Couples Ride

[quicksilver]

I noticed that there are 7 or 8 bikes that will be 2-up.

Anyone interested in an organized 2-up ride.

It would be nice to do one ride that is paced with passengers in mind.

We can plan a more scenic route if there are a few takers.

Maybe Sunday morning 9:00 from Tally Ho and back after lunch somewhere?

B)

 

[Mr Bill]

Quicksilver,

good idea on setting up ride

I'm going to copy you and make a ride topic

 

[luvtoride]

I was discussing this subject with a friend that'll be attending this year. He'll be glad to see this. I'll make him aware of the thread & SPEAK UP!

Heidi

 

[Briano]

Hey everyone,

I think a couples ride would be wonderful. My wife's only real complaint about last years EOM was the "single rider geared"rides we went on.

Brian

 

[quicksilver]

Here's a local map for a proposed route.

https://www.tailofthedragon.com/maps/tourmap.gif

I am thinking:

Townsend to 129S "Dragon"

28E "Mini Dragon"

143W Cherohala Skyway

Scheduled Rest Stop in Tellico Plans

360N, 411E, 72E (back to the top of the Dragon)

Would end up at the top of the dragon. (for those still up for more)

Unless someone has a better plan?

If someone could recommend a good lunch stop that would be good.

If someone wants to also do a loop around the national park, I would be up for that.

We need to set a time so everyone can plan for it.

Maybe earlier is better for traffic?

8:00am from TallyHO on Sunday morning?

 

[onecooltngeek]

This is a great idea!!!...

I ride a very similiar route all the time....

Foothills pkwy - dragon - cherohala (EAt at this litte greasy spooon burger joint right at the end, its on the right and has great slaw dogs) then go up 360 ( there is a tricky right turn that I ALWAYS miss, but if you do, you still end up on 411) to 411.. I've never taken 72 ... but I'll try to go check it out ...

either way .. the fiance and I are in for a couples ride...

 

[toophast]

Would love to hook up for two up rides. I'm not a peg scraper (despite my screen name) and I have limited experience riding with my fiancee on back so I doubt I'll be keeping up with other than other "two uppers"

 

[FJRocket]

You'll really like that ride. That's the one I did two weeks ago. About half a day's ride. Still time to do more, if you want, or go through again! Lots of gorgeous scenery.

You might just find a lot more than just couples wanting to take this route with you.

 

[Grumpy]

The misses and I would love to go on the 2-up ride.

 

[quicksilver]

Rocket,

Since you've done this route, any recommendations for rest stops and maybe a lunch stop near the end of the loop?

 

[FJRocket]

We got a late start and so we ate lunch at the bottom of the Dragon, there where everyone stops. By the tree of shame.

I've only done the route ONCE. The last half (Cherohala Skyway) it was pouring down rain, so I wasn't looking for eateries later in the day. Sorry, can't really be of more help there. But it seems there were some good places to stop and eat in Tellico and Robbinsville.

I think if I were trying to be real creative, I'd do a picnic somewhere at the top of the Skyway. Lots of vistas and picnic areas there. Mucho stops. No vendors, though until either end.

Maybe smthng will have some ideas after his scouting mission is over?

 

[onecooltngeek]

Reststops and eats...

I would probably run through foothills pkwy and next to the lake and stop at the first big overlook on the right going up the dragon ... seems everyone and their mom stops here... but it is a great view of the lake and the mtns...

Bust a move through the dragon ( or go slow, as I do when I'm two up )

maybe take a break at the tail of the dragon for those who have never been there. If its close to lunch time, this is a good place to eat, or keep heading towards the cherohala and stop at the tapoca lodge ( Neat place to stay and eat, plus that's where I'm getting married on oct 22, (yes your invited if you want to get some finger foods, and like to dance) :assasin:

Cruise on down and get on the cherohala... near the end there is a road on the left and a huge waterfalls, the roads to the falls is awesomely pretty ... worth the extra miles and time to see it. this is a small break as well.

Get back on cherohala , there is a little burger stand on the side of the road just a few miles before getting on 360. It's a must stop and eat if you didn't do the dragon burger joint. or if you just have room for another slawdog or burger and tots.

360 back to townsend... if its getting dark, a stop at lookrock on the foothills is another cool place to get some good views of the surrounding city lights... its about 11 miles from the townsend side of foothills...

Whoohoo

i'm pumped about this ride...

 

[FJRocket]

Sounds like The Geek knows what he's talking about. You are officially my guide when I get there. Two up or not. I'm not going to be in any hurry. Although on the Skyway it's hard NOT go go at it pretty fast.

Congrats on your betrothal, btw!

What's the Fontana Village like? Looks like pretty nice digs there?! I actually didn't make that part of 28, so that will be new to me. Dam looks like it's worth a look see.

Jheesh, how many dams are there in that area?

