpg

Where r u riding from??
Nice pix though

Nice bikes.

Don, why do you hug the inside line in the first pics, and then in the 2nd set, your real close to that double yellow line. That's scary man.

Looks like real nice roads though, doesn't look like there's a lot of gravel, pretty clean.

helps to look...from Va Beach huh

I think i am going up real soon if i can make money this weekend and this coming week

damn that place looks NICE. i can't wait to go there!

Awesome Delorean, great pics, still cant lean that far. How long did it take you to get comfortable to lean in that far. I guess I just dont trust myself yet.

awesome pics don! that place is an absolute sportbike heaven. the daily commute will never be the same again.

Nice i wish i could go there... oh is it me or is that girl hott???

The pics are taken at Deals Gap, aka The Dragon's Tail. For Reference, look at tailofthedragon.com (http://www.tailofthedragon.com/) or dealsgap.com. (http://www.dealsgap.com/)

North Carolina and Tennessee border in the Smoky Mountains. US route 129 has a famous section of 11 miles with 318 turns. I'm hugging the lines at time because if you can see through the corner.... you use it. The roads are very, very smooth and clean. Cops stay out of the 11 miles until someone crashes and then they only go there for that. BUT!!! On the side with hotel, you have about 9 or 10 miles of long straights around a lake THAT DOES ALWAYS HAVE A COP AT THE BOAT LAUNCHES. I know, I missed him by one mile. I had a Harley Road King crash behind me and I stopped to flag traffic. Once they pulled the 60 year old out from under the Harley and got him to the side, you could tell his shoulder and left leg were in need of some casting. Not to mention his face was cut all up.... go skull caps. Any ways, there is no such thing as cell phone signals in the mountains so I hit the last two mile of the Dragon hard then found the straights (my first time through). There is nothing after the Dragon for 10 miles and I was look for a phone so I could call for help. I was hitting the straights in the 130's and gave up at 8 miles.... 9 miles is where the cop sits. Can you say jail time boys and girls. So freaking lucky. I didn't know how far the nearest phone was on my side so I gave up and went back to the wreck. Other riders went the other way to report the wreck.

Point is... if you go, be carful of the straight after the Dragon, the locals mentioned after the fact that a cop is always waiting at one of the many boat launches after the ride. They give us the Dragon and nothing else.

Awesome week end for a 10 hour drive. Hope to return soon.... :( I've never had the privilege of riding anything like this before. So many 180 degree turns and great traffic. Everyone moves to the right for faster traffic.

And to answer the question about my lean... I'm a puss compared to the riders here. This place is full of full leather riders dragging there knees all the way through. A lot of pro riders play here on the week-ends. You can find several pull-over areas along the way to stop at. We did so we could take a few pictures and got to watch riders zip by dragging knees with sparks flying. Kind of a humbling feeling. You're doing great (in your own mind).... dragging your boots in corners and then someone comes by putting on a light show with his.... and hers, knees. There are a lot of great riders there, both male and female. And the other thing that puts you in your place.... wait until someone with a pillion passes you ... :(

ORIGINAL: Way2Cool

Nice i wish i could go there... oh is it me or is that girl hott???


She is hot... she was a pillion that passed me on an R1

are you serious she kicked your @ss on an r1! why didnt you give her my number don!!!!

Great pics don....did you actually buy all of those from moonshine? I know the deals gap pics are $5 apiece, how much were those?

As far as the police at the gap...there were two days while i was down there that a tennessee cruiser was actually parked about 2 miles INSIDE the dragon (two miles from the end)...he was parked at one of the larger pull off areas clocking people as they came out of the turn...i was lucky enough to be at one of the boat docks that Don mentioned when we saw him head up the dragon.

Did you get a chance to ride the Cherohola Skyway Don? One of the most beautiful roads i've ever been on, and just as fun as the dragon...turns are not as tight, but many 180 degree long high speed turns....we usually hit the turns at 50, came out at anywhere between 90 and 110....but there are no surprises or turns that tighten blindly, so it's a blast---and not a single cop anywhere.

Anyways, there are about 20 of us from around here that are plannin a trip in may to head back for 4-5 days. We have an awesome and cheap place to stay at the Kickstand Lodge (http://www.kickstandlodge.com), so if anyone wants to go let me know. My orders have me leavin June 4th, so this'll be the last real good ridin i'll be able to do for awhile.

