Sunday, September 16, 2007

Deal's Gap - Conclusion

Over 10,000 kms in 15 days. An average of 715 kms/day and 10 hours/day on the road. Going nearly across the North American continent and visiting the "holy land" of motorcycling. Was it worth it?

Hell ya!

Would I do it again?

Maybe not. At least not in the same way. I really loved the roads that the western states have to offer. Everything up to Wyoming basically. I love the Smoky Mountain area in the east and Deals Gap (and surrounding roads) is truly what it's cracked up to be. This is assuming you do it early enough to avoid the cops and traffic. Trust me, it'll be worth it!

But what I really hated was the prairie states in the middle. I think if I was to do it again, I would trailer the bikes over and skip the middle altogether. The other thing I would do differently is to spread it out into at least 20 days. The long days really take a toll on you. It was stupidity that got us going and raw adreline and anticipation that kept us riding. A few extra days as non-riding rest days would make a huge difference.

But one things for sure, there is no regret. Now that I got crossing North American and Deals Gap of my Todo list, it's time for another continent!

Wednesday, September 12, 2007

Deal's Gap - Sept.11-12th 2007, The Journey Home


Day 11: Bowling Green, KY to Jefferson City, MO
Time & Distance: 10 hrs, 52 mins, 761 kms
States Crossed: Kentucky, Illinois

We had a later start today and it really payed off. Everyone felt more rested and we covered more distance than previous days. It was mostly super-slabs from Bowling Green to Park Hills, just south of St. Louis. Stan was fortunate enough to find a dealer in town that was willing take a left-hand mirror off a floor model VFR. Thank God cause being half-blind on the Interstate isn't necessarily the safest thing. We decided to detour through Jefferson City to avoid the St. Louis rush hour traffic. We were recommended to take Route #8 by some guys at the dealer and it turned out to be a nice little surprise. It was a quiet single-lane highway with fresh asphalt and rolling hills. In fact the first serious of the hills had so many up & downs that it felt like a roller coaster. I was giggling like a child inside my helmet as I gassed up to get that airborne feeling. This highway went through rural small towns and was a very welcome change from the baren Interstates that we have been doing.

I must've gotten carried away, cause I got stopped by a cop and never saw him coming. I was going 45 miles/hr in a 35 miles/hr city zone. I played the sympathy & ignorant card stating nightfall dangers and mile to kilometer conversions. I explained that I wanted to get to Jefferson City before dark and I didn't want to be on the highway because of wildlife. I also pointed to my speedo and told him that I still could not figure out kms & miles. Ultimately, a nice smile and politeness got me off with only a verbal warning.

We checked into Jefferson city and ended the night with some beer and snacks by the hot tub.

Day 12: Jefferson City, MO to North Platte, NE
Time & Distance: 11 hrs, 1 mins, 941 kms
States Crossed: Missouri

Today was a straight run from Jefferson City to North Platte. There was nothing interesting, just same severe prairie crosswind that greeted us like a persistent foe. It slapped us around on the interstate like a kite. This time though, we were prepared and are well trained from the last mid-west crossing. The only thing we saw of interests on the interstate was the Girls Gone Wild Bus. It was going the opposite direction from us, but we did briefly consider following it to the next college town.

At one of the rest stops, we learned that the Interstate highway system was developed by Eisenhower. He was a military president who felt the need for a roadway system to quickly move people and more importantly, army vehicles across the great country.


Day 13: North Platte, NE to Evanston, WY
Time & Distance: 12 hrs, 48 mins, 956 kms
States Crossed: Nebraska, Wyoming

We were so eager (not to mentioned exhausted) to go home that we just took the fastest and most direct route for the final few days. Nothing much happened that's worth mentioning so below will just be the time and mileage logs for each day.


