We've all got our favorite stretch of twisty road. Some roads are famous. We all know about Angeles Crest Highway and Mulholland Road in California, and "The Dragon" at Deal's Gap in Tennessee.

The hobby/sport of riding sportbikes has gotten a lot more popular in the past few years. Check out this story of how "Deal's Gap" got "shut down".

motorcyclebloggers.com » Blog Archive » Deal's Gap Shut Down

Actually, the author takes a bit of literary license by saying it was shut down. It wasn't.

But he highlights kind of a sad fact of modern sportbike life. Some of the best roads to ride are so incredibly overrun by bikes that they're effectively ruined. I just look at my beloved Ortega Highway and Palomar Mountain Road. I've been riding both for almost 20 years. Sure there were weekends here and there when it was more crowded than usual. But in the past 2 years its always crowded. And with sportbike crowds come cops.

The only answers I can come up with are to
a. find new roads
b. quit street riding, concentrate on track days instead.
c. Buy a Harley and just park it for the day.

OK, OK, I'd never actually buy a Harley...

Here's some more information about the Tennessee authorities harassing riders on "The Dragon" at Deals Gap. With all the press that place gets, I suppose it was inevitable.

CycleForums - Tennessee cracking down at The Dragon

What a huge bummer it would be to make a cross country trip to Tennessee just to ride this legendary road, and then find dozens of cops waiting. And I know that Deal's Gap is the only reason I would want to go to Tennessee.....I sure can't think of any other reasons.