Ride Report - Fall Colours and Twisties - Eastern States

[shanekingsley]

Short summary: 6100km/7 days
Route: NY, VT, NH, ME, NH, MA, CT, NJ, PA, MD, VA, WV, NC, TN, KY, OH, PA, NY
Highlights: Lots of rain, fog, gravel and paved twisty roads. Great people, scenery and riding, riding, riding
Crashed bike on Day 1, Got speeding ticket on Day 5, Hit deer on Day 6, 14hr continuous ride home on Day 7.

The Plan: Head over to meet up with a bunch of other VStrom owners in Maine for camping and a fall colours ride over the weekend. I've never been through the northeast so this was going to be some new to me roads to ride. From there head south on Sunday and ride twisty roads down to the Smoky Mountains and then back home via Kentucky and Ohio.

Day 1 Route: http://goo.gl/maps/SJ9Bx
Left home after work on Thursday and bombed it over to Utica NY to start the trip from there. The roads in the Adirondacks were exceptional. They had a great combination of fall colours spreading over vast tracts of scenery, coupled with great pavement providing mostly fast sweepers. The eastern part has a bunch of secondary roads that are much twistier with great pavement. The roads out there I enjoyed the most are Tracy Road, Old Furnace Road and Furnace Road. That loop looks like: http://goo.gl/maps/uxXU1.

The Adirondacks had exceptional fall colours all over the place:

Even though I'm on street tires, any opportunity to ride a gravel or dirt road that was on my route, I always take it.

The control center - look at my nice clean windscreen and nice Z750 mirrors...:

From Utica NY, my route was supposed to be: http://goo.gl/maps/YfHc9, but I crashed my bike somewhere along Furnace Road, which is a great road along the eastern part of the Adirondacks. I wasn't going very fast or on a curve, but pretty much riding the speed limit and on a straight section when I got speed a strange wobble. I must have hit something on the pavement that I didn't see and all of a sudden the bike started to fishtail and get closer and closer to the grassy soft shoulder. Once in the soft shoulder, it was really soft and I was slowly getting closer to her ditch. The bike then went into the ditch and somehow hit a tree or something and spun around a full 180 degrees in the air. This caused cosmetic damage to both sides of the bike.

I ended up smashing my windshield, shearing off my right mirror, breaking my right turn signal (3rd one this season!) pushing in my right side case and mounts right into the plastics, shearing off the left side case completely, and pushing the whole front left crash bar away from the bike. I somehow twisted my ankle in the get off, but didn't start to feel that until much later. I then shut the bike off, took off all my my luggage and proceeded to lift and drag my bike out of the ditch.

Once out of the ditch and on the road, I realized that the bike was still fine to ride, but my right side case would not stay on the bike anymore because the internal mechanism in the case had broken. I'm glad they are Givi cases, because these are really tough cases and I have put them through some good use. Through some strange and fortuitous thought, I had brought extra Rok straps with me, for the sole purpose of thinking that maybe someone else might need them and I could lend them away. Well they were now used to hold my left case on and and away I went.

Rok Straps to the rescue:

I think I went into the ditch as a result of a certain amount of target fixation once the wobble happened. Speed and curve misjudgment were definitely not factors. I'm not sure why the wobble happened in the first place as I think I was only going about 80km/hr - there might have been some debris in the road and I know that my tires were definitely aired up more than normal due to all the weight I was carrying. After this, I let a bit of the air out of my tires too, and the bike definitely felt more planted on the straights and in the curves. Some might have stopped and gone home, but I felt fine and needed to carry on - at the very least to Maine where I could reassesses the rest of my trip.

Three other riders from the Lake George, NY area offered to ride with me from the Vermont border to Maine. I had originally turned them down because when we compared routes, I was going to be about 2 hours ahead of them, but a combination of crashing and me getting lost put us right on track with each other and I almost rode right past them just past the Vermont Border.

In the distance is the bridge crossing from NY into Vermont - really scenic area.