Day 14: Evanston, WY to Baker City, OR
Time & Distance: 12 hrs, 3 mins, 859 kms
States Crossed: Idaho


Day 15: Baker City, OR to Vancouver, BC
Time & Distance: 11 hrs, 17 mins, 838 kms
States Crossed: Washington

We've been lucky through out the whole trip to avoid the friendly highway patrol; that is until today. We were making our way through the Washington mountains a couple of hour east of Greater Seattle when we were tracked by air patrol. The whole bunch of us along with several other cars were pulled over by four troopers waiting a few minutes ahead. I was pulled over by a motorcyle cop so I tried the sympathy card on him. Although he was sympathetic to us and our long journey, we were not able to avoid the ticket.

We continued on and as we saw Seattle come into view, it felt like we were home already. Another hour later, the border lineup was an odd welcome sight. It's kinda like when you stare down at your own city from the plane on a return trip. It just feels nice to know that you'll be back on canadian soil.

The minute I put the bike away, the minute I walked in the door and took of my gear; I must have just crashed and hibernated for at least 12 hours. But wow, what a trip!

Monday, September 10, 2007

Deal's Gap - Sept.8-10th 2007, Tail of the Dragon

Day 8 - Chicago, IL to Lexington, KY
Time & distance: 9 hrs. 11 mins, 687 kms
States crossed: Indiana

After a couple days of playing tourist, we set our GPS towards Kentucky via Indiana. But first, we had to work our way through the commute and a myriad of tolls before the Chicago metropolis would let go of it's hold.
The plan was to super-slab it and get through most of Indiana & Kentucky as much as possible. We hit some scattered rain along the way and breaked at a Waffle House in Frankfort for dinner. This was actually our first time in the supposedly famous Waffle chain. We experienced great southern hospitality from our server Tanya Taylor. She had a real liking towards Mark and he even got a personally autographed souvenir server cap to take home with him. She was a fine southern belle and with a name like that, should at least have an honorary photo in the next issue of Maxim.
Michael was exhausted and snoozed through most of the excitement, so we decided to settle in at the next town; Lexington.

Day 9 - Lexington, KY to Robinsville, NC
Time & distance: 13 hrs. 17 mins, 716 kms
States crossed: Kentucky, Tenessee

We continued on our way in the morning and it wasn't before long that we arrived at Robbinsville. The plan was to check in, drop our bags, and go exploring! We rode through Deal's Gap on our way in and could not pass a turtle if we tried. A parade of Harleys greeted us and to make it worst, there were State Troopers posted almost on every corner.
It was indeed a very nice piece of road, but sadly spoiled by all the traffic and cops. We decided that the only way to really enjoy it was to do it Monday morning at 7:00 in the morning.

We checked in to the Microtel in Robbinsville. There wasn't much choice in such a small town and they were the only one with internet. The Concierge explained why there are so many cops; apparently earlier in the season, there were three fatal accidents in a stretch of 24 hours. The State then allowed a big budget to crack down on the riders. In the beginning they were giving out really stupid tickets, like for tinted visors. I guess now, they are only looking at reckless driving/riding and zero tolerance speeding.
Once we unloaded our bags and grabbed some quick lunch, we decided ride the Blue Ridge Parkway, one of the many recommended roads in the are. It was mostly 45 miles sweepers with a few 20 mile hairpins. It had clean pavement and little traffic. The road is very scenic and basically takes you through multiple mountain ranges. The road actually goes on for 596 miles long so needless to say, we were not going to complete it. We were also too pre-occupied with taking photos to get anywhere fast. The mountain backdrop from up top is simply amazing! It has layers beyond layers of mountain in multiple shades of grey. I guess this is why they call it the Smoky Mountains. It was definitely different from the Rockies vista that we have back home. With all the picture taking, we had run out of time. We decided to turn back after the summit and headed back to Deals Gap to see if the State Troopers were still around. We only rode to the Deal's Gap resort before we headed back because it got dark pretty fast.

Day 10 - Robinsville, NC to Bowling Green, KY
Time & distance: 9 hrs. 4 mins, 467 kms.
States crossed: Tennessee

We got up early and headed out at dusk like a bunch of eager boy scouts on the first day of camp. The morning run to Deals Gap definitely paid off. There was no traffic and thank-god no cops! We had an awesome run with speeds to our hearts content. This road (less the traffic) is really what it's cracked up to be. It's non-stop twisties, tightly wound together to give you a ride you would not soon forget!

