Motorcycle Alabama

I'm trying to not post too many pics but it was so beautiful it was almost impossible to take a bad pic!



This was the same road that Johnny crashed on but we took it a little easier this time.....well except for Natalee going ludicrous speed ;D



.



.




This road climbs way up on a mountain ridge and has spectacular view. Off to the left you can see the lake at the bottom of the dragon when the leaves are off the trees. The Skyway is too the right but you can't see it.

The pictures all make the road look smooth but it's actually pretty rough, not difficult just a rough ride.



The colors were so brilliant I couldn't stop taking pics, most of them as I was riding.



I guess I could get a GoPro but I doubt it would show the colors the way my camera does.  Stephen was shooting video so we'll see.



Taking a break.

Shortly after our break we got to Farr Gap where the road makes a 90 degree right turn and heads back down the mountain running along a creek until it gets back to Citico Creek.



.



Back at Citico Creek.



.



.



.



.

After a few miles the road turns away from Citico Creek and goes uphill past Indian Boundary and ends at the Cherohala Skyway. We took a right at the Skyway and went past one of the US129 Photographers. I took his pic.



And he took several pics of each of us. You can check them out here, just scroll down to 11:45: https://xtremesportsphotography.photoreflect.com/store/Photos.aspx?e=10603478&g=0QAK03TI06&gf=true&page=0

After a few miles we got off and picked up Shaw Mountain Road. It's a much more interesting and fun to ride route than the few miles of the Skyway we bypassed....actually I like it better than the Skyway, period.



.



Back on Rafter Road.



.

More pics of Rafter Road.



Why so many pics of a paved road on a dual sport ride?



One reason is the colorful leaves.



Another is that its such a fun road!!!!




And my idea of DUAL sport riding is having fun off as well as ON the pavement. My KLX is more fun than a sportbike on most of the paved roads we were on.

Soon we were back in Tellico Plains where we ran into Rich @2372ighost . We stopped at Subway and got some food to take back to the campground where we expected Terry @terryrussell1 and Chris @RoosterGarfield to be waiting for us.  At this time Chris was not on the forum but he has joined since.

Quote from: klaviator on October 27, 2020, 08:19:25 AM
It was actually bigger than it looks in the pic but I should have just blasted through it. I doubt it was much more than a foot deep.

I did that with a large hole on a chip and seal road in Lincoln County.  I now have a nice dented front rim on the Himalayan.  I'm still riding it but am not happy about it. 

I guess, it is better than going down which might end my riding for good. 

Sure enough Terry and Chris were at the campground setting up camp. We all ate lunch and talked a bit and then headed back out.




Rich was on his Bashan Brozz 250. Yes, it's a "cheap China Bike" but had performed well on a DS ride in middle Tennessee a few weeks back. This would be a better test of its capabilities. Terry was on a DR650 and Chris a CRF250 Rally.

We took a right on 315 and then took the first left. We stopped and looked at ther campground that hosts March Moto Madness.



Then we took a right. It was paved road but one of many super fun twisty roads in the area!

Got this next pic while stopped at an intersection waiting to regroup. On my group rides we always do "ride your own ride". This means we get pretty strung out and then re group at all turns.



We took another left. I know that as the ride leader I should have these routes all planned out but in reality I was just winging it ;D  I had a generally idea of where we were going.

I passed a road on the right. Were we supposed to turn there? I stopped and U turned and turned on that road. It turned out to be a fantastic paved road that I had never been on before !

We stopped at the end and waited for the others. A minivan turned in, stopped and rolled down its window. The lady asked "What are you doing riding this road?" I told her we were "having fun". I it would not be fun for most people in a car. Being twisty and narrow and with steep drop offs it would be a slow drive.

We took a left on 315 and soon crossed the Hiwassee River at Reliance.

We took a left on 30, rode a bit then took a left on to a dirt road.

Normally we re group at turns but this was a long road and I didn't want to get too strung out. We took a break and I got some pics.



.



This was a fun road and I wicked up the pace

Rich was right there behind me and Ronnie was no longer tentative on his new Guzzi and was right on our tail!

We came to a T intersection.



I noticed the road sign to the right was missing something so I fixed it ;D

Our next stop was the UFO landing pad in the middle of nowhere.



