The Triangle, NC
 

Taking full advantage of this new 'regional discussions' forum, let's start with a whos-who of folks on BikeForums from the Triangle (meaning Raleigh, Durham, Chapel Hill, Carrboro, Cary, Apex, etc.) - and get this thread moving!

I live in Cary!

--Steve

Just a bit south
 

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:)

A wee bit south of the triangle...

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

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.

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...

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.

Me too!

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

Lots of folks like The Clean Machine in Carrboro. Rob Noti is the service manager, a great mechanic, races MTB...

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

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

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.

Cary here. Born and raised.

We wont hold that against you ;)

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.

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'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


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.

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

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

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/. 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.

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.

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

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.