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We stayed in Maggie Valley and had a nice ride to Robbinsville. Got a great early lunch, the sun was shining. It's June and warm in the low 80's.
Bike cover is hanging on the shower rack back at the hotel and I emptied out the uneeded items out of the bike that morning including my rain gear. The weather channel says it's a perfect day.
10 miles later up 129 North it began to rain.
It was dark gray behind us and ahead of us. We went on.
It thundered and then the lightening started. We were in the cloud -there is no place to stop.. I thought, what could be worse, Then it began to hail. Not big but watched them fragment on my face shield and windshield on impact.
We finally got to Deal's Gap with the other 200 bikes and found a tree. (there is room for 198 bikes.)
It rained and poured, the damn cloud was just hung between the mountains but it finally stopped pouring down.
Either direction was a risk so we rode the dragon in a light rain.
By the end, it was raining pretty hard again and decided not to go thru that rainstorm twice.
It took 4 hours to get back to the motel.
We still had a ball, we found some unexpected great rides back trying to avoid the rain.
On the North side of the Dragon we found the 'Foothill Parkway' and headed East? Damn clouds, it was hard to get our bearings without the sun and the snaky roads. But it was great and the ride between Gatlinburg and Cherokee was beautiful even tho' it was wet.
We will go back when we can stay longer and retrace our path when it's dry.
So next time, I will have the bike cover, the rain gear and I will buy an old fashioned, non-satellite, dependant compass for the bike. (GPS on the phone is great as long as there's a signal). Seriously would have given 50 bucks for a couple of cheap tarps, 1 to strap across 2 bikes to make a tent and another to sit on.
Sounds awful but can't wait to go back.
Bike cover is hanging on the shower rack back at the hotel and I emptied out the uneeded items out of the bike that morning including my rain gear. The weather channel says it's a perfect day.
10 miles later up 129 North it began to rain.
It was dark gray behind us and ahead of us. We went on.
It thundered and then the lightening started. We were in the cloud -there is no place to stop.. I thought, what could be worse, Then it began to hail. Not big but watched them fragment on my face shield and windshield on impact.
We finally got to Deal's Gap with the other 200 bikes and found a tree. (there is room for 198 bikes.)
It rained and poured, the damn cloud was just hung between the mountains but it finally stopped pouring down.
Either direction was a risk so we rode the dragon in a light rain.
By the end, it was raining pretty hard again and decided not to go thru that rainstorm twice.
It took 4 hours to get back to the motel.
We still had a ball, we found some unexpected great rides back trying to avoid the rain.
On the North side of the Dragon we found the 'Foothill Parkway' and headed East? Damn clouds, it was hard to get our bearings without the sun and the snaky roads. But it was great and the ride between Gatlinburg and Cherokee was beautiful even tho' it was wet.
We will go back when we can stay longer and retrace our path when it's dry.
So next time, I will have the bike cover, the rain gear and I will buy an old fashioned, non-satellite, dependant compass for the bike. (GPS on the phone is great as long as there's a signal). Seriously would have given 50 bucks for a couple of cheap tarps, 1 to strap across 2 bikes to make a tent and another to sit on.
Sounds awful but can't wait to go back.
