The Triangle, NC [Archive]

wahoonc

08-23-06, 07:02 PM

A bit south...of the Triangle that is. I live in what used to be rural Harnett county. The area is known as Olde Farm, Overhills or Anderson Creek depending on your age and which map you look at:p I mainly ride loops around the home place when I get the chance. I do ride MTB on my property on occasion. I work on the road so rides are where ever I can get them. I typically travel with my Redline 9.2.5 and a folder. BTW my office (which I seldom visit) is in Apex, NC. I am currently in the Greenville-Spartanburg, SC area.

Aaron:)

Snuffleupagus

08-25-06, 06:02 PM

A wee bit south of the triangle...

Fayetteville/Ft. Bragg area. I ride and race all over NC though.

JayC

08-26-06, 09:01 PM

I live in Garner.. I usually ride alone during the week and with the Selma Cyclepaths on the weekends. Their website is http://www.selmacyclepaths.org

Absolutely fabulous rides.. sag support, etc and enough riders that finding someone your speed is no problem.

Any of you guys in the RDU area, check out my website in my signature. Im working hard to build up a road bike community like the mountain bike one trianglemtb has got going.

norskagent

08-29-06, 01:09 PM

garner...I ride 25-35 miles loops from my home (near aversboro and timber), also ride to the garner mtn. bike trails, and sometimes commute downtown or run errands on my fixy...

Redrom

08-29-06, 01:23 PM

I live in Durham, and started riding with my kids 1 1/2 years ago. First with one, and then two boys on the back of my bike, and finally added the wife this Spring by way of a Tandem Recumbent Trike which has a child seat mounted behind each of us. We try to ride each Saturday along the North-South Durham Greenway to the Farmer's Market and back, sometimes continuing on to do the American Tobacco Trail as well. Occasionally, I get a ride in by myself, but the roadways I've chosen in the past haven't shown themselves to be condusive to the long life I hope to live, so I mainly stick to the greenway trails. We are fortunate enough here in Durham to have a greenway trail that will give us 30 miles of paved safe riding round trip, and another 10 if one has wide enough tires to take the unpaved portion of the ATT.

Bruce Rosar

09-04-06, 03:40 PM

I live in Cary!
Me too!

joelh

09-04-06, 03:45 PM

I live in Siler City and have just started riding again for the first time since college (20+) years. I bought an older cannondale mtn bike and although it is in pretty good shape, It needs a good tuneup. Who is your preferred bike shop in the area? I am about equidistant from Greensboro and Chapel Hill

* jack *

09-04-06, 04:27 PM

joelh

09-04-06, 07:31 PM

I think that is where my bike was originally sold. I will call and set up a service visit. Thanks!

JayC

09-04-06, 09:12 PM

Isnt that pretty close to Sanford? Storm Endurance is where I take my stuff. Charlie has been doing bike stuff forever and is a pretty damn good mountain bike/cyclocross racer.

Link to their website (http://www.fittobetriedbikes.com/)

Redrom

09-05-06, 03:15 PM

Hey, wanted to let you all know about a great ride in the country coming up in a few weeks. http://www.bikeheartland.org/
It's about 1 1/2 - 2 hours from the triangle, has roads smooth as glass and almost no motorists. I hope to be bringing the whole family this year, we went last year and had a great time. I just wanted to get the word out to the local folks since it's so close.

jjiggajouncer

09-11-06, 09:02 PM

Me too!

Cary here. Born and raised.

JayC

09-11-06, 10:59 PM

Cary here. Born and raised.