From there we all rode together to Maine. The roads in Vermont were pretty much as most here had described - frost heaved and rough pavement. There is a nice section we rode on through the Mad River Ski area that would be fun if the road was in good shape (http://goo.gl/maps/1V2vu), but it was in horrible shape, especially through some of the more tighter turns. If they ever repave this area it would be good times and worth a visit. The roads in New Hampshire were much better - mostly beautiful scenery with fast sweepers. I didn't ride any roads in New Hampshire that were tight or technical at all, but the pavement was in great shape all throughout this beautiful state. It's a great state to ride through.

We all stayed at a campground called Grafton Notch Campground. It's a beautiful place and if you are ever using Maine as a way to get to the east coast and in need of a place to pitch a tent, I highly recommend this place. Mo, the owner was a really friendly lady who runs the place and the sites are really big. We were able to fit four tents on out one site. There are 12 or 13 sites total and the scenery and facilities were perfect. That night we all went out for dinner at a place called Suds Pub in Bethel, Maine which had good food and nice staff. My ankle had started to really swell up from my get-off and I was starting to doubt my ability to continue my trip. I could no longer upshift any more, because the swelling prevented me from bending my foot forward to get the toe under the shifter. I was doing all my shifting with my heel instead. After dinner we sat around a big fire and I iced my ankle, elevated it and took a few ibuprofen's. I could not walk on it it properly any more either, but since I could bear weight on it, all was not lost.

A view of our campsite at Grafton Notch. Note the missing top 1/2 of my windscreen, missing right mirror, zip-tied turn signal, and pushed out left side crash bar.

Grafton Notch is a really wide open and spacious place to stay.

A bunch of VStroms at dinner:

 

[shanekingsley]

Day 2:
The next day was a day spent riding around with the group of V-Strom riders. There was about 20-25 in total - about 9 from Ontario and the rest from the northeastern states. Many cancelled due to the rains that were in the forecast which was in the forecast for most of the day Saturday and Sunday.

A bunch of V-Stroms taking a break at a point along the Kancamangus Hwy on a rainy Saturday:

For Saturday group ride, a decision was made to ride some nice scenic roads in the morning before the rain was to get really bad in the afternoon. Then we would all ride over to a store called Whitehorse Gear, which is located in Conway, NH - very close to the border with Maine. They started out as Whitehorse Press - the motorcycling bookstore/publisher, but have expanded their business to become a big online retailer of all kinds of good moto gear. The have lots of good stuff here and it could be easy to spend thousands of $ here. I was told that here I might be able to get a few parts for my bike if I was to consider carrying on with the rest of my trip. At the very least I would need a new right side mirror and a new windscreen.

It was here that I met Jeff Adams - a technical adviser for the store and bike nut. He was able to hook me up with a RAM mounted Double Take mirror as a temporary fix, since my old mirror attached to the brake fluid reservoir and was sheared right off the reservoir. As for the windscreen, they had none in stock that fit my bike, so Jeff had this crazy idea as he put it. He suggested that I ride over to his house the next day and he would take the screen of his bike (also a VStrom) and put it on mine so that I could carry on with my trip. He said he could easily order a new one and put it on when it gets there. He only charged me 1/2 of retail since that was his cost to replace the one on his bike. What a guy! He was super nice, very knowledgeable about bikes and parts and a pleasure to deal with from start to finish - in fact, the whole shop was and I also bought a First Gear Rain suit, some Go Pro mounts and the replacement mirror for my bike. I have read about people not liking their rain gear and I did not want the Frogg Toggs suit because they are too bulky and apparently leak at the crotch anyways. Check out the First Gear Suits from Whitehorse Gear - they are super small, breathable and come in their own stuff sack. I don't really like to wear the high Viz clothing for everyday riding, but I think it's really valuable in the rain, when other motorists vision is impaired making us even more invisible. I rode through some pretty heavy rain and I was kept completely dry.

