There is a section of road in North Carolina known as Deals Gap and nicknamed Tail of the Dragon. 318 turns in 11 miles. Some of the best riding in the US. Here in the Chicago we don’t have anything close to that. We do have Sheridan Road and a little section that twists and turns as good as you can get within a twenty-minute ride of Chicago.
Going northbound on Sheridan Road from Winnetka at Tower Road and extending about 3.2 miles through Glencoe to County Line Road you have our little version and on sunny weekends you will see motorcycles from all over enjoying the ride. It winds through some of the most beautiful homes in Illinois along Lake Michigan.
I was curious and the other day I counted the turns as I road. In that 3.2 miles there are 30 turns. Sadly 15 are in the first ¾ of a mile. Hey this is Illinois. It is pretty flat.
There are twistier rides in the state and there are more scenic rides but none of them allow me to go out for two hours, get some wind therapy, and a cup of coffee. That also lets me hit the Skokie Lagoons too.
Of course, Sheridan Road stretches farther and is loaded with more beautiful homes and curves and Illinois has some beautiful stretches out to Standing Rock, or Galena, or even along the Fox river but those take me the full day. Sheridan Road lets me get some wind in my hair when I don’t have the day to give to riding.
Oh, yeah, I have been working on editing book 6 in the Journey of the Freighter Lola series. I hope it will help my creative juices flow and help me through my block.
I Know what you mean being retires allows me to have wind therapy when every the weather allows. I have ridden the dragon 318 curves in 11 miles. But running up or down LSD is a wonderful ride.
One day I will ride the tail but until then I can ride on LSD and Sheridan Rd. most every day.