Deals Gap + The Snake trip report
---------------------------------------
The trip went awesome. No tickets, arrests, or air ambulances for the group. We left K/W early since its about a 13 hour drive to North Carolina. A tractor-trailer was a little aggressive on one of the ramps near Ayr and decided to high-side it over the rail. On the way home someone flipped their tractor trailer on a straight section of highway 6 & 401. Now that is embarrassing, at least the first guy was on a curve. The trip down was a push to get there before dark. The cabin we had was at the end of the NC28, up a mountain pass, which is a pretty crazy road in the daylight, let alone at night. We made it with about 30 minutes of daylight to spare, unfortunately one member of the group arrived a little later than expected and had to negotiate it in the dark which was quite a challenge. We can add off road hill climbing to the list of CBR's capabilities. Interesting seeing a track bike go up a mountain goat path. The cabin had a nice view of the mountain valley.
There was concern about the street legalness of the CBR with some R1-style aux. lights, fans, a D675 taillight and a few other farkles. The exhaust dB was also a concern. Turns out down there, anything goes. Some very questionable street legalness on quite a few vehicles made the CBR fit right in. With the number of people running straight exhausts in dune-buggys, go carts, full on race cars, and other machinary that shouldn't be on the street, it was not a concern. Even Tim's exhaust had nothing on another RC8 floating around there. To be fair his sounds much better than that monstrosity. Police presence was light, we actually saw very few cops, so the usual public race-track shenanigans it's knowing for were alive and well.
One morning a 48-foot semi decided to run the gap. They are banned from the road, but being literate clearly isn't a qualification in the trucking industry down there. Historically shorter trucks were allowed, so road users rode with a little more caution. Now, no one expects a truck like that. When we ride down there, you always need to expect the unexpected. Focusing on the line with maximum margin for error vs the race line is always key.
After others mentioned the truck made it to the end, we went down. Sure enough, bike laying in the ditch. No rider, so I hope he is alright. A state trooper arrives not to long after, and parks his cruiser 1/2 way in the lane on a blind decreasing radius corner. Not the smartest move. On a separate occasion, a Harley missed the very first corner and put it into the ditch. That's a bit embarrassing.
Currently they are repaving the NC side of the charoholla, a glorious 60 mile road through the mountains in a state park, so there are no houses. The entrance to it is some super tight corners of which an R6 failed to negotiate. We arrived after the medics were there, and someone put it right into a dump truck. Bike was pinned underneath the frame of the truck, so this must have been a head-on collision. Not high speed, but still quite a crash. By the looks of it the R6 completely missed the corner, with plastic bits all over the place. I hope that rider is ok.
After 5 days at deals gap, we went over to Boone, NC for the US421, aka "The snake". Skeptical of claims how good the road was I'm happy to report it was definitely worth while. We got pretty drenched on the BRP heading over there, but found some fantastic roads. The gap is only an 11 mile stretch that most riders do the first 8.5 miles then turn around. The snake is about 40 miles, over 2 mountains with some insanely fun hairpins and little traffic. Some of these are hairpins with extreme elevation changes, 15+ feet in a single corner. The variety made the road extremely fun. Trucks are not banned from this road, however they are advised not to use it. We found a 48 foot truck making its way down that couldn't even keep it between 2 lanes. Fortunately they made it safely down.
We ended up stoping at Mike's BBQ in mountain city which was phenomenally good authentic pit-style as a couple cruisers pull up. Oh jeez, we are in for it now. Turns out they also think its a good place for lunch. Talking to the local police department was actually quite fun. The head of the meth enforcement division was one of the nicest guys yous you will ever meet. On the last day we tried a route through Linville, a rather affluent section of the mountains. There was actually a rolls royce traffic jam. They were like toyota carollas down there. Up front were 2 1930's rolls, with no power steering or brakes driven by very old people. It took a while. Nice cars, but my god use the pull overs man.
On the plus side in NC, they have instituted a slow-poke rule. If there are 3 or more vehicles behind you, you are required to pull over and let them pass. It worked great. I think we need to implement this here, especially on the 401.
So lots shredded tires, great bbq and moonshine. Jumping in the mountain rivers for a cool off felt great.
It was hard to leave
Great trip, can't wait to do it again!
