Great smokey mountain week of riding

[misterprofessionality]

I happen to be up in the great smokey mountains all week with my Concours 14, exploring this and that and having a grand time. On the itinerary are clingmans dome, mount Mitchell, some important asheville landmarks, fontana dam, the Dragon, and more! Our little airbnb in Bryson city is awesome, and I've got nothing but time. Stay tuned here for pictures and if anybody is in the area give me a shout.

 

[Stichill]

Nice! If you see any black bear, try to get pics!

 

[The A-man]

Let me know your dates. In Florida until Monday.

 

[misterprofessionality]

Clingmans dome, cherokee, and Bryson city all visited today. There's so much variation up here. A few slow pokes I couldn't pass, but they failed to ruin my day
Sorry A-man, I'm only here til saturday.

 

[Stichill]

Cherohala Skyway, Wayah Road, 28 south down to maybe Oak Grove (bail out when the motorhomes and $100,000 Autobahn cars running 10 mph under the speed limit appear).

 

[Offroad]

I plan on being in Cherokee Aug 22 -26 for some exploring.

I love riding in that area... if anyone wants to meet up to ride me know. The-A-man?

 

[misterprofessionality]

Me and the Concours did over 100 miles of blue ridge parkway today. it was fun but cooooold. Heated grips are a true godsend. Later I ran into 4 guys from the Vstrom rally randomly on the road. Great people!

On a second note, the great smokey mountains expressway is a treasure trove of big, sustained high speed sweepers. What a joy! I do so much technical twisty roads but the concours is really at home on a road like that instead.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Me and the Concours did over 100 miles of blue ridge parkway today. it was fun but cooooold. Heated grips are a true godsend. Later I ran into 4 guys from the Vstrom rally randomly on the road. Great people!

On a second note, the great smokey mountains expressway is a treasure trove of big, sustained high speed sweepers. What a joy! I do so much technical twisty roads but the concours is really at home on a road like that instead.

I can't imagine what "cold" means in SC today.

Today it easily reached a perfect 25C + light humidity in southern Ontario, Canada. In rider terms, that's t-shirt weather.

 

[Cormanus]

Are you enjoying the Concours?

 

[Stichill]

Me and the Concours did over 100 miles of blue ridge parkway today. it was fun but cooooold. Heated grips are a true godsend. Later I ran into 4 guys from the Vstrom rally randomly on the road. Great people!

On a second note, the great smokey mountains expressway is a treasure trove of big, sustained high speed sweepers. What a joy! I do so much technical twisty roads but the concours is really at home on a road like that instead.

If you ever get the opportunity, running along this section of GA-19 is an absolute blast for that kind of riding. We ran it north-to-south, which was mostly downhill. It was the closest thing to "motorcycle luge" you can imagine, just bombing downhill on these big sweepers at high speed! Some of the curves tighten up, and you may touch down a peg feeler here and there.

Me and the Concours did over 100 miles of blue ridge parkway today. it was fun but cooooold. Heated grips are a true godsend. Later I ran into 4 guys from the Vstrom rally randomly on the road. Great people!

On a second note, the great smokey mountains expressway is a treasure trove of big, sustained high speed sweepers. What a joy! I do so much technical twisty roads but the concours is really at home on a road like that instead.

I can't imagine what "cold" means in SC today.

Today it easily reached a perfect 25C + light humidity in southern Ontario, Canada. In rider terms, that's t-shirt weather.

I can't imagine what "cold" means in SC today. On the Blue Ridge Parkway, you're always at elevation, usually in and out of cloud banks. It can be pretty darn cold up there, even this time of year!

 

[misterprofessionality]

Me and the Concours did over 100 miles of blue ridge parkway today. it was fun but cooooold. Heated grips are a true godsend. Later I ran into 4 guys from the Vstrom rally randomly on the road. Great people!

On a second note, the great smokey mountains expressway is a treasure trove of big, sustained high speed sweepers. What a joy! I do so much technical twisty roads but the concours is really at home on a road like that instead.

I can't imagine what "cold" means in SC today.

Today it easily reached a perfect 25C + light humidity in southern Ontario, Canada. In rider terms, that's t-shirt weather.

Get out of here with your Celsius. Nobody knows what that means :rofl:

Seriously though, it was in the low 50F degrees (think 11 or 12c I guess?) at 6000 feet. Thin misty air....that can be quite uncomfortable for a passenger and a rider who only brought mesh. It was my fault. I forgot to look at the weather.

Are you enjoying the Concours?

Of course! It's a great smooth machine that can't do everything as well as my CB but does some things that my CB would just be bad for. Heck, I've even done single track dirt on this trip...didn't crash! Who would have thought a 670lb starship with a passenger and a full load of luggage, and pure street tires could tackle that?

 

[the Ferret]

I nicknamed my ST 1300 "Starship" for it's ability to transport me cross country at warp speed.

