WEBVTT X-TIMESTAMP-MAP=MPEGTS:90000,LOCAL:00:00:00.000 1 00:00:09.300 --> 00:00:13.000 Walking Dead episode 105 for the lowdown radio show presented by a 2 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:17.000 TV ryder.com I'm Neil Graham this week something a little different 3 00:00:17.000 --> 00:00:22.699 us 129 just may be the most famous motorcycle road in the world of 4 00:00:22.699 --> 00:00:26.000 course you and I know what is The Tail of the Dragon 300 something 5 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:30.600 Curves gym to do 11 short miles today we talked to Daryl Cannon 6 00:00:30.600 --> 00:00:34.700 the photographer behind killboy.com the company who takes 7 00:00:34.700 --> 00:00:38.100 all those roadside photos that you can buy once you get back home to 8 00:00:38.100 --> 00:00:42.700 prove that you rode the road there was the first to admit it's an odd 9 00:00:42.700 --> 00:00:47.399 business but think of this for 25 years thousands of motorcyclists 10 00:00:47.399 --> 00:00:51.500 have written by his lens is anyone better equipped to discuss 11 00:00:51.500 --> 00:00:55.000 everything from riding technique to the trends and fads that we 12 00:00:55.000 --> 00:00:59.200 motorcyclist follow more than. and if you're planning to ride the 13 00:00:59.200 --> 00:01:03.000 dragon the season we get his tips on when to go and how best to give 14 00:01:03.000 --> 00:01:07.099 ourselves a Fighting Chance of coming out the other end this and 15 00:01:07.099 --> 00:01:12.799 more on the lowdown radio show. girl let's start off with the with 16 00:01:12.799 --> 00:01:16.400 a basic question and we can assume that everyone knows about this 17 00:01:16.400 --> 00:01:22.000 particular road so so tell me what is The Tail of the Dragon the Tail 18 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:26.700 of the Dragon well. it's become kind of legendary I 19 00:01:26.700 --> 00:01:30.700 guess but you know it all boils down to is just a section of my 20 00:01:30.700 --> 00:01:35.299 Federal Highway that's pretty unique it's not so unique in that 21 00:01:35.299 --> 00:01:40.500 it's curvy there's a lot of curvy roads not always Federal highways 22 00:01:40.500 --> 00:01:44.099 but what makes it unique is that it borders the Great Smoky 23 00:01:44.099 --> 00:01:47.799 Mountain National Park. on one side and it's a nature 24 00:01:47.799 --> 00:01:51.900 conservancy on the other side meaning that the entire length of 25 00:01:51.900 --> 00:01:57.400 the road is devoid of people businesses other than the 26 00:01:57.400 --> 00:02:03.200 photography Hawaii that's allowed but it's it's that it's Kirby but 27 00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:07.500 I also that it's isolated and you do not have to concern yourself 28 00:02:07.500 --> 00:02:12.400 especially as a motorcycle rider but as a member of a road in 29 00:02:12.400 --> 00:02:17.000 general of other traffic coming here now disturbing other people 30 00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:20.699 driving through a neighborhood or anything like that and. 31 00:02:22.099 --> 00:02:27.099 it has a lot of comradery aspect we're at the end we have the 32 00:02:27.099 --> 00:02:29.400 stores where people come to hang out and I think that's something 33 00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:35.400 that's pretty rare on a curvy road is a very well-established area to 34 00:02:35.400 --> 00:02:39.800 sort of mingle with fellow enthusiasts you know you can go 35 00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:42.800 outside you know but when you get done you just kind of Mosin on to 36 00:02:42.800 --> 00:02:47.000 the next place but yeah it's a section 11 Mi section of Highway 37 00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:55.300 129 North Carolina and Tennessee and goes into Tennessee 11 Mile 38 00:02:55.300 --> 00:03:01.500 and its claim to be 318 * 11 miles we have tried to count that and we 39 00:03:01.500 --> 00:03:03.699 end up at around two hundred being you know. 40 00:03:04.500 --> 00:03:08.000 and loose with the counting so we're not sure where the number 41 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:12.699 actually came, but it's it's takes its down t-shirts and stickers now 42 00:03:12.699 --> 00:03:16.400 but it's pretty well known around the world and it's pretty well 43 00:03:16.400 --> 00:03:24.300 considering how height is there's a question their does the I want 44 00:03:24.300 --> 00:03:27.400 to get there a little bit more into the road in a second does the 45 00:03:27.400 --> 00:03:33.500 road live up to the hype. the road is surprisingly seems to 46 00:03:33.500 --> 00:03:36.699 exceed people's expectations I sit there on the porch and people 47 00:03:36.699 --> 00:03:42.599 don't know who I am sometimes and I can listen to people's reactions 48 00:03:42.599 --> 00:03:45.800 neon from the first time going through when they're like you know 49 00:03:45.800 --> 00:03:49.400 just astounded I thought it would never end never like you know 50 00:03:49.400 --> 00:03:52.300 we're halfway through it I'm like this thing ever stopped you know 51 00:03:52.300 --> 00:03:57.500 so in the world what word for easily you know disappointed 52 00:03:57.500 --> 00:04:01.000 things are over high and things like that as much hype as this 53 00:04:01.000 --> 00:04:05.400 road gets negative and positive but people know that it's supposed 54 00:04:05.400 --> 00:04:08.800 to be something special when they show up and they, expecting that 55 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:14.400 and to be as surprised and satisfied as they seem to be for 56 00:04:14.400 --> 00:04:18.399 the most part you'll hear a lot of people on the internet Gumball and 57 00:04:18.399 --> 00:04:22.300 do your thing that people do on on the comments but I checked her in 58 00:04:22.300 --> 00:04:26.399 person seeing gebo's in here in people's reactions they seem to be 59 00:04:26.399 --> 00:04:32.100 really impressed with it. the people for the most part act 60 00:04:32.100 --> 00:04:36.800 right and accommodating you know using all the pull-offs you've 61 00:04:36.800 --> 00:04:41.000 been there a few times right I have never been on the road I've 62 00:04:41.000 --> 00:04:46.300 been in that region many times for whatever reason but it was time or 63 00:04:46.300 --> 00:04:50.100 I think I may have also to the maven something else at work which 64 00:04:50.100 --> 00:04:53.800 is at I think because of the hyper on the road I thought it was just 65 00:04:53.800 --> 00:04:56.899 going to be people going balls-to-the-wall and a madhouse a 66 00:04:56.899 --> 00:04:59.699 lot of people think that it's always busy and it's not it's not 67 00:04:59.699 --> 00:05:05.000 like there's a window there on midday Friday midday Saturday 68 00:05:05.000 --> 00:05:10.100 where it's very busy and it's and it's not a Time necessary to avoid 69 00:05:10.100 --> 00:05:12.500 and you just hit me in the right mindset it's a cool time to get 70 00:05:12.500 --> 00:05:16.899 out there and see what's happening and maybe not be on the road as 71 00:05:16.899 --> 00:05:22.000 much as be observing what's on the road you know you can do what I 72 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:24.899 was getting at with that question was the people have been there 73 00:05:24.899 --> 00:05:29.199 I'll ask them this and they're always surprised by this little 74 00:05:29.199 --> 00:05:33.100 piece. it's 11 Mi section of Federal 75 00:05:33.100 --> 00:05:40.300 Highway and I will ask them how many paved koloffs you think there 76 00:05:40.300 --> 00:05:45.199 are in that Eleven Mile section and most people are like I don't 77 00:05:45.199 --> 00:05:51.500 know 10 or 20 you know maybe 30 there's 105-page full Us in at 11 78 00:05:51.500 --> 00:05:55.199 Mi to get to that in a minute but I want it back up just a little 79 00:05:55.199 --> 00:05:58.699 bit when did you first become aware of this road I'll be asleep 80 00:05:58.699 --> 00:06:01.300 how far away did you grow up from this road. 81 00:06:02.500 --> 00:06:07.199 well I grew up in Middle Tennessee about 2 hours away but at the time 82 00:06:07.199 --> 00:06:11.600 that I discovered this road I was actually living in eastern North 83 00:06:11.600 --> 00:06:16.100 Carolina we were on the other side of Raleigh area called Rocky Mount 84 00:06:16.100 --> 00:06:21.100 and I was I just got into a sportbike for the first time in my 85 00:06:21.100 --> 00:06:25.000 life I've written some dirt bikes when I was younger and had a dirt 86 00:06:25.000 --> 00:06:28.300 bike and I was wrong with some friends and they were planning a 87 00:06:28.300 --> 00:06:33.000 trip to the Blue Ridge Parkway on the other end of state and I start 88 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:36.100 to do some research and I discovered this channel the dragon 89 00:06:36.100 --> 00:06:40.600 thing and I convinced them to come check it out while we're over here 90 00:06:40.600 --> 00:06:43.000 but they weren't super interested ever like one more going for the 91 00:06:43.000 --> 00:06:46.100 Blue Ridge Parkway that's like an hour and a half away from where 92 00:06:46.100 --> 00:06:48.199 we're going to be it's going to be kind of a hassle to get over there 93 00:06:48.199 --> 00:06:53.100 but we worked in one of these were here and we wrote it for the first 94 00:06:53.100 --> 00:06:57.000 time and it's four of us and we all would like that was the best 95 00:06:57.000 --> 00:07:00.000 part of the whole ride you know what year would that have been. 96 00:07:00.699 --> 00:07:07.100 it'll be like 96 I got like a 95 ZX6R back around that time brand 97 00:07:07.100 --> 00:07:15.000 new vehicle and coming over our first time that I actually had 98 00:07:15.000 --> 00:07:19.000 like a camcorder on my tank from back in the day we stay around 99 00:07:19.000 --> 00:07:22.500 like playing around video tography before I really started this 100 00:07:22.500 --> 00:07:28.699 business is. The video I need a converter to digital but it was 101 00:07:28.699 --> 00:07:33.300 kind of comedic looking back because I'm going into these terms 102 00:07:33.300 --> 00:07:36.699 that I'm now super comfortable with but I'm like it's one long 103 00:07:36.699 --> 00:07:39.699 time and I'm doing the saying where you're like you know you 104 00:07:39.699 --> 00:07:42.500 don't really know what's going on and I don't recall that we call 105 00:07:42.500 --> 00:07:48.800 that a week all that in the leaven affects the corner, looking back 106 00:07:48.800 --> 00:07:53.199 on it now but it was it was a really good time you know and it 107 00:07:53.199 --> 00:07:56.699 was decided that was a part of the best part of the whole ride when 108 00:07:56.699 --> 00:07:59.600 you wrote it 30 years ago was the road. 109 00:08:00.699 --> 00:08:04.899 is it was then is it is it is now was it wasn't that popular was it 110 00:08:04.899 --> 00:08:07.899 a phenomenon in do you know the history of the road terms of when 111 00:08:07.899 --> 00:08:12.800 it became this real destination cuz I live you know I'm 1500 Mi 112 00:08:12.800 --> 00:08:16.899 away and yet I know lots of people who that's where they go they go 113 00:08:16.899 --> 00:08:19.300 to the tailor I can it's it's it's, it's one of those bucket 114 00:08:19.300 --> 00:08:23.399 list things it's like riding a famous racetrack or or or climbing 115 00:08:23.399 --> 00:08:27.600 a mountain or something I mean when did it really really take off 116 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:29.300 as a destination. 117 00:08:31.600 --> 00:08:38.399 yeah it was back in the early nineties there was a a growing you 118 00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:41.299 know notoriety but it was really not well known until it was a 119 00:08:41.299 --> 00:08:45.700 magazine article published about it and I think that's why I'm sort 120 00:08:45.700 --> 00:08:50.399 of took off so the early to mid-90s and when we showed up you 121 00:08:50.399 --> 00:08:54.200 know in the late nineties for it it was definitely not that busy 122 00:08:54.200 --> 00:08:58.000 not as busy as it is now the cat was coming out the bag they let 123 00:08:58.000 --> 00:09:02.299 you know I understand that people Grumble about how busy it can be 124 00:09:02.299 --> 00:09:04.600 they want to blame somebody so they point the finger at me 125 00:09:04.600 --> 00:09:08.500 sometimes but it's like this was happening whether I did it or not 126 00:09:08.500 --> 00:09:13.299 there's somebody's going to be in my position and I hope that you 127 00:09:13.299 --> 00:09:19.000 know I'm doing as good of a job as I can to be a good Steward to the 128 00:09:19.000 --> 00:09:22.399 area and use the popularity of our platform to promote. 129 00:09:23.399 --> 00:09:28.500 sustainable enjoyment of the road it's a big thing to me and just 130 00:09:28.500 --> 00:09:31.399 push people out there that would be to be promoting it so I hope 131 00:09:31.399 --> 00:09:36.600 that people see that it was going to happen but do you know the 132 00:09:36.600 --> 00:09:40.000 scene has definitely grown somewhere I was on it before and 133 00:09:40.000 --> 00:09:44.700 the road was in good shape back then and then they repaved it 134 00:09:44.700 --> 00:09:48.000 twice since then although there was a long period between the 135 00:09:48.000 --> 00:09:51.600 second and third Paving that ain't got pretty rough for a little 136 00:09:51.600 --> 00:09:54.600 while and there's some pretty you know I had chunks in the missing 137 00:09:54.600 --> 00:10:01.600 pieces of the road here in there it was you know mostly sport bikes 138 00:10:01.600 --> 00:10:06.899 when we were first going and then late 90s to 2000s it was more like 139 00:10:06.899 --> 00:10:11.799 Adventure Land Cruiser motorcycles were showing up songs by 50/50 and 140 00:10:11.799 --> 00:10:16.200 then for the past ten years or so or so the car saying is really 141 00:10:16.200 --> 00:10:20.299 blown up so it's about 50-50 B of cars now let's talk about about 142 00:10:20.299 --> 00:10:22.600 your business because of course that's that's why you're here and 143 00:10:22.600 --> 00:10:25.799 you and I met. at a recent event and I tortured 144 00:10:25.799 --> 00:10:28.600 you with questions about it which I thought was really fascinating 145 00:10:28.600 --> 00:10:33.899 so how how did you become a guy to a guy that's so Associated is it 146 00:10:33.899 --> 00:10:39.299 as a photographer as it is as your your business killboy.com how did 147 00:10:39.299 --> 00:10:45.799 how do you become who you are now from that guy on your ZX6R how do 148 00:10:45.799 --> 00:10:49.700 you get to this take me through that that progression. 149 00:10:51.000 --> 00:10:52.600 how do you turn a road into a career. 150 00:10:54.799 --> 00:10:58.700 yeah it's been a crazy ride you know why I didn't come into this 151 00:10:58.700 --> 00:11:02.500 with any kind of plan I didn't get an education and business with 152 00:11:02.500 --> 00:11:08.000 photography when I when I stumbled into this I was working on 153 00:11:08.000 --> 00:11:12.000 shipping. Shot in the forklift I really enjoyed that job I worked 154 00:11:12.000 --> 00:11:17.200 retail and stuff like that but from that first visit I was really 155 00:11:17.200 --> 00:11:21.299 in a morgue with the road and a few years after that me and my 156 00:11:21.299 --> 00:11:24.000 family moved back to Middle Tennessee so I was only 2 hours 157 00:11:24.000 --> 00:11:29.299 away and I started coming out about every week and every other 158 00:11:29.299 --> 00:11:34.500 weekend I'll come out and ride but I wouldn't want to hang out at the 159 00:11:34.500 --> 00:11:37.899 Overlook it was very exposed to the Sun and I was kind of you know 160 00:11:37.899 --> 00:11:42.799 fair skin redhead so I was kind of ride some and then I'll hang out 161 00:11:42.799 --> 00:11:46.299 of one of the tires in the in the shade in time to take a break or 162 00:11:46.299 --> 00:11:49.700 something they're down at the store but the place I was working 163 00:11:49.700 --> 00:11:54.100 I ended up winning like a $400 gift certificate to Circuit City. 164 00:11:56.100 --> 00:12:00.600 on the job attendants or something like that and didn't really know 165 00:12:00.600 --> 00:12:03.399 what to get and I thought you know it'd be cool to have like a 166 00:12:03.399 --> 00:12:06.700 digital camera to record take some snaps at what I'm doing on the 167 00:12:06.700 --> 00:12:09.500 motorcycle like I said I've dabbled in video and setting up 168 00:12:09.500 --> 00:12:14.000 cameras we use bullet cams run to camcorders and put them like on 169 00:12:14.000 --> 00:12:19.299 the 4th and things like that for ATT quality video but but yeah I 170 00:12:19.299 --> 00:12:22.700 snagged this point and shoot digital camera and digital cameras 171 00:12:22.700 --> 00:12:27.500 were first coming out you know to make a pixel or whatever it is 172 00:12:27.500 --> 00:12:32.299 video card photo quality but I will just ride around and get some 173 00:12:32.299 --> 00:12:36.899 shots and I was also in the video gaming at the time and I picked up 174 00:12:36.899 --> 00:12:42.200 using this nickname killboy for playing online video games I I was 175 00:12:42.200 --> 00:12:48.500 just sitting there playing your game and in the nickname for this 176 00:12:48.500 --> 00:12:52.299 character when I'm flying and I was listening to a band I like all 177 00:12:52.299 --> 00:12:54.700 The Offspring in there a song called killboy powerhead. 