Tail Of The Dragon

I was looking at an earlier contribution from a Banditeer from Tennessee and he mentioned Tail Of The Dragon"'so I checked it out on You-tube,quite spectacular! For me the best ride I ever did was Wangaratta to Bairnsdale,man that was something and there are some nice rides in and around Adelaide,up through the hills especially towards Birdwood.Over here in the West we just don't have the great rides but hey! this is where I live so I make the best of what we have.

A mate of mine did 10,000 miles across USA last Sept including 2 runs of TOD and he still swears as spectacular as it was the Great Alpine Road (Wangaratta to Bairnsdale) is a better and more challenging ride. Obviously its over 300km so fatigue becomes a factor.
I've ridden GAR many times and loved it every time even with 4WD cutting corners (come to expect that) and I'm heading to USA next May/June and if I get time I'll hire a bike to check TOD myself but it will have to be good to beat GAR.

My tip is to find a local road you love and ride it often wherever you are.

I agree, some excellent riding down that way, we did Mount Beauty-Falls Creek-Omeo-Bairnsdale on the way to Philip Is last year and Bairnsdale-Omeo-Hotham Heights-Mt Beauty on the way back looking at the map we got most of the good bits. On the way back we got rained on until Bairnsdale so probably would enjoy that even better if I was fresh.

My current avatar was taken just after Hotham Heights on the way back.

We have some great rides up here, if only the pavement was kept in better condition.

If you are ever lucky enough to be in Peru and on a bike, the ride through the Sacred Valley of the Incas (Urubamba Valley) is hands down the best ride I have ever had. And I am lucky enough to ride the Adelaide Hills every weekend, and have ridden the Putty Road, the Great Ocean Road and the Bell Line of Road and none are in the same league as the Peru ride.

Snakes along a deep valley, on a very well made road with hundreds of fast sweepers and the odd hairpin and climb. Sensational.

Rode the first 100kms of this road at below zero temp and snowing (and one patch of ice that nearly did me in) and was punting at 120 clicks on a F800GS BWM with dual purpose tyres. Apart from the ice, it was a lot of fun, even if I nearly froze my nuts off. Would have helped if I had wet weather pants.........

Half way along this ride between Ollantaytambo (near Machu Pichu) and Cuzco is a great motel that loves motorcyclists. We stayed there overnight and dried off, and then tackled the last 100kms in beautiful clear weather at speeds closer to 150kmh.

i came home that way on the week end sadly the cloud, wind the rain and some sleet plus a injured bike @ hotham stopped me from enjoying that awesome bit of road

Doing the Oxley Highway again, at the weekend with some mates. It's a good enough endurance test with 36km of bendy stuff.

Although this whole 100km stretch has plenty of interest. http://maps.google.com.au/maps?saddr=Oxley+Hwy%2FNational+Route+34&daddr=Oxley+Hwy%2FNational+Route+34&hl=en&sll=-31.440381,152.32338&sspn=0.376692,0.569229&geocode=FQQ6Iv4dWg0PCQ%3BFQzCH_4dBNkZCQ&gl=au&mra=ls&t=m&z=10

Wang to Mt Hotham, Omeo and then back over Falls Creek, Mt Beauty, Tawonga Gap is a good ride as well

One word "Tasmania "

Shit Yeah! Would like to ride in Tassie. A bit hairy in the South though apparently. I'd like to see what happens when those guys on the TOD meet up with a car coming the other way. They seem to cross the double lines a lot.

gus wrote:One word "Tasmania "

Closer, that's for sure, but nothing I fear will compare to the Andes. Climbing 3500m in 100kms and going from 1500m to 4900+m via switchbacks, long sweepers, plunging downhill runs etc is hard to beat.