Covered Parking at Whitehorse Gear:

We got back to the campsite and hung out by the fire again. All the fellow Strom riders were a really great bunch who went out of their way to help me feel comfortable as I nursed my ankle. I iced my ankle, kept it elevated and took more ibuprofen's. It was slowly getting better, but I was still uncertain what I was going to do about heading down to Deals Gap.

 

[shanekingsley]

Day 3
I woke up around 5:30 am and my ankle felt much better. I could almost walk around without a limp. It was going to take me 2 hours to get to Jeff's house for a new windscreen, so I decided I would go for an early morning ride until 9am, pack up until 10am and be at his place for lunchtime. I left the campground and headed over to the Mount Washington Auto Road. I wanted to check it out, but I got there at 7:15 and it did not open until 8am. I decided to head over to Evans Notch and Hurricane Mountain Rd instead. http://goo.gl/maps/9Un8J
The fall colours first thing in the morning without any traffic, rain or bright sunshine was really beautiful. I always find that the best riding for scenic value is before 9am. It's also a good time to see wildlife out on the roads, but there was a good amount of wet leaves on the roads from the heavy rains the night before.

Evans Notch (ME113) had awesome fall colours with beautiful, narrow pavement. Hurricane Mountain Road was a typical mountain road going up on one side with tight turns and switchbacks, but the other side coming down, was almost straight down the whole way. There was a sign at the top that indicated it was a 17% decline slope - I've never seen that before, especially a continuous 5km stretch from top to bottom without any switchbacks or turns to break it up. This must be a very dangerous road in the winter!

Here's a video of the Hurricane Mountain Road from the top down to the bottom. I stayed in first gear the whole time, barely ever using the brakes or clutch and filmed this while wearing a chest mounted GoPro. It's really an awesome road to ride down!

Here's another video of Evans Notch - not technical by any stretch, but a really nice place to ride through with great pavement and vivid fall colours:

Gondola rides to take you up for big views of fall colours near Mt Washington:

A view along Evans Notch - ME113:

Don't need no stinking windsceen:

I stopped for breakfast in Bethel Maine, returned to the campsite - packed up gear, said goodbye to everyone and headed over to Mr Whitehorse Gear aka Jeff Adam's house in southern New Hampshire. I arrived at Jeff's a little late - closer to 1:30 than the 12:00 I was originally hoping for. We talked for a while and he then gave me the screen (Cee Bailey's screen made of aircraft grade acrylic) and off I went. Very nice guy! I was going to try and make it to Monticello NY before dark, but it would become a recurring theme for me of riding at night every single day for the rest of this trip. Because I was running so far behind, I had to take mostly secondary highways and interstates to get to Monticello. Compared to what I'm used to riding each day, this route is not a very long route, but I wasn't able to start it until 11am and I was stopped at Jeff's place for an hour chatting. I arrived in Monticello around 9:00pm. It's at an altitude of 1500ft, so the temps can be pretty cold there, when it's warm just a few miles away. It was probably around 3-4deg when I arrived and I was pooped.

 

[shanekingsley]

Day 4 - Route: http://goo.gl/maps/irdm1
Today I was to gradually start the twisty roads portion of the trip. It would be a good way for me to compare some great roads in different states even though there was going to be a 200 mile stretch of slab as I needed to get down to Roanoke VA for the night. I started out by riding at the NY97 which runs through Hawks Nest.

The ride along NY97 along Hawks Nest is supposed to be a a really scenic climb with a panoramic lookout point. Clearly not my picture:

this is more like what I am accustomed to seeing:

After that I made my over to PA125 south, a small WV loop of #33 and #250 followed by a backroads route to Roanoke. I knew that after today the roads should get much more interesting. The PA125 run was really nice although a bit short. I have read elsewhere that it is the best road in PA and while on it, I was thinking that it very well could be the case, but the reality is that it's so far removed from other excellent roads, that the normal PA riding area surrounding Renovo is in my opinion far better. That said, if you are ever in the area, make a point to check out PA125, because it is really nice.