I was reading the road reports at TTOTD's website, and it's not quite up to date.

Looks like a lot of ground to cover over two days! SWEET!

 

[onecooltngeek]

Fontana dam is one of TVA's largest dams. It's worth the extra half hour past the dragon to go see it...

big images if you scrool down .. sorry, not sure what size to size em down too...

if you drive over the dam, and on up the road a bit, it crosses the Appalachian Trail... I parked there once, went up the AT a few hundred yards , and now I can brag that I pee'd on the AT =) hehehe

here they are releasing water from the dam, my friend was up there on the ducati and saw this ... he got soaked.. his bike is parked where the truck and boat are in the above pic...

Fontana village ( nice place to stay, never been in summer, only off season, nice restraunt called the pepercorn, highly recomend pepercorn steak and salad w/ ... pepercorn ranch dressing)

Go on past the village, and somewhere between there and cherokee, you will see a little craphole in the wall diner called ... tooties... its worth naviggating the gravel parking lot, and the 17 rusty dually utility trucks to find parking and eat there...

and yes, I'm lucky to have a woman that likes riding ... here she is on the bike I had before I got the FJR... 84magna and we both thought 500+mile days on it sucked.... talk about monkey butt

hope that is more info than you can shake a stick at...

I don't mind showing you guys the roads and routes, but do keep in mind i'm a slwoer rider, ( only had the FJR since FEB05, and was a cruiser guy before then, so still not comfy leaning so much) so on the good parts, I usually pull over so you faster people can zip through the good stuff =)

 

[Bananas!]

Has anybody considered riding down to T.W.O. in Suches Ga.? According to Mapquest it is 139 miles from Townsend. To get there we would take the Foothills Pky. up and over Deals Gap then through the Joyce Kilmer National forest then up and over the Cherohala Skyway and then down Hwy 60 into Suches. Mapquest estimates the trip to take three hours and change if you go non stop.

If you've never been to TWO and you are in the area you really need to experience this place. TWO stands for "two wheels only". If you show up in a cage and you're not towing a bike, you can't stay. This place caters to Motorcyclists, period! The husband and wife that run the place (Britt and GT) are gourmet chefs from San Fransisco and serve up some wonderful food. Plus the atmosphere of this place is pure motorcycle. There is motorcycle memorabelia all over the place. The setting is a tiny village nestled in the Chatahoochee Mountains in N.E. Georgia. Motorcyclists from all over the world frequent this place. You will see every kind of bike represented here.

I'm begining to sound like a pitch man for this place, so I'll stop here and tell you that if you're interested, they have a web site. it is www.twowheelsonly.com. Check it out. If we can get enough people interested, perhaps we can work this into the couples ride.

See Ya!

Bananas!

 

[quicksilver]

Thanks for the inputs guys.

We might still rearrange rest stops based on the group.

I put some more thought into the route and decided to shorten it a little to allow for more socializing for this particular ride.

So let's see if I can get links to work:



Couple's Ride Map

Couple's Ride Directions

New Start Time

Sunday morning 8:00 from Tally Ho.

Lunch at the bottom of the dragon at the end of the loop.

Of course, 2-up not required. Anyone feeling socialable can join in.

I will also work on getting it listed on the EOM web site, after you know who gets back from Townsend.

This is gonna be great!!!!

 

[FJRocket]

Sorry, Quick, these linkys no worky, either.

Am I doing something wrong? I can't get the links to work....

 

[smthng]

Hey Quick... save yourself the effort... the route you posted is almost exactly what I'm going to be changing the "Wicked Beast" ride to. The only real exception is that I'm planning on taking 143 from Robinsville over to route 28, which is a VERY nice ride. I'll have GPS tracks and the route posted hopefully by this weekend (can include the MapPoint/Streets and Trips file if anyone wants it).

Also, an additional word of note for ANY ride... All of this stuff is in the mountains. At 2 pm I was still riding through clouds and the roads will be quite wet in the mornings no matter where you go. For that reason, I'd recommend that your route (and Wicked Beast) be flipped around to go the opposite direction - counterclockwise. Everything on the 441 side of the route until you hit the Chero Skyway is relatively tame and would be no problem in the morning on damp roads. That'll give the Chero, route 28 and the Dragon some time to dry out so you'll be hitting the hardest roads with the most traction. After riding up there the past few days, I didn't realize how wet it can get and how long it takes to dry out, whether it's rained or not. It's definately something to keep in mind.

 

[quicksilver]

Ohhh, interesting.

I am not too proud to scrap that plan.

If we delay departure time a couple hours, we could target lunch at the Dragon's Den before hitting the Cherahula Hwy?

That would put us back at the Dragon in late afternoon.

I am having fun playing with my new route planning software anyway.

Smthng (or anyone else), does this mean my links worked for you?

They work for me, but maybe because the links are to my web pages. :eh: