CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Remote bends and a better reason to cross state lines. A one-way ride of 237 km, Mountain City to Mountain City - roughly 4 h 56 in the saddle. On the way it passes Tazewell, Back of the Dragon and back through Tazewell. The climb of the day is The Snake US 421. It tops out at about 850 m. It is a high-mountain day.
Shady Valley is a quiet bowl of farmland tucked among the high ridges of north-east Tennessee, close to the Virginia line, and for motorcyclists it is a pilgrimage point. The valley is ringed by the Iron and Holston mountains, and it holds something unexpected: a set of cranberry bogs, left behind from the ice age, which make it a minor botanical wonder in the Appalachians. Locals hold a cranberry festival each autumn, and the little community around the old general store feels far from anywhere.
Read the complete Shady Valley write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Shady Valley is where the day begins. Next is The Snake US 421.
The Snake is the nickname of US 421 as it crosses the Tennessee mountains between Shady Valley and Mountain City, and the name is earned. In about thirty-three miles the road throws up some four hundred and eighty-nine curves, according to the number everyone quotes, and it is the sort of statistic that is hard to believe until you are in the middle of it. The road climbs out of Shady Valley, a high basin once famous for its cranberry bogs, over the shoulder of Iron Mountain through hardwood forest, and then drops toward Mountain City, switching back on itself like a snake in a hurry.
Read the complete The Snake US 421 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
You top out here; the road stops climbing. Next is Tazewell food.
Tazewell is a small town in the mountains of south-west Virginia, the eastern doorstep to a road known as the Back of the Dragon. The route, Virginia State Route 16, runs for about thirty-two miles from Tazewell to Marion through the Jefferson National Forest, over Brushy Mountain and Walker Mountain, and it has an estimated four hundred and thirty-eight curves, a number that riders repeat with satisfaction. The name was borrowed from US 129 at Deals Gap in Tennessee, but the Back of the Dragon has its own character: it is a quieter road, with fewer crowds and more forest, long climbs and descents, and hardly any buildings or junctions.
Read the complete Tazewell food write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
A break here. Next is Back of the Dragon.
The Back of the Dragon is a road with a trademark and a reputation, and both are earned. Virginia Route 16 runs for about thirty-two miles between Tazewell and Marion through Appalachian forest, rising over three mountains and managing, depending on who counts, around 438 curves. The name comes from the neighbouring US 129 Deals Gap, the famous stretch of US 129 in North Carolina and Tennessee, and the Back is often described as a more relaxed relative, with longer sightlines, a smoother surface and less traffic. Tazewell, a small county seat in the Clinch Valley with a handsome old courthouse, anchors the northern end.
Read the complete Back of the Dragon write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back of the Dragon, about halfway. Next is back through Tazewell food.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Tazewell food write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Tazewell food sits at 287 km, about halfway. Next is back through The Snake US 421.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete The Snake US 421 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through The Snake US 421 comes up about 223 km into the recorded legs. Next is Shady Valley.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Shady Valley write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Shady Valley closes the day.
The Snake US 421 → Tazewell food is the reward section in Blue Ridge and Appalachians. Look through the bends, use legal pull-offs for photos and keep a little margin for tractors, cyclists and damp shade. The best ride here is smooth, not noisy.
This Tazewell food → Back of the Dragon stretch is for rhythm and scenery. Keep your head up, let the view breathe, and resist turning every open bend into a target. Stop once properly rather than half-stopping everywhere.
From Back of the Dragon to back through Tazewell food. Detailed notes for this leg are not written yet; follow the route line and the stops either side.