 

[misterprofessionality]

Thats definitely one of the things it can do. 90 is just calm. 100 is cruising. Its entirely too easy to float around in triple digits.

 

[Stichill]

Me and the Concours did over 100 miles of blue ridge parkway today. it was fun but cooooold. Heated grips are a true godsend. Later I ran into 4 guys from the Vstrom rally randomly on the road. Great people!

On a second note, the great smokey mountains expressway is a treasure trove of big, sustained high speed sweepers. What a joy! I do so much technical twisty roads but the concours is really at home on a road like that instead.

I can't imagine what "cold" means in SC today.

Today it easily reached a perfect 25C + light humidity in southern Ontario, Canada. In rider terms, that's t-shirt weather.

Get out of here with your Celsius. Nobody knows what that means :rofl:

Seriously though, it was in the low 50F degrees (think 11 or 12c I guess?) at 6000 feet. Thin misty air....that can be quite uncomfortable for a passenger and a rider who only brought mesh. It was my fault. I forgot to look at the weather.

Are you enjoying the Concours?

Of course! It's a great smooth machine that can't do everything as well as my CB but does some things that my CB would just be bad for. Heck, I've even done single track dirt on this trip...didn't crash! Who would have thought a 670lb starship with a passenger and a full load of luggage, and pure street tires could tackle that?

There really isn't a good way to get a weather forecast for the tops of mountains. I had the same problem riding in the Alps. All the weather reports were for the towns on either side of the passes, but nothing about what was going on at the top of the pass.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Me and the Concours did over 100 miles of blue ridge parkway today. it was fun but cooooold. Heated grips are a true godsend. Later I ran into 4 guys from the Vstrom rally randomly on the road. Great people!

On a second note, the great smokey mountains expressway is a treasure trove of big, sustained high speed sweepers. What a joy! I do so much technical twisty roads but the concours is really at home on a road like that instead.

I can't imagine what "cold" means in SC today.

Today it easily reached a perfect 25C + light humidity in southern Ontario, Canada. In rider terms, that's t-shirt weather.

Get out of here with your Celsius. Nobody knows what that means :rofl:

Seriously though, it was in the low 50F degrees (think 11 or 12c I guess?) at 6000 feet. Thin misty air....that can be quite uncomfortable for a passenger and a rider who only brought mesh. It was my fault. I forgot to look at the weather.

Are you enjoying the Concours?

Of course! It's a great smooth machine that can't do everything as well as my CB but does some things that my CB would just be bad for. Heck, I've even done single track dirt on this trip...didn't crash! Who would have thought a 670lb starship with a passenger and a full load of luggage, and pure street tires could tackle that?

Yep, 50F is 10C and this would be chilly after enough exposure. 6000 feet sounds like a good reason.

 

[Offroad]

I test rode a Concours before I bought the CB ..it was just too much machine for me at the time ....I was just getting back into riding.... enjoy!

 

[emptysea]

I hope you're having a Great Smoky Mountains time, MP.

There are people following this thread that know so much more about riding in that area than I do that I feel a little reluctant to make any suggestions, but I'm going to go ahead and do so.

If you're up for a long-a** day, but with some great roads, here's an option for you.

Google Maps

I have not been as far a Bryson City on 2 wheels (as far as I can recall at least) so there may be a better way out and back from there than US74.

This route is 300+ miles, so there's that.
It takes you up NC28 and gives you an out and back run at Tail of the Dragon. After that is puts you on Cherohala into Tellico Plains and then south on TN315 which I found to be a delightful, uncomplicated respite from the more technical roads you would have just been on. There's an old Texaco gas station in or near Reliance that has been converted to a rafting outfitter and is a great stop for a photo. Then TN68 back to Tellico Plains for another traverse of Cherohala and then back to base camp. If your ambitious, you could stay on 68 south to Copperhill/McCaysville for photos of the TN/GA state line that is painted through the middle of the towns. If you're really ambitious, you can pick up US129 at Robbinsville on the return trip and take that to US74 for a very pretty ride along the Nantahala River. The Appilacian Trail crosses 74 along there and there's a neat little convenience store there that has local brews for your post-ride enjoyment (if that gives you enjoyment).

Again, you may know all this and there are certainly folks here that have more local knowledge. I just really liked riding TN315 and TN68 in addition to 129 and Cherohala and combined them in to one long loop.

 

[misterprofessionality]

That looks like a beautiful set of roads but I think k I'd have to get a motel halfway through it for the sake of my passenger.

I'd rather take 28 down to the Nantahala gorge than take 74 though. 74 is fun once or twice but it eventually gets repetitive.

For today, we had a light run, checked out the Iron horse lodge (where the rally is staying) and primarily rode old 19. Saw soc falls, saw a bear zoo, had a relaxing time

 

[Cormanus]

Is that Concours dark green? It looks it in that picture. If so it's a great colour.