September 24, 2024 • 23 mins
Get ready for an exciting journey as we welcome Roxanne Newman from CycleNC! Over 900 cyclists will arrive in Statesville on October 7th for the 25th anniversary of the Cycle North Carolina Mountains to Coast ride. Statesville is their third stop on their 450-mile ride across the state.
Roxanne shares insights into the event’s focus on tourism and community engagement, along with Statesville's special preparations like tethered hot air balloon rides and balloon glows. Discover the meticulous planning behind route selection, community involvement, and the various rides CycleNC offers. Plus, learn about sporting events across North Carolina, and get ready to experience Statesville’s charm!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Get ready Statesville .
Over 900 cyclists from 42states are rolling into
Statesville on October 7th andwe have all the details.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to Discover Statesville, the show that takes
you on a captivating journeythrough the heart of one of
North Carolina's most charmingtowns.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Welcome to Discover Statesville.
We are joined today by RoxanneNewman, who is a staff member
with CycleNC.
Welcome, Roxanne.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
Thank you, thank you, guys, so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
So, as Cindy said before the show started, we got
a huge event coming up here injust a couple weeks, with over
900 cyclists coming in for stopnumber three on this year's
CycleNC, which is the 25thanniversary, correct?
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Yes, it is.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
So I guess, start off , just tell everybody what tell
us about CycleNC.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
What is it?
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Absolutely.
Where are all these bicyclistscoming from?
Speaker 4 (00:46):
Yeah, so Cycle North Carolina falls under North
Carolina Amateur Sports.
It's a nonprofit organizationand 25 years ago we started the
Cycle North Carolina arm withour Mountains to Coast ride.
So we go every year from themountains to the coast,
different routes, differenttowns.
It's all about tourism, backroads, seeing the different
(01:07):
scenery in North Carolina from adifferent perspective.
It's not a race.
That's usually the big thing.
We want them to spend time atthe rest stops, hanging out,
seeing, learning.
We want them to come to thetowns, venture out, learn about
everything going on.
So, yeah, so the first year weever did it did it was two weeks
long.
Uh, they went from murphy tomanio, uh.
So since then we've cut it downa little bit, um, and we do a
(01:29):
week and so, yeah, you guys areour third stop.
Uh, we'll start in spruce pinethis year, go to lenore and then
make our way here yeah, we'rein statesville on monday, and
that's so they'll be in.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
You guys will be in statesville monday, october the
7th right and cyclists get instarting kind of before
lunch-ish.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Yeah, the early ones will get here right around noon.
It is a shorter day that day,so they pick up a little bit of
pace.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
And for non-cyclists.
A shorter day for the cyclingworld is 50?
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Yeah 55 to 60 miles.
Okay, that's a long day, yeah,overall in total, they're going
to end up doing around 450 milesto make it from Spruce Pine to
Ocean Isle Beach.
So that's a lot of bike time.
That's why, even more so, weencourage them to take a break
from the saddle and stretchtheir legs at the rest stops.
So yeah, they'll be rolling inaround 12 or so, bulk of them
(02:19):
coming in really around that twoo'clock, three o'clock window.
I know they're going to behustling with the great slate of
activities you guys have laidout.
Once they see those, they'regoing to want to get in and then
they'll just hang around,explore town and venture out to
all the stuff you guys havelined up for us.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yeah, we're excited.
So you mentioned Roxanne, kindof the tourism arm, and we kind
of were looped in by ourpartners at Visit North Carolina
.
They were here kind of justtalking about Statesville and
all the great things there areto do here, and I mentioned to
some of the team I said you know, statesville really is a
(02:58):
destination for cycling, forbicycling.
We have road, gravel, dirt,mountain biking, I mean, you
name it, we have it here inStatesville and we have all
kinds of great routes and youcan even rent bikes here.
And so we were just having thisconversation and they mentioned
CycleNC and of course, beforemy time maybe Richard was
(03:20):
involved, but I thinkStatesville's played host to
this event twice before.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Certainly here in the area absolutely and not
involved.
My cousin participated for anumber of years, so I can
remember when they stayed at thefairgrounds one time going down
and seeing him when they werecoming through.
But yeah, really cool event.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Yeah.
So these cyclists are verytourism savvy, like to
experience new places, and whatwe want to do here in
Statesville is really make surethey're rolling in, that we roll
out the red carpet and reallyshowcase Statesville for the
amazing destination it is.
So I saw you guys did a postlast week on your social media
(04:04):
Thank you for that that wewouldn't be the ballooning
capital of the East if we didn'tshowcase some hot air balloon
balloons.
So for those of you who are notcycling, we are doing some
partnering with hot airballoonists that are local here
in Statesville and we areoffering the cyclists coming in
tethered hot air balloon rides.
(04:25):
We didn't have enough time tolaunch 900 balloons, but we are
offering some tethered hot airballoon rides in and around
downtown Statesville.
And then for the community, theballoonists are going to
partner with us to do staticglows.
So we're going to be at we knowright now we're going to be at
Broad Street United MethodistChurch Thank you for their
(04:46):
partnership on that and thenalso at the Civic Center.
But around 730 is what ChristyDarling from Big Ol' Balloons is
telling me when the perfecttiming is going to be.
But they're going to do staticglows.
We're going to get to see theballoons glowing at night, which
we think is really cool.
So normally it's a Monday inStatesville, north Carolina and
Main Street Not everything'sopen, or they close early, like
(05:11):
they.
They're open through theweekend and then that's your day
off.
So we've our team's really beenworking downtown.
Downtown StatesvilleDevelopment Corporation's been
great to help us make sureeverything's open.
So we're going to make sure therestaurants are open because
there's probably 600 people.
I know some of the riders areon a meal plan.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Of the 900 riders, we offercamping.
That's what the vast majorityof them will do.
They'll be outdoor camping atPurple Heart Homes, and then we
also have a good number of themstaying in hotels as well.
