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2630 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Cruiser

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This was fun from end to end. Aptly named as there are plenty of turns (in two sections), forest scenery, good pavement. Halfway across, in a valley, is a small store for refreshments and many porch chairs to rest on and watch all the other bike

0 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Touring

Our group met up at 8am at the Cracker Barrel in Calhoun for the start of our planned 2 day ride. The first day our ride took us on an approximately 290 mile trip to Johnson Tn. Our leader, Tim set the course for as many scenic back roads as possible. No dirt roads thankfully. While on the way we rode Hwy 60 in GA and Hwy 19 thru Cherokee. We discovered Hwy 80 was also a great road to ride. We arrived in Johnson City that evening after a scenic ride and a meal at the Texas Roadhouse. After a good night's rest we headed out to our destination "The Snake" Hwy 421 to the Country Store in Shady Valley TN. After the girls shopped a while at the store for souvenirs, we headed towards Bristol. Our trip home had a few more highway miles in it but we all still enjoyed the ride home...

2 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Cruiser

More popular with sport bikes. If you like to drag your floorboards and meet a lot of great people, this is the road for you.

0 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Sport - Touring

Love this road! I like it better than Tail of the Dragon.

0 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Standard

Awesome road ride it often better than dragon less traffic not as commercial stop at the store lot of bikes there

0 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Cruiser

Nothing more fun than 421! Rode it in '08 on an Electra glide, again in '10 in the family truckster, a Lincoln Navigator ( that's when I knew there wasn't a better road out there because even that was a blast!). Now I am heading there in a week in a 703HP super charged Dodge charger SRT-8 Super Bee, can't wait, will keep you posted!

0 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Sport - Touring

The best stretched of sweepers I have ever ridden. Worth the trip even if you have to drive out of your way! Cut up 133 to 58E and let the good times continue to ROLL!

0 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Cruiser

We finally got to ride this route last Summer, what an awesome experience! I was not sure I could scrape floorboards on my bike until I did the Snake!! recommend this one HIGHLY if you are in the area!!

4 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Touring

I'll be riding this road again, loved it, was much better than the Tail of the Dragon.

4000 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Sport - Touring

My #1 road in The Smokys. It should be #1 on this site, but I'm glad it's not. If it was it would suffer from it's success like The Tail of the Dragon does, and be practically unrideable thanks to people putting around it at 25mph. No, people don't seem to particularly like the idea of coming 'all the way' up to Mountain City/Shady Valley to ride this. Good. Keeps it safer, makes it easier for clean runs of this utter ribbon of perfection that I strongly recommend doing down and back, the whole way. It has it all with tight twisties, off camber twisties, hairpins, loose sweepers, flowing sweepers, tighter sweepers and even the occasional straight and passing lane and lots of pull offs for the slower traffic to move over. (Though, sometimes they don't.) I only get to the area once a year, but on the ride down to Asheville we run this route both ways, and 4 days later on the way home we do it again. It's the only road on the 50+ we do, that we do twice. It's that good, to me. Just talking about it makes me miss it. :(

3912 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Other

Rode The Snake for the first time in July and then had the pleasure of riding it again in mid September. What a great ride! We liked it better than Deals Gap. On one of our rides we came out of Mountain City, TN... rode up 421 to Shady Valley,... took TN-133 North to Damascus, VA... US-58 east over to VA-91 South... back down to US-421 (Mountain City) Be sure to stop at Shady Valley Country Store. US-421 North from Shady Valley to Bristol is a nice ride too.

0 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Other

I liked this more that the Tail of the Dragon. downside is that there r trucks coming at u on your side of the road and some turns have gravel

157 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Touring

Road this for the second time 9/6/2016. Nestled in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, you will find a destination like no other. "1 valley, 3 mountains, and 489 curves" is their claim to fame. Come "snake" through parts of the Iron, Holston, and Cross Mountain chain. https://www.421thesnake.com/

0 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Cruiser

I love the Snake. The Dragon gets all the acclaim but the Snake is a better ride. You can make a day out of this thing easily. When you stop at the Old 421 Store, it's at a cross roads. Make sure to head north out of the store towards Damascus VA and check out Backbone Rock and enjoy that road also. It brings you back to Mountain City TN and you can take a right turn back on the snake and back to the store. All around just a good place to ride.

345 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Cruiser

more twists and turns

69 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Touring

Great rode, lots of curves.

197 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Sport - Touring

Could be a five instead of a four. Reason is it's an awesome road and great ride. A four because of side driveways and side roads. And heavy on LEO's during the riding season, even on non-weekend days. This is really two segments added together. Holston to Shady Valley has great ride along the lake and then some good challenging twisties. Then from Shady Valley to Mountain City, another group of good twisties. Used to be a great little burger place on the corner in Shady Valley but it changed hands and was actually close (for good?) the last time I was by there. Too bad, always crowded with bikes on weekends and awesome burgers. Anyway, other than the Dragon this is some of the best riding in Tennessee.

54 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Touring

Made the trip last Friday with beautiful weather and excellent roads. Highly recommend making this route in the fall!

30 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Touring

Great for Twisties but there are better scenic views. I live off of 421, albeit in Winston Salem, but I ride The Snake at least once a season. The Country Store, hangout, etc in Shady Valley is a great place to grab something to eat and talk to other riders.

31 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Cruiser

Rode this on a Monday. No other traffic the whole time on the route. Enjoyable ride.

65 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Touring

Nice! Bought the t-shirt too!

108 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Cruiser

Very curvy ride on the mountain top ridge, scenic ride with low traffic which made for a relaxing enjoyable adventure. There is one stop at Shady Valley you can buy your memorable shirts and many other things. Have rode this twice and will be back.

1095 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Cruiser

Definitely a very challenging ride. I rode this on the way back from a stay in Little Switzerland, NC. Not all of the turns are marked, and several will catch you out as being much tighter than initially expected. Road conditions were very good, scenery also good (when you're not required to pay attention to the road) and a stop at the Shady Valley County Store is a must.

44 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Touring

Similar, but much less crowded than the dragon. Nice little country store stop off in Shady Valley.

81 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Cruiser

good scenery and has lots of curves

20 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Sport - Touring

Very fun similar to The Tail Of The Dragon in spots longer and much less traveled

187 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Sport - Touring

Just rode this highway again in Sept. 2020. The road was in great shape, clean and fun, fun, fun. Note, the Shady Valley Store, which had closed last year, is now open again. Great place to stop for lunch, stickers, shirts, fuel, etc. Get some !

71 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Cruiser

I really love this ride. It was great every time. And going to the restaurant that was family style was also fantastic. Recommended!!!

53 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Touring

Have rode this several times, love the Shady Valley store nice stop in the middle

108 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Cruiser

Beautiful ride, very scenic with the mountains and valleys the road runs on the crest of the mountain top at 3500 feet.

9 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Cruiser

Heading there from New England

157 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Touring

This road is underrated in my opinion. We had been riding all day and this was the last we rode before ending up in Blowing Rock, but this road will make you work

110 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Touring

Love this area...usually ride it from NC side

92 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Adventure Touring

Great road and well maintained. Tight turns and switchbacks. Good scenery as you would expect in the mountains. Must stop at Shady Valley country store, really the only place to stop between Boone NC and Bristol TN.

54 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Touring

Fantastic ride with plenty of scenery. Give yourself plenty of time to see the sights and keep one eye on the sky. Rain showers come over the mountain quickly and will catch you if you are not watching.

26 McR Points

Motorcycle Type : Other

Fast paced