Dragon, Schmagon. Conquer the Cove instead!

Deirdre & Yours Truly





The 3 Cove Conquerors
L-R: Bob, Deirdre, Scott

  



Deirdre & "Harley" Scott

  



The Conquering Machines
L-R: The SG (Street Glide), SV & ST

  Sunday April 10, 2011

What a beautiful day! This AM I woke up the beaST and did my usual Sunday morning skills training on a range I made up in the school parking lot up the street. Then on to the coffee house for a cappucino before heading back home to breakfast with my beautiful bride and quadripeds. I love early AM rides. Great way to start the day. At 12:45 I met up with my neighbor, Scott, who rides a beautiful H-D Street Glide, to ride up to Spinx on Hwy 11 & 14 and meet up with Deirdre on her SV. Scott has a sportbike background, so he knows how to handle the hog. And handle it he will today!

Gassing up, how do you do's, introductions, blah, blah, blah.....let's ride. We scoot up 14 to Landrum, left turn Clyde towards Tryon, and up to Saluda via 176. I love this climb up to Saluda. But wouldn't you know, we get stuck behind Ma & Pa Kettle sllllooowwwly meandering their way up the grade. Something told me not to pass them right away, wait a few curves out before doing so. So I hung back a minute, and sure enough, on a right hand curve they stayed in their right lane, on a left hander they shot half over into my lane!(the road going up the grade is two lanes, same direction). OK, pass when the curve is a right hander. Here we go.........left hander, right hander....HIT IT.......give the ST her rein.....wave bye bye......... let's have some fun!! The ST loves these kind of curves; the chicken strips finally getting to move outward on the tires!

Got to the top and slowed down, waiting for Deirdre & Scott still behind Ma & Pa; or so I thought! Not far behind I see Deirdre rounding a curve with Scott right behind, and the car nowhere to be seen. Deirdre passed her first car on a curvey road! Way to go D! Right turn towards I-26 and on down to Holbert Cove Road where the twist is the dance number for this mixer. Tires warmed up, under the I-26 overpass, and here we go!

Most of you have ridden, or at least know of The Dragon, Hwy 129 in Western NC and East TN. It is infamous for the number of crashes that have occured on it, not because the road is highly technical (it's not), but because of the types of road users it attracts. Squids (people riding sportbikes who shouldn't be riding any kind of bike), racer wanna-be's ( sportbike riders who have competent skills but use the road as their personal race track with total disregard for other road users), and the not so occasional 18 wheeler that somehow gets through the TN side and stuck in a blind curve. Add to the mix riders from the flatlands on vacation wanting to ride on curvy mountain roads when they haven't even seen a mountain all year, and you have a pretty volatile mix. The road itself is pretty benign if you take the above out of the picture. Sure, you've still got to be on your game, but the notoriety would no longer be there.

Holbert Cove Road, by contrast, is the real deal. If you want to hone your cornering skills, and get an adrenaline rush, you could do a lot worse than ride this road. If you're not on your game, it will eat you up. Sharp curves, blind curves, off camber curves, 15 MPH double-back-at-you-amigo switchbacks, back to back! And from Saluda, all downhill! That sure speeds things up a bit, yes? It's all here, right in our backyard. Best part? No traffic!

So downhill we went; me, Deirdre and Scott riding sweep. What a blast! I admit, I felt a bit rusty, this being my first real twisty ride of the season, but I settled down quick. This road makes you do that. The first tech curve comes at you early on, a downhill, left hand, less than 90 degree curve that gets your attention quick. This is not a high speed road, but it is very technical.  Maybe that's why riders are sparse here. About a third of the way down we come up on the first of two double-back-at -you switchbacks. These are a blast, but you better have the right speed going in. After going through and across a one lane bridge at the bottom, I checked my mirrors expecting to see the beginnings of a brush fire started by Scott's Harley throwing sparks everywhere. Do they make spark arresters for Harley's? No smoke. A good sign. Up a little rise, then diving downward again on our way to the roads end at Sweetwater Road. What a rush! I'm definitely going to do this loop 3 or 4 times this season. Round trip from Simpsonville was only 130 miles.

We turned left on Sweetwater, and followed it along some beautiful sweeping tarmac until it dead ended at a dirt road. Oops. Should have went right. U-turn (no dirt for the beaST and I), back the way we came and past Holbert Cove, which then took us to Hwy 9 and Lake Lure. We had a great lunch at Larkins on the Lake. Bikes were out everywhere. It was a beautiful day on the lake. After lunch and convivial conversation, we took the direct route back home through Columbus and Tryon, said goodbye to Deirdre at Spinx in Gowensville, then Scott & I headed back home to our respective fams.

Thanks Deirdre & Scott for a great ride and great company. Hope to see others out also at the next MotoBuddies gathering. Until then:

Screw the Dragon! Ride the Cove!
Bob & The beaST