So that's kind of the break.
Then there's probably 15 or soRVs that come with us as well.
That has somebody else whodrives while they ride.
But yeah, of all those, like200 or so are on the meal plan,
(05:55):
but everybody else wants to getout, find the local cuisines,
ask all kinds of recommendations.
They eat a lot at the reststops, but they eat a lot of
peanut butter and jelly and ClifBars and that kind of stuff.
So by the time they get in,they're ready for a hot meal and
a cold drink, and just to getto know the town.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
So I think that's cool and so riders will come in.
As you mentioned, we've got agreat partnership with Purple
Heart Homes and so that's wherea lot of the people will be
camping and so there will besort of a closed event there for
cyclists.
As they come in, refreshments,get to kind of unwind, rest,
shower truck, all that kind ofstuff, and then, starting that
afternoon, really most of theseriders, with the exception of
(06:39):
some of the stops that I guesswe'll talk about, they'll be
descending upon downtownStatesville and you know, as
Cindy mentioned, you knowdowntown Statesville has opened
their doors.
So you know, if you're a localand kind of used to that idea,
that downtown is pretty quiet onMonday, this is a good
opportunity to come out andenjoy and mingle with the
cyclists and stuff.
But we'll have a lot ofrestaurants open, entertainment
at a variety of venues, and sopeople just we'll shuttle
(07:02):
cyclists to downtown and they'lljust kind of walk around, and
that's sort of the norm for whatthey're experiencing in these
towns, right, it's just yeahpeople sort of open it up and
saying, hey, come enjoy what wehave here in downtown
statesville absolutely, and ourcyclists love to hear about the
stories.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
They love to interact with the locals.
So please definitely come out,hang out with them, tell them
what you love about the area,recommend restaurants, recommend
sweet treats, all that goodstuff.
They love to interact with thelocals.
It really makes them feelwelcome in the towns and it's
just a nice way to feel as theygear up to head on to
(07:35):
Thomasville the next day.
We love that.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Yeah, and I think also worth noting the majority
of the riders that participate.
These are folks that like totravel, so the likelihood is
it's an opportunity to reallyput our best foot forward on
what Statesville is, becausethere's a high likelihood that
some of these folks will want tocome back and visit a lot of
these towns that they stoppedthrough on the ride.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Yeah, absolutely.
Average age is going to be inyour 60s for this ride.
You know, our youngest rightnow registered is 10.
And I think the oldest we haveregistered right now is 81 or so
like that.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
You have a 10-year-old registered.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah we have a 10-year-old registered.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
So you know it really does span the gamut, but yeah,
it does skew a little bit older.
Just because you have to be ableto have a week, You've got to
have a week to ride your bikeacross the state, and so, yeah,
a lot of them are retired attimes or they do have more
vacation and stuff.
So, yeah, they're looking totravel, they're looking for
reasons to come back, whetherit's to our host towns or a lot
(08:27):
of them also come out to therest stops, since they don't get
to spend as much time there.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
And everybody that comes to Statesville wants to
come back.
That's usually what we hear.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
We know that for sure , especially once they go up in
hot air balloon.
What's really cool is you guyschose and this will be two weeks
prior to our largest event 49thAnnual Carolina Balloon Fest
that's happening that thirdweekend in October, so we're
excited to be sharing hot airballoons with these visitors,
with these cyclists, and Iforgot what I was going to say
(08:58):
next.
But we have over 85 restaurants, locally owned and operated
restaurants, probably 100 plusonce you add in the chains and
stuff.
But we have a lot of veryunique chef inspired destination
restaurants here and we're soexcited to include Sweet Treats,
Two amazing coffee shop bakerytype downtown ice cream ice
(09:21):
cream bakery and a gelato store.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Lots of unique places to drinking establishments
Definitely have those ice creambakery and a gelato store, lots
of unique places.
Drinking establishmentsDefinitely have those.
All the things that people arelooking for.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
We have a brewery in downtown Statesville.
What I forgot that I was goingto say is I think it's really
unique that Cycle NC you guyswork really hard on this route
to find rest stops that are alsotourism destinations.
So as the cyclists are comingin from Lenore to Statesville,
their rest stop is Fort Dobbsright.
So that would be something thatwe would normally want to share
(09:54):
, but I love that you guys arealready stopping there as a rest
stop.
We've got some volunteers fromthe community there to come out
and help with that, so we'reexcited about that.
And then I do.
You both have mentioned PurpleHeart Homes.
I want to give another shoutout to them for opening their
(10:14):
amazing facility and got thatnice flat camping out there.
We're going to have some musicout there.
We are going to have some foodtrucks for lunch, because we
know people are going to behungry and starving, and then
we're loading up shuttles, justso everyone knows kind of what
we have going on, to takecyclists out to experience tours
and tastings at SouthernDistilling.
We have the largest distilleryin the southeast, so we want
(10:35):
people to experience that.
And then Rescue Ranch is anamazing facility with over 80
animal ambassadors and we wantpeople to be able to experience
that too.
So we're going to be runningtours, think, until five o'clock
, but then the goal is to geteveryone downtown statesville to
dine, shop, discover and havethe balloon glows.
And then, of course, we knowyou're not going to want too
(10:56):
late of a night yeah, they willwant to get to bed early.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Um, it's another day of riding, obviously, but yeah,
the rescue ranch, I'm excitedfor that.
Um, we've actually used thatbefore for one of our excursion
stops last year.
In addition to the bike ridingside of it, we also partner with
VisitNC to offer excursions.
It's everyday motor coachtransportation is included.
It's a great way that if yourspouse wants to come ride, or
(11:21):
your dad or that kind of thing,and you don't want to ride, you
can still do the whole week withus and you get to go check out
other things.