178 00:12:56.100 --> 00:12:59.600 great song but I thought that's cool nickname I'll use that and 179 00:12:59.600 --> 00:13:01.899 not registered the domain not really knowing what it was going 180 00:13:01.899 --> 00:13:06.100 to be and it was about RC cars or video games what if I was into you 181 00:13:06.100 --> 00:13:09.100 I was just kind of post on their kind of blocking before blogging 182 00:13:09.100 --> 00:13:12.200 with the thing and then once I got into motorcycles I started putting 183 00:13:12.200 --> 00:13:16.600 photos from motorcycle stuff on their friends and family to kind 184 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:19.100 of keep her what I was doing there was no Facebook and stuff back 185 00:13:19.100 --> 00:13:23.500 then but start coming to the dragon taking pictures put them up 186 00:13:23.500 --> 00:13:28.700 there talking about what was going on back then as I was there right 187 00:13:28.700 --> 00:13:34.100 now pretty long you know stories and stuff about my weekend and 188 00:13:34.100 --> 00:13:37.399 what it was like there but adding the pictures also and people 189 00:13:37.399 --> 00:13:41.200 started following and starting you know so it time and hands like to 190 00:13:41.200 --> 00:13:43.600 stop by and let hey take my picture and put it on there I want 191 00:13:43.600 --> 00:13:46.200 to hear I want to download it you could you can make a little money 192 00:13:46.200 --> 00:13:50.000 doing this you know so. started thinking about it maybe I 193 00:13:50.000 --> 00:13:53.899 could do this on the side so for like 2 years I I just took 194 00:13:53.899 --> 00:13:57.000 pictures and put them up for free and started getting a little bit 195 00:13:57.000 --> 00:14:02.500 better camera equipment little bit better digital cameras and finally 196 00:14:02.500 --> 00:14:04.600 after a couple years I had a pretty good following and I 197 00:14:04.600 --> 00:14:06.700 thought I'm going to give it a shot and see if I can sell some of 198 00:14:06.700 --> 00:14:14.299 these so I decided to put them from a certain point it was 2003 I 199 00:14:14.299 --> 00:14:19.100 put him on a storefront where you can purchase the photos and I was 200 00:14:19.100 --> 00:14:21.299 afraid I was going to get a lot of pushback and people would be like 201 00:14:21.299 --> 00:14:24.600 you know that's messed up you're trying to make money off of this 202 00:14:24.600 --> 00:14:29.500 or something almost for free but then right away man I started 203 00:14:29.500 --> 00:14:33.899 getting sales and answering emails and things like that got to the 204 00:14:33.899 --> 00:14:38.500 point within a couple of months I couldn't do both like my 40 hour 205 00:14:38.500 --> 00:14:42.500 week job working on material handler working on shipping docks 206 00:14:42.500 --> 00:14:45.100 and then going up and shooting on the weekends and then trying to 207 00:14:45.100 --> 00:14:48.200 fill orders and I was burning CDs and ship and CDs. 208 00:14:48.200 --> 00:14:51.000 disciplined and you know you know wasn't digital delivery back then 209 00:14:51.000 --> 00:14:55.399 so I got to be too much so we've been like too much I quit my job 210 00:14:55.399 --> 00:14:59.799 and went full-time on the side of the road with a friend to help me 211 00:14:59.799 --> 00:15:03.200 get the damn make sure we were up there every weekend and ever since 212 00:15:03.200 --> 00:15:07.299 then we've been up there pretty much every weekend for sure from 213 00:15:07.299 --> 00:15:12.100 March to November but now I've got a team of guys that we're out 214 00:15:12.100 --> 00:15:19.100 there every day from 9 to 6 march to November and like I said we we 215 00:15:19.100 --> 00:15:26.200 have received about $80,000 a week and you don't put all those on on 216 00:15:26.200 --> 00:15:29.700 storage your online when you started doing this and turning 217 00:15:29.700 --> 00:15:32.299 into a business and it was a hard to explain to people what you were 218 00:15:32.299 --> 00:15:36.399 doing cuz it is I mean it's kind of bizarre when you think about it 219 00:15:36.399 --> 00:15:39.799 just let me know with the internet and there's a rose in California 220 00:15:39.799 --> 00:15:44.200 and it's it's not that uncommon. but the idea that you know may I 221 00:15:44.200 --> 00:15:46.200 stand at the side of the road and take your picture if you want to 222 00:15:46.200 --> 00:15:49.399 buy it you can go online and get it I mean where their moments when 223 00:15:49.399 --> 00:15:51.299 when people just looked at you like what you talking about. 224 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:57.500 or was it should have understood by those who frequent of that road 225 00:15:57.500 --> 00:16:00.500 that people do people get hurt or not. 226 00:16:02.200 --> 00:16:05.600 right some people you know did get it but a lot of people didn't and 227 00:16:05.600 --> 00:16:09.399 back then they understand what we were doing nobody had really done 228 00:16:09.399 --> 00:16:15.200 this before you know roadside photography stuff like Daytona 229 00:16:15.200 --> 00:16:18.100 Bike Week used to have people there taking pictures of people on 230 00:16:18.100 --> 00:16:21.399 bikes as they went through and this is at a time again where it 231 00:16:21.399 --> 00:16:26.000 was mostly film and digital cameras were still just what 232 00:16:26.000 --> 00:16:29.899 nation and they were not better than film yet so if you really 233 00:16:29.899 --> 00:16:33.899 wanted the best quality of work you still use film but there are a 234 00:16:33.899 --> 00:16:37.700 lot of people who drove by and what kind of like confused or 235 00:16:37.700 --> 00:16:41.500 didn't understand what we were doing for sure cops or 236 00:16:41.500 --> 00:16:48.399 surveillance it was that a part of it I don't think I get that 237 00:16:48.399 --> 00:16:51.399 sometimes you have to put the please just like that we had 238 00:16:51.399 --> 00:17:04.500 killed or something but. people kind of that were 239 00:17:04.500 --> 00:17:08.500 enthusiastic kind of understood but it is an unusual thing once 240 00:17:08.500 --> 00:17:12.000 you start thinking about it really took me decades to click with this 241 00:17:12.000 --> 00:17:16.000 what we started doing was unheard of in photography in that we're 242 00:17:16.000 --> 00:17:21.299 taking photos not pre-arranged you know almost all photography 243 00:17:21.299 --> 00:17:24.900 there's an agreement in an understanding before the shutter 244 00:17:24.900 --> 00:17:28.900 clicks yes I'm going to take your picture you can purchase it if you 245 00:17:28.900 --> 00:17:31.799 want or need to maybe they've already arranged for that but what 246 00:17:31.799 --> 00:17:36.000 we're doing is we're taking the picture first or firing first aim 247 00:17:36.000 --> 00:17:39.900 fire and then settle up later or understand what's going on later 248 00:17:39.900 --> 00:17:43.900 in that that's unheard-of I mean it's pretty rare to take pictures 249 00:17:43.900 --> 00:17:47.599 without some sort of arrangement and be successful and make a 250 00:17:47.599 --> 00:17:53.200 living at it we were featured on. only in America on the Discovery 251 00:17:53.200 --> 00:17:56.900 Channel History Channel with Larry the Cable Guy he traveled around 252 00:17:56.900 --> 00:18:02.400 the country to these unique businesses and featured on the 253 00:18:02.400 --> 00:18:06.099 show and they chose us as one of their feature businesses because 254 00:18:06.099 --> 00:18:10.500 what we do is so you need but yes that is the road taking pictures 255 00:18:10.500 --> 00:18:14.700 of strangers in the hopes that they'll find them online and just 256 00:18:14.700 --> 00:18:20.200 the other part about it there for services cool with what we do but 257 00:18:20.200 --> 00:18:22.599 there are some stipulations in there are some rules that we 258 00:18:22.599 --> 00:18:25.799 cannot transact anything on the side of the road we cannot do 259 00:18:25.799 --> 00:18:29.799 business on the side of the road so I might have to take care of 260 00:18:29.799 --> 00:18:31.900 the place and they appreciate what we do. 261 00:18:32.799 --> 00:18:35.799 in regards for documenting what comes to me because there are 262 00:18:35.799 --> 00:18:38.599 times when they need to know or they're on the lookout for 263 00:18:38.599 --> 00:18:42.299 something or someone and they know they can go to H photography and 264 00:18:42.299 --> 00:18:46.599 look through there and see if the red Ford Ranger that's been 265 00:18:46.599 --> 00:18:49.700 missing since Thursday came through the area you know so they 266 00:18:49.700 --> 00:18:54.299 appreciate what we do in a sort of traffic camera type of way but we 267 00:18:54.299 --> 00:19:00.000 also are careful to follow their guidelines and make sure we don't 268 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:04.200 cross any you know any boundaries cause any problems we try to stay 269 00:19:04.200 --> 00:19:07.200 as far back as we can leave the place open even though they're not 270 00:19:07.200 --> 00:19:11.799 there for us we are we appreciate that so we try to stay out of the 271 00:19:11.799 --> 00:19:17.500 way things like that because it's such a legendary Road you've seen 272 00:19:17.500 --> 00:19:21.099 everything happened on this road so let's go through a little bit 273 00:19:21.099 --> 00:19:25.000 of the nuts and bolts of it I mean I I always think of the Tail of 274 00:19:25.000 --> 00:19:27.799 the Dragon is people would ride down from all over the place from 275 00:19:27.799 --> 00:19:31.599 where I'm in Canada or anywhere else and you get there and all of 276 00:19:31.599 --> 00:19:35.400 a sudden the Press. you're on this legendary Road and 277 00:19:35.400 --> 00:19:40.200 god dammit I'm going to nail every Apex so I Envision that it's kind 278 00:19:40.200 --> 00:19:44.200 of a it can be a bit of a crash Fest now is that is there any 279 00:19:44.200 --> 00:19:47.000 truth to that or is that just a bad idea. 280 00:19:49.299 --> 00:19:52.599 you know speaking