Day 1 - Tail of the Dragon 2011 - Disaster-mess

Our Day 1 motorcycle to the tail of the dragon ended with one rider with a broken ankle and her Yamaha cruiser with a broken headlight, a busted rear break pedal and a dented tank. All this happened in Amish country (the last 5% of America with no cell coverage!)

Long story short, Alex, Paul and I ended up riding 3 hours in the pouring rain, after dark on twisty roads. To arrive at a not so great motel with shag carpeting. Only to learn that our support vehicle, driver and co-pilot plus the injured and her boyfriend were packing it in and going home.

The injured was pretty shooken up I do feel terrible that she's hurt - fractures suck. I'm told she will be fine. I had three fractures in my right foot a few years ago but I still managed to spend a week in Palenque. Anyway, we're down to 3 riders now. Alex on the Triumph Tiger, me on the Street Triple and Paul on the Harley Sportster (which is quite zippy around corners I have to admit).

The bad news? Now I'll have to ride the whole way. No sitting in the support truck with my bike tucked in for the day. 5,000 KM round trip! Ahhh... am I ready for this? I'll have to be.