Um and so, yeah, I know thatgroup went last year, uh, to
that swap.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yeah, we absolutely loved it.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Yeah, they came downtown and toured and had some
lunch, so yeah, it was reallynice how many, uh how many
people do you usually getparticipating in that aspect of
it, like the motor coach thing,like non-cyclists that are just
along for the week?
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Yeah, so the excursions every day usually is
like 15 to 20 that are with us,and it also, you know, if you're
a rider that's not comfortablewith the mountains or your legs
are just tired or your butt's alittle tired from the seat, you
can take a day off.
We'll take your bike to thenext campsite for you and you
can go with the motor coach andcheck out the cool places.
Like you said, we try to takethem to a destination or two
(12:05):
that's not a rest stop, thatalso may not be a host town, and
also take them to eat and sothey're also giving back and
exploring the community just ina little bit of a different way.
And they get in around 3 or 4o'clock each day, so they're
there as the riders are comingin and then they get to be a
part of everything the town isdoing, like what you guys have
downtown.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Oh, very cool.
I didn't know that they weregoing to come be a part of the
afternoon, so I'm excited aboutthat.
Yeah, absolutely, but weenjoyed doing that last year and
I hope we get to do it foryears to come.
So how do you guys pick theroutes each year?
I know this year your teamreached out and Mike on the team
came down in December and I'mlooking at him because he's
(12:50):
sitting over here but will notcome on camera.
So, hey, mike Came down inDecember and we did a full tour
trying to I tried to get youguys to camp inside and glamp
inside our Civic Center.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
He said no way, there were two parts to that
conversation.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
I'm just telling the marketing side of the story.
But how Like we're so excitedto have chosen a Stop 3, and how
do you guys choose the routesevery year?
Do you try to switch it up?
Speaker 4 (13:25):
Yeah, absolutely.
We usually try to do kind of,you know, a northern route, then
do something down the middleand then kind of a southern
route, but it really variesevery year on kind of where
we're able to go with it, alwaystrying to get new towns
involved.
It's hard when you've done itfor 25 years to get to the new
towns, but we always try to getat least a few in there.
But we always try to get atleast a few in there.
But really we start with theanchors, you know, figuring out
(13:47):
the start town, figuring out theend town, because those two you
got to have and those are kindof the hardest at times, just
with the limitations and beingsmaller, and then you just kind
of piece it together, looking atwhat's roughly 50 to 60 miles
and which direction we can go,and kind of piece it together
that way.
Who's available at thefacilities, all that good stuff.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Yeah, who wants it?
I'm sure is a big part of ittoo, yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
Oh yeah, absolutely.
What town is excited about itand has, you know, wants to roll
out the red carpet to make themfeel welcome, that kind of
stuff?
And then we let our route guysget out there and they're the
ones that find the rest stopsfor us that figure out the ways
to go.
You know we try to keep them onas many back roads as possible.
Low traffic counts, they're notjust going down the freeway on
(14:34):
their bicycles.
They're definitely taking theback roads to get here.
So, while it may be, you know a50 mile direct route by the
time we weave them around and dostuff, it gets a little bit
longer and definitely want totake them up some climbs.
Definitely want to put them upsome climbs.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Make them work a little, and so you know this is
coming up here in just a coupleweeks, and so as soon as this
particular the 25th is over, Imean you're all in immediately
planning the 26th.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
Yeah, oh yeah, absolutely.
We're always kind of trying towork a year ahead.
So, Absolutely, we're alwayskind of trying to work a year
ahead.
So you know, we've already gotfeelers out there talking to
other towns because, as much aswe want to go ahead and get it
done, our cyclists are going tobe all over us.
Where are we going next year?
What are we doing?
We just announced our coastalride.
So, in addition to Mountains,to Coast, we do a coastal ride
every April and we do a mountainride every August.
(15:22):
They're different in thatthey're loop routes, so you stay
in one city, you have a fewdifferent route options each day
, but you don't have to movecamp, whereas this one, you know
, a lot of our riders are wakingup in the morning, breaking
down their tent, packingeverything up, throwing it on a
truck, and then they get to campafter riding 65 miles, set up
their tent, get everything setup.
(15:43):
So the coastal ride andmountain ride are a little bit
different, but we just announcedour coastal ride for 2025, so I
know they're going to beitching for the other two soon.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Yeah, well, you know, statesville is a mountain town,
we're the mouth of themountains.
Yeah, so you know thatthree-day ride should be coming
to Statesville sometime.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Might know a guy you can talk to about that.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Might know a guy you can talk to there's some local
talent that would love to talkabout all the uphill
opportunities here in the areafor sure.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Yeah, we have lots of .
It's crazy because, like wejust had well, coming up the
weekend before Mountains toCoast comes into Statesville,
purple Heart Homes is havingtheir Take that Hill ride, which
is pretty intense.
They've been doing that forseveral years.
And then last week, the LoveValley Robe and Love Valley a
dirt bike race that Wes Davidson, who's actually on the
(16:31):
Statesville Convention andVisitors Bureau board,
coordinates.
He owns First Flight Bikes.
Talking about Wes, wes, alongwith Ron Smith, who is our city
manager, has worked with Chip atCycle NC and they are going to
be riding the route from Lenoreinto Statesville.
So we're going to be like hometeam cheering them on.
(16:53):
Chip keeps reminding us it'snot a race.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
It is not, it's a ride.
It's always great when we canget the locals who have worked
so hard to help us make this,let them take a little break
from it and get out there andride the routes.
I know we had our crew thatrode through and tested it back
in I guess it was July to do theroute and everything and they
stopped at all the stops.
We've got all the notes ofwhat's great, what they're
(17:17):
excited about, and I know theylove when they stop down here.
It makes it easy when they havean easy downtown where there's
so many options.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah Well, I also want to make sure and give a
shout out to our hotel partners,who really rolled out the
carpet when Mike and team, whenyour team, came to see if
Statesville would be a good fitand help showcase that we were.
But they've been great partnerstoo and we got all the rooming.
(17:44):
It's quite a few people stayingin hotels.
