My husband and I spent the weekend in the NC mountains, and headed over to Deal's Gap to run the Dragon a couple of times. (We attended S2k Days in Asheville, but got there too late to make the Dragon run, so this was our chance to finally experience this awesome stretch of road.)

Needless to say, it was everything we'd hoped for; great weather, light traffic, and when we did encounter slower traffic, most of them moved right over. It was a real rush and the best time I've ever had in the stook! Humbling too; I slowed to let a couple of racing bikes go screaming by me at one point, and I was amazed at the speed and skill of these guys.

After all that high-reving adrenaline, it was such a contrast to see a gathering of Vespa motorscooters running through the same course. (There were about 20 gathered to make their group run.) I have to give these guys a lot of credit for not being intimidated by all the Harleys, race bikes and sports cars that usually dominate this stretch of road. They seemed to be having a blast....and why wouldn't they? I had to give a couple of thumbs up to the Vespa group.