Down here there aren't to many WILD roads to ride on before you hit the stop sign, traffic, or worse the cops. I started looking around and heard of Deals Gap. Seems like an awesome road. I was wondering if anyone had ever been there? Once the weather warms up I thought about going but I want to find out about the traffic and cops and best time to go. Thanks for all the help.

Daniel graemlins/bannana.gif

http://www.tailofthedragon.com/maps/DRAGONmap.gif

I've never been there but planning a trip in the spring time. Here's a link that should give you some info. http://www.tailofthedragon.com/

I've been there , three times actually. Awsome place ,but not to be taken lightly. First trip , went up there from Charleston with a riding buddy/good friend of mine ,goes by Shadow R one on this board , he totals his 01 gix 750 by stuffing it into the side of the mountain. Second trip , two guys I'm with go down ,one of them goes down twice , none very serious , everyone rides home. Third trip , I go off the side of the mountain , bikes not totalled but it was damn close , I break my collar bone in the process. Now while I'm not the fastest guy on earth I'm not slow and both Shadow R one and I are skilled riders. But now I'm all healed ,Shadow bought a yamahahaha R1 to replace his gix 750 , my bikes all fixed and we're , along with about 10 other local riders , are heading back up there may 16-19. If you do go up there be sure to ride your own ride , stay within the limits of your ability , and don't target fixate. The dragon is fun as all hell and I've made somewhere in the neighborhood of 40 -50 passes through it ,but it can and often times does win. http://mywebpages.comcast.net/admiller2/dragonwinz.jpg

I've been 5 times...and I can't wait to go back again. There are a lot of other roads in the area that are actually more fun than the Dragon, like the Cherohala Skyway and Rt 28 at the crossroads. Those roads generally have wide, faster sweepers. The Dragon requires full attention and will definitely wear you out fast.

Hey Antonm, how are the traffic and cops there? I'm guessing you can't really get to some ridiculous speeds up there, but will be speeding none the less.

For the most part the cops leave you alone in the gap. There has been a big "sting" set up there once where they were video taping people and giving drag racing tickets graemlins/thumbdown.gif , but I've only heard of that once. The times I've been up there the Tennessee state troopers had a car sitting on the far end of the gap by the lakes. There is a long straight there and people tend to come out of the gap and haul ass down this straight. But he pretty much left everyone alone as long as your weren't being a total jackass. Those lakes have a lot of boat ramps right off the road. My trips up there rocked and no one I was with ever got a ticket , hell on the first trip we even flagged down a cop to write an accident report for Shadow's wreck (thought the insurrance wouldn't pay for it without an accident report) and the cop said "Huh , gap got another one I see." but since we had moved the bike from the accident location he wouldn't write the report (turns out we didn't need one anyway) then he told us to have a nice day and drove off. As far as traffic goes it really depends on when you go. Bikes aren't the only ones that enjoy deals gap. Sometimes there are car clubs that meet up there to run he gap too. There are more people their on the weekends than during the week so traffic is worse on the weekends ,but on the other hand there are more people there are the weekends to hang out and talk too when your not riding.

P.S. Dan750 your user profile says your a Marine ,where are you stationed at?? Both Shadow R one and I along with many of the other riders that are headed up there in may are active duty squids stationed at the Naval Weapons Station in Goose Creek.

I'm at Parris Island. It's about 15 min from Hilton Head Island (well 15 min on the bike). Yahoo says I'm 82 miles from Goose Creek, maybe we can all hook up once it warms up a bit.

[ 01-28-2003, 10:11 AM: Message edited by: Dan750 ]

Sure thing , I'll ride with a jarhead if you don't mind riding with a squid. If you can get the time off , there are a bunch of us headed up to the gap may 16-19 , already have hotel reservations , you could go up there with us. I'm on shore duty here as an instructor so the likelyhood of me getting deployed between now and then is remote.

I just thought about it Shadow's brother is a Marine drill instructor down there at Paris island. Don't remember his first name but his last name in Cuadro ,maybe you know him??