It didn't look like many, butthen I was looking at the
roommates and yeah, you guys are.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
When you see the truck full of luggage you really
understand it's a lot of people.
When you've got that luggageteam that we've got that's
delivering all the luggage andmoving it around and that kind
of stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Yeah, not that anyone else cares, but I did the math
and in one night it's $26,000 inhotel rooms.
So thank you, cycle NC, forchoosing Statesville.
We are very excited.
So, Roxanne, your organizationI just want to talk a minute
because you personally thank youfor being here.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
No problem.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Thank you for driving here to be here with us today,
because I know you guys arecrazy busy right now, but not
only for this.
But you actually run or work ina separate division of the
organization, right, the BodyArmor.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
Games.
Yeah, so I'm the director forour Body Armor State Games event
, which takes place every June.
It's actually kind of what theorganization North Carolina
Amateur Sports was founded basedoff of way back in the day,
when they used to do Olympicfestivals.
Most people don't know whatthose are now, but that's kind
of what started the organizationand was this idea of a
multi-sport festival.
So every June we do 25-ishdifferent sports.
(19:00):
It varies and it's usually 12000 13 000 athletes of all ages.
We do everything frombasketball, baseball to
pickleball.
This year we had an armwrestling.
We had over a hundred peoplecompete in arm wrestling.
I could do that I watch.
I watch over the top the movieyeah, so that's kind of what I
(19:23):
do.
Obviously, we're a smallnonprofit.
There's three of us that workfull time, so it's all hands on
deck, and we also couldn't dowhat we do without our great
contract staff that comes onboard.
You know we've got a great crew.
I think almost everyone that'scoming to work the ride with us
has done it before, so they loveit as well but we can't do it
without them.
We've got a staff of 25probably.
(19:45):
That's going to be all hands ondeck to make this thing that's
amazing come to fruition betweenthe route, support, the sags,
getting everything set up atcamp, all that stuff.
So you know we need them tomake all that happen.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
yeah does the body armor games travel?
Speaker 4 (20:00):
too, or it does, so we typically rotate it every two
years.
We just did two years in theCharlotte area, okay, and we are
going to Greensboro for twoyears my hometown, okay.
So I'm excited to go back toGreensboro.
It's been a while, but yeah.
So we're working on finalizingthat right now.
We'll have a bunch of stuff atthe Greensboro Coliseum, some
stuff at Country Park, justfinalized a location for Disc
(20:22):
Dog that will be a new one forus next year.
We added Doc Dogs this year, sowe're adding Disc Dog next year
.
But yeah, we're always lookingto add new sports, really just
expose people to them and alsojust provide an opportunity for
people to play.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Especially because a lot of the things that you
mentioned are not your typical.
You know, disc, dog, armwrestling, things like that.
I mean you've got to seek thosesort of opportunities out, so
kind of bringing all thosethings together in conjunction
with some of your more commonsports, it's a pretty neat
concept.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
Yeah, it is, and it's a lot of fun.
You know, we really want tocommunicate to people that it's
not just a Taekwondo competition, and so when they walked into
Cabarrus Arena and it wastaekwondo, karate, strongman
wrestling, all these thingsgoing on, it really opened your
eyes.
But it's a lot of fun.
I meet a lot of differentpeople, work with a lot of
different groups and it's also avery different group than the
(21:13):
cycling group.
You know, my average age is 16.
Right, so I'm dealing with momand dad a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
But I love the cycling side too, so it's a
great job.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yeah, well, if people want to learn more about the
organization overarching, or isthere still opportunity?
Is registration closed for thebike?
Speaker 4 (21:32):
Registration is not closed.
It stays open.
It stays open.
Yeah, so where do?
Speaker 1 (21:35):
people go.
I mean, I've been seeing thebillboards.
You guys have been doingamazing.
I know you invest a lot ofmoney in marketing this event.
Invest a lot of money inmarketing this event?
Yeah, but if, for some reason,someone is listening and they
have not heard and theydesperately want to come cycle
with Mountains to Coast Race,how do they get more information
?
Speaker 4 (21:50):
Yeah, so you can go to our website, ncsportsorg.
You can either go to the CycleNorth Carolina drop-down and
pick Mountains to Coast andlearn all about this one.
If you want to ride, if youwant to come volunteer at the
rest stops, there'sopportunities there to sign up
for those.
And then there's also all ofour Body Armor, state Games,
information and stuff is postedthere as well.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Okay, anything else?
You want to make sure peopleknow about Cycle NC?
Speaker 4 (22:15):
No, we're just excited to be here.
I think our participants aregoing to really love this stop.
You guys are going to set thebar really high for those that
are down the road as we make ourway and if everyone can do
whatever they can for theanti-rain dances, oh yeah, we're
good there, we're doing it,we're doing it.
Make sure the sun and 70s hasbeen ordered.
(22:35):
That'd be perfect.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Already taken care of .
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Yeah, we're on it, perfect.
And if you are a participanttuning in, we look forward to
welcoming you and helping youdiscover Statesville, north
Carolina.
But thank you guys so much forchoosing us as a stop and we
look forward to it, yeahabsolutely.
Thank you guys for having us.
We're excited too.
Cycle NC guys, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Thank you for joining Discover Statesville.
You can email us at discover atstatesvillenccom.
Check us out on Facebook atDiscover Statesville, NC hashtag
Discover Statesville and ourwebsite, statesvillenccom.
Catch us next week as wecontinue on our journey to
uncover the hidden gems,culinary adventures,
entertainment, and to beinspired and enlightened as we
(23:21):
Discover Statesville.
Get ready Statesville .
Over 900 cyclists from 42states are rolling into
Statesville on October 7th andwe have all the details.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Welcome to Discover Statesville, the show that takes
you on a captivating journeythrough the heart of one of
North Carolina's most charmingtowns.
Speaker 3 (00:15):
Welcome to Discover Statesville.