of coming from Canada to serve brie cheese to 281 00:19:52.599 --> 00:19:56.099 come down three or four times a year from can I just arrived that 282 00:19:56.099 --> 00:19:58.500 road and see what would ride their bikes all the way down and their 283 00:19:58.500 --> 00:20:02.299 friends up there hadn't been like you're going all that way to 284 00:20:02.299 --> 00:20:06.400 divide 11 miles. again there's something about that 285 00:20:06.400 --> 00:20:11.099 the vibe and energy here and it's a challenge you know it's it's not 286 00:20:11.099 --> 00:20:14.000 the place to learn to ride a motorcycle but you can learn a lot 287 00:20:14.000 --> 00:20:19.099 about riding a motorcycle on that road for sure is very rapid fired 288 00:20:19.099 --> 00:20:22.299 almost like I think of it like karate left right left right you 289 00:20:22.299 --> 00:20:27.599 know the teachers you very quickly how to move your bike and change 290 00:20:27.599 --> 00:20:31.900 directions and I think that is beneficial it carries over to 291 00:20:31.900 --> 00:20:34.799 other riding if you suddenly need to make a direction change and you 292 00:20:34.799 --> 00:20:38.700 done this road a few times and got in that type of comfortable on 293 00:20:38.700 --> 00:20:44.799 your machine then it become safer for you but to come down here you 294 00:20:44.799 --> 00:20:46.700 challenge yourself but you're never going to. 295 00:20:47.599 --> 00:20:52.400 touch any kind of. capabilities of local Sky until 296 00:20:52.400 --> 00:20:55.200 you've been there for a few years but what a lot of people like to 297 00:20:55.200 --> 00:21:02.500 do is to run with other people whether it's known entities or 298 00:21:02.500 --> 00:21:09.000 they're strangers there's a lot of weird pressure that happens on all 299 00:21:09.000 --> 00:21:13.099 of us when we get behind somebody else or somebody comes up behind 300 00:21:13.099 --> 00:21:18.799 us when we start trying to see if we can keep up or forget it it's 301 00:21:18.799 --> 00:21:29.299 called being a man it's it's a thing and it's it's almost always 302 00:21:29.299 --> 00:21:35.099 almost always the primary contributing factor in an accident 303 00:21:35.099 --> 00:21:40.400 typically people don't wreck when they're by themselves and you may 304 00:21:40.400 --> 00:21:43.500 not know whether if you haven't been here or maybe you've only 305 00:21:43.500 --> 00:21:46.000 been here it's busy and you said you never buy yourself out there 306 00:21:46.000 --> 00:21:48.400 yeah there's a lot of time when it's Jerry. 307 00:21:49.400 --> 00:21:53.599 quiet out there and was not is not that busy but it's almost always 308 00:21:53.599 --> 00:21:57.200 the case that when someone wrecks they're like yeah I was trying to 309 00:21:57.200 --> 00:22:00.099 keep up with him or you know this guy came up behind me and I was 310 00:22:00.099 --> 00:22:01.900 trying to stay out of his way. 311 00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:09.500 you know as far as Rags we see on a busy day like a Saturday or 312 00:22:09.500 --> 00:22:12.599 Friday was pretty busy this probably a good dozen or so people 313 00:22:12.599 --> 00:22:18.299 that go off the road it's such a low speed Road you know so many 314 00:22:18.299 --> 00:22:23.099 rapid tight turn your mama's face in between what is the what is the 315 00:22:23.099 --> 00:22:35.299 sign posted speed 30 30 mph like the early nineties and then they 316 00:22:35.299 --> 00:22:38.400 lowered it to 40 and then for a couple years was fourteen then I 317 00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:43.900 dropped at 2:30 honestly there's sometimes retarded even go to 318 00:22:43.900 --> 00:22:46.799 speed limit as a local you know there's some tight turns there 319 00:22:46.799 --> 00:22:54.200 that are like 2522 Mi an hour turn at but there are places where you 320 00:22:54.200 --> 00:22:58.000 can definitely do much much faster than 30 but because it's so 321 00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:02.500 congested with turns don't get these Open Spaces very often but 322 00:23:02.500 --> 00:23:04.000 allow you to really get in trouble so. 323 00:23:04.299 --> 00:23:10.400 how many guard rails with one real guardrail turn which I think is 324 00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:13.000 for the better I don't want to get tangled up with a guardrail on the 325 00:23:13.000 --> 00:23:17.900 motorcycle I'll take my chances with the trees and it drop off but 326 00:23:17.900 --> 00:23:22.599 the racks when they go off the road I'll call that in an accident 327 00:23:22.599 --> 00:23:27.000 does not always much to it but they typically get up and keep 328 00:23:27.000 --> 00:23:32.099 going but obviously we're humans were tough but were fragile catch 329 00:23:32.099 --> 00:23:35.900 the neck the wrong way or you crack a rib and it gets along your 330 00:23:35.900 --> 00:23:42.299 an hour from help and what would be a non-life-threatening injury 331 00:23:42.299 --> 00:23:47.700 becomes a life-threatening injury overtime because of you know the 332 00:23:47.700 --> 00:23:51.299 distance from help that we are at and in the remoteness of this area 333 00:23:51.299 --> 00:23:55.500 so. there's sometimes Medical Teams 334 00:23:55.500 --> 00:23:58.200 kind of in the area on standby on the weekends when it's busy 335 00:23:58.200 --> 00:24:01.900 especially their Blount County Rescue Squad is all voluntary and 336 00:24:01.900 --> 00:24:07.299 they are out there you know on the weekends, they are to help as 337 00:24:07.299 --> 00:24:13.700 needed and that's a lifesaver for sure but but you know serious Rex 338 00:24:13.700 --> 00:24:21.400 with ambulatory necessity probably once or twice a month maybe we 339 00:24:21.400 --> 00:24:26.299 safe the fatality average over 20 years it's been like three a year 340 00:24:26.299 --> 00:24:31.900 not good but you consider how many motorcycles are out there and 341 00:24:31.900 --> 00:24:35.900 compared to other roads where you put that many bikes on it or 342 00:24:35.900 --> 00:24:42.799 Daytona Bike Week you know again so it's it's honestly a really 343 00:24:42.799 --> 00:24:46.200 safer place than to be unless it's super busy I don't want to be out 344 00:24:46.200 --> 00:24:47.799 there in the middle of the day on Saturday but. 345 00:24:48.599 --> 00:24:53.500 it's way better not having cost traffic and dogs and families and 346 00:24:53.500 --> 00:24:56.500 stuff like that but not many animals there's a huge Forest on 347 00:24:56.500 --> 00:25:02.000 both sides so the animals have no. reason to be pushed into the road 348 00:25:02.000 --> 00:25:04.900 and they've got all the space that they need plus the the traffic 349 00:25:04.900 --> 00:25:08.400 there is kind of loud typically the Enthusiast vehicles are louder 350 00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:12.500 than regular traffic so I don't know I've heard your Porsche SUV 351 00:25:12.500 --> 00:25:18.700 or keeping the animals away all by yourself my friend just got to be 352 00:25:18.700 --> 00:25:22.200 some local Legends I mean I know it's it is a public road so it's 353 00:25:22.200 --> 00:25:26.000 not it's not a race track but you know people do have stop watches 354 00:25:26.000 --> 00:25:31.900 on their phones are there are other riders that are are known to 355 00:25:31.900 --> 00:25:37.299 be like aces of this road. yeah I mean naturally there's 356 00:25:37.299 --> 00:25:41.700 going to be regulars at locals and it in it it just changes dude over 357 00:25:41.700 --> 00:25:46.700 20 years it's been so many different people that get into it 358 00:25:46.700 --> 00:25:53.200 in there whether its Peak Physical Fitness or Peak Interest you know 359 00:25:53.200 --> 00:25:57.299 it's one of those things that over time you can just get tired of you 360 00:25:57.299 --> 00:26:02.400 start to sort of way out the risk-reward thing I've done my 361 00:26:02.400 --> 00:26:07.200 thing I'm satisfied with that I'm not you know I'm not chasing that 362 00:26:07.200 --> 00:26:11.299 anymore so you kind of back down as a local in a regular up getting 363 00:26:11.299 --> 00:26:13.599 through that phase you know there's a few of the locals and 364 00:26:13.599 --> 00:26:18.000 regulars that is pretty well-known that are no longer there you know 365 00:26:18.000 --> 00:26:21.900 and there's other younger guys that have come in and it comes and 366 00:26:21.900 --> 00:26:28.099 goes but it's not as common as a lot of people fantasize Memphis I 367 00:26:28.099 --> 00:26:31.099 don't know that there was cheaper like their timing themselves and 368 00:26:31.099 --> 00:26:35.099 stuff it's very rare that anybody is up there trying to. 369 00:26:35.799 --> 00:26:40.299 Pacer record or something or other times it's after the fact we might 370 00:26:40.299 --> 00:26:43.099 shoot a video and then realized that was a really good run and 371 00:26:43.099 --> 00:26:44.900 we'll go back and look at the video on that I thought wow that 372 00:26:44.900 --> 00:26:49.000 was only X number of minutes you know typically if you set out to 373 00:26:49.000 --> 00:26:53.099 do it you're probably not going to be able to because