From: alanf@eng.tridom.com 
Subject: Trip Report: Assault on Deal's Gap
Newsgroups: rec.motorcycles
Date: Thu, Sep 15 12:02:14 1994

Participants:
myself,Alan Fleming	'81 Kawasaki KZ-750 (borrowed)
Micheal and Liz Weaver	Yamaha GTS1000
Ryan Gill and Danielle	Honda CB700S Nighthawk
Mike and Karen Tempel	Kawasaki ZX-6
Chris Taylor	Ducati 900CR
Chris Holt	Honda CBR600F Hurricane
Matt Hur	Yamaha FJ1200
Kathleen Hur	Honda CX650 Custom
Vipra	Ducati 750 Imola replica
John Nelson	Honda VF700F Interceptor
David Knight	Honda NT650 Hawk
John Morgan	Honda CBR600F2
Al Horne	Moto Guzzi 1000S
Joe Courtney	Honda NT650 Hawk
Ron Smith	Honda NT650 Hawk (borrowed)
Allen White	Honda ST1100
Toney Cummins	Honda ST1100
Joe	Honda RC30
Michael Palmer	Honda CBR600F2
Bob Sims	Honda CBR1000
Laura Sims	Honda VF500F
Dave Svaboda	Kawasaki Concours

Friday: After a week of hassles getting my brakes repaired, I got off work on Friday evening and immediately started putting the bike together. A little after 1am, I had the fairing back on the bike and was ready for a test ride to check everything out. The bike wouldn't start (just a faint humming noise from the starter). By 3am, I'd deduced the motor was stuck and spent until 5am trying to discover the cause. Since I was supposed to leave at 6am, I put the bike back together and planned to ride the '81 KZ-750 I'm borrowing from Troy Casey.

Saturday: At 6am, John Nelson arrived on his VF-700F Interceptor and waited while I hastily packed my saddlebags and tankbag. I cleaned off the remaining grease, tossed some food into the cat's bowls and suited up. By 7am we were on the road.

I'd originally planned to take the most direct route to Crossroads of Time possible but 60 miles of droning on GA-400 changed my mind. The morning temperatures were pretty cool and I hadn't taken the time to dress properly. Once we turned onto GA-60 the twisties kept my mind off the chills. We had a great run over Woody Gap, encountering only one car. The pace was sedate (I was tired and on a borrowed bike and this was John's first ride in the curves) but the views near the rock climbing wall were beautiful with the morning mist still hanging over Dahlonega.

Around 8:30 we pulled in at TWO for coffee and to see which SERIDERS had made it there. Only Ryan and Danielle were at TWO but both were already awake. After some chit-chat, coffee and munchies, we headed on up GA-60. The views here were even more spectacular with all the streams "steaming", dew glinting and mist hugging the hills.

Despite one bad mistake on my part where I entered a turn fast and grabbed brake rather then leaning harder, things were smooth and relaxed. GA-60 spur brought us to US-64.

We headed west and started passing lots of Harleys. At Ducktown, we headed north on TN-68. Unlike GA-60, there were cars everywhere and we were getting stuck behind cars continually. The highlight of the road was passing a beautiful Honda RC-30 traveling the opposite direction. The combination of a loose chain and a goal of keeping the engine below 6k (because of a mild oil leak at the head gasket) made passing tricky. More than once, John would come flying up behind me only to realize I was accelerating slower than he expected.

We stopped in Telico Plains so I could adjust and lube the chain. I decided to continue north on TN-68 to make time, rather than taking some fun back roads that avoid lots of US-411 (aka Hell Road). Traffic on US-411 was heavy and the speed limits ridiculous. I doubt we saved any time, though our boredom lead to some on-bike antics that had some kids in the backseat of the ahead amused.

Finally, we turned off on TN-366 but got stuck behind a slow moving dump truck. A right turn onto US-129 finally got the energy flowing again. The trip through the Gap was great. I guess my decision to take it slow took the pressure off and I ended up with a "Zen" that had everything working great. John seemed to have no problem following, though my "in slow, out fast" approach seemed to give me a certain advantage over his "late brake, apex tight, roll on" when getting out of the corners.