We are joined today by RoxanneNewman, who is a staff member
with CycleNC.
Welcome, Roxanne.
Speaker 4 (00:22):
Thank you, thank you, guys, so much for having me.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
So, as Cindy said before the show started, we got
a huge event coming up here injust a couple weeks, with over
900 cyclists coming in for stopnumber three on this year's
CycleNC, which is the 25thanniversary, correct?
Speaker 4 (00:38):
Yes, it is.
Speaker 3 (00:38):
So I guess, start off , just tell everybody what tell
us about CycleNC.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
What is it?
Speaker 3 (00:43):
Absolutely.
Where are all these bicyclistscoming from?
Speaker 4 (00:46):
Yeah, so Cycle North Carolina falls under North
Carolina Amateur Sports.
It's a nonprofit organizationand 25 years ago we started the
Cycle North Carolina arm withour Mountains to Coast ride.
So we go every year from themountains to the coast,
different routes, differenttowns.
It's all about tourism, backroads, seeing the different
(01:07):
scenery in North Carolina from adifferent perspective.
It's not a race.
That's usually the big thing.
We want them to spend time atthe rest stops, hanging out,
seeing, learning.
We want them to come to thetowns, venture out, learn about
everything going on.
So, yeah, so the first year weever did it did it was two weeks
long.
Uh, they went from murphy tomanio, uh.
So since then we've cut it downa little bit, um, and we do a
(01:29):
week and so, yeah, you guys areour third stop.
Uh, we'll start in spruce pinethis year, go to lenore and then
make our way here yeah, we'rein statesville on monday, and
that's so they'll be in.
Speaker 3 (01:39):
You guys will be in statesville monday, october the
7th right and cyclists get instarting kind of before
lunch-ish.
Speaker 4 (01:46):
Yeah, the early ones will get here right around noon.
It is a shorter day that day,so they pick up a little bit of
pace.
Speaker 3 (01:53):
And for non-cyclists.
A shorter day for the cyclingworld is 50?
Speaker 4 (01:57):
Yeah 55 to 60 miles.
Okay, that's a long day, yeah,overall in total, they're going
to end up doing around 450 milesto make it from Spruce Pine to
Ocean Isle Beach.
So that's a lot of bike time.
That's why, even more so, weencourage them to take a break
from the saddle and stretchtheir legs at the rest stops.
So yeah, they'll be rolling inaround 12 or so, bulk of them
(02:19):
coming in really around that twoo'clock, three o'clock window.
I know they're going to behustling with the great slate of
activities you guys have laidout.
Once they see those, they'regoing to want to get in and then
they'll just hang around,explore town and venture out to
all the stuff you guys havelined up for us.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Yeah, we're excited.
So you mentioned Roxanne, kindof the tourism arm, and we kind
of were looped in by ourpartners at Visit North Carolina
.
They were here kind of justtalking about Statesville and
all the great things there areto do here, and I mentioned to
some of the team I said you know, statesville really is a
(02:58):
destination for cycling, forbicycling.
We have road, gravel, dirt,mountain biking, I mean, you
name it, we have it here inStatesville and we have all
kinds of great routes and youcan even rent bikes here.
And so we were just having thisconversation and they mentioned
CycleNC and of course, beforemy time maybe Richard was
(03:20):
involved, but I thinkStatesville's played host to
this event twice before.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
Certainly here in the area absolutely and not
involved.
My cousin participated for anumber of years, so I can
remember when they stayed at thefairgrounds one time going down
and seeing him when they werecoming through.
But yeah, really cool event.
Speaker 1 (03:40):
Yeah.
So these cyclists are verytourism savvy, like to
experience new places, and whatwe want to do here in
Statesville is really make surethey're rolling in, that we roll
out the red carpet and reallyshowcase Statesville for the
amazing destination it is.
So I saw you guys did a postlast week on your social media
(04:04):
Thank you for that that wewouldn't be the ballooning
capital of the East if we didn'tshowcase some hot air balloon
balloons.
So for those of you who are notcycling, we are doing some
partnering with hot airballoonists that are local here
in Statesville and we areoffering the cyclists coming in
tethered hot air balloon rides.
(04:25):
We didn't have enough time tolaunch 900 balloons, but we are
offering some tethered hot airballoon rides in and around
downtown Statesville.
And then for the community, theballoonists are going to
partner with us to do staticglows.
So we're going to be at we knowright now we're going to be at
Broad Street United MethodistChurch Thank you for their
(04:46):
partnership on that and thenalso at the Civic Center.
But around 730 is what ChristyDarling from Big Ol' Balloons is
telling me when the perfecttiming is going to be.
But they're going to do staticglows.
We're going to get to see theballoons glowing at night, which
we think is really cool.
So normally it's a Monday inStatesville, north Carolina and
Main Street Not everything'sopen, or they close early, like
(05:11):
they.
They're open through theweekend and then that's your day
off.
So we've our team's really beenworking downtown.
Downtown StatesvilleDevelopment Corporation's been
great to help us make sureeverything's open.
So we're going to make sure therestaurants are open because
there's probably 600 people.
I know some of the riders areon a meal plan.
Speaker 4 (05:32):
Yeah, absolutely so.
Of the 900 riders, we offercamping.
That's what the vast majorityof them will do.
They'll be outdoor camping atPurple Heart Homes, and then we
also have a good number of themstaying in hotels as well.
So that's kind of the break.
Then there's probably 15 or soRVs that come with us as well.
That has somebody else whodrives while they ride.
But yeah, of all those, like200 or so are on the meal plan,
(05:55):
but everybody else wants to getout, find the local cuisines,
ask all kinds of recommendations.
They eat a lot at the reststops, but they eat a lot of
peanut butter and jelly and ClifBars and that kind of stuff.
So by the time they get in,they're ready for a hot meal and
a cold drink, and just to getto know the town.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
So I think that's cool and so riders will come in.
