Where are you all from?

[JJ]

Canadian eh? St. Catharines - close to Niagara Falls. IT DOES NOT SNOW IN CANADA IN THE SUMMER. ALL MY SOUTHERN FRIENDS LEAVE YOUR SKIS AT HOME!!
JJ

[JJ]

Nova Scotia, Canada. The birth place of.....er....... The class of.... ugh...The champions of......... okay WE are the BIG TOE of Canada!!!! WOOHOOOOO!!!!! Also, the mountains of Cape Breton (The Heel) have about 500 turns in 2 1/2 hours of riding all at 30km per hour. Scraped my fairing a few times there. Of course that means those turns are somewhere done at 80kph Good fun!!!!! Best place to ride I ever been! Makes me very tired. So many turns it looks like a Wile E. Coyote cartoon.

Any chance you could post some pics and a link to a mapquest map?

I'd love to go there on my next trip

JJ

[JJ]

Your token hillbilly, born and raised near Asheville, NC, USA...aka: Biker Heaven!

I am soooo jealous!! You've obviously done the dragon. Tell us about it!

jj

[cameron]

Hey JJ,

http://thewingedb.homestead.com/cabottrail.html

This link has some great pictures for sure.

Cam

[cameron]

also JJ a link to some accomodations

http://capebretonisland.com/accommodations/

Have fun when you go. Stick to the direction of the cabot trail. Last year they were doing road repairs on the fleur de lis trail. Also stop for gas. There are gas stations about 1 hour apart or so. Miss one and it will be a stretch to the next one. Found that out last summer.

When night time hits I think all the gas stations close at 10pm open at 7am. I like to leave early in the morning to miss most of the traffic. Keep your eyes open in the early hours as there are moose around. I have not seen one yet but I know they are there. The 2 1/2 hours it takes me to go around through the mountains would take a sane rider about 4. Once the turns start you won't believe it. The road leading to the mountians is very scenic, a little rough in places. Get to the mountains and the road is like glass. No frost heaves on the rocks. Pay attention to the inside curves that say 20kph. Some vehicles drag rocks onto the road from the shoulder. The outside of those curves have no rocks or very little. 20kph...that's a hairpin! I prefer to run the mountains right to left rather that left to right. Did it both ways. If you go right to left all the flip flop sharp 30kph turns are uphill and easy to set your speed. Go the other way and you will be trying to brake downhill on flip flop turns. Like a snake. Set your entrance speed fast and you are committed to that speed the rest of the way down the hill, barely having enough time to brake between flip flops. I found it waayyy more fun the other way as I did not have to concentrate so hard. Too fast just back off the gas. these hills are straight down or up depending on which way you go. I prefer straight up. Still fun/less danger.

[Teclo]

Just outside of Glasgow, Scotland.

[V4underme]

West Virginia, a wee bit west of Charleston.

[poppygene]

Your token hillbilly, born and raised near Asheville, NC, USA...aka: Biker Heaven!

I am soooo jealous!! You've obviously done the dragon. Tell us about it!

jj

Yep, JJ, the Dragon is one of the most challenging roller-coaster rides I've ever been on. Something like 318 curves in 11 miles, and it's a killer road... literally. I don't know the total casualty list, but lots of riders have met their demise there. Mostly it's tight curves with elevation changes, some decreasing radii, and some off-camber. There's nothing there that resembles a sweeper or a straightaway, so if you get the chance to try it, you and your bike had better be in good shape.
There is a tree at the east end of the run where unfortunate riders have tacked up bits and parts of their bikes that didn't make it out in one piece... bodywork, mirrors, that kind of thing. I once saw a nearly complete GSXR front end leaned up aganst the tree. Forks, rim, fender, etc.
If you're itching for a good case of road rash, this is the place to scratch that itch. I heard (I haven't verified this, though) that a Knoxville hospital has put in a special "Dragon Line" at their Emergency Room just for those who get gnawed by the Beast. On peak weekends the line is often out the door, I'm told.
With all the hoopla, the place is really overrun on weekends, both with bikes and TN State Troopers, who, BTW, don't put up with any foolishness. Best to go on a weekday and avoid some of the traffic. Sports car drivers have found out about the place, too, and many of them don't seem to care if they meet you head-on in your lane. So, word to the wise.

[V4underme]

Just in case someone doesn't know of this already, this is a site of some folks who take pics of bikes/cars/people on the Dragon. I'm guessing the pics number well into the hundreds on the site... everyting you can think of from the dragon... cars, bikes, crazy people, they have pics.


http://www.killboy.com

[DustyJacket]

Lee's Summit, State of Missouri (or as some put it state of misery), USA, previously of Colorado.