Riding the little bit I did on this day through Virginia and West Virginia reminded of how awesome this area is. On this day I barely scratched the surface of what the George Washington, Monongahela and Jefferson National Forests have to offer, because of a shortage of time. On previous trips I have run the entire stretches of the 33, 250, 219 and much more. This area is simply awesome riding and I didn't feel too bad skipping a bunch on this day, because it's not really that far to get to and I will be back again on my return trip home.

Big scenery in this whole area:

Subway sandwich for lunch every day, somewhere nice and scenic, the shanekingsley way:

 

[shanekingsley]

Day 5 - Route: http://goo.gl/maps/zq5iW
By far this was to be one of the most intense days. Starting in Roanoke, VA, I went up and down VA16 "The Back of The Dragon'. I connected it with a loop around some of the other twisty roads so it looked like this: http://goo.gl/maps/aF3eE. This was an awesome loop and allowed me to ride the VA16 from different vantage points and the northern loop was really fun, though with a bit of hard packed gravel on one of the roads - I can't remember which one.

The gravel part of the VA16 loop:

Krazy Kudzu Kornering:

At the north end of VA16, there is a store called the Thomson Valley Store which sells stickers and other Back of The Dragon swag. I bought some.

I then headed down to US421 'The Snake' and it never disappoints. Stopped in at the Shady Valley Store in the middle of it and grabbed some stickers and a few t-shirts. I then looped over and rode up and down Roan Mountain which I had never done before. Although it was raining pretty hard, it was awesome and I highly recommend it as a technical road with little traffic. http://goo.gl/maps/M5S8t
As I was riding up Roan Mountain I saw a sign that said it has the largest Rhododendron garden in the world of naturally growing rhodho's - it must be pretty awesome to check it out during mid June when they are all in bloom. After Roan Mountain, this led me right to the top of NC80 "The Devils Whip' which can be looped up with NC226A 'The Diamond Back' I have now been on this loop a few times and can also say that it is one of my all time favourites - the NC226A is incredible and easy to get into a good rhythm with the climb up or down the mountain - depending on whether you ride it northbound or southbound.

There are countless signs on the tighter mountain roads warning truckers of the perils ahead.

After leaving the NC226A, I was feeling great and was headed over to the NC80 northbound to the BRP and I was riding along when I saw the cherries light up behind me. I was actually blasting through a small town - something I usually don't do as I always try to respect the small towns and move quicker in the curves. For some stupid reason I was doing 20mph over the limit - totally deserved that one and the cop thought I was a total nut, but really friendly. He warned me against going up and riding NC80 "The Devils Whip" because he said it was too twisty - he gave me a ticket for 15 over instead, saying that a 20 over ticket would force me to attend court right away, while a 15 over ticket would allow me time to pay or fight it. As he was writing up the ticket it gave me an opportunity to oil my chain, eat some food, put on my rain gear and swap batteries in my Go Pro. It was a well timed break because we were both done at the same time! Some kid in the parking lot saw me get pulled over and asked me if I needed a ride because he thought the cop was going to impound the bike. Nice kid, but this trip is becoming more expensive than I had planned!

The whole loop of NC80, NC226A and a 50 mile stretch of the Blue Ridge Parkway I rode to get over to Asheville looks like: http://goo.gl/maps/sJnNX. The Blue Ridge Parkway was awesome as usual and due to the rain, there was no one on it. I saw about 5 cars and 2 bikes over the whole 50 miles and rode through some of the densest clouds I have ever been in, where I could only see about 10-15 feet in front of me. I actually had to put my hazards on and slow down to 1st gear for some stretches. By the time I got into Asheville area, it was around sunset and I still had another 50 miles or so to get to the Blue Ridge Parkway, so I just took the most direct way there. On the Blue Ridge Parkway, just north of Asheville, is the Visitors Headquarters - they are usually open from 9-5pm and have some good quality swag there - very nice hats and stickers! They were closed for me though as I didn't reach this point until close to 7pm.