As you mentioned, we've got agreat partnership with Purple
Heart Homes and so that's wherea lot of the people will be
camping and so there will besort of a closed event there for
cyclists.
As they come in, refreshments,get to kind of unwind, rest,
shower truck, all that kind ofstuff, and then, starting that
afternoon, really most of theseriders, with the exception of
(06:39):
some of the stops that I guesswe'll talk about, they'll be
descending upon downtownStatesville and you know, as
Cindy mentioned, you knowdowntown Statesville has opened
their doors.
So you know, if you're a localand kind of used to that idea,
that downtown is pretty quiet onMonday, this is a good
opportunity to come out andenjoy and mingle with the
cyclists and stuff.
But we'll have a lot ofrestaurants open, entertainment
at a variety of venues, and sopeople just we'll shuttle
(07:02):
cyclists to downtown and they'lljust kind of walk around, and
that's sort of the norm for whatthey're experiencing in these
towns, right, it's just yeahpeople sort of open it up and
saying, hey, come enjoy what wehave here in downtown
statesville absolutely, and ourcyclists love to hear about the
stories.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
They love to interact with the locals.
So please definitely come out,hang out with them, tell them
what you love about the area,recommend restaurants, recommend
sweet treats, all that goodstuff.
They love to interact with thelocals.
It really makes them feelwelcome in the towns and it's
just a nice way to feel as theygear up to head on to
(07:35):
Thomasville the next day.
We love that.
Speaker 3 (07:37):
Yeah, and I think also worth noting the majority
of the riders that participate.
These are folks that like totravel, so the likelihood is
it's an opportunity to reallyput our best foot forward on
what Statesville is, becausethere's a high likelihood that
some of these folks will want tocome back and visit a lot of
these towns that they stoppedthrough on the ride.
Speaker 4 (07:53):
Yeah, absolutely.
Average age is going to be inyour 60s for this ride.
You know, our youngest rightnow registered is 10.
And I think the oldest we haveregistered right now is 81 or so
like that.
Speaker 1 (08:03):
You have a 10-year-old registered.
Speaker 2 (08:04):
Yeah we have a 10-year-old registered.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
So you know it really does span the gamut, but yeah,
it does skew a little bit older.
Just because you have to be ableto have a week, You've got to
have a week to ride your bikeacross the state, and so, yeah,
a lot of them are retired attimes or they do have more
vacation and stuff.
So, yeah, they're looking totravel, they're looking for
reasons to come back, whetherit's to our host towns or a lot
(08:27):
of them also come out to therest stops, since they don't get
to spend as much time there.
Speaker 3 (08:31):
And everybody that comes to Statesville wants to
come back.
That's usually what we hear.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
We know that for sure , especially once they go up in
hot air balloon.
What's really cool is you guyschose and this will be two weeks
prior to our largest event 49thAnnual Carolina Balloon Fest
that's happening that thirdweekend in October, so we're
excited to be sharing hot airballoons with these visitors,
with these cyclists, and Iforgot what I was going to say
(08:58):
next.
But we have over 85 restaurants, locally owned and operated
restaurants, probably 100 plusonce you add in the chains and
stuff.
But we have a lot of veryunique chef inspired destination
restaurants here and we're soexcited to include Sweet Treats,
Two amazing coffee shop bakerytype downtown ice cream ice
(09:21):
cream bakery and a gelato store.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
Lots of unique places to drinking establishments
Definitely have those ice creambakery and a gelato store, lots
of unique places.
Drinking establishmentsDefinitely have those.
All the things that people arelooking for.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
We have a brewery in downtown Statesville.
What I forgot that I was goingto say is I think it's really
unique that Cycle NC you guyswork really hard on this route
to find rest stops that are alsotourism destinations.
So as the cyclists are comingin from Lenore to Statesville,
their rest stop is Fort Dobbsright.
So that would be something thatwe would normally want to share
(09:54):
, but I love that you guys arealready stopping there as a rest
stop.
We've got some volunteers fromthe community there to come out
and help with that, so we'reexcited about that.
And then I do.
You both have mentioned PurpleHeart Homes.
I want to give another shoutout to them for opening their
(10:14):
amazing facility and got thatnice flat camping out there.
We're going to have some musicout there.
We are going to have some foodtrucks for lunch, because we
know people are going to behungry and starving, and then
we're loading up shuttles, justso everyone knows kind of what
we have going on, to takecyclists out to experience tours
and tastings at SouthernDistilling.
We have the largest distilleryin the southeast, so we want
(10:35):
people to experience that.
And then Rescue Ranch is anamazing facility with over 80
animal ambassadors and we wantpeople to be able to experience
that too.
So we're going to be runningtours, think, until five o'clock
, but then the goal is to geteveryone downtown statesville to
dine, shop, discover and havethe balloon glows.
And then, of course, we knowyou're not going to want too
(10:56):
late of a night yeah, they willwant to get to bed early.
Speaker 4 (11:00):
Um, it's another day of riding, obviously, but yeah,
the rescue ranch, I'm excitedfor that.
Um, we've actually used thatbefore for one of our excursion
stops last year.
In addition to the bike ridingside of it, we also partner with
VisitNC to offer excursions.
It's everyday motor coachtransportation is included.
It's a great way that if yourspouse wants to come ride, or
(11:21):
your dad or that kind of thing,and you don't want to ride, you
can still do the whole week withus and you get to go check out
other things.
Um and so, yeah, I know thatgroup went last year, uh, to
that swap.
Speaker 1 (11:32):
Yeah, we absolutely loved it.
Speaker 3 (11:34):
Yeah, they came downtown and toured and had some
lunch, so yeah, it was reallynice how many, uh how many
people do you usually getparticipating in that aspect of
it, like the motor coach thing,like non-cyclists that are just
along for the week?
