2006 Tiger Ride-In in Hiawassee, GA

[GatorTiger]

What drives us to ride? Is it the need for speed? The thrill of the lean angle? The pressure of the knee on the road while grinding the tires on the very edge of loosing grip? Is it to visit places and enjoy the vistas?





Or just the beer at the end of the day?





Whatever the reason, Hiawassee is the place to go! Quietly tugged away in the north Georgia mountains it is one of the few, the proud, the non-dry counties, with lots of roads to ride for whatever reason: The Dragon is 30 mins away for those who have too much testosterone to show off, the Cherohala Skyway for the ones enjoying the vistas, and any other road for those who don't want to be distracted by sceneries and just want to ride. What other reasons would you need to hold one of the three Triumph Tiger Ride-Ins right here?! Right!!!!



Jerry called, and they all came! Mark (most excellent Tiger), Keith (DremelTiger), Steve (TicketTiger) came up to Atlanta to hook up with yours truly on Thursday afternoon. First order of action was to make sure the weather was gonna be good for the weekend:





Next was to fight through Atlanta traffic to get to Hiawassee, a mere 125 mile ride, which drew out to 4 hours! So after dinner and no movie, but the first beers, it was to bed early (on Friday).



Friday morning then it was time to ride. But where should we go?





To have a long, straight-up pole in the middle can be a nuisance at times, even if it is in front of something wet...





To be continueth...

[GatorTiger]

What the heck, all the roads up here are excellent!Just take the first one! .......... Done!

Oh, look! A flagger! Awesome!!! Well, let's just wait a little...







Fortunately that was the only roadblock we encountered (other then being one on the Dragon...) Fluid break/Agfa moment:







Scott the Spielberg ("Poison ivy? What poison ivy?") taking a break from the video production to shoot some stills:







DremelTiger unshortened:







There are lots of curves to caress on the horizon! Let's go and get'em!







To be continueth...

[GatorTiger]

First order of business: The Dragon! GatorTiger makes chrome look pale, while checking out the sins of the forefathers...







Next up: The Cherohala!







And this is where some characteristics of the roads up here come in handy! Less spectacular vistas make for pure riding fun. But when you have vistas you have: Fuji-moment parking bays! Either to take pictures or to recover from gravel-on-the-road-recovery by going straight into one and getting comfy on the lawn... <cough, cough>



Well, party on............. After 280 miles that day all got very hungry. All the Tigers in attendance met for the Tiger feast Friday night:







Some Tigers thought they could get more than others and tried to snatch some food!







While some enjoyed the sunset and the view of it:







others tried themselves in an impromptu safety course. Tigers are very responsible, yes!!!!







Official photographer Tom busy at work:







So the day cam to an end and after a few beers we went to bed early again (on Saturday).



To be continueth...

[GatorTiger]

The next day started off with something sticky, a brake that is. Time to visit the PL-garage:







Would you trust this man with your b.....rakes?







Brakes lubed, off we went to ride some more. Destination: T.W.O. On the way Scott (WhiteTiger) and Eric (UnionJackTiger) observe the wussie-Tigers in the shade:











The breaking point! Some went dirty, some stayed smooth:







But we all met again at the T.W.O. resort:







Enjoying the shade(s):







Even most excellent tigers need to rest:







And even Harley riders can have a moment of good taste:







While even tiger riders have moments of questionable such:







To be continueth...

[GatorTiger]

Next "up": Brasstown Bald Ò the highest spot in Georgia. They won't let tigers up there, so we had to take the cage:







One can see far from up here:





Can you see the bikes? No? Whaddabaout now?







Complimentary patriotism shot:







And who will we shoot of these?







Since some Tigers couldn't behave they made us walk down. Some even got confused where to go. Well, that's what you get when you leave your GPS on the bike...







A colorful bunch!







And how else can one celebrate a purrfect weekend other than with some fried food!















To be continueth...

[GatorTiger]

Well, it is Sunday now, and the group dissipated, leaving GatorTiger to hunt for himself. Black bears are tasty!







But since we have a big appetite we need to devour some more stuff:







What about a whole town?







But wait! They got it wrong!! they got it all wrong!!!







Guess they are still holding a crouch...



So, what is next? For me, Montana this Saturday for two weeks! For the Tiger Ride-Ins: Durango, CO, in September, and Jasper, AR, in October. Come and join us!!!!!!!!!!!



See you on the road!!!!



And here endeth the lesson...

[BULLman]

Great write up!!!



My camera never made it out of the tank bag :oops:



Too much time dealing with leaking anti-freeze [broken fitting - but learned how to take off fairing :D ]



And tracking down replacement for missing bolts and screws [4 on triple tree :!:  & others holding on fairing and stripped w/s bolts]



Went to Blairville Home Depot two times in three days :roll:



But that is nothing compared to my new project [Tiger did a Peter Pan off the trailer :shock: ]

[Tri2Fly]

Official photographer Tom busy at work:

LOOK!  STEAMERS!!  THREE OF 'EM!  YAY!!!!!!

[jsingraham]

3 of the only 4 that attended last weekend actually...should have gotten a shot of all four of them especially since none were the same color.



Jason in KC

98 BRG

[BykBoy]

That is one good looking cat!



Too bad I couldn't make it to the TRI. I'm hoping to make it to Durango in Sep.



Hope to see you and all the other big cats there!

[TigerTrax]

Great pIcs & Post Hansi.....



Every One of the new attendees said they had a Grrrrrrreat time at the Ride-In.



Those who have been with us before really enjoyed the area with gorgeous roads and scenery.



Next year.... the 'boys from PA' are planning the 'PA Tiger Ride-In'...

it should be a 'barn-burner' !



Also in '07 ---- Red Lodge, MT .... looks like July ( just to make sure the passes are open ) PS: This may be a 'launching point' for some riders to head up to Alaska.



Death Valley is on the list .... checking for a good time ( early Spring so we can catch the flowers blooming in the valley )



For anyone wanting to keep up with the Tiger ride-In info ... go to ....

              http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/us_tiger_ride_ins/



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