2/3 of the way through the gap, we encounted a site worse than last year's John Deere semi. This was a deluxe cab pulling a lengthened trailer that was carrying huge power transformers. The truck was using both lanes, both shoulders and his front bummer had leaves torn from roadside saplings. Fortunately, we were stuck behind a slow moving, boat towing truck at the time and had plenty of time to stop.

Once at COT, I checked our room reservations (thankfully intact this year) and started looking around. Matt and Kathleen Hur had arrived at the same time, so we headed up to check out the rooms. We ran into Toney Cummins and Allen White who explained that the Alabama and Mississippi crowds had already arrived on Friday, though Ron ZXmith had already taken off for the day. Toney also sheepishly pointed out the broken mirror and side bumper off his ST that was broken during a lowside. We'd just arrived and already Deal's had dealt out first blood on those assembled. Additionally, Dave Svaboda had come down from Chicago unannounced but was also out and about.

Over the next couple of hours, nearly everyone rolled in, including the Georgia squad (Ryan Gill & Danielle, Mike and Karen Tempel, Mike and Elizabeth Weaver, John Morgan, Al Horne and David Knight). Joe Courtney also dropped by to say hello, though he was heading back home for the evening.

Those assembled decided to ride the gap, with myself and Kathleen Hur opting to seek rest instead. A few minutes after the group left, Michael Palmer made a surprise appearance and instead of sleeping I talked with him about his recent accident. (His Goof2 was looking pretty battered, along with a fractured wrist, fractured heel and some roadrash on his arms.) Just as the group returned, the RC-30 pulled in, only to discover it was a friend of Palmer's from Huntsville. Joe joined us for the rest of the weekend. Soon thereafter, Bob and Laura Sims arrived, leaving only the late-waking Atlanta coffee house crowd absent.

Another ride through the Gap, this time for pictures, was planned and most everyone headed back out. Mike Tempel and I had a arguement over who was taking the Tailend Charlie position, with myself finally winning out due to stubornness. (If someone is exhausted and probably unfit to ride, do you want them in front or in back of you? :-)

The trip through was slow and I was aware that my concentration was shot. Luckily, I made it through okay, despite my finding the absolute cornering limits of the KZ. (After the pegs are dragging, the exhaust headers drag promptly thereafter!) We stopped at the Calderwood Dam overlook for pictures and posing. A few hardy folks decided to head out with Joe to "ride the sweepers by the lake where you can *really* scream". The rest decided to head back to COT.

Somehow, I ended up leading the group back, but being in front seemed to make things easier since I didn't find myself following someone else's tail light. I managed to keep a good pace back and still survive with John Nelson again having no problem following. However, John was curious about where the scrapping noises were coming from during corners. A search uncovered some beveling on the headers and their retaining brackets. Opppss...sorry Troy.

The sweeper riders returned faster than expected to report that Mike Tempel had ridden his ZX-6 off a low speed left hander and dropped it in the grass. Mike returned with a sore shoulder, a scratched face shield and a remarkably undamaged ZX.

Plans for a dinner trip to the Pizza Slut in Bryson City were made with the Atlanta stragglers (Vipra, Chris Taylor and Chris Holt) finally arriving just in time to come along. With the sun setting, a long string of bikes headed south on NC-28 in a snaking line of headlights. Enroute to dinner, Ron Smith went past so Joe and Michael Palmer turned around to catch him while the rest of us continued on to Bryson City.

Twenty miles later, the blur of headlights and sound of an RC-30 in full song blew past, announcing their return. Dinner was a grand affair, with our group taking up most of the restaurant. After pizza had been eaten and drinks quaffed, we headed to the store next door and loaded up on beer. Palmer's soft saddle bags and Weaver's cavernous hard bags were loaded.

The exit wasn't quite as organized as the arrival, with folks getting slip into small groups to find their way back. With Joe and Palmer blitzing off into the night, I lead a small group back. The intermittent tail/brake light on the KZ, combined with the pitch black night and barely adequate headlight made for some excitement coming back. A few times, my emergency braking for a tighter than expected turn, combined with no brake light, had Al Horne threatening to climb on as pillion. Thankfully, Al has great braking, turning and avoidance skills!