Let's be clear, this road is definitely not for beginners or even intermediates for that matter. Is is very technical and super twisty (15 mile corners). You've got mountain cliff to one side and rock wall on the other, and very little shoulder. All this mixed together means there's no room for error. It is so much fun connecting the left and right twisties one after another that by the end of it, you'd be shaking like a caffeine high in your tired legs, but still wanting more!


After getting a few rounds of adrenaline fixes, we dropped by the Deals Gap Resort store and chatted up with the locals. Surprisingly I did not see a fraction of the harleys we saw yesterday. All the bikes we saw this morning were sportbikes and they were really enjoying themselves. These must be the locals as they know when is a good time to ride this road.

After doing the mandatory souvenirs thing, we left the store and decided to ride the other "must-do" road around here (Cherohala Skyway) on the way out. Just before getting onto the skyway, our good luck turned for the worst. Stan, who just happily "conquered the Dragon" wiped out going wide after seeing some gravel. Fortunately, it was at low speed and his bike was still ridable. Besides losing one of his hardbags and some scuffs on the right fairing, the bike held up well.

We continued onto Cherohala but did not enjoy it as much as we could have. This road is similar to Blue Ridge where it goes up and down along the mountain tops. It's also very scenic and the roads are a little tighter than Blue Ridge but not as much as Deals Gap. If you are looking for something scenic with some fun twisties, this would be it.

We were hoping to get to St. Louis for the night, but everyone was too tired so decided not to push it and checked in at Bowling Green, Kentucky instead.
We settled in and was still buzzing with the amazing riding we had so far. The three roads we rode were different enough that it offers something for everyone. For me, the best part of riding is the challenge a road gives you and the sense of accomplishment once you've overcome it. I like the technical challenge a good road gives and The Dragon does exactly that!

Friday, September 7, 2007

Deal's Gap - Sept.6-7th 2007, Chicago

Day 6 & 7 - Albert Lea, MI to Chicago IL
Time & distance: 7 hrs. 15 mins, 587 kms
States crossed: Wisconson & Illinois


Another day on the super Interstate highway. Today, we had to be in Chicago so that I can have my tires changed. It is at the wear bar and screaming out to be replaced. The day was going smoothly and we covered a lot of ground until we got close to Chicago. We lost each other and I continued on to the bike shop hoping that my party will be there waiting. To my dismay, they were no where in site when I got there. After a hectic guess & search, we managed to re-group and then headed towards downtown Chicago.
Chicago was one of the two planned rest cities. The idea was to stay here more than a night to get some R & R. We checked into the Travel Lodge right by the Loop (downtown of Chicago loving called such because of the loop that the overhead commuter trains make around this busy area). We found the people to be very friendly. The city is beautiful with lots of architecture to see, so that was a treat for me.
After checking in, we decided check out the restaurant scene and went for a nice dinner at a new highly recommended restaurant called Gage. The interiors were beautiful, reminescent of an old train station. The decor pieces were very fitting and reminded me of the early 1900's. The food was excellent and an inviting change from all the fast food we've been having on the road. The server was really friendly and openly suggested some great night spots in town. It was very tempting, but having a long day of lost and found, we decided to just walk across the strret to Millenium Park instead.

