I got one email today that made sense. Read it below.
Nice job! On your take of the current situation at the gap. But one more thing that I feel is a major contributor to the current situation down there is the marketing by the websites.
T.O.D. and the Deals Gap resort have created this imaginary slay the dragon fantasy and a lot of these guys are actually trying to live it out. I mean they actually believe that they are there to slay the dragon and that they have a right to rip that road to shreds! With disregard to there own safety and more importantly mine and yours safety!
I can’t blame Brad and Ben too much for trying to get customers to the motel but it could have been done by word of mouth and good reputation
They would have built a good customer base that way to. But the Ron and Nancy T.O.D site is there in my opinion just for the greed and the love of money. I feel they kind of jumped on the band wagon.
I feel the same way about most of the new photo people trying to make an easy living by not by punching a time clock but by capitalizing on the glut of Dragon slayers coming down there. I commend Killboy and Zee they run a great service but how many photo people do we need down there? I guess I’m a little jealous I didn’t think of it. But I believe most of their careers are short lived.
There is a real genuine problem down there. Now its not just out of control bikers but its out of control cops.
It will be years and years if ever before I visit the gap again. I love the area and will visit other roads like the Blue ridge parkway and the Cherohola skyway and other small two laners in the area but I will stay far away from the gap.
Because it probably will never go back to what it used to be prior to the fancy website thing. Another example of the website marketing doing damage all for the sake of money. Is the recently marketed come ride the Snake on 421 now the cops are watching that one to. They are just public roads not video games. I thought we were supposed to be adults not some little kids role playing fantasy games.Not sure if you’re an AMA member or not but if you look at the website they have a section of great roads to ride. There are some good roads to ride all over the country but only a couple of them like the gap are being marketed for the money. You know patches, shirts, pins, motels.
The point is you can share great roads with friends and fellow bikers and ride those roads without a hitch but when greed takes over and someone creates fictional characters and the hype. Some weak minded people get caught up in all that and the next thing you know we end up where we are now.
David H Webb Jr.
I agree that a lot of guys are trying to live out this “slay the dragon” fantasy, but I honestly can’t blame the web sites. I have never seen anything on dealsgap.com that would encourage these guys to act like they do. In fact, the message they deliver over and over again is to be safe. I think their customer base is pretty solid. I think the majority of their motel customers are repeat customers.
Tail of the Dragon does have a bit more of a National Enquirer feel to it, and they do seem to focus a lot on the wrecks and the bad things that happen at the Gap. The truth is, the wrecks are just what a lot of people want to see.
I have to disagree with the idea that this is a way to “make an easy living”. I don’t think this is an easy way to make a living. I think this is why many of their careers are short lived. It looks like an easy way to make a living, but it is not. We really don’t need so many photo people down there and the more there are the harder it is for them to make a living doing it. No blame can go to them because none of them are encouraging people to act stupid either. Several people have made first time trips down there with me and one of their biggest fears is that they will do something stupid in front of a killboy.com photographer and be humiliated on the front page.
There are a lot of roads that people try to pass off with some kind of marketing gimmick. Almost all of them are just that, a marketing gimmick. Hellbender. TWO created The Wolf. The only “marketed” road that comes close to what Deals Gap has is Shady Valley. All the rest have been big disappointments for me. Yes, there are many, many other great roads. None as perfect as Deals Gap. Deals Gap would not be as perfect without the Deals Gap Motorcycle Resort or the photographers.