ASHEVILLE – Don’t honk the next time you’re trying to drive past a stream of cyclists on a country road or on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Those bikers just might be your next meal ticket.
Bicycle rides, races and tours in the mountains are on the rise, not just as a covert operation to annoy motorists, but as a calculated way to bring more tourism to Western North Carolina.
The offerings of rides such as Sunday’s nearly sold-out, 100-mile Fletcher Flyer, offering Oskar Blues beer and “the flattest century ride in the mountains,” as well as the upcoming Cycle to Farm in July, connecting bicyclists to gourmet rest stops at farms, are becoming as popular as the well-known bicycle rides through California wine country.
And they are bringing in the big bucks, especially noticeable in the shoulder seasons, or off-peak tourist seasons.
Jennifer Perkins, who owns Looking Glass Creamery with her husband, Andy Perkins, is one of the farm stops on the fourth annual Cycle to Farm Tour, which will roll through the back country roads of Fairview on July 18.
“It was kind of a gamble the first year because you never know. It was a totally different concept,” Perkins said. “Our facility is very small and we can’t accommodate many cars, but we can have as many bicycles as they want. People always have good intentions, but you never know how it will turn out.”
Velo Girl Rides owners Jennifer and David Billstrom organize the tour, partnering with the nonprofit Black Mountain Parks and Greenways. Ingles Markets sponsors the ride.
Perkins was so impressed with the turnout and the meticulous organization, not to mention the boost in farm product sales, that she has been back as a stop on the tour every year since.
“People also came to the stops who weren’t bike riding, but were supporting riders. It’s better than a day at the tailgate market and definitely better than a typical day at the shop,” Perkins said. “Jen is an organizational whirlwind and made sure everything worked.”
An expected 300 bicyclists from at least 13 states will join the Cycle to Farm tour, starting at Recreation Park in Black Mountain for a 100-kilometer (or 62-mile) tour of the east and south Buncombe County countryside, with stops for rest and refreshments at local farms.
At each stop, cyclists will sample homegrown goodies, such as cucumber slices with chevre cheese or goat cheese on strawberries at Looking Glass Creamery, blueberry smoothies at Cloud 9 Farm, fresh ice cream or cured meats at Hickory Nut Gap Farm, or lamb sausage balls at Highlander Farm.
They will also get the chance to buy more of what they like. And since it would be tricky to finish the ride lugging sides of beef or rounds of cheese, the Billstroms will pack all purchases in coolers and have them waiting for the cyclists when they finish the ride at an after-party.
Jennifer Billstrom said 135 people rode the first year, but the ride has sold out the 300-capacity field each year since.
“I think it’s an absolutely wonderful event,” said Ann Sitler, sales and relations manager for Hickory Nut Gap Farm in Fairview. “A lot of people will take a beef stick with them, because it gives them a punch of protein.”
The farm in Fairview, which is open seven days a week, year round, also sells fresh beef and pork in Ingles, Whole Foods, Earth Fare and the French Broad Food Co-op. But Cycle to Farm is a nice, one-day shot in the arm, Sitler said.
“It definitely increases sales. It gives us a nice little boost. We do get riders every spring, summer and fall visiting Asheville and this is one of the things they want to see. With the expansion of greenways, I think it’s really going to take off here.”
Help for Smokies
Janet Peterson, owner of Cloud 9 Farm, will be participating on Cycle to Farm for the fourth year in a row. Her small farm in Fletcher offers beef, chickens, eggs, honey and beeswax products such as lotions and balms, but has become famous for its blueberry smoothies and blueberry granola the cyclists get to sample. She also rents vacation cabins and hosts weddings.
“I think it’s a great way for the neighborhood to be seen. The bicyclists aren’t all necessarily from this area. They see this place on Cycle to Farm and then want to come back to rent a cabin or have a rural wedding,” Peterson said.
Bicycle touring, a la the well-known tours of the California wine country, and in Europe, such as tours through the vineyards of Tuscany, is already here, and getting bigger, Jennifer Billstrom said.
Ben VanCamp, executive director of the Asheville Buncombe Regional Sports Commission, said biking in general, whether it’s touring, organized rides or races, is growing in the mountains and helping tourism-related industry, as well as nonprofits.
The commission worked with the nonprofit Friends of the Smokies to bring the sixth race in the Gran Fondo National Championships Series to downtown Asheville on Aug. 30.
“The Gourmet Century — a bike ride that goes to different restaurants and farms and meets with different chefs, is coming Aug. 22, starting and finishing at Taylor Ranch. I think we’re going to see a lot more of that.”
The Gran Fondo, which will be partly ride, partly race, will have a big impact, said Holly Demuth, North Carolina director of Friends of the Smokies, which raises money for projects and programs in Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
The second annual ride will have three options — a 100-mile with 10,612 feet of elevation gain, a 60-mile and a 30-mile, all starting and ending at Pack Square Park downtown. Parts of the rides will be timed, and riders can choose to race those sections for points.