-Adam

Fantastic pics dude -- looks like you guys had a blast.

Killboy will ride your ass for being on that double yellow if he got pics of you

Great pictures, that place is always full of bikes.

now for the good stuff...a word of advice; get off the bike more so you don't have to lean it that much. Maybe because you didn't have knee pads or leather pants but i think that if you've been there before you should of known to go prepaired.

They are great pictures and you did a great job on that bike but on the angle that you're turning sitting square on the sit could of gave you a scare. Just my $0.02

NICE, i would love to go ride there. when i lean i like to start leaning, then keep my body straight up and just push the bike into the lean.

gotta love that you guys are ridin Honda Yamaha and Suzuki!

Fantastic pics! What kind of camara do you use?

ORIGINAL: doncollins

I'm hugging the lines at time because if you can see through the corner.... you use it. The roads are very, very smooth and clean.

Yeah..I was thinking perhaps it was one of those corners. Wasn't too sure from the pic how far you could see through the corner.

It looks like you could have easily dragged a knee (had you had the proper gear for it) if you had gotten your butt off a tad more...

ORIGINAL: Way2Cool

are you serious she kicked your @ss on an r1! why didnt you give her my number don!!!!



No... She was a pillion. I got passed by someone with a passenger


Thanks for all the tips. That's one of the reasons I posted pics. I know Fretless33 is one of our track riders and I was looking for tips. After reviewing the pics, I know I ride the hell out of the line. I was able to see through the turns... but I should practice staying center. Really.... keep the tips coming.

I do not have proper gear for knee dragging. I learned quickly to tuck my toes in the first time my left foot dragged. I hope to go back soon (maybe in June) and I’ll play around more since I know my faults now.

Too many questions to answer in one reply:

I didn't buy any pics from moonshinephoto. The top collage are the ones from their site... I did the screen shot and paste thing. The full size pics are with my new Nikon D50 with a Tamron 28-300 lens. We wanted to make sure we had some pics and wanted to see how we looked (for mistakes and so on)... so we found a good spot and took a few of our own. My buddies gixxer 750, aka. the hatch back.... has tons of room in the tail for my camera. He's the best rider so I never worry about him having the camera. I nicknamed his bike the hatch back because we carry his .40 and my 9MM with extra shirts, sodas.... and so on at the same time. I used bubble wrap and t-shirts to protect the camera.

wow..i know that was fun.. also i know you didnt take a pic of that delorean.haahahhah is was that hot biker chick...

ORIGINAL: doncollins

ORIGINAL: Way2Cool

are you serious she kicked your @ss on an r1! why didnt you give her my number don!!!!



No... She was a pillion. I got passed by someone with a passenger



even better..... j/k you did good don don im planning a trip now to the dragon when is a good time to go???

ORIGINAL: Way2Cool

even better..... j/k you did good don don im planning a trip now to the dragon when is a good time to go???


If possible... try to plan if for a weekday. That is if you want less traffic. The weekends are packed and also they have lots of events. Look at dealsgap.com (http://www.dealsgap.com/events.htm) and make sure you want to hang out with that crowd. For example, Hog Nationals will be there during 8-10 June. I'd avoid that weekend, but Honda hoot will be 21-24 June. That might be fun. I'll be back on 3-5 of June, if everything works out right.

The weather is also a major factor. It changes quickly and is very unpredictable. The Saturday I was there was supposed to have thunder storms all day. We took the chance that Sunday was going to be dry enough (no rain predicted) and was planning to ride that day. Saturday was clear and up to the low 80's and it rained all day Sunday. Go weather man!!!

i took next weekend off so i'll be up there as soon as i book my room

Hey look... your signature has a picture in it now. ;)

Is anyone planning a trip the first weekend in June? I may be back on the June 3rd and 4th.

ORIGINAL: doncollins

ORIGINAL: Way2Cool

Nice i wish i could go there... oh is it me or is that girl hott???


She is hot... she was a pillion that passed me on an R1


that gave you a better view of the ass.....of the r1, that is! :D

and make sure to let me know of the final plans for june 3-4 when time gets closer. im off of work that weekend and would definately like a reason to go back down there. that is if all is good and well with my wrist, shouldn't be a problem but i am still wearing a splint and doing pt so who knows. just keep me and everyone else informed of the final plans.