it's very hard 374 00:26:53.099 --> 00:27:01.200 to mitigate traffic I'm more comfortable at night that I am 375 00:27:01.200 --> 00:27:05.299 there today out there a lot of locals will tell you the same 376 00:27:05.299 --> 00:27:12.500 thing that my time is really a better time anyway but you don't 377 00:27:12.500 --> 00:27:14.799 have to worry about people come around blind turns in the wrong 378 00:27:14.799 --> 00:27:18.799 lane again animals aren't you for a problem if you making some noise 379 00:27:18.799 --> 00:27:21.799 against them you know keep them out of the way and you can really 380 00:27:21.799 --> 00:27:26.000 have the road to yourself without too much concern and the road 381 00:27:26.000 --> 00:27:29.599 being a big Stone it takes you forever to cool off right like the 382 00:27:29.599 --> 00:27:33.500 worst time is temperature goes for grip the worst time is in the 383 00:27:33.500 --> 00:27:37.200 morning right before the sun comes. the Roses cold is going to be in 384 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:40.799 there all day and absorbs the energy from the Sun that he can be 385 00:27:40.799 --> 00:27:43.700 out there at midnight put your hand on the road and it's still 386 00:27:43.700 --> 00:27:49.200 warm you know it's a big Stone so naturally there's there's people 387 00:27:49.200 --> 00:27:52.200 out there who are testing themselves and regulars and locals 388 00:27:52.200 --> 00:27:56.000 that get it memorized it took me a couple years to get the Road full 389 00:27:56.000 --> 00:27:58.799 of memorized and you need to have it memorized into directions you 390 00:27:58.799 --> 00:28:02.099 know it's not like a racetrack we always get it from one way and 391 00:28:02.099 --> 00:28:05.099 it's completely different somebody's turns when you're going 392 00:28:05.099 --> 00:28:09.299 northbound or southbound a lot to memorize them until you get it 393 00:28:09.299 --> 00:28:12.700 fully memorized you really can't be out there pushing yourself you 394 00:28:12.700 --> 00:28:17.200 don't know what the time does you know so it takes a while we'll 395 00:28:17.200 --> 00:28:20.400 take me to the logistics of how you run your company today you 396 00:28:20.400 --> 00:28:22.799 started off as this guy doing photographs posting that you took 397 00:28:22.799 --> 00:28:27.400 us through that well now you got a big business my friend and and so 398 00:28:27.400 --> 00:28:30.700 take us through what what killboy is today how many how many people 399 00:28:30.700 --> 00:28:33.700 do you have over there how long are they out there how many images 400 00:28:33.700 --> 00:28:35.400 I mean take to take me to a typical. 401 00:28:35.799 --> 00:28:40.400 in a weak side. yeah typical day for a business 402 00:28:40.400 --> 00:28:45.000 you know a guy is like I said they're out there every day they 403 00:28:45.000 --> 00:28:47.900 have schedules that sort of overlap so during the week will 404 00:28:47.900 --> 00:28:51.500 typically have two guys out there are no overlap good day so we got 405 00:28:51.500 --> 00:28:55.700 a good morning Dawn and evening guy and then on the weekends we 406 00:28:55.700 --> 00:28:59.000 might have a third guy that's kind of triples up in the middle to 407 00:28:59.000 --> 00:29:04.099 make sure don't miss anyone found it usually no matter how busy it 408 00:29:04.099 --> 00:29:07.299 is as long as I have at least two guys we almost don't miss anyone 409 00:29:07.299 --> 00:29:10.500 having a third guy is nice just so we don't miss any want to get 410 00:29:10.500 --> 00:29:15.200 extra angles but you know they shoot they sort themselves while 411 00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:18.900 they're shooting so they sort the photos into categories to make it 412 00:29:18.900 --> 00:29:22.500 easier on a customer to Define their photos so everything on our 413 00:29:22.500 --> 00:29:28.799 website is is posted by date and type of vehicle and then you're 414 00:29:28.799 --> 00:29:30.900 organized by time after that so they might be. 415 00:29:31.700 --> 00:29:35.500 you know a Corvette go to jail that day so they'll be a Corvettes 416 00:29:35.500 --> 00:29:39.799 category but this sport bike steering B Adventure B different 417 00:29:39.799 --> 00:29:44.000 types of cars and then oddshots and things like that so you click 418 00:29:44.000 --> 00:29:47.900 on a category two photos and then if sliders at the top and you can 419 00:29:47.900 --> 00:29:51.299 narrow down my window to look three times as you know you were 420 00:29:51.299 --> 00:29:56.799 there between 2 and 3 p.m. you can set the sliders till 2:00 and then 421 00:29:56.799 --> 00:30:03.000 you just see the photos from that time frame will they all live in 422 00:30:03.000 --> 00:30:06.599 Tennessee and we live in North Carolina and we need the full size 423 00:30:06.599 --> 00:30:10.500 photos in order to fill orders what does online is just a small 424 00:30:10.500 --> 00:30:13.900 proof and it's an automated system to photos like the company that we 425 00:30:13.900 --> 00:30:18.299 use that uploads just the truth the thumbnails and then when a 426 00:30:18.299 --> 00:30:21.700 person orders the photo we are some synonyms and we edit the 427 00:30:21.700 --> 00:30:26.500 photo we take a look at it make adjustments as needed at after 428 00:30:26.500 --> 00:30:29.000 they purchase it we can't do it to all of them before they uploaded 429 00:30:29.000 --> 00:30:31.700 was too time-consuming and we would take a. 430 00:30:31.799 --> 00:30:36.700 photos online but you know the guys have to get the photos to me 431 00:30:36.700 --> 00:30:40.500 so that means every day they take them to the to the store to tell 432 00:30:40.500 --> 00:30:44.599 the dragon killboy store and drop them off there and then we go up 433 00:30:44.599 --> 00:30:47.700 and pick him up and bring him home at the end of the day and get them 434 00:30:47.700 --> 00:30:53.200 online that night so they're available every day every day 435 00:30:53.200 --> 00:30:57.500 seven days a week you know it's full time work for. 436 00:30:59.000 --> 00:31:03.799 five six of us and then part-time for a couple of hours so you know 437 00:31:03.799 --> 00:31:07.200 if successful or doing well but we also have to get through one 438 00:31:07.200 --> 00:31:11.200 through two it's a freaky saying if you have your own business in 439 00:31:11.200 --> 00:31:15.599 general that's not predictable but also to be season them and for 440 00:31:15.599 --> 00:31:19.400 your income to shrivel to almost nothing for 34 months out of the 441 00:31:19.400 --> 00:31:23.599 year so we've got a bus pass during the during the summer and 442 00:31:23.599 --> 00:31:28.299 make it work and if that's the other scary thing you know when do 443 00:31:28.299 --> 00:31:32.200 that happened there was a rockslide a quite a few years ago 444 00:31:32.200 --> 00:31:36.799 that shut the road down for a few weeks and it's all your eggs in 445 00:31:36.799 --> 00:31:41.799 one basket problem you know it's scary in a business like that so 446 00:31:41.799 --> 00:31:45.299 we're trying to be more diverse we're working with more video 447 00:31:45.299 --> 00:31:51.099 freelance work and things like that to try to diversify what we 448 00:31:51.099 --> 00:31:55.700 do and it's been working out pretty well also but the main need 449 00:31:55.700 --> 00:31:58.799 of our income is University ography. 450 00:31:58.900 --> 00:32:04.400 my brother in the guys the guys get things taken care of pretty 451 00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:09.900 well they do well and live a comfortable life Drive nice fun 452 00:32:09.900 --> 00:32:15.400 interesting vehicle motorcycles and cars and I'm happy for them I 453 00:32:15.400 --> 00:32:19.400 love to see them do well and make a lot of money in them so but they 454 00:32:19.400 --> 00:32:22.299 have to get to lunch or two and they don't work jobs or no wonder 455 00:32:22.299 --> 00:32:26.599 It's tricky to start and stop a job every year but they all season 456 00:32:26.599 --> 00:32:32.099 so they just hustling and save up for winter like we do and you know 457 00:32:32.099 --> 00:32:35.200 try to use winter as their vacation time cuz when you run a 458 00:32:35.200 --> 00:32:38.500 job like this you don't get to do much on the weekends especially 459 00:32:38.500 --> 00:32:41.900 those guys they're out there hustling we got the business to 460 00:32:41.900 --> 00:32:45.599 the point that when cost at the way but I when I was doing it you 461 00:32:45.599 --> 00:32:48.099 know on the side of the road all the cool stuff happens on the 462 00:32:48.099 --> 00:32:50.700 weekends is all these events and shows and things like that and 463 00:32:50.700 --> 00:32:55.200 that's the bread and butter of a tourism-based business income is 464 00:32:55.200 --> 00:32:58.900 the weekend so winter is our reach in the time we get to relax. 