Along the way, we passed Joe and Palmer in a parking lot already halfway through their smokes. Everyone eventually returned, parked the bikes for the night and grabbed a beer. Ron Smith and Dave Svaboda were there and Dave admitted to a lowside earlier in the day. That made for a poor ratio of three wrecks among the 25 attendees. During the beer and chat session, I decided to award some prizes, despite my being too cheap to bring anything to hand out. These were:

• Squid Award: Michael Palmer (for showing up on a thrashed Goof2, with injuries sustained because he was "just going around the block and didn't need his gear."

• Dedication Award: Dave Svaboda (for riding the longest distance: Chicago)

• JB Weld Award: Toney Cummins (for doing the most damage to his bike during the Assault)

• Ricky Racer Award: Joe (for riding the most race worthy machine and doing an impressive job of using it)

• Almost 2/3 of the bikes in attendance where Hondas. No Suzukis made the trip. Additionally, Three Italian bikes showed up yet there were no mechanical or electrical failures for any of the bikes. Truly, an amazing sign. :-)

• Attendance was almost doubled from last year but The number of accidents (1 vs. 3) more than doubled. I'd like to see the attendance grow and accidents shrink.

• Finally, as an organizer, this went very smooth. No one reserved a room and canceled. I'd hoped some people would show at the last minute, so I'd reserved more rooms than I had reservations. Palmer and the Sims showed up to fill these extra spaces. Finally, there wasn't a problem with our reservations like last year, so I could just point people to the office to pick up there keys. The ease with which things happened this year makes me hopeful that next year's event will be even bigger.

Sunday: After four hours of sleep, the alarm went off and in my fuzzy brained state, I contemplated throwing it out the nearby window. I'd have gone back to sleep for sure, if Al Horne hadn't come out and cranked his Guzzi next door. I got Nelson to open his eyes and started packing.

At 6:30am I headed out to load the bike and smelled some incredible coffee. On my second trip to the bike, I encountered Al who'd brought an espresso machine along on the trip. He brewed two coffee cups full of high test espresso for John and I. What a life saver!

At 7am, John and I bid farewell to Al and headed south on US-129. John's rear tire has a small leak and the air pressure was pretty low. Once down the steep twisties at Cheoha Dam, I let John pick the pace into Robbinsville. The next 10 miles has to be one of the most beautiful and surreal experiences I've seen. We didn't encounter any cars and the only sounds were the stream rushing along side and the bikes purring along. Thick mist was rising up all around, sticking to the mountain sides and drifting up the valleys. John said a big hawk was following overhead but I didn't see it.

Just outside Robbinsville, the mist turned to a heavy fog which hid everything. After a gas and air stop in Robbinsville, we headed back into the fog. The rest of the trip in North Carolina was made in a cold, wet fog with only a few brief moments of dawning sunlight near Andrew. The fog continued in Georgia until we reached Neal's Gap on US-129, then vanished leaving bright sunlight and warm air. The total was about 85 miles of pea soup fog.

The drop from Neal's Gap to US-19 was horrid because of the difficulty of braking while wearing rain mitts, preventing my usual two fingered braking. Once we got to Dahlonega, we stopped for gas and I deep sixed the mitts. We hit GA-400 and droned the remaining 60 miles to Atlanta, arriving at the perimeter at 10:40am. John headed home while I headed to do volunteer work at the 2nd annual Kneedragger's Ball, a benefit held by the SSA for the Shepard Spinal Clinic. By the time I got home 9pm Sunday night I was a physical and mental wreck.

PostGame: The GSXR is still hosed with something jamming the engine so that there is only 359 degrees of crank rotation. I was a complete waste at the Kneedragger's Ball but at least I didn't screw anything up. Everyone made it home without any further accidents, though Joe did get nailed for running from the police. Ron Smith and Michael Palmer got him out on bail by Monday.

Sponsors:

• Troy Casey for unknowingly loaning me his KZ for the trip.
• Maxwell House, brewers of fine gas station coffee everywhere.
• Ephedrine, the synthetic boost without the nervous shakes of caffiene.
• Al Horne's portable espresso service, just the thing for early mornings.