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I really don't get the appeal of the Tail of the Dragon. It looks like most any generic mountain road in the West. Okay maybe it has more curves per mile, but I'm not sure that makes it better, and it sure doesn't make it more scenic. I can think of a half dozen Oregon Forest Roads near me that are paved but more challenging then the Tail of the Dragon. I can guarantee you they would not take that race car on any of those. If they did they would have to drive it at 15 mph.
I never enjoyed motorcycling on slow, tight curves and swithbacks. It was way too much work. I always loved curvy roads with fast sweepers with quick transitions between them. You can keep speed up and just flow. Roads like Tail of the Dragon are way too much work to be enjoyable to me. I can see how adrenaline junkies would like it, but I am a flower sniffer.
Its a "once in a lifetime" bucket list road - once but not twice. It also has the benefit of being on the east coast, where there are just fewer great 'mountain' roads (IMO). I don't think it would have the same prestige if it was in the CA foothills (an example is angeles crest highway, glendora mtn road, stunt, latigo, etc), which are much better driving roads, but not really a bucket lists for most people because they're readily accessible.
Since moving to East Tennessee, I have found twisty mountain roads not unlike Tail of the Dragon.
I think the appeal for the Dragon is just the sheer number of curves per mile. That gives it bragging rights. Bikers gave it a mythos over time, but the drive is not unique in the Smoky Moutains.
the first time i ever went to New Mexico, it was driving from eastern Washington heading south, with everything i owned in my vehicle, moving to a state that I had never been to, did not know anyone living there, and did not have a job. I literally picked it off the map and said I'm moving there.
so driving south, watching the scenery change, somewhere along the roads in Utah, was the first time i ever saw the red rock cliffs and rock formations and it was so beautiful i literally could not maintain my concentration to drive safely. I was afraid I was going to run off the road because I kept looking and staring. I had to pull over and stop the car, breathless with the beauty, and just stare. I had never seen anything like it. I fell in love with the Southwest.
The Seward Highway from Anchorage, AK to Seward is pretty nice.
Worst for me has to be the NJ Parkway.
Also the Richardson Highway from Delta Junction to Summit Lake and Paxon, and then from Glennallen to Valdez. From Glennallen toward Palmer/Anchorage own the Glenn Highway. The Denali Highway from Paxon to Cantwell, too. Lots of sceneries, and wildlife. Out of Anchorage around the Kenai Peninsula
Its a "once in a lifetime" bucket list road - once but not twice. It also has the benefit of being on the east coast, where there are just fewer great 'mountain' roads (IMO). I don't think it would have the same prestige if it was in the CA foothills (an example is angeles crest highway, glendora mtn road, stunt, latigo, etc), which are much better driving roads, but not really a bucket lists for most people because they're readily accessible.
The only reason the Tail of the Dragon would be on my bucket list, would be to verify that it's as overrated as I think it is. I will hand it to Tennessee. They know how to promote their state. Tennessee is like one big tourist trap from one end to the other. They take an average unremarkable forest road, that probably few people had even heard of, and start calling it the Tail of the Dragon. They totally flat out lie about the number of curves it has. They just make up a number and suddenly people from all over the country, even the world are coming there to drive on that road.
The Angeles Crest Highway is really nice, but if California could just find some money to repair their crumbling infrastructure and repair and reopen SR-39 that looks like it would be even more spectacular. That road has some crazy curves.
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