After a long winter, and knowing that another rally was about to take place, I could hardly wait to get on the road. The bike has been fixed and was ready to roll. This rally known as March Moto Madness, has been taking place for a few years, but I only found out about it on the USA trip last summer. It started off as a group of probably less then 20 in 2006 in Tellico Plains, TN, and now had over 500 people. find out more about it here: http://marchmotomadness.com/event%20details.htm

I started off for Tennessee in the morning, got a motel for the night, and got to the rally site the next morning. It was March 31st cold as hell in Cleveland and rained all day on the ride down there. As I pulled into the rally, the hard rains were just about to start. I remembering going to hang out in the GS Giants tent to wait for a lull so I could set up my tent. Eventually I got set up and met up with Sibley, from Ohio and met her friend Sigrid. We instantly became great friends, as she seemed to be the female version of me! We had the same sense of humor and outlook on life.

One the first day of the rally, I rode with group of riders and we did the Cherokee Challenge which was a mapped ride, and much like a scavenger hunt taking pictures of specific places. It took us through some scenic places and was well worth it. It rained a bit as I recall, but the thing that stuck out was that my helmet was a bit damp, so I borrowed a hair dryer from Sibley. It turns out that even with 5-600 motorcyclists around, somehow at least 100 people will see a guy using a hairdryer at a campground, and 100% of them will make fun of you for it. There is no stealthy way to dry a helmet with a hairdryer at a campground full of dudes. Damnit!

I generally ride alone and have been trying to get used to riding in groups, but I decided the next morning to ride alone to the Tail of the Dragon at Deals Gap. The weather was perfect. It was a Saturday and I got there about 11am. I was told it would be crowded, but I got lucky and only had 2 cars in front of me, that let me pass eventually. I also saw maybe 2 police cars. I was told it’s very beautiful out there, but with 318 curves in 11 miles, I didn’t have too many opportunities to look around. After that I rode the Cherohala Skyway which is a remote 60 miles of breathtaking scenic mountain highway. I hate to say it, but I think I liked it better than the Tail. The cool thing at the Dragon is that there are photographers at many of the turns. I ended up not ordering any of the proofs shown here, but they are pretty nice.

Once again, there was a trials course, and as badly as I wanted to try it, I was intimidated by the very first obstacle; you had to drop down into a creek and ride back up and out of it. I don’t completely feel I made the wrong choice after watching plenty of people get stuck in the mud, but also know that I would have most likely done fine. The other issue was that my foot was still messed up from the tumble at Wailyn Wayne Weekend in the Fall.

The food was great, the drinks were a plenty and I made many more friends and saw many I met the year before.