Why Are So Many Motorcycle Roads Called ‘Dragon?’

Picture a dragon in your mind. Naturally, you’ll think of an exhilarating motorcycling road with tight, technical twisties.

That’s what pops to your head if you’re a rider, anyway. In a motorcyclist’s mind, a “dragon” is a challenging road instead of a fire-breathing reptilian creature.

But why? There doesn’t really seem to be any obvious connection between nice motorcycling roads and monsters St. George slays in his free time. 

Why are so many motorcycling roads called “dragon?” Is there any deeper meaning to the name?

Let’s find out.

The Pre-Dragon Origins

To get to the bottom of the draconic mystery, we’ll have to start with the first road to be called a “dragon.” As far as I can tell, it’s the most famous of them all—the Tail of the Dragon.

Not only is this stretch of US 129 the best-known dragon, but it’s also one of the most famous motorcycling roads, period. That’s no surprise, considering the Tail of the Dragon packs 318 curves into 11 miles.

It wasn’t always called a dragon, though. In fact, that’s a fairly recent nickname.