The Visitors Headquarters on the Blue Ridge Parkway

What an awesome day - I got to ride the Back of the Dragon twice, The Snake, Roan Mountain, The Devils's Whip, The Diamondback, one of the best sections of the Blue Ridge Parkway and many other great connecting roads - all on my way down to the Smokies!

 

[shanekingsley]

Day 6: Route: http://goo.gl/maps/zOm59
I decided while at the Blue Ridge Motorcycle Campground that I was content with what I had already accomplished on this trip and knowing what I had yet to ride in Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia on my way home, that I decided to skip the day I had dedicated to riding around the Smokies. Having spent last October riding in this area, I had already been on almost all the roads I wanted to ride even though I know there are hundreds more amazing roads in this area that I have yet to try out. A few roads I still have yet to ride are NC197 north of the BRP: http://goo.gl/maps/O1EbV, NC107 leading to NC209: http://goo.gl/maps/LUXS7, and the gravel version of the Cherohala Skyway, which is apparently referred to as the 'Gravel Hala' aka Citico Rd/Doublecamp Rd: http://goo.gl/maps/UFRLT

Another one I've really wanted to ride is a road called Cove Creek Rd which leads to TN32. On my way out of the Smoky's, I did ride it and it was awesome - so crazy that it took me over 2 hours to ride around 30 miles. It was wet and a long stretch was twisty mountain gravel/mud, so I had to go a bit extra slow. Along Cove Creek Rd, like so many other parts of the south east, there were massive Rhododendrons that grow wild and it always makes for a scenic backdrop to forested areas. There was not one other vehicle the entire time I was on this stretch, so dropping my bike was not an option.

This is a map of Cove Creek Rd as it links up to TN32, where Cove Creek is not paved and TN32 in the north is immaculately paved: http://goo.gl/maps/r9mCB << seriously - if there's one link/map you click on in this thread, check out this road - it's ridiculous.

Cove Creek Rd was really nice hard packed gravel and dirt, but due to the recent rains, it was pretty slippery but really beautiful.

One thing I like a lot about riding mountain roads is the endless little streams and waterfalls as you go around each bend.

This is a short video of a small section of Cove Creek Rd that also shows some of the big rhodo's all over the place.

TN32 was paved the whole way and really awesome - very tight turns, flawless pavement and overall an amazing forest road.

I also rode through Daniel Boone Park in Kentucky which was really nice with lots of fast tight turns through what seemed like a lot of hilly farm country. As I made my way up to the end of the day, I was staying in Parkersburg WV and I hit a deer on the highway just as I was coming into the city while on the highway. It was around 9pm and this deer was running around the the 3 lane highway all disoriented, so I slowed right down and went around it at around 40km/hr, but it still ran right into my side cases. I couldn't stop because there were cars approaching from behind me and it was really dark out except for the street lights - that deer was surely going to get taken out, all disoriented as it was.
In Parkersburg, WV I stayed at the Red Roof Inn and it was surprisingly nice for only $50. Huge modern room with WiFi, but no breakfast (coffee and tea were available).

 

[shanekingsley]

Day 7: Route Home: http://goo.gl/maps/VBohu
For breakfast, next door to the Red Roof Inn, there was a place called the Omelette House or something. It was a low budget, greasy spoon type omelette place. I can safely say that the food I ate there was some of the worst I have ever eaten in my life. It was so tasteless and greasy that calling it food would be an injustice to real food everywhere. Normally each day I would eat breakfast around 6am and then eat lunch around noon. The stuff I ate at this place kept my belly full until 4pm. The only stuff I have ever eaten that is capable of that is McDonalds and even that couldn't keep me feeling full for 10 hours! It was perfect for the ride home, where I would end up pretty much riding continuous for 14hrs straight with no breaks.