Millenium Park is a 24 acre public park and cultural centre built over old railroads just in time for the new millenium. It consists of many public areas, one of which is a Frank Gehry designed outdoor music pavillion. Another cool area is the Crown Fountain designed by artist Jaume Plensa. It consists of two 50 foot tall glass block towers with an oversize video image of a person's face projected onto the side of the tower. There are a few different faces that were taken from a cross-section of 1000 Chicago residents. The cool thing is that these faces don't appear to do much, but if you wait long enough, their mouth starts to pucker up and water spouts out from it. Children really enjoy this fountain and it's especially funny seeing some of the unknowing children be by startled by this sudden burst of water over where they are standing. The inspiration was apparently the Gargoyles traditionally found at the top of buildings, but here they used residents instead.
Another very cool attraction in this park is Cloud Gate or loving called "The Bean" by the locals. It's a mirror polished stainless steel elliptical sculpture that's visibly seamless. Designed by Anish Kapoor, this sculpture is like a giant kidney bean which reflects and distorts the cityscape in weird and wonderous ways. It is so captivating, you can spend hours just looking at reflections from different angles. I was like a little kid in a fun house of mirros. Pictures can not do it justice. In fact, we liked it so much we went back again in the day time the next day. I would recommend anyone to make a trip to Chicago, even if it was just to see this.
Our 2nd day in Chicago was spent mostly sight seeing. We joined an architectural boat cruise tour which pointed out significant buildings and history along the Chicago river. After the tour, I commuted out to pick up my bike and the rest of the gang continued to play tourists.

I under-estimated the commute out to the sub-burb town where the bike dealer was and missed them by 15 mins. I had no choice but to commute back into downtown and hence wasted a total of 6 hours! It was a good thing I'm on vacation because I would be really pissed if it happened at home where my time is always prescious. I had no choice but to make the best of it. I guess this is when the PDA games come in handy.

Wednesday, September 5, 2007

Deal's Gap - Sept.4-5th 2007, Mid America

Day 4 - Cody, WY to Keystone, SD
Time & distance: 10 hrs. 16 mins, 691 kms
States crossed: Wyoming


Wyoming has been a pleasant surprise; we never expected it to have so many nice roads. This morning was another example of it. From Cody, we hooked onto I-90 via Hwy 14 which brought us through Big Horn Canyon National Park.
I have never ridden into anywhere with a more dramatic entrance. The road into Big Horn starts in a valley between canyons of precambrian rock slides. The red canyon walls tower above you on both sides as you enter. As you make the first corner, the red sedimentary walls close in even more, making for a very dramatic appearance; almost like riding through a gateway to hell. It then opens up to a vast mountain range. The ride was very picturesque and has a mixture wide and tighter sweepers; perfect for an early morning run.

We learnt from the park signs that 500 million years, the sea covered all of Wyoming. Then 70 million years ago, the earth's plates started to move. It buckled and heaved above sea level and thus created the Big Horn Mountain ranges in additional to many other mountains in the surrounding areas. This history is still visible in the many angled rock stratas on the sides of the mountains and canyons.
We continued on I-90 to Mt. Rushmore but decided to detour to see the Devil's Tower first since it was not too out of the way. This was the first national monument of the states. For those who aren't familiar, it's basically a stump-shaped granite formation that extends 865 ft. from the tree lines. It's 1000 ft. in diameter at the base and 275 ft. in diameter at the top. It looks rather alien because it's the only formation of any sort surrounded by low plains all around. Apparently, it's the premier rock climbing challenge in the Black Hills. When we were there, we saw a few groups from Colorado at the same time getting ready for the climb.
At 37 degrees, the heat was unbearable. We took our mandatory water break at the local souvenir store, where we chatted with some harley bikers. They recommended us to stay at Keystone for the night since it was literally right beside Mt. Rushmore. We weren't aware of this, but there's supposed to be some really nice roads right around Keystone so it makes for a great base.
We decided to check out Sturgis as it was also on the way and the Harley Rally just finished. This rally has been the biggest bike rally since 1958, bar none. There wasn't much bikers left in the town, just some shops clearing out their left over souvenirs. The fact that the Rally was just last week explains why we saw so many Harleys on the road. Every Harley biker we've met have been very friendly. Everyone we've seen on the road waves to us, even if they are way on the other side of the Interstate highway.

We checked in to Keystone later than we had hoped (as always) and rode "squid" to check out Mt. Rushmore. The monument is beautifully lit at night and very calming to watch. Only the faces are lit with everything else around dark. With no street lights and stray lights the stars above make for a beautiful backdrop to the dramatic mountain scene.