We wont hold that against you ;)

DynamicD74

10-15-06, 02:23 PM

What is a favorite bike shop in the Raleigh, NC area? I need one that appreciates and works on vintage bikes, as well as newer ones.

branman1986

10-15-06, 05:42 PM

is there a website that has all the weekly rides? I'm from Raleigh originally and I'm going home the weekend of the 28th for a wedding and looking for a nice ride thursday or friday morning/evening

* jack *

10-16-06, 08:34 AM

What is a favorite bike shop in the Raleigh, NC area? I need one that appreciates and works on vintage bikes, as well as newer ones.
I've heard good things about All-Star Bike Shops (Rev. Chuck, a BF mod, is a mech at one of their shops): http://allstarbikeshop.com/index.cfm

The Bicycle Chain has a location on Glenwood: http://thebicyclechain.com/index.cfm

is there a website that has all the weekly rides? I'm from Raleigh originally and I'm going home the weekend of the 28th for a wedding and looking for a nice ride thursday or friday morning/evening
I know those shops' websites ^ post weekly rides from time to time.
Also, the Tarwheels Bicycle Club has a nice website w/ rides info: http://www.tarwheels.org/

Folks might have other recommendations, but that's all I can think of right now.

blsecres

10-23-06, 07:48 AM

Check out http://raleighrides.blogspot.com/ for laid-back group rides of the Raleigh numbered bike routes.

acape

10-23-06, 08:40 AM

I'm considering moving to the Raleigh area and am curious what the area is like for road cycling. Any input?

blsecres

10-23-06, 10:42 AM

The area is in the Appalachian Piedmont, so the terrain is mostly made of rolling hills. I encounter almost no climbs that take more than two or three minutes but it's not so flat that you get a persistant wind like the mid-west or coastal region. Road conditions are average. We don't get a lot of freezing and thawing that pot-hole the roads farther north, but rapid urban sprawl and the associated construction vehicles and SUV's driving over small country roads makes some edges crumble. Some areas have such a strong presence by cycling groups and are so frequently cycled that the people there are accustomed to bikes. From what I've seen, these areas are north of Raleigh around Falls Lake frequented by the Raleigh Road Dogs http://ncbikeclub.org/ and west of Raleigh near Jordan Lake frequented by Cycling Spoken Here http://cyclingspokenhere.com/ and Spin Cycle http://thespincycle.com/ (http://thespincyclec.com/). I ride south of town and generally find drivers intolerant. I'm not sure how the riding is east of town. There are of course other shops and groups, but I see these people out the most. There are yearly USCF crits in Raleigh, Cary and Chapel Hill and road races further out of town. The domestic pro circuit (NRC) also has a great night time crit event downtown.

acape

10-23-06, 10:47 AM

The area is in the Appalachian Piedmont, so the terrain is mostly made of rolling hills. I encounter almost no climbs that take more than two or three minutes but it's not so flat that you get a persistant wind like the mid-west or coastal region. Road conditions are average. We don't get a lot of freezing and thawing that pot-hole the roads farther north, but rapid urban sprawl and the associated construction vehicles and SUV's driving over small country roads makes some edges crumble. Some areas have a strong presence by cycling groups are so frequently cycled that the people there are accustomed to bikes. From what I've seen, these areas are north of Raleigh around Falls Lake frequented by the Raleigh Road Dogs http://ncbikeclub.org/ and west of Raleigh near Jordan Lake frequented by Cycling Spoken Here http://cyclingspokenhere.com/ and Spin Cycle http://thespincyclec.com/. I ride south of town and generally find drivers intolerant. I'm not sure how the riding is east of town. There are of course other shops and groups, but I see these people out the most.

OK, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to get an answer to the of "this is a horrible place for road cycling," and it sounds like that is definitely not the case, correct?

blsecres

10-23-06, 02:05 PM

OK, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't going to get an answer to the of "this is a horrible place for road cycling," and it sounds like that is definitely not the case, correct?

Correct. I can ride all year long, have never been assaulted and have plenty of knowledgeable shops to choose from. It's no Colorado Springs or Portland, but it's better than a large majority of the country.

mattfeet

10-24-06, 10:10 PM

I've heard good things about All-Star Bike Shops (Rev. Chuck, a BF mod, is a mech at one of their shops): http://allstarbikeshop.com/index.cfm

Folks might have other recommendations, but that's all I can think of right now.

I can also recommend All-Star. I go to school in TN and live in OH, but Im buying my Giant OCR3 from All-Star as they gave me GREAT service. My girlfriends goes to school at Meredith College, so Im there at least once a month visiting. Id love to ride with yall sometime even though Im a complete newb to road biking!

