Dragon Slaying
What can be said about the Tail of the Dragon that hasn’t been said before? One statistic says it all – 11 miles, 318 corners. The battle-hardened canyon carvers will question the voracity of the turns, but with so many, there are bound to be a good number to appreciate.
From the get-go, I arrived at the base of the famed stretch of highway 129 and checked in at the last room available at Deal’s Gap Motorcycle resort. After getting settled and grabbing a bite to eat, I was greeted by a group from Toronto. Armed with an Scoobie STi and two-wheelers of the Buell, Yamaha, and Ducati kind, a long holiday was to be spent centering around the Dragon.
Once Jason, the driver/owner of the STi, found out that I had just gotten in and had yet to run the Dragon, he grabbed his keys, took my arm and within minutes, we were blasting through. His knowledge and experience of the Dragon became quite apparent when the names of each corner streamed out of his mouth. It was an exhilarating road and I had a lot to look forward to the following morning.
The next day saw myself washing the car, compliments of Jason’s soap, bucket, and mitt. Soon afterwards, I headed down towards Fontana Dam for two reasons – to warm up the car before pounding on it, and to simply see the sights. Here is the view looking out towards the “high-side” and the dam itself.:
I drove back to Deal’s Gap and after a quick coffee, did a few warm-up exercises, and blasted through the first uphill straight of the Dragon. What a glorious road it was. From the few sweepers, countless hairpins, and constant elevation changes, it was non-stop fun throughout. On the second pass, I stopped and camped out at a particular corner names “Gravity Cavity” – a slightly-cambered, sweeping corner where the gravel pit at the axis allowed for wide-open panning of cars and bikes passing by. Here are one or two of each type, including a three-wheeler!
Later that night, the resort had 50cc pocket bike races. That was a complete riot until a supposed guest staying at a motorcycle resort complained about the noise. There was one “wreck”, but it was all in good fun.
While my interest in two-wheelers was re-piqued after this stop, there’s still plenty of fun and money to be spent on 4 wheels.
Fuel Efficiency stats:
- Miles Driven (up to last fill): 12,769.4
- Gallons Pumped: 479.85
- Miles per Gallon: 26.61