Keystone is an interesting little town with all the building in a western cowboy style. It reminds me alot of Winthrop in Washington. Almost all of the business is from the Mt. Rushmore tourists. A local store keeper shared with us an insider's tip. Apparently, one of the security gates at the Mt. Rushmore tourist center is kept open all night until 7:00am. We planned for an early start anyways, so it made sense for us to get there before 7:00 for a possible free admission.

Day 5 - Keystone, SD to Albert Lea, MI

Time & distance: 11 hrs. 45 mins, 972 kms
States crossed: South Dakota


The early morning start paid off. We were able to get into the paid area of Mt. Rushmore before the staff actually showed up to charge admission. This mountain was carved by Gutzon Borglum and a team of 400 people in 1927. It took them 14 years to complete. He actually didn't finish it and his son continued on. To this day, the monument is not as complete as had planned. The intent was to also finish the details of the shoulders down to the waist. Federal funding was pulled and we are left with what we see today. Thank God they started from the head down!

We checked out the highly recommended roads around the area before heading back to the interstate. Highway 16A takes us around the Needles highway and Custer State Park. It's an amazing ride with the tightest twisties I've every seen. Too tight in fact. Some of these hairpins were only 5 and 10 miles. At that speed you can't even lean. This part of the road was also very narrow with no lane markers and lots of wild animals. On our ride through, we saw squirrels, donkeys, and even wild turkeys that crossed the road. Yes, wild turkeys! We took it easy because most of the curves were blind corners and we never know what wild life is waiting for us. Also the early morning sun was right in our eyes most of the time. Further along, highway 16A takes us through Custer State Park. It had a bit more open road and was a lot more fun. There were 6 tunnels on this loop and all of them are only wide enough for a single. It was quite a sight to pass through this tiny hole in the side of a tall skinny mountain. It almost like threading through the eye of a needle. Hmm, I wonder if that's why they call it the Needles highway.

We had to make up time for all the fun detours, so we super slabbed it the rest of the way. It was uneventful and not worth mentioning except for the crazy prairie cross winds. It was so bad that we had to lean into it just so we don't get blown away. What's worst was the tail wind of the big semi-trailers on the road would suck us in towards them and once we pass, the highway cross wind would blow us in the exact opposite direction. The first few times was a scary surprise, but after awhile we learnt to adapt.

We managed to cross South Dakota without getting blown off the side of the road and checked into Albert Lea in Minnesota for the night.

Monday, September 3, 2007

Deal's Gap - Sept.1-3rd 2007, The Western States

Day 1 - Vancouver, BC to Lewiston, ID
Time & distance: 13 hrs. 22 mins, 979 kms.
States Crossed: Washington

Right from the get-go we had to deviate from the agenda. I don't know if that was a sign or not, but we pressed on regardless. The border with all the shoppers was much longer than anticipated. So instead of waiting 2 hours in line, we decided to head east and cross at Osoyoos via the good ol' Crowsnest Hwy. I figure it was a no brainer to spend 2 hours riding some good roads instead of waiting in line.

The highlight of the day came upon us halfway through Manning Park in the form of a burning sportsbike. Don't worry, it wasn't one of us. As we neared the summit, we saw some poor buggers trying to doust out a flame on his RC51. Some of his other riding buddies came to the rescue and a passer-by driver even lended them his fire extinguisher, but it was no use. The flame continued to eat away at the bike and before you know it, the bike collapsed to it's side.

All I heard was f**k, f**k, f**k, and oh yeah F**K!! I assumed that the rider was a bit dismayed and asked others what happened. Apparently, the rider couldn't make the turn, kissed the concrete barrier which must have gouged the gas tank and leaked the fuel, which then got ignited. We took some photos and videos of this peculiar event, made sure the rider was ok and went on our way.

We unknowingly passed by Grand Coulee Dam en route, so decided to take our first photo break. Apparently, it's the largest electric power producing facility and the largest concrete structure in the United States.

We managed to stay on schedule and checked in at Lewiston, Montana for the night. The unplanned detour through Manning Park made for a much longer day than expected. I wonder if there will be anymore of these days to come?