Originally posted by antonm:
Sure thing , I'll ride with a jarhead if you don't mind riding with a squid. If you can get the time off , there are a bunch of us headed up to the gap may 16-19 , already have hotel reservations , you could go up there with us. I'm on shore duty here as an instructor so the likelyhood of me getting deployed between now and then is remote.<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">Hey, can I get in on this action? I'm just a jarhead down in Tampa and I've seen some info on the a military trip in April or something for a week. It's on the tailofthedragon website calender of events. I haven't been up there yet but am definately going to get up there this spring.

Dan750 and Sergeant Nic , there is a group of five for sure people and several others say they're going but haven't made reservations yet for May 16-19. We're staying in Robbinsonville N.C. due to the fact that there is nothing and I mean nothing at the gap. The gap has one building and thats a gas station / motel / campground / motorcycle accesory / convient store / sandwhich shop all rolled into one building and it closes at 1900. And to top it off it doesn't even sell beer. And the rooms at the actual deals gap motorcycle resort are small,have no phones or TV's in them and there are only 13 of them total. Robbinsonville is only like 20 miles away and it makes for a nice ride to the gap ,plus you can buy beer in Robbinsonville graemlins/thumbup.gif . We had this trip planed since the last time we were up there in October (when I decided that my gixxer could really fly ,right off the side of the mountain). We'll be leaving from here on the morning of the 16th and it takes about 6.5 to 7 hours to get there pulling trailers and such. I know it seems like a lot of trouble for only about 2.5 days of real riding but after those 2.5 days I'll bet your tired and thankful to be alive after you get home.

Nope, sorry I don't know him. There are way too many here. Most are dicks anyway. Sorry Shadow.

Yeah I'm not getting deployed either, stop loss affected me. I was supposed to go to Japan this summer but that shit got canned.

As far as Deals Gap goes I'll have to run it by the wifey. No promises yet but I am also try to get the local club here to go, as well as my car club. That should make for another 100 or so going. But I'm almost sure that everyone will want to wait till it gets warmer. I'll keep you informed. What do you think the odds are of getting a bunch of people off here to go? I'd definetly be okay with trying to put something together. But I'm unsure if it would be worth while to even try. Everytime we try to put together a group ride people end up backing out at the last minute. Shit gets old after a while.

Hey antonm, could you give me some specifics on where you guys are staying and all that. I might be able to swing that if my wife doesn't pop our baby out a month early. I could meet up with you guys in Robinsville. I could ask around and maybe get a couple more guys but I will definately throw the bike in the truck and ride out either way. Where ya'll staying? How much is it? I guess leathers are probably a good idea?
Thanks for the info.
email: nicosirj@centcom.mil

I have been there myself last October for the first time with a couple of friends. You'll have a great time if you go just be careful; I was like images/icons/shocked.gif my first run through it.

any of you guys interested in just doing a track day?

We have reservations at the Microtel (sp) ,its right on US 129, I belive it was somewhere in the high $40's a night. One of our guys just put it all on his credit card and then figured out how much each one of us owe him then we paid him back , that's why I don't remember the exact $$. And I highly recomend driving up a towing / hauling the bikes. I truly hope that no one goes down ,but its a fact of life that the chances are pretty good someone will. And if you crash an total the mode of transportation you got there on your kind of stuck there with no way home. Plus long road trips on a sport bike suck , I rode my gix from Charleston S.C. to Clearwater F.L (which is on the Gulf coast by Tampa) via Daytona in one shot ,carrying a backpack with enough supplies for a three day trip. By the time I got to Clearwater I didn't want to look at my bike for two days much less ride. Sergeant Nic , I personally would say leathers are always a good idea , but at the gap road rash really isn't much of a concern due to the speeds your are able to go through it at.And if you were to drop the bike , you won't be sliding across pavement for very long until you either hit the mountain or go off it. That being said I'll be wearing full leathers , Helmet ,gloves ,boots and a spine protector , but many people get away with just a helmet ,jacket and gloves. Wizard racing , I would LOVE to do a track day. I've been looking into doing a track school but its hard to find one that fits into my strange work schedule. But if you have some inside info on a track day or school that going on in the southeast them I'm definatly interested

The gap has one building and thats a gas station / motel / campground / motorcycle accesory / convient store / sandwhich shop all rolled into one building <font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">lol That pretty well sums up "The Crossroads of Time" images/icons/grin.gif ...actually though it's a pretty cool place- clean showers, you can stuff a buncha guys into one room, and of course you're right in the thick of the action.