Tail of the Dragon vs. The Cherohala Skyway - No Contest!

Motorcyclists love curvy roads. So obviously we love mountains, because they’re full of curvy roads. The Alps, the Rockies, the Andes, the Himalayas…all amazing places to ride.

For those of you not in the know, the Tail of the Dragon, or US 129, is an iconic road in the Smoky Mountains, stretching from North Carolina to Tennessee, much revered by sports car and motorcycle enthusiasts as a Must Do.

318 curves in 11 miles.

Switchbacks and blind corners under a canopy of forest…it’s a beautiful road.

There are some You Tube videos of a few truly fast riders dragging knees and crossing centre lines, doing so in relative safety because the road was closed for their use. Cool.

But having ridden the Tail multiple times as a regular rider, I have to say: “Meh”.

The road is often crowded, and heavily policed, ensuring that the parade of V twins continues to plod along at the glacial speed limit of 30 mph. To be fair, there are a few cruiser riders that really hustle their bikes along, but they are in the minority. The road carries quite a bit of truck and car traffic also.

The joy of riding a curvy road is to lean a bike over and feel the thrill of Getting It Right. But there just isn’t much opportunity to do that on the Dragon.

The Cherohala Skyway - now that’s a road.

Running from Robbinsville, North Carolina to Tellico Plains, Tennessee, the Skyway runs 41 miles, up to 5400 feet of elevation, through the Cherokee and Nantahala National Forests, hence “Chero…Hala”. There are no hotels, restaurants, or even gas stations along the road, so it tends to be deserted, which is just what I like.

The long, sweeping corners running up and down the mountains can span more than 270 degrees: you set the bike into a lean, and you look into the corner, over your shoulder, and you hold, and hold, and hold, for what feels like an eternity, until finally the road straightens and you get on the throttle and stand the bike up again. Then another corner comes up, just the same, and another, and another.

They say it takes 90 minutes to ride the length of the Skyway, but we’ve definitely done it in less time…by the end of the ride, you’re spent. It’s a hard workout, but a satisfying one.

There are plenty of roads around North Carolina and Tennessee that are more fun to ride than the Dragon. But the Dragon is the one that gets all the attention. I was going to write about those other roads, but maybe it’s better that fewer people know…