Speaker 4 (11:45):
Yeah, so the excursions every day usually is
like 15 to 20 that are with us,and it also, you know, if you're
a rider that's not comfortablewith the mountains or your legs
are just tired or your butt's alittle tired from the seat, you
can take a day off.
We'll take your bike to thenext campsite for you and you
can go with the motor coach andcheck out the cool places.
Like you said, we try to takethem to a destination or two
(12:05):
that's not a rest stop, thatalso may not be a host town, and
also take them to eat and sothey're also giving back and
exploring the community just ina little bit of a different way.
And they get in around 3 or 4o'clock each day, so they're
there as the riders are comingin and then they get to be a
part of everything the town isdoing, like what you guys have
downtown.
Speaker 1 (12:25):
Oh, very cool.
I didn't know that they weregoing to come be a part of the
afternoon, so I'm excited aboutthat.
Yeah, absolutely, but weenjoyed doing that last year and
I hope we get to do it foryears to come.
So how do you guys pick theroutes each year?
I know this year your teamreached out and Mike on the team
came down in December and I'mlooking at him because he's
(12:50):
sitting over here but will notcome on camera.
So, hey, mike Came down inDecember and we did a full tour
trying to I tried to get youguys to camp inside and glamp
inside our Civic Center.
Speaker 3 (13:05):
He said no way, there were two parts to that
conversation.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (13:10):
I'm just telling the marketing side of the story.
But how Like we're so excitedto have chosen a Stop 3, and how
do you guys choose the routesevery year?
Do you try to switch it up?
Speaker 4 (13:25):
Yeah, absolutely.
We usually try to do kind of,you know, a northern route, then
do something down the middleand then kind of a southern
route, but it really variesevery year on kind of where
we're able to go with it, alwaystrying to get new towns
involved.
It's hard when you've done itfor 25 years to get to the new
towns, but we always try to getat least a few in there.
But we always try to get atleast a few in there.
But really we start with theanchors, you know, figuring out
(13:47):
the start town, figuring out theend town, because those two you
got to have and those are kindof the hardest at times, just
with the limitations and beingsmaller, and then you just kind
of piece it together, looking atwhat's roughly 50 to 60 miles
and which direction we can go,and kind of piece it together
that way.
Who's available at thefacilities, all that good stuff.
Speaker 3 (14:09):
Yeah, who wants it?
I'm sure is a big part of ittoo, yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:12):
Oh yeah, absolutely.
What town is excited about itand has, you know, wants to roll
out the red carpet to make themfeel welcome, that kind of
stuff?
And then we let our route guysget out there and they're the
ones that find the rest stopsfor us that figure out the ways
to go.
You know we try to keep them onas many back roads as possible.
Low traffic counts, they're notjust going down the freeway on
(14:34):
their bicycles.
They're definitely taking theback roads to get here.
So, while it may be, you know a50 mile direct route by the
time we weave them around and dostuff, it gets a little bit
longer and definitely want totake them up some climbs.
Definitely want to put them upsome climbs.
Speaker 3 (14:52):
Make them work a little, and so you know this is
coming up here in just a coupleweeks, and so as soon as this
particular the 25th is over, Imean you're all in immediately
planning the 26th.
Speaker 4 (15:01):
Yeah, oh yeah, absolutely.
We're always kind of trying towork a year ahead.
So, Absolutely, we're alwayskind of trying to work a year
ahead.
So you know, we've already gotfeelers out there talking to
other towns because, as much aswe want to go ahead and get it
done, our cyclists are going tobe all over us.
Where are we going next year?
What are we doing?
We just announced our coastalride.
So, in addition to Mountains,to Coast, we do a coastal ride
every April and we do a mountainride every August.
(15:22):
They're different in thatthey're loop routes, so you stay
in one city, you have a fewdifferent route options each day
, but you don't have to movecamp, whereas this one, you know
, a lot of our riders are wakingup in the morning, breaking
down their tent, packingeverything up, throwing it on a
truck, and then they get to campafter riding 65 miles, set up
their tent, get everything setup.
(15:43):
So the coastal ride andmountain ride are a little bit
different, but we just announcedour coastal ride for 2025, so I
know they're going to beitching for the other two soon.
Speaker 1 (15:51):
Yeah, well, you know, statesville is a mountain town,
we're the mouth of themountains.
Yeah, so you know thatthree-day ride should be coming
to Statesville sometime.
Speaker 4 (15:58):
Might know a guy you can talk to about that.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Might know a guy you can talk to there's some local
talent that would love to talkabout all the uphill
opportunities here in the areafor sure.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
Yeah, we have lots of .
It's crazy because, like wejust had well, coming up the
weekend before Mountains toCoast comes into Statesville,
purple Heart Homes is havingtheir Take that Hill ride, which
is pretty intense.
They've been doing that forseveral years.
And then last week, the LoveValley Robe and Love Valley a
dirt bike race that Wes Davidson, who's actually on the
(16:31):
Statesville Convention andVisitors Bureau board,
coordinates.
He owns First Flight Bikes.
Talking about Wes, wes, alongwith Ron Smith, who is our city
manager, has worked with Chip atCycle NC and they are going to
be riding the route from Lenoreinto Statesville.
So we're going to be like hometeam cheering them on.
(16:53):
Chip keeps reminding us it'snot a race.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
It is not, it's a ride.
It's always great when we canget the locals who have worked
so hard to help us make this,let them take a little break
from it and get out there andride the routes.
I know we had our crew thatrode through and tested it back
in I guess it was July to do theroute and everything and they
stopped at all the stops.
We've got all the notes ofwhat's great, what they're
(17:17):
excited about, and I know theylove when they stop down here.
It makes it easy when they havean easy downtown where there's
so many options.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
Yeah Well, I also want to make sure and give a
shout out to our hotel partners,who really rolled out the
carpet when Mike and team, whenyour team, came to see if
Statesville would be a good fitand help showcase that we were.
But they've been great partnerstoo and we got all the rooming.