Today's plan was going to get me to Altoona PA at the least, and I would decide what to do from there. If it was early enough I go home, but if not, then I stay the night can ride around PA before going home. To get to PA, I rode around Ohio for a bit and I really liked the riding there. There was more heavy fog this morning and at one point around 8am, I came around a tight curve and there were four deer just standing in the middle of the road. They all looked at me and were seemingly transfixed by my headlights - completely motionless. I moved my bike around a bit and as soon as their lock on my headlights was broken, they snapped out of it and all bounded into the woods. It was a pretty awesome sight to see - one which I got on video, but can't seem to find.

It was lots of hilly farm country with wide open views and tights turns. I had to stop for gas somewhere in Ohio and the guys working there was really friendly. He told me where to find the really crooked roads, and pulled out a map to show my the whole local area and all the crooked gravel and paved roads the area had to offer. The area close to Marietta seems to have the best riding around, with two forests on either side with lots of good looking roads. After the fog dissipated, the sunshine and warmth was great. Rear facing shots:

After the sun came out, I finally had some company on this trip:

I then left Ohio and rode around the northwestern part of WV for a bit including the #7 and #20 - these roads were less technical and more about fast sweepers. This is the route through Ohio and north western WV:http://goo.gl/maps/H2P2L
From here I rode some backroads over to the 219. I started to head north along the 219 which was mind numbingly slow through Somerset and Johnstown, but then opened up quite nicely after that. I figured I could make it to the border by 8pm - or just before darkness, so I decided to go home instead of riding around PA for one more day, especially knowing that PA is so close to home...

Overall the trip was cut short by two days - one day of riding around the Smokies and one day of riding around PA. Looks like I'll have to go back next year.
The best roads for me are split into two areas. For closer to home roads, it's by far VA and WV. For sheer magnitude of amazing roads it is easily the Smoky Mountains. If I didn't smash my bike up and get that speeding ticket, I might have stayed the extra day in the Smoky's - but these two things will set me back a bit of coin. Kentucky was decent and Ohio was fun, but I prefer mountain riding over rolling farm country containing little bits of forest. I prefer roads without residential areas intersecting and Ohio and Kentucky have lots of farms and houses littered along their great roads. Penn is a fun place to ride considering how close it is to home, but it just doesn't do it for me like the more technical stuff further south. The Adirondacks was amazing for fast sweepers and big scenery - which I think I would prefer over another trip back to Penn. Vermont sucked for road quality but was really nice for scenery. New Hampshire and Maine were lot's of fun with amazing scenery and less technical roads that were in great condition. From my limited experience on this trip, New Hampshire and Maine is better for fall colours than Ontario.

With so many choices - next trip will have to be into the north shore of the St.Lawrence to explore the best of Quebec

 

[Boots]

Those are some great looking roads and some nice scenery!!!

 

[MacDoc]

I think we are going to have to call you "Hell or High Water Kingsley" after that marathon.

Any chance the speed wobble was a weight balance issue?

Great ride report - makes me want to point the Wee south this week.

 

[NightShadow]

Hey Shane - Sounds like you were pounding out the miles again - LOL
I have ridden most of the roads on the West - south part of your route
and doing the Marietta area over the next 6 days. It is not that far and
has some amazing roads that are as good as down south. Glad to hear
that you made it home safe.

 

[shanekingsley]

Any chance the speed wobble was a weight balance issue?

As for weight balance, I always ensure that my packing is done right so that my weight is distributed evenly across the bike. I also didn't have too much weight on this trip - I've ridden with much more weight on the bike.
After I came home, I looked at the tire wear on the front where the wobble started from. It is definitely wearing really unevenly. There is significant cupping and a big and uneven difference in wear from the centers moving out towards the sidewalls. When I take my hands off the bars while decelerating from around 80km/hr to 40km/hr, the bars start shaking quite a bit. From my limited experience, that is usually because of either the steering head bearings or uneven tire wear. I've had bad steering head bearings a long time ago on my last V-Strom and it would always do a wobble upon hard braking, and hands off the bars. This is different, because the bike performs really well and predictable under hard braking and cornering even after the drop. I'm at around 60,000km on this bike and only have about 20,000km on the front tire, so I'm not impressed with this front tire wear. Next tires for me will likely be the Pilot Road 4's.