Day 2 - Lewiston, ID to Bozeman, MT
Time & distance: 10 hrs. 30 mins, 722 kms.
States crossed: Idaho & Montana


Lewiston is famed to be the first state capitol of Idaho and is Idaho's only seaport. However to us riders, it is known to be home of the Old Spiral Highway. This was the old road to get down to Lewiston from the north, before highway 95 was paved. Old it may be, but what a fun road it is! It snakes through the many hills that eventually descend to Lewiston, full of twists and turns.


One thing I noticed about american roads is that it's very well engineered and maintained. This old road has clean asphalt in excellent condition. All the turns are perfectly banked with tight twisties going every which way. The lookout on top is amazing, giving you a panoramic view just how "snakey" the road is. It almost seems like the engineer designed it for road enthusiast and getting to the top allowed you to look down on it like a prize that was just won.
Highway 12 (a.k.a. Lewis & Clark Trail) out of Lewiston follows the Clearwater river through a few National Parks and leads us to the day's anticipated ride, Lolo Pass. Highway 12 starts off meandering along with the river making for a very scenic, calming ride. As we near Lolo National Forest and saw a sign that said "Winding road next 77 miles", we knew the real fun was just getting started. There were no cars, great asphalt and nothing but 45 mi. sweepers through forested roads. It was an amazing ride and I was tired halfway through from all the lefts and rights.


After we had our share of fun in the morning, we had to hit the Interstate to make up some time. After some long hours of monotonous highway riding in the the 90 degrees afternoon heat, we relieved to check in at Bozeman, Montana for the night.

Day 3 - Bozeman, MT to Cody, WY
Time & distance: 10 hrs. 41 mins, 593 kms.

States crossed: Wyoming

Yellowstone National Park was on our list of sights to see. We decided to enter from the west gate and do a half loop through Old Faithful. The traffic was expectedly slow and filled with tourists. Once we adopted the pace, we were able to appreciate the majestic scenery. It's amazing how wild this park is. There were heards of buffallos grazing in hectares of untamed fields everywhere. We stopped by the small Geysers and mud pots, but missed seeing Old Faithful go off by just a few minutes. The park is huge (10,000 sq. miles in fact), it just seems to go on forever. More than half of our day was spent at the park, yet we only did half of the small loop and there was no sign of Yogi Bear anywhere.


We exited Yellowstone from the northeast gate to hook up to Highway 212 with Beartooth Pass as destination. The slow traffic and repetitive clutching & braking through the park really tired Chuck and Michael out. They decided it was best to stay behind and recuperate as the rest of us challenged Bear Tooth Pass.

Beartooth Pass is amazing and much more than I had anticpated. It starts off with some clean 35 mile sweepers, then as you ascend, it dishes out tighter twisties and a whole bunch of 20 mile hairpins.


The summit is 10947 ft. above sea level and the view from the top was like looking down from heaven. Pictures does not do it justice. It fact, the amazing scenery combined with tight hairpins and the lack of concrete barriers with a vertical drop off made it a very dangerous road! I would not suggest not looking away for too long, as hard as it may be.


The pavement at the top is rough from all the potholes; probably due to the heavy winter snow at such a high elevation. If it wasn't for this, it would really be a perfect road.


After a very satisfying ride on Beartooth, we descended to pick up Michael and Chuck, whom had a very satisfying rest themselves. We then headed over to Cody for the night via hwy 296 (Chief Joseph hwy).

This road was also unexpected fun. It starts off mild mannered with gentle sweepers, then does the same as Beartooth Pass; dishes out a whole lot of tight twisites. There must have been ten or fifteen 25 mile hairpins in all. My knees were tired before it was all done! The only pity is that we rode this road when it was dawn so we did not get a chance to capitalize on the vista. From what I can make it, it must have been similar to Beartooth, overlooking mountains and valleys. The pavement on this road is excellent and clean and that's where it has Beartooth beat. I've maid a mental note to return to this route during the day.