How close are you? I'm looking at maybe going down on Friday and leaving Monday. My brother and some of his friends are planning riding there on Saturday, touring the area on Sunday and riding home on Monday. I might talk my friend into trailering down on Friday so we have all day Saturday to ride hard until the Gold Wings show up and slow things down a bit. I will do a lot more "touring" of the area this time. My friend is new to riding so he needs to take it easy and we will be taking the wives as well. Let me know what your plans are and we can meet up to say hi at the Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort end to say hi.

Hey don, let me know for sure about that first weekend in june. i live about 2 hours from the gap, we usually get together 7-10 bikes and go up for the day. You are so right about the police, the only time i've ever seen one in there was when my buddy put his zx-6 into the cliff rocks, and man talk about being out of touch, thank god for a redneck with a cb. The place is great though, I'm glad you enjoyed it, someone also mentioned the skyway, if your up here for a few days try it also, it's a blast.

ORIGINAL: doncollins

How close are you? I'm looking at maybe going down on Friday and leaving Monday. My brother and some of his friends are planning riding there on Saturday, touring the area on Sunday and riding home on Monday. I might talk my friend into trailering down on Friday so we have all day Saturday to ride hard until the Gold Wings show up and slow things down a bit. I will do a lot more "touring" of the area this time. My friend is new to riding so he needs to take it easy and we will be taking the wives as well. Let me know what your plans are and we can meet up to say hi at the Deal's Gap Motorcycle Resort end to say hi.


sounds cool. my buddy would probably be with me. he's fairly new to riding and rides a cruiser so putting around is about all he would do. and i'm in south-western indiana, so it's still about 8 hours. not a short drive but my girlfriend is from bristol so it's easy to talk her into a trip down that way. she still has lots of friends from highschool there.

Great pics Don. I wish it was closer for me so I could make the trip, but we have some nice roads here in Wisconsin to ride on.

I did notice that your feet were centered on the pegs, I was going to suggest to move your foot back a little and kind of rest it on the ball of your foot, it works for me and keeps it from hitting the ground but I'm not sure if I'm suppost todo that. I also noticed that you are a bigger guy, not saying that you are fat or anything, but built like me. I was wondering if you had the suspension setup for you or if its just stock? Making some adjustments might help you out if you have done some suspension settings what have you done? I need to stiffen my suspension a little but I'm not sure where to start. I need to get some pics of me going through some corners so I can post them up so you guys can tell me how I'm doing, I'm still a noob but I'm coming along. Looks like alot of fun and keep the pics coming if you guys go.

-Jesse-

Well, that answers one question I had... these jeans do make my ass look big. I’m going to go cry in a corner now :(

Thanks for the tips. I've tried riding with my feet like you said, but I don't feel comfortable. Once I made sure I kept my toes tucked in tight... they didn't drag anymore. It's been mentioned once before to me and I think I'm going to look for the twist of the wrist video. You can go to the library of Barnes and Noble and read the book, but I learn better from video. Still shots don't enough details.

My suspension is adjusted for me. I had to make a few turns all the way around and tighten everything up. Rides so much better, I feel everything in the road and when I hit bumps it doesn't feel like a trampoline now. Next trip through I will have video and more pics.

I will be there during the first weekend of June 3, 4 and leaving on the 5th. If anyone will be there... I'll try and meet up to shakes hands and say hello. I will only be able to make a couple runs through the Dragon. Most of this trip will be on the parkways and such. There will be all Gold Wings and the likes with me and only one naked sport bike from 1991. So it's not a weekend set aside for just deals gap this time [:@]

I have the pics from Killboy.com now... not bad.



http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c295/donrcollins/trioatdealgapIIa.jpg


http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c295/donrcollins/trioatdealgapIIb.jpg

need to slide that azz over and lean harder, wear nee pucks and leathers

or just bring bandages for the knees

Hey don....are you not buying these pics? If not, how are you gettin them? Anytime i try to save my pics off the website, i get a copyright block.

-Adam

I just take a screen shot... hold down the ctrl key and the print screen keys at the same time. Then open something simple like paint and paste the screen shot. Then you can clean up and remove the rest of the web page.

another method is to save the web page somewhere on your local computer - most browsers save all those images in a separate subfolder.

ORIGINAL: sprout

Awesome Delorean


took the words right out of my mouth ^_^