Nightshadow: I hope you received and were able to open the file I sent you. After you get back from your trip, post up some roads! Safe trip.

 

[NightShadow]

Yup sent u a pm - I just saw and posted that to FB.
What a great job.
I saw the rest u had . I love that dirt road you did -
That looked like a wicked road .

 

[kiley]

Another amazing write up Shane.
I know how much work goes into these things.
Looks like you had a great trip and i also love the Subway picnic area idea.
I'm still trying to get down the the Wytheville area for 4 or 5 days if the weather will ever cooperate.
Question....are all the pics with the Gopro?

 

[shanekingsley]

Thanks Kiley - the last pic of Day 3 is a Go Pro pic and all the pics from Day 6 & Day 7. The rest of the pictures are from a small Sony Powershot SX260HS point and shoot camera. I was pretty happy with the Go Pro and am slowly getting better at using it. It takes some interesting shots while on the move from different mounting spots and it's nice to mount it on the helmet, or facing backwards on the top case to get some interesting angles. Sometimes I just set it to take a picture every 2 seconds and ride a nice section of road for a bit. It's easy to toggle between taking timed photo's and using the video mode while on the go too.

I really like the Subway lunch/dinner thing because there's always one nearby and it's a nice but fast way to eat out somewhere by a lake or in the forest with a nice view. I also never overeat/get tired after eating just a 1/2 veggie sub, so I really prefer that over eating inside restaurants. I also ride with a 2L hydration knapsack, so I can drink on the go and I end up drinking more water on the bike than I do off it.

Good luck getting down there - it's such good riding.

 

[Brian P]

Stunning report, Shane. I can't believe the mileage you do per day. Love the route but it would take me a month!

I've done a few snippets of the roads you were on. TN32 is incredibly tight and gnarly, *far* tighter than Deals Gap, and there is pretty much zero traffic because it ends up in the middle of nowhere. I came at it from the Knoxville side and stopped at the state line where it turns to gravel - and "gravel" doesn't begin to describe how many loose rocks and how narrow the road was. On sport tires ... No! It's only about a mile from there to a junction with Interstate 40 but I turned back and did TN32 again in the other direction ... how terrible

I've also done 226A to Little Switzerland / Blue Ridge / NC80 except I started and ended in Black Mountain NC.

There are *so* many choices down there ...

 

[kiley]

Shane where is this?

 

[MacDoc]

Kiley - I'd also like to get a ride in down that way as well. Keep in touch on it.

Have upped my gear so better set up for cooler weather and comfort now on the Weee -
New seat and heated grips the main bit and then the Scott Jacket and some gortex over pants from Olympia plus my fancy Italian boots.

Max Meadows is not looking bad from Friday forward all week tho chilly at night.
Might get a little rain on the way down.
Not the warmest time of year but have seen no colours yet

 

[shanekingsley]

Kiley, that pic was taken along State Route 113 in Maine near Evans Notch: http://goo.gl/maps/zzMQV.

This is the video of the road leading to it and it's a beautiful ride. http://shanekingsley.smugmug.com/Motorcycles/Vids/44911297_dv9VbM#!i=3604903647&k=7BvM72d&lb=1&s=M

And Brian, yeah I was dreaming about that TN32 road before I got there - It was the one road I was really looking forward to and it didn't disappoint. The gravel portion was really awesome and felt very remote. I'd like to ride that loop called The Devils Triangle next time I'm down.

 

[Jayell]

Looks like a great trip, Shane. Thanks for sharing. :thumbright:

...and some gortex over pants from Olympia...

Olympia does Gore-tex? Are you sure about that?

 

[oomis]

Love it, and timely. I may use some of your route for my upcoming trip.