PITTSBORO — Cycle North Carolina’s 25th anniversary of its “Mountains to Coast” tour made an overnight stop in Pittsboro from Oct. 9 to Oct. 10, making its first overnight stay in Chatham County since 2019.
The Chatham County Agriculture and Conference Center served as a basecamp for the hundreds of cyclists making the trip from Lenoir, North Carolina to Ocean Isle, providing space for tents, catered meals, wellness activities, vendors and entertainment.
“It was important to us to come back to Chatham County,” Chip Hofler, the ride director for Cycle North Carolina and the vice president of North Carolina Amateur Sports, said. “We also love incorporating new towns. We’ve never been to Pittsboro for an overnight before, so it fit within our plan.”
Riders that chose to do the entire route did no more than 64 miles per day from Oct. 6 to Saturday. On the day of the overnight Pittsboro stop, riders rode 64 miles from Thomasville to Pittsboro with stops at the Richard Petty Museum in Randleman, the Liberty Patterson Cottage in Liberty and Heritage Farm Park in Silk Hope along the way.
Through the eye-opening scenery, numerous stops, and unfortunately, disgruntled drivers, the goal for some of the bikers was to just finish.
“We want to hold our bikes in the ocean,” Radell Rasmussen, a rider from Washington, North Carolina, said.
Rasmussen rode with Betsy Hester and Liane Harsh who were all part of a larger group of riders also from Washington. Hester had done it eight times already (twice the whole way and six times just halfway), but they still all planned to finish together.
“Crossing that finish line, no matter how many times you do this, it is an emotional experience,” Harsh, who owns Inner Banks Outfitters, a bike shop in Washington, said. “It’s an accomplishment. You’re hurting. Your saddle is sore. Your neck is sore. Your everything is sore. When you do finally finish this, it’s a big deal.”
The ride was supposed to start in Spruce Pine, but, according the Hofler, the riders couldn’t do the leg from there to Lenoir because of the effects of Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina.
“We had a week to adjust in Spruce Pine which was really devastated by the event,” Hofler said. “That was heartbreaking to see. There’s plenty of towns out there that we’ve been to before that have just been completely crushed.”
Said Hofler, “We’ve done a few things throughout the week to kind of keep it in mind, give riders an option to donate. Here, they have the hurricane relief thing where they can donate there, and in Statesville, we did some hot air balloon rides. I think we raised almost $10,000 for Spruce Pine from that.”
At the Pittsboro basecamp, riders and the general public enjoyed the unique experience of getting a tattoo while at an overnight stay, which riders said they hadn’t seen at stops before.
401 Tattoo Art and Antiquities, a tattoo studio in Fuquay-Varina, set up shop inside the Chatham County Agriculture and Conference Center and offered small tattoos for a discounted price.
“We’re trying to help support the cyclists and everything that they’re doing,” Jessie Carnes, a helper at 401 Tattoo said. “It makes sense for them to travel and have a little piece of what they’ve been through and what they’ve gone across.”
Visitors who got a tattoo of the Cycle North Carolina logo and took a picture with it got free registration for next year’s ride. Shawn Rudisill, a third-year rider from Denver, North Carolina, was the first one to get the logo tattoo.
The tattoos even brought a non-rider, Amanda Wise of Bear Creek, to the event.
“I do get tattoos often,” Wise said. “So, when I heard about it, I had to come down here.”
Wise, who said she “enjoys ink,” got a butterfly on her hand from the 401 Tattoo setup. Although she doesn’t aspire to be a biker, Wise thought the event was “amazing” and a “great thing to bring to Chatham.”