-Matt

Lurch

10-28-06, 02:18 PM

I have lived in and around Raleigh for over 30 years and started riding again about 16 years ago. While traffic has gotten heavier and you have to go a lot further out to find lightly traveled roads, most drivers are accustomed to cyclists and don't try to punt you into the ditch. I have never had any problems other than a few seemingly unconscious drivers. Local goverments seem to encourage or at least tolerate bicycles and bicycle commuting is easier than in many other places. There are wide right lanes, bike lanes, share-the-road signs, designated bike routes and many miles of paved bike/walking trails. Add another vote for All Star Bicycle Shops also. Both the Cary and Ridgewood locations are good operations and I haven't visited the third one yet.

branman1986

10-29-06, 07:00 PM

is there a website that has all the weekly rides? I'm from Raleigh originally and I'm going home the weekend of the 28th for a wedding and looking for a nice ride thursday or friday morning/evening

ugh, I got almost no riding in whatsoever. I went to an NCBC ride Thursday evening, but nobody showed up(the number to call was busy for hours), so I just did a few "interval" laps around my dad's neighborhood. Rained all day Friday, then had another ride planned for Saturday morning, but got called in for emergency yardwork to clean the wedding site from all the storm damage from Friday. At least it was sunny for the wedding Saturday afternoon.

wolfpack

10-29-06, 07:17 PM

Clayton area. Ride with the Selma Cyclepaths - great group and wonderful rides. K.

-phaedrus-

11-05-06, 04:40 AM

NW Durham, here. A good resource is http://www.nicomachus.net/maps/

CPArider

11-05-06, 02:44 PM

North Raleigh rider here. Mainly ride with the Gyros http://www.raleighgyros.com and the phillips 66 rides

I like Trek Raleigh http://www.trekraleigh.comfor an LBS. new shop with good guys who hook me up all the time. Nothing wrong with the other shops, it's all a matter of you have a relationship with.

jimmuter

11-10-06, 06:04 PM

Count me among the Durhamites. I'm a bike commuter here.

mcgurme

11-12-06, 08:21 PM

Hey,

I'll try to keep it short: I'm addicted to bikes. Right now I have 5 of them. But I actually like riding them all - they don't just sit there! The most riding I get is just commuting to work, 15 miles/day. I am really an MTBer at heart, after growing up in Utah and starting with my first mountain bike in '84 (does that say how old I am, oh no!). But recently I've enjoyed some road riding, and did my first metric century, le tour de femme. I had lots of fun, so I'll be doing some more long rides. Now that it's colder and days are shorter, I'm spending time fixing up my '92 Fat Chance Yo Eddy into a cross + touring bike. I guess I'm turning into a bit of a retro-grouch.

I find things to be a bit bicycle-unfriendly here compared to other places I've lived, including Madison Wisconsin... It's nice to see other riders, but I find a lot of drivers to be ignorant, and the roads have zero shoulder. In Madison, I'd see lots of people on their bikes even in mid-winter, but I see a lot less of that here, even though it's 20 degrees warmer on average... but I digress. There are still some really nice rides, and the fall colors have been great this year, and there are some other great cyclists about.

Morgan

arkmay

11-13-06, 09:59 AM

Hey- Ive been living in Raleigh for 25 years. I used to work at All Star Bike Shop in the 1980's when I was In college and they are fine people. I still shop with them, and the owner, Jeff Hutchinson has a cool collection of vintage bikes as well as being up to date on the latest things in both road and mountain biking. Their Quail Corners store is probably the best stocked and is the one where Jeff can usually be found, although all his people are experienced cyclists.
I live inside the beltline and have a 10 mile loop through the neighborhoods which I can do twice for a good 20 mile workout. If you want more miles there are plenty of mapped loops in the country .