(17:44):
It's quite a few people stayingin hotels.
It didn't look like many, butthen I was looking at the
roommates and yeah, you guys are.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
When you see the truck full of luggage you really
understand it's a lot of people.
When you've got that luggageteam that we've got that's
delivering all the luggage andmoving it around and that kind
of stuff.
Speaker 1 (18:05):
Yeah, not that anyone else cares, but I did the math
and in one night it's $26,000 inhotel rooms.
So thank you, cycle NC, forchoosing Statesville.
We are very excited.
So, Roxanne, your organizationI just want to talk a minute
because you personally thank youfor being here.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
No problem.
Speaker 1 (18:23):
Thank you for driving here to be here with us today,
because I know you guys arecrazy busy right now, but not
only for this.
But you actually run or work ina separate division of the
organization, right, the BodyArmor.
Speaker 4 (18:38):
Games.
Yeah, so I'm the director forour Body Armor State Games event
, which takes place every June.
It's actually kind of what theorganization North Carolina
Amateur Sports was founded basedoff of way back in the day,
when they used to do Olympicfestivals.
Most people don't know whatthose are now, but that's kind
of what started the organizationand was this idea of a
multi-sport festival.
So every June we do 25-ishdifferent sports.
(19:00):
It varies and it's usually 12000 13 000 athletes of all ages.
We do everything frombasketball, baseball to
pickleball.
This year we had an armwrestling.
We had over a hundred peoplecompete in arm wrestling.
I could do that I watch.
I watch over the top the movieyeah, so that's kind of what I
(19:23):
do.
Obviously, we're a smallnonprofit.
There's three of us that workfull time, so it's all hands on
deck, and we also couldn't dowhat we do without our great
contract staff that comes onboard.
You know we've got a great crew.
I think almost everyone that'scoming to work the ride with us
has done it before, so they loveit as well but we can't do it
without them.
We've got a staff of 25probably.
(19:45):
That's going to be all hands ondeck to make this thing that's
amazing come to fruition betweenthe route, support, the sags,
getting everything set up atcamp, all that stuff.
So you know we need them tomake all that happen.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
yeah does the body armor games travel?
Speaker 4 (20:00):
too, or it does, so we typically rotate it every two
years.
We just did two years in theCharlotte area, okay, and we are
going to Greensboro for twoyears my hometown, okay.
So I'm excited to go back toGreensboro.
It's been a while, but yeah.
So we're working on finalizingthat right now.
We'll have a bunch of stuff atthe Greensboro Coliseum, some
stuff at Country Park, justfinalized a location for Disc
(20:22):
Dog that will be a new one forus next year.
We added Doc Dogs this year, sowe're adding Disc Dog next year
.
But yeah, we're always lookingto add new sports, really just
expose people to them and alsojust provide an opportunity for
people to play.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
Especially because a lot of the things that you
mentioned are not your typical.
You know, disc, dog, armwrestling, things like that.
I mean you've got to seek thosesort of opportunities out, so
kind of bringing all thosethings together in conjunction
with some of your more commonsports, it's a pretty neat
concept.
Speaker 4 (20:51):
Yeah, it is, and it's a lot of fun.
You know, we really want tocommunicate to people that it's
not just a Taekwondo competition, and so when they walked into
Cabarrus Arena and it wastaekwondo, karate, strongman
wrestling, all these thingsgoing on, it really opened your
eyes.
But it's a lot of fun.
I meet a lot of differentpeople, work with a lot of
different groups and it's also avery different group than the
(21:13):
cycling group.
You know, my average age is 16.
Right, so I'm dealing with momand dad a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (21:19):
But I love the cycling side too, so it's a
great job.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
Yeah, well, if people want to learn more about the
organization overarching, or isthere still opportunity?
Is registration closed for thebike?
Speaker 4 (21:32):
Registration is not closed.
It stays open.
It stays open.
Yeah, so where do?
Speaker 1 (21:35):
people go.
I mean, I've been seeing thebillboards.
You guys have been doingamazing.
I know you invest a lot ofmoney in marketing this event.
Invest a lot of money inmarketing this event?
Yeah, but if, for some reason,someone is listening and they
have not heard and theydesperately want to come cycle
with Mountains to Coast Race,how do they get more information
?
Speaker 4 (21:50):
Yeah, so you can go to our website, ncsportsorg.
You can either go to the CycleNorth Carolina drop-down and
pick Mountains to Coast andlearn all about this one.
If you want to ride, if youwant to come volunteer at the
rest stops, there'sopportunities there to sign up
for those.
And then there's also all ofour Body Armor, state Games,
information and stuff is postedthere as well.
Speaker 1 (22:10):
Okay, anything else?
You want to make sure peopleknow about Cycle NC?
Speaker 4 (22:15):
No, we're just excited to be here.
I think our participants aregoing to really love this stop.
You guys are going to set thebar really high for those that
are down the road as we make ourway and if everyone can do
whatever they can for theanti-rain dances, oh yeah, we're
good there, we're doing it,we're doing it.
Make sure the sun and 70s hasbeen ordered.
(22:35):
That'd be perfect.
Speaker 3 (22:36):
Already taken care of .
Speaker 1 (22:37):
Yeah, we're on it, perfect.
And if you are a participanttuning in, we look forward to
welcoming you and helping youdiscover Statesville, north
Carolina.
But thank you guys so much forchoosing us as a stop and we
look forward to it, yeahabsolutely.
Thank you guys for having us.
We're excited too.
Cycle NC guys, Thank you.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Thank you for joining Discover Statesville.
You can email us at discover atstatesvillenccom.
Check us out on Facebook atDiscover Statesville, NC hashtag
Discover Statesville and ourwebsite, statesvillenccom.
Catch us next week as wecontinue on our journey to
uncover the hidden gems,culinary adventures,
entertainment, and to beinspired and enlightened as we
(23:21):
Discover Statesville.
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