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Easy Does It - East Tennessee
Telling me that County Road 116 is as nasty as Deal’s Gap, a local rider also says I shouldn’t stop along the way, either. “If you ain’t from there, you ain’t one of them,” he says. “And don’t hit the shoulder, ‘cause it’s 150 feet down to a moonshine still if you do.”
The Tennessee Hills are older than recorded history. Much older. Rocks that once rose higher than the Himalayas are whittled into hills of fertile soil. Spring is in full swing, and the rich greenery of the Appalachians is garnished with splashes of pink rhododendron.
But as I quickly learned, endless miles of hairpins would not excuse any inclination toward scenic distractions. This is riding at its most challenging. At the end of each day, I am compelled to pat my boss’s Triumph Tiger on the gas tank with appreciation. “Well done, my friend; rest easy for tomorrow.” These roads are not to be taken lightly, and neither are the hills and valleys of Tennessee.
From Mountain City down State Road 67 to Elizabethton, I warm up the bike, test its limits, and settle in to the tour by visiting a covered bridge with its own spot on the National Historic Register. It’s my first solo tour for RoadRUNNER, and I’m glad it’s in the southern Appalachians, where I began my love affair with the mountains. The majestic enormity of the Rockies is missing, but there is a unique, old-world culture in Appalachia that makes up for the absence of those grand western views....
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