465 00:32:58.900 --> 00:33:04.000 vacation will go out west with other Caribbean try to enjoy some 466 00:33:04.000 --> 00:33:10.200 time off and Away during nuts part of the year you've witnessed a lot 467 00:33:10.200 --> 00:33:15.200 of history last 25 years and you know you're literally at the side 468 00:33:15.200 --> 00:33:19.200 of the road watching what changes has some observations on how 469 00:33:19.200 --> 00:33:23.700 motorcycling has changed I mean ATV Rider of course style 470 00:33:23.700 --> 00:33:28.299 motorcycles are extremely popular now and when you started and then 471 00:33:28.299 --> 00:33:31.500 I ain't see no sport bikes were the thing and then they went to 472 00:33:31.500 --> 00:33:35.400 the Harley thing and now ATV bike sir I really popular what are you 473 00:33:35.400 --> 00:33:38.500 what are your observations from the side of the road literally the 474 00:33:38.500 --> 00:33:41.900 side of the road. yeah I would like to say to you 475 00:33:41.900 --> 00:33:45.500 know that the show comes to us out here we can really do get a bubbly 476 00:33:45.500 --> 00:33:50.700 one of the best. observational situations for 477 00:33:50.700 --> 00:33:56.799 what's going on in the industry and see what is popular ATV bikes 478 00:33:56.799 --> 00:34:01.400 have always been there like they weren't they want like a bigger 479 00:34:01.400 --> 00:34:05.099 part of the same but they're always a solid part of the saying 480 00:34:05.099 --> 00:34:10.099 you know an adventure adventure bike seems to be one of those 481 00:34:10.099 --> 00:34:15.000 areas that just so consistent you know it's everything everybody 482 00:34:15.000 --> 00:34:18.000 kind of gets in and out of some of the other stuff and I get an hour 483 00:34:18.000 --> 00:34:23.199 baby stuff too but everybody relates to the Harley guys in the 484 00:34:23.199 --> 00:34:27.400 cruiser guys can see the fun in an ATV bike where they may not see 485 00:34:27.400 --> 00:34:30.800 the front of the sport bikes and a sportbike guys saying you know 486 00:34:30.800 --> 00:34:38.699 tell her to spell common denominator a common factor among 487 00:34:38.699 --> 00:34:44.199 all Riders as we can all see that would be a fun thing to do versus 488 00:34:44.199 --> 00:34:47.400 the two extremes I would call it on the other end but the crews are 489 00:34:47.400 --> 00:34:50.500 in the sport bike. being a little bit less open to 490 00:34:50.500 --> 00:34:55.199 just everybody but we have such good areas around here for 491 00:34:55.199 --> 00:35:01.199 enjoying those roads too we've got a lot of Forest roads and not 492 00:35:01.199 --> 00:35:05.300 super difficult terrain and it's unfortunate that we lost a couple 493 00:35:05.300 --> 00:35:10.300 of parts I know Tellico you know was a popular place and it's no 494 00:35:10.300 --> 00:35:14.699 longer available but we still have a lot of is that when Rocco by 495 00:35:14.699 --> 00:35:20.500 Genesee and then all the all the or three roads and gravel roads in 496 00:35:20.500 --> 00:35:24.699 free time but they're still fine you know and then give me a chance 497 00:35:24.699 --> 00:35:27.300 to sort of feel your bike out until your. 498 00:35:28.300 --> 00:35:32.599 New York skills out on something that's not pavement and then good 499 00:35:32.599 --> 00:35:36.400 Pace Rhodes in between that are also fun you know depending on 500 00:35:36.400 --> 00:35:41.400 your setup and how gnarly an off-road yard but yeah I enjoyed 501 00:35:41.400 --> 00:35:44.400 you know we've got a couple of Ducati Scrambler state or setup 502 00:35:44.400 --> 00:35:50.800 for Street and a little bit more off-roading and we get out and 503 00:35:50.800 --> 00:35:53.300 enjoy some of these gravel roads once in awhile around here it's 504 00:35:53.300 --> 00:35:58.199 really I'm really grateful to live in a place that we have such a 505 00:35:58.199 --> 00:36:02.500 great offering of playgrounds you know we want to take care of them 506 00:36:02.500 --> 00:36:09.199 and responsibly and don't let it get you a blown up blown up with 507 00:36:09.199 --> 00:36:13.400 the traffic so far it's that's been the case it's been totally 508 00:36:13.400 --> 00:36:18.900 fine you just like I said middle of the day on a weekend just going 509 00:36:18.900 --> 00:36:22.500 to be busier but you can get around that if you find some days 510 00:36:22.500 --> 00:36:26.199 during the week when things like that have you noticed it down turn 511 00:36:26.199 --> 00:36:28.099 it mean there's so much made a boat. 512 00:36:28.300 --> 00:36:31.599 the Baby Boomers are not buying Cruisers in the in the numbers 513 00:36:31.599 --> 00:36:35.900 that they used to Harley-Davidson went from this in a great power in 514 00:36:35.900 --> 00:36:40.599 the 90s and onward into struggling now have you noticed it a drop-off 515 00:36:40.599 --> 00:36:43.300 in in cruisers on the on the Dragon. 516 00:36:44.400 --> 00:36:48.300 I need a little bit but they're still going pretty strong you know 517 00:36:48.300 --> 00:36:52.199 a lot of times but yeah there was a peek there in the you know late 518 00:36:52.199 --> 00:36:56.099 90's early 2000's where they were the dominant Union vehicle on that 519 00:36:56.099 --> 00:37:00.699 on the scene out here but yeah it's not as prominent as it used 520 00:37:00.699 --> 00:37:05.400 to be there still out there but you know we we see the sport bike 521 00:37:05.400 --> 00:37:09.400 saying it's kind of bounced back a little bit it was going there for 522 00:37:09.400 --> 00:37:16.599 a while and then just this past weekend we've had the ATV rally in 523 00:37:16.599 --> 00:37:20.900 Tellico Plains and there was a lot of Adventure bikes running around 524 00:37:20.900 --> 00:37:23.699 I stopped and had lunch in town talk to a few of those guys and 525 00:37:23.699 --> 00:37:27.900 things like that but yeah the cruiser see nothing you know. 526 00:37:28.800 --> 00:37:32.099 always be even younger people that do still. 527 00:37:33.400 --> 00:37:38.199 enjoy that style and build don't continue but there's definitely 528 00:37:38.199 --> 00:37:42.599 sort of a I think I'm doing doing Market their the market has 529 00:37:42.599 --> 00:37:45.699 dropped a little bit on that same but they're still young people 530 00:37:45.699 --> 00:37:50.099 coming up that they did that and you know how things are they they 531 00:37:50.099 --> 00:37:53.300 come and go and as soon as something falls out of favor it 532 00:37:53.300 --> 00:37:59.699 becomes cool again to get into it so they'll come back well I was a 533 00:37:59.699 --> 00:38:03.300 magazine editor for a while and and one of the one of my jobs was 534 00:38:03.300 --> 00:38:06.500 editing photographs from press events and I became very 535 00:38:06.500 --> 00:38:10.800 particular about what a writer looks good on how Ryder looks good 536 00:38:10.800 --> 00:38:13.900 on a bike you noticed a certain form and then you got you've 537 00:38:13.900 --> 00:38:16.800 looked at more photographs and I will ever look at a people taking 538 00:38:16.800 --> 00:38:20.500 a curvy road so I want your advice if we're going to go to the Tail 539 00:38:20.500 --> 00:38:25.000 of the Dragon give me some advice on how to make my photographs look 540 00:38:25.000 --> 00:38:28.400 really good. the most impressive. 541 00:38:30.400 --> 00:38:36.000 seeing a writer can do in my opinion to look good is to stay 542 00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:44.199 off you can curse absolutely no yellow motorcyclist dies and there 543 00:38:44.199 --> 00:38:49.300 are some that will argue with me dying day that it's unsafe to do 544 00:38:49.300 --> 00:38:53.400 this but. motorcycle rider that is 545 00:38:53.400 --> 00:38:58.800 comfortable leaned over not against the double yellow to where 546 00:38:58.800 --> 00:39:01.900 they're leaning into oncoming traffic on the left-hander's is 547 00:39:01.900 --> 00:39:05.300 your measly like that person knows what they're doing somebody's 548 00:39:05.300 --> 00:39:08.900 comfortable staying in the middle or even to write up their Lane as 549 00:39:08.900 --> 00:39:14.800 they go around the corner it's it is so many benefits to that you 550 00:39:14.800 --> 00:39:18.199 don't have to adjust anything traffic is coming at you is the 551 00:39:18.199 --> 00:39:22.500 biggest thing I see is people like they're crushed up on the double 552 00:39:22.500 --> 00:39:25.599 yellow to go on a corner and then a sport car comes on in a corner 553 00:39:25.599 --> 00:39:30.699 and he's just very jarring and upset and of course they're mad at 554 00:39:30.699 --> 00:39:34.900 the car going fast and that's not the problem you know I don't buy 555 00:39:34.900 --> 00:39:37.800 to whatever he is the bike typically if they're going to run 556 00:39:37.800 --> 00:39:40.300 a right-hander they're going to be on the white line on the inside of 557 00:39:40.300 --> 00:39:44.900 their training so it's not they're not closed but a vehicle that's as 558 00:39:44.900 --> 00:39:46.900 wide as the lane is that the difference. 