Whatever you do, do not patronize Flythe bicycle shop. They are not cyclists there and their management is very disdainful of lycra clad bike geeks. How did someone like that come to own a bike shop you ask? They evolved from a hardware store from the 1930's, and are owned by a rich old geezer who lives off a trust fund. Dont shop there and dont let your friends shop there either.

norskagent

11-13-06, 10:27 AM

cyclelogic on hillsboro++
I like to ride from downtown to north hills and back, mostly quiet residential streets, I do a loop so no backtracking, and it's relatively hilly.

feefifofum

11-13-06, 12:37 PM

chapel hill here. Ride all year, race in the summer.

roccobike

11-14-06, 05:33 PM

Just found out about this site. Guess being older I'm a little slow (lol). I'm a MTBer who rides road from time to time. I'm from the Apex area. I can be found riding Harris Lake, the ATT or, when on the road, on Olive Chapel road.

jitensha!

11-15-06, 04:16 PM

I'm not sure if this is the best place to post this, but here goes. Does anyone know of any bike messenger companies that operate in downtown Raleigh? I may be moving down there in a few weeks.

norskagent

11-16-06, 06:45 AM

there are no bike messenger companies in Raleigh that I know of...perhaps you could start one and make your fortune.

bring44

11-17-06, 11:17 AM

durham!

ive been living in charlotte since august..
ill be back in the 919 in a year :-)

If you guys have the time to make a trip to charlotte, check out black sheep cycles. The best shop I have been to.

www.blacksheepcycles.com

blsecres

11-17-06, 02:36 PM

If you guys have the time to make a trip to charlotte, check out black sheep cycles. The best shop I have been to.

www.blacksheepcycles.com

I second this recommendation. The shop focuses on the niches of cycling often not catered to by a typical road/mountain shop and the staff is friendly and helpful.

duncbo

11-29-06, 05:17 PM

Just moved to Kernersville. Am unsure geographically if that is close enough. Any suggestions as to other groups or site if I am too far away? Thanks.

norskagent

11-30-06, 07:19 AM

check out cycle shops in Greensboro and Winston-Salem...you are very close to some great hills to climb - hanging rock, sauratown, and pilot mtn.

* jack *

11-30-06, 08:09 AM

you are very close to some great hills to climb - hanging rock, sauratown, and pilot mtn.
Oh yeah - Mt. Pilot... now that's a hill!
I'm originally from that area (Mt. Airy), and I've been up and down "Nature's Nipple" many times.

Good rock climbing there also.

Redrom

12-01-06, 07:42 AM

Hey folks, just a reminder, as of today it's now against to law in North Carolina to drive or operate a bicycle (or lawn mower) if you are legally drunk.

Albany-12303

12-07-06, 10:38 AM

This is my first week in NC - I have been relocated to RTP.

Any good clubs around here? My riding has slowed down for the last few months and I want to start riding again!

aicabsolut

12-07-06, 12:21 PM

I went to college in Durham, and I miss it. I hope to move back to the area at some point. Might pass through around New Year's or so. If it doesn't snow by then, I'm thinking of riding around Durham/Hillsborough, maybe Apex. I remember some good rolling hills out there on the way to the horse farms where I worked.

http://www.thephoenix.com/uploadedImages/The_Phoenix/News/Dont_Quote_Me/Duke-Color-Logo%20copy(2).jpg

* jack *

12-07-06, 12:30 PM

*tosses gauntlet*

http://www.learfield.com/article_images/NorthCarolina_logo03.gif

This is my first week in NC - I have been relocated to RTP.
Where do you reside? Durham? Cary? other?

I remember some good rolling hills out there on my way to the horse farms where I worked.
If you're talking about any Orange county back roads - I know them well.
Don't know much out near Apex. That area is developing quite rapidly. Probably changed a lot since '03.

aicabsolut

12-07-06, 02:44 PM

:fight:

I asked for that, I know. :D

I've been back a few times recently, though not with the bike. I didn't know a lot about Apex but the parts I remember weren't far from Jordan Lake.

IIRC, I saw a some bikers and motorcyclists out in Hillsborough..a little quieter out there too.

Albany-12303

12-12-06, 09:11 AM

*tosses gauntlet*

http://www.learfield.com/article_images/NorthCarolina_logo03.gif

Where do you reside? Durham? Cary? other?

If you're talking about any Orange county back roads - I know them well.
Don't know much out near Apex. That area is developing quite rapidly. Probably changed a lot since '03.

I Live in Morrisville (beside Cary). I have yet to ride though - still unpacking.