11-07-2016, 05:19 AM
A couple of comments....
129 is not a dangerous road, it's a perfectly fine road that has dangerous drivers/riders on it from time to time. I-94 in Chicago is the same, just not as pretty.
Statistics show that most of the motorcycle accidents on The Dragon are single-vehicle crashes, which tells you more about the riders involved than it does about the road. The crash described in the referenced link involved two vehicles which were traveling too closely together, which tells you more about the riders involved than it does about crowds or group riding. (Although, I've witnessed the phenomena Ride4Now describes and had a heart-to-heart with a rider in my group once about riding her own ride--not my wife, btw).
There was a rider around Chicago (in the suburbs) who rode his motorcycle into a ditch and neither he nor his bike were spotted for several days. It can happen anywhere.
I have ridden this section of US129 a total of 6 times. Not as much as some, but more than many. Riding The Dragon is a test and it should be, but to me, every ride is a test. Tracks and parking lots are the only places that come close to being practice venues. Everything else is a test. The Dragon is a more stressful test, at least for me, and that is one reason that I preferred Cherohala.
Of the 6 times I rode there, twice it what I considered "crowded" and both of those times it was crowded due to Minis on the Mountain. Most of the bikes (most cars, too) I encountered either pulled over for me to pass or waited for me to pull over before they passed. I was passed by three riders at different times who I predict will all be statistics in the future...crossed the center line to pass me and all crossed the center line on the next turn.
When we rode The Dragon as a group, we made a deliberate effort to spread out so that we could easily let other, faster, riders pass us safely and individually and so we wouldn't trip over one another. If you see the pictures in my ride report about that trip, you can see that Cheryl is a full corner behind me--probably a 4-5 second gap--at speeds that never exceeded umm 40mph maybe.
I enjoyed riding US129 and I hope to do so again. It's not my favorite road in that area and I'm not a huge fan of being a float in a Mini Cooper parade, but it is fun in its own way.
The area around The Dragon is amazingly beautiful and, crowded or not, it's a wonderful place to take your tests.
Be safe.
MTC
129 is not a dangerous road, it's a perfectly fine road that has dangerous drivers/riders on it from time to time. I-94 in Chicago is the same, just not as pretty.
Statistics show that most of the motorcycle accidents on The Dragon are single-vehicle crashes, which tells you more about the riders involved than it does about the road. The crash described in the referenced link involved two vehicles which were traveling too closely together, which tells you more about the riders involved than it does about crowds or group riding. (Although, I've witnessed the phenomena Ride4Now describes and had a heart-to-heart with a rider in my group once about riding her own ride--not my wife, btw).
There was a rider around Chicago (in the suburbs) who rode his motorcycle into a ditch and neither he nor his bike were spotted for several days. It can happen anywhere.
I have ridden this section of US129 a total of 6 times. Not as much as some, but more than many. Riding The Dragon is a test and it should be, but to me, every ride is a test. Tracks and parking lots are the only places that come close to being practice venues. Everything else is a test. The Dragon is a more stressful test, at least for me, and that is one reason that I preferred Cherohala.
Of the 6 times I rode there, twice it what I considered "crowded" and both of those times it was crowded due to Minis on the Mountain. Most of the bikes (most cars, too) I encountered either pulled over for me to pass or waited for me to pull over before they passed. I was passed by three riders at different times who I predict will all be statistics in the future...crossed the center line to pass me and all crossed the center line on the next turn.
When we rode The Dragon as a group, we made a deliberate effort to spread out so that we could easily let other, faster, riders pass us safely and individually and so we wouldn't trip over one another. If you see the pictures in my ride report about that trip, you can see that Cheryl is a full corner behind me--probably a 4-5 second gap--at speeds that never exceeded umm 40mph maybe.
I enjoyed riding US129 and I hope to do so again. It's not my favorite road in that area and I'm not a huge fan of being a float in a Mini Cooper parade, but it is fun in its own way.
The area around The Dragon is amazingly beautiful and, crowded or not, it's a wonderful place to take your tests.
Be safe.
MTC