559 00:39:51.500 --> 00:39:57.300 like that shows a lot of competence when it comes to the 560 00:39:57.300 --> 00:40:04.300 motorcycle rider skill level. So you could just try not to look at 561 00:40:04.300 --> 00:40:07.099 the camera don't wave at us anything like that we don't want 562 00:40:07.099 --> 00:40:10.300 any interaction with you we just want you to go buy a smooth as 563 00:40:10.300 --> 00:40:17.000 possible focusing on what you're doing halftime, obviously don't be 564 00:40:17.000 --> 00:40:21.400 overly confident and you nobody position is an arguable debatable 565 00:40:21.400 --> 00:40:27.599 saying I'm not going to preach about that if you're hanging off 566 00:40:27.599 --> 00:40:33.699 the pegs like you're a duck. the hills on the pegs down or or 567 00:40:33.699 --> 00:40:42.599 the heels on with the feed act not to do that really quickly hardly 568 00:40:42.599 --> 00:40:47.199 ever up like we wear the tires on the motorcycles almost exclusively 569 00:40:47.199 --> 00:40:53.900 on the sides and almost none in the middle and so this that aspect 570 00:40:53.900 --> 00:40:59.500 of the road being as aggressively quick to change direction as it is 571 00:40:59.500 --> 00:41:03.199 we'll teach you very quickly to get your damn seat up and get on 572 00:41:03.199 --> 00:41:08.500 the balls of your feet and dirt bike riders are kind of talk you 573 00:41:08.500 --> 00:41:12.400 know I kind of talk or not talk but they just naturally tend to 574 00:41:12.400 --> 00:41:15.400 get into body positions where they kind of lean away from the bike 575 00:41:15.400 --> 00:41:20.000 and Matt causes the bike to have to be more in a given turn at a 576 00:41:20.000 --> 00:41:23.800 given speed. so I understand it I'm not saying 577 00:41:23.800 --> 00:41:27.400 break how you ride also just so you can ride on road to look good 578 00:41:27.400 --> 00:41:31.400 but typically you know you want to try to get your shoulder down get 579 00:41:31.400 --> 00:41:36.400 your head down lean in terms of the bike doesn't have to lean over 580 00:41:36.400 --> 00:41:43.500 as far and your limits are more you know forgiving because you're 581 00:41:43.500 --> 00:41:47.000 not pushing hard Parts down to the road as quickly as if you want you 582 00:41:47.000 --> 00:41:51.199 know off the bike pushing it down things like that just Lane 583 00:41:51.199 --> 00:41:56.000 position focus and then you know try to be comfortable with your 584 00:41:56.000 --> 00:41:59.199 body position but don't fight the bike and if you have a passenger 585 00:41:59.199 --> 00:42:04.099 they need to be leaning with you into the term not trying to you 586 00:42:04.099 --> 00:42:08.199 know the irony is as a passenger leans away from the turn for their 587 00:42:08.199 --> 00:42:12.900 own safety and makes the situation more dangerous they're more likely 588 00:42:12.900 --> 00:42:17.199 to end up on the ground by leaning away from the ground then if they 589 00:42:17.199 --> 00:42:21.099 just sort of embrace the lean and get closer to that. 590 00:42:21.199 --> 00:42:26.000 there is an interesting thing about passengers on motorcycles I 591 00:42:26.000 --> 00:42:34.000 can get into about nausea and all that if you want to hear that so 592 00:42:34.000 --> 00:42:38.900 you know that if I put you in the passenger seat of the car and we 593 00:42:38.900 --> 00:42:44.300 went to that service road at PACE the likelihood of you getting 594 00:42:44.300 --> 00:42:49.400 nausea would be increased but there's a thing about motorcycles 595 00:42:49.400 --> 00:42:54.300 that almost eliminates nausea as a passenger. 596 00:42:55.500 --> 00:43:02.000 and we have tons of. middle age older age topples on 597 00:43:02.000 --> 00:43:06.000 cruiser bikes that are going through there and the passenger 598 00:43:06.000 --> 00:43:13.699 lady on the back almost never gets nauseous and you know if I get 599 00:43:13.699 --> 00:43:18.199 nauseous why I get can I guess why it's because you take the forces 600 00:43:18.199 --> 00:43:21.599 straight down through the middle of your body on a motorcycle and a 601 00:43:21.599 --> 00:43:28.500 car you're sitting in a tin can and get shoved aside so positive 602 00:43:28.500 --> 00:43:34.400 negative Gees on the worst like if you do over a hill on a roller 603 00:43:34.400 --> 00:43:38.300 coaster and you almost come up a receipt so somewhere in between 604 00:43:38.300 --> 00:43:44.199 there is lateral G loads right and it stolen your guts for the side. 605 00:43:46.300 --> 00:43:51.300 the more positive energy loan you can get the less sickness you're 606 00:43:51.300 --> 00:43:55.599 going to feel some of it so we did an experiment one time we laid it 607 00:43:55.599 --> 00:44:00.599 was a GSXR 600 it's got a little concavity the gas tank full. 608 00:44:03.599 --> 00:44:07.300 gatorade bottle laid down in that thing and my friend went around 609 00:44:07.300 --> 00:44:09.699 the corners and stuff as long as you didn't break or accelerate too 610 00:44:09.699 --> 00:44:14.699 hard it would roll sideways if it wanted to it would motorcycle has 611 00:44:14.699 --> 00:44:19.500 almost zero lateral g-load cuz it's always tilted in to it so 612 00:44:19.500 --> 00:44:22.500 that it's it's pushing straight down a tired and I'm in that 613 00:44:22.500 --> 00:44:26.199 bottle of Gatorade just sit right there laying right there on the 614 00:44:26.199 --> 00:44:30.400 gas tank didn't move as he went around the corner you know so it's 615 00:44:30.400 --> 00:44:33.500 pretty interesting to me and it took a while to really grasp why 616 00:44:33.500 --> 00:44:38.300 you know noticed that nobody has a passenger got sick on a motorcycle 617 00:44:38.300 --> 00:44:47.699 hardly ever we have gotten nasty photos of like a gym bar up and 618 00:44:47.699 --> 00:44:50.800 down basically are on the back seat but it's really really rare 619 00:44:50.800 --> 00:44:54.099 Warehouse in cards it's fairly common in the other interesting 620 00:44:54.099 --> 00:44:57.599 thing is if it's a vehicle with with soft suspension a car with 621 00:44:57.599 --> 00:45:01.400 saw suspension like a van or a pickup truck or something they 622 00:45:01.400 --> 00:45:03.300 lean the wrong way as you go around the corner. 623 00:45:03.500 --> 00:45:07.800 like to wait on the corner so that's almost getting into 624 00:45:07.800 --> 00:45:12.800 negative Zealand so it's not as nauseating to be in a skiff Lee 625 00:45:12.800 --> 00:45:17.300 sprung sports car that does not lean as much the wrong way as it 626 00:45:17.300 --> 00:45:21.099 is to be in something like a family sedan or work van or 627 00:45:21.099 --> 00:45:23.900 something like that that has a tendency to clean the wrong way as 628 00:45:23.900 --> 00:45:27.400 you go around the corner and introduce that negative g-load 629 00:45:27.400 --> 00:45:31.099 versus a motorcycle what you better wait around so so so so 630 00:45:31.099 --> 00:45:37.400 from this I get the sense that I should take my Ducati and not my 631 00:45:37.400 --> 00:45:43.500 Mercury Grand Marquis when I'm driving is not as bad but as a 632 00:45:43.500 --> 00:45:49.199 passenger control on when those inputs happen it can be especially 633 00:45:49.199 --> 00:45:52.099 if they're not smooth you know a lot of people that go with us or 634 00:45:52.099 --> 00:45:56.599 like surprised at how comfortable they are and how not nauseous they 635 00:45:56.599 --> 00:46:00.500 are and it's because we are very smooth because of all the 636 00:46:00.500 --> 00:46:03.400 repetition of me know exactly what the time does so we're not making. 637 00:46:03.500 --> 00:46:08.800 OSHA Corrections you know that in the moment having everything 638 00:46:08.800 --> 00:46:12.699 memorized just make such a huge difference but yeah the vehicle 639 00:46:12.699 --> 00:46:16.099 type does want to know for sure. 640 00:46:18.400 --> 00:46:21.000 well where can we find you on the dragon cuz you have a 641 00:46:21.000 --> 00:46:24.500 bricks-and-mortar store there so where where can we find that. 642 00:46:25.500 --> 00:46:31.300 we're partnered up with A Tail of the Dragon at at you know on the 643 00:46:31.300 --> 00:46:35.400 side of the road there so in North Carolina just about a half a mile 644 00:46:35.400 --> 00:46:38.400 from the state line to Tennessee North Carolina State across the 645 00:46:38.400 --> 00:46:41.599 road from the Deals Gap motorcycle Resort but I don't actually own 646 00:46:41.599 --> 00:46:44.400 any of the building or the property that's all Tail of the 647 00:46:44.400 --> 00:46:48.500 Dragon ever since the beginning they got started with their 648 00:46:48.500 --> 00:46:51.300 business about the same time I was getting started with my 649 00:46:51.300 --> 00:46:54.699 photography business and we met early on and was like hey let's 650 00:46:54.699 --> 00:46:57.599 work together to form of each other so they would take my 651 00:46:57.599 --> 00:47:01.300 photography and post it on their website with their merchandise 652 00:47:01.300 --> 00:47:06.099 promote the area and return it had my logo on the photos so the 653 00:47:06.099 --> 00:47:09.500 people that went to their website learned about my photography you 654 00:47:09.500 --> 00:47:13.000 know as a result of that so we never competed but we work 655 00:47:13.000 --> 00:47:16.000 together and then once they got to a point where they were purchasing 656 00:47:16.000 --> 00:47:19.500 a brick-and-mortar store on some land never like a you want us to 657 00:47:19.500 --> 00:47:24.500 put your logo on the store up here with our logo and you know we'll 658 00:47:24.500 --> 00:47:31.300 we'll have. their logos first when you read 659 00:47:31.300 --> 00:47:33.900 left to right but my logo is closer to the roads a lot of 660 00:47:33.900 --> 00:47:39.500 people called killboy store as long as people tell me I mean you 661 00:47:39.500 --> 00:47:52.000 know check it out so we know we have information about a 662 00:47:52.000 --> 00:47:55.199 photography in there now to get it but we don't sell photos in the 663 00:47:55.199 --> 00:47:58.199 store things aren't ready in that moment I felt like a roller 664 00:47:58.199 --> 00:48:02.699 coaster or you get done come down and get your shot I wish we could 665 00:48:02.699 --> 00:48:06.599 but the infrastructure and is not ban a quantity that we shoot is 666 00:48:06.599 --> 00:48:10.300 not there but yeah we're in North Carolina and then you can also go 667 00:48:10.300 --> 00:48:13.699 to tell out the dragon.com and they've got the info their address 668 00:48:13.699 --> 00:48:21.599 of the store at 1755 Highway 129 in North Carolina you know just a 669 00:48:21.599 --> 00:48:24.800 mile from the from the state line the Border there. 