There was a couple laying in a tent just behind the car and they had their underwear hanging on a clothes line ::)

Didn't they know this was a historical site and a common stop for dual sport riders coming by?



Then we rode a few hundred yards to another historical site.



.



I think this used to be a small powerplant. Maybe it was used to recharge the alien spaceships?



.




I wasn't the only who wanted a pic of my bike in front of this "historical site". I think it was a bit more work to turn around a 500 pound bike than my 300 pound KLX.

We did some more really nice dirt road. I didn't get any pics, probably because the pace was not conducive to taking one had off the bars. I did miss one great pic opportunity. We had stopped and Rich and his bike fell over as he was dismounting. His bike fell on top of him and I ran over to help get the bike off of him instead of taking some pics. What was I thinking?  ;D

Eventually we ended up back on the pavement.



Remember that I said I was just winging it? Well I had sort of planned to ride up to Buck Bald. On the way up those who wanted to could ride trail 82 down and back up. Well we went right by the beginning of trail 82 on 68 so I decided to just go up it. I didn't stop to explain what we were doing.

Trail 82 is a single track trail legal for horsed and motorcycles. It's pretty gnarly, at least it is for a rider of my limited off road skills. I stopped at and easy part and took this pic.



The pic doesn't show all the rocks, mud, ruts and tree limbs laying at weird angles across the trail.

Eventually trail 82 comes out on the gravel road to Buck Bald.

Here comes Chris.



.



Most of us made it through in one piece.




We were missing Natalee and Ronnie. Stephen decided to go back and check on Natalee. We heard that Ronnie decided to not ride the trail. There were posts at the ends of the trail to keep out larger vehicles and with the wide bags on the Guzzi it might not have fit.

The rest of us rode up to Buck Bald.



.



.



We headed back down. Since Stephen had ridden back down Trail 82 I decided it would be best to check the trail to make sure he had made it. Terry and I rode back down and then rode up 68 to meet up with Rich and Chris who took the easy route down. We all rode back to Tellico where we had dinner at the Tellicafe.

I got one last pic in Tellico.



We rode back to the campground which was really packed with several groups choosing to come this weekend. There where a of of motorcycles as well as an overlander group with their 4wd drive vehicles. Most had some kind of tent on top of their roofs.

We hung out for a few hours. Two more riders joined us. Jeff @Jwwr came up with his KTM350. Later John @TWJohn  showed up with his TW200.

I think me and the Guzzi had tempted the Motorcycle Gods enough on the previous day without a fall.  Unlikely that I could ride with a fall on wet muddy trails.  I was pretty happy with the Guzzi's performance off-road. Of course it still weighs 500lbs so you feel it when you stop in the rough areas.

I had a great time and thanks for organizing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote from: SoloRider73 on October 28, 2020, 05:12:10 PM
I think me and the Guzzi had tempted the Motorcycle Gods enough on the previous day without a fall.  Unlikely that I could ride with a fall on wet muddy trails.  I was pretty happy with the Guzzi's performance off-road. Of course it still weighs 500lbs so you feel it when you stop in the rough areas.

I had a great time and thanks for organizing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I enjoyed riding with you on Friday.  I think you made the right choice for Saturday.  I think your Guzzi would have done fine on the Saturday ride if it had more dirt worthy tires.  With the tires you had it would not have been fun on some of the roads we did. 

Hope to ride with you again before too long.

Day 4, Saturday October 24.

It rained overnight and was forecast to rain much of Saturday.  It looked gloomy in the morning.



I have been bringing my pop up shelter along when camping but this was the first time in years I set it up. I'm glad I did because otherwise we would have been sitting out in the rain.

Another view of the campground.



That toy hauler trailer would be nice to have.

There were now nine of us but Ronnie decided to go off on his own and do some street riding. That was probably a good call as some of the dirt roads we would ride were wet and slick and the street oriented tires on his Guzzi would have been an issue.

So there were eight of us for today's ride.

Getting ready to go.



The weather forecast had changed to no rain until late afternoon. We headed through Tellico Plains.



And on the Skyway.

We turned on River Road.



Normally this road has a fair amount of slow moving traffic but we lucked out.



With the wet leaves on the road we weren't exactly going real fast anyway.



We were enjoying the stunning colors.