670 00:48:25.500 --> 00:48:29.500 nope. or we can go to killboy.com yes 671 00:48:29.500 --> 00:48:33.699 sir no just two to finish things up let's just say that I'm going 672 00:48:33.699 --> 00:48:36.900 to get off my ass and finally make it down this year when it when is 673 00:48:36.900 --> 00:48:40.800 a good time you've seen it in all weathers and All Seasons when do 674 00:48:40.800 --> 00:48:45.300 you recommend to go in terms of decent weather and maybe lighter 675 00:48:45.300 --> 00:48:49.099 crowds time of the week time of the year with season would 676 00:48:49.099 --> 00:48:55.099 recommend you know it's one of those common, most common question 677 00:48:55.099 --> 00:49:00.199 probably and you could dictating crowds which is really hard but 678 00:49:00.199 --> 00:49:05.900 there is some obvious take away from history and again you know 679 00:49:05.900 --> 00:49:09.599 the middle of the day on a Saturday is always going to be the 680 00:49:09.599 --> 00:49:16.699 busiest time of day and just come with the right mindset that you're 681 00:49:16.699 --> 00:49:23.500 going to hang out at the store or in a 105 take lost and enjoy the 682 00:49:23.500 --> 00:49:25.900 show and get to see some cool stuff some crazy stuff. 683 00:49:27.199 --> 00:49:31.400 crashes whenever but as far as like getting your own time on the 684 00:49:31.400 --> 00:49:36.599 road where you might you know what to avoid all that a lot of people 685 00:49:36.599 --> 00:49:43.699 suggest aim to go out early in the morning I really well for one 686 00:49:43.699 --> 00:49:47.300 thing I'm just not a morning person but honestly I'm biased 687 00:49:47.300 --> 00:49:52.199 that's like the worst time of the day as far as pavement quality go 688 00:49:52.199 --> 00:49:58.099 yeah it's going to be the coldest it's going to be probably a lot of 689 00:49:58.099 --> 00:50:01.500 people aim to get out early and beat the crowd and then they just 690 00:50:01.500 --> 00:50:06.900 become the crowd we should even in the months and you know like we 691 00:50:06.900 --> 00:50:10.400 get a lot of business early in the season and then it dies off 692 00:50:10.400 --> 00:50:13.900 mid-season everybody's trying to beat the rush they think that such 693 00:50:13.900 --> 00:50:17.199 a rush in July and August and it's really not that busy in June July 694 00:50:17.199 --> 00:50:23.099 August it's hot but you know April May or sometimes some of the 695 00:50:23.099 --> 00:50:25.699 craziest times a year so it doesn't matter. 696 00:50:26.500 --> 00:50:30.000 it could be the busiest days are like Memorial Day and Labor Day 697 00:50:30.000 --> 00:50:35.800 those are huge do what you want to do holidays write a lot of other 698 00:50:35.800 --> 00:50:39.699 holidays people think July 4th his nuts out there it's not it's it's 699 00:50:39.699 --> 00:50:43.400 surprisingly quiet on draw for a lot of people are doing family 700 00:50:43.400 --> 00:50:46.400 stuff they have things planned it's not a sort of do what you 701 00:50:46.400 --> 00:50:52.500 want to do take a holiday and to think no matter how busy it is 702 00:50:52.500 --> 00:51:01.699 typically at around 5 p.m. 6 p.m. until sunset later midnight is 703 00:51:01.699 --> 00:51:04.800 like the best time to be out there and people are going to be like 704 00:51:04.800 --> 00:51:09.599 leaving comments being like I always get bitched at for saying 705 00:51:09.599 --> 00:51:15.599 this and helping people you know find that better time but me 706 00:51:15.599 --> 00:51:19.599 personally I if I'm not doing it night and I understand that's not 707 00:51:19.599 --> 00:51:23.400 everybody's. take me to go out at night but if 708 00:51:23.400 --> 00:51:27.699 you can't get out there at night especially with a buddy it's not a 709 00:51:27.699 --> 00:51:30.500 great thing to do by yourself at night if something happens and you 710 00:51:30.500 --> 00:51:33.900 go off there's no not much cell service in you need me now you 711 00:51:33.900 --> 00:51:38.699 need some help use GPS trackers and things like that if you're by 712 00:51:38.699 --> 00:51:42.800 yourself riding on a ATV riders sometimes do a lot of more riding 713 00:51:42.800 --> 00:51:49.000 by themselves in these situations and I know most of y'all know spot 714 00:51:49.000 --> 00:51:54.800 trackers will save the fucking light late day five 6 p.m. most 715 00:51:54.800 --> 00:51:59.500 people have ridden all day while I was busy and you know shot two 716 00:51:59.500 --> 00:52:02.900 shot and they're ready to go get a drink you some food get super 717 00:52:02.900 --> 00:52:08.400 tired and gold go to nap and get up early in the morning to try and 718 00:52:08.400 --> 00:52:12.300 beat the crowd again become the couch so yeah five 6 p.m. if you 719 00:52:12.300 --> 00:52:16.300 can take a break down a day if you have a cabin or hotel I used to 720 00:52:16.300 --> 00:52:21.900 come down right a little bit early. take a siesta from like you know 721 00:52:21.900 --> 00:52:26.800 noon 1 p.m. until 3 or 4 and get a little nap in there so I'll have 722 00:52:26.800 --> 00:52:31.800 good energy and good you know clear mind and then get back out 723 00:52:31.800 --> 00:52:36.400 around Sunset and ride until midnight those are like the best 724 00:52:36.400 --> 00:52:39.900 times. Even on the busiest Saturday but during the week not 725 00:52:39.900 --> 00:52:42.900 that bad Monday through Thursday I must have some kind of big of 726 00:52:42.900 --> 00:52:47.099 going on there's a calendar on tell the dragon that has near the 727 00:52:47.099 --> 00:52:49.500 events that we know that are happening so you can kind of see 728 00:52:49.500 --> 00:52:54.500 you and idea what might be going on but again you predicting clouds 729 00:52:54.500 --> 00:52:58.599 it's really hard on Monday through Thursday of the obvious things 730 00:52:58.599 --> 00:53:03.400 avoiding midday if you really don't want to be around other 731 00:53:03.400 --> 00:53:07.400 people is the thing to do the obvious stuff and then Sunday's 732 00:53:07.400 --> 00:53:10.800 aren't that busy either lot of people think they would avoid you 733 00:53:10.800 --> 00:53:14.699 know she's a Tuesday over the Sunday Tuesdays a weird day of the 734 00:53:14.699 --> 00:53:17.900 week by the way I hear so many people say the word Tuesday that 735 00:53:17.900 --> 00:53:22.400 it's become a busy day. and it's something about that day 736 00:53:22.400 --> 00:53:26.699 of the week just clicked with being not popular but it's 737 00:53:26.699 --> 00:53:30.900 becoming more talk stupid to be out there yeah Sunday is everybody 738 00:53:30.900 --> 00:53:35.599 going home to get working on in the morning so their vacation was 739 00:53:35.599 --> 00:53:39.900 you know maybe like Thursday through Sunday and so they might 740 00:53:39.900 --> 00:53:44.000 get out early Sunday but then from mid day too late day Sunday if it 741 00:53:44.000 --> 00:53:50.300 just dies off and and that's if you're able to plan a vacation or 742 00:53:50.300 --> 00:53:53.800 we know your time here through Monday or through Tuesday so maybe 743 00:53:53.800 --> 00:53:57.500 you do Saturday through Tuesday instead of Thursday through Sunday 744 00:53:57.500 --> 00:54:01.599 then you can catch that window where things are shifting in and 745 00:54:01.599 --> 00:54:08.400 old previous weeks. Taurus are going home and the next 746 00:54:08.400 --> 00:54:13.300 week to respond here yet so you know Midday Sunday to Tuesday 747 00:54:13.300 --> 00:54:17.199 Wednesday is usually pretty much the slower time and then course 748 00:54:17.199 --> 00:54:21.199 time of July is not very busy August is not very busy and it 749 00:54:21.199 --> 00:54:26.099 will get to leefers believe crowd coming in October November and 750 00:54:26.099 --> 00:54:32.300 he's busy again during that time alright so killboy.com keep your 751 00:54:32.300 --> 00:54:37.000 toes in and stay off the double yellow and Daryl thank you so much 752 00:54:37.000 --> 00:54:40.800 for your time today but I appreciate it that's all for this 753 00:54:40.800 --> 00:54:43.900 week thank you for listening to the lowdown radio show.