Demuth said last year brought out 140 riders and raised $27,000 for the Friends group. This year the goal is 500 people.
And those travelers are not only riding, but staying in hotels, eating, drinking beer and bringing home souvenirs, VanCamp said.
The sixth annual Blue Ridge Breakaway is a ride through Haywood County on Aug. 15. It offers options of 105, 74, 60 and 28 miles, with the longer routes spending a portion of time on the Blue Ridge Parkway.
“We do have a large number who are staying one night,” said Melissa Tinsley, events and membership coordinator for Haywood County Chamber of Commerce. “About 47 percent of people stayed in a cabin or a local motel and hotel. Cyclists spend more dollars than average tourists — they stay for more than one night and come with family and friends. If a husband is riding, for example, the wife is shopping and sightseeing.”
Tinsley said the ride has been a huge boon to the region at an off time — when school starts, but before leaf peeping season, when tourism money drops off.
Making the corporate to cycling switch
Jennifer Billstrom grew up “a stone’s throw” from the Blue Ridge Parkway in southwest Virginia, riding horses on the family farm. Now 47, she picked up cycling in 1999 and fell in love with it as a sport for fun. She worked professionally in corporate finance for many years, but was always looking for something different.
She started Velo Girl Rides four years ago, offering custom-designed bike tours in and around Asheville and along the Blue Ridge Parkway, and the Cycle to Farm developed at the same time.
“I had been designing training routes for a hobby, so starting my own bike touring company seemed like a perfect fit,” she said. “The idea originated when I moved to Black Mountain in 2009. I realized that I was passing the farms of the same farmers I shopped with at tailgate market in Black Mountain. The idea came to have a traditional bike ride that used farms as the rest stops instead of a gas station or a church parking lot.”
She said farmers were skeptical at first.
“Now they know they sell 50 percent more on Cycle to Farm than at tailgate markets.”
The metric century ride, also known as 62 miles, is challenging, Billstrom said. After all, it is in the mountains. But she and husband David, a corporate trainer, help train people for the ride.
With Cycle to Farm, Velo Girl Rides, which runs 10-12 bike tours a year, and now taking on the role as director of the second annual Bookwalter Binge, which will be Oct. 31 in Black Mountain (founded by Tour de France rider and Asheville resident Brent Bookwalter and his wife, Jamie), Billstrom makes her living completely from bicycle riding.
The most popular tours, she said, are the entire Blue Ridge Parkway, a 469-mile, 10-day ride, which many people use to check off their bucket list, and the Beer City Tours, where cyclists ride hard each day and finish with a cold one at a local brewery. She will also do custom rides. For example, a group is coming from the Cayman Islands this summer to do a four-day ride of the entire Parkway.
North Carolina has already reached Sonoma County (California) status, said Chuck Hobgood, president of North Carolina Amateur Sports, which hosts bike tours across the state.
“People want to come to our state because they can cycle in the mountains, on the coast or Piedmont or all three. I think the craft beer taking off in state (is) helping with that, and all the visitor and historic sites. I think we’re right at the top of the list of other cross-state rides,” Hobgood said.
The company has been hosting a Mountains to Coast ride since 1999 and this year will start in Waynesville on Sept. 7 and end at Oak Island on the coast seven days later. They also started a Lake Lure ride last year. This year it will be Aug. 1 and 2 with different mileages riders can choose from each day.
The Mountains to Coast started in 1999 and switches its start and finish points each year, he said. It draws up to 1,200 participants from at least 35 different states and two to four different countries. Cyclists ride 450 miles over seven days, either camping or staying at BBs along the way.
Weeklong rides cost $310, which includes bike ride support, rest stops every 15-20 miles, camping spots, luggage transport, shower trucks, mechanical support and more.
As for the Cycle to Farm, just helping connect neighbors, farmers, cyclists, good food and good feelings is driving the Billstroms.
Once back at the finish, cyclists enjoy a farm-to-table meal at the “Fabulous After Party,” sourced from the farmers they visited during their ride. The farmers and the many volunteers who work the event also join in the meal.
“I really have three goals — I want to have a safe, fun event. Second, I want people to understand how fortunate we are to live in a place where local food is so accessible, you can buy vegetables on a bike,” Jennifer Billstrom said.
“And third I hope we will have a greenway that goes from Black Mountain to Asheville. I hope we have a successful enough fundraiser so we can have something like the Swamp Rabbit Trail.” The Greenville Health System Swamp Rabbit Trail runs some 18 miles along the Reedy River connecting Greenville County with schools, parks, and local businesses.
Want to ride?
The fourth annual Cycle to Farm bike ride starts at 8 a.m. July 18 at Recreation Park in Black Mountain. Entry fee is $85. For more information, and to sign up as either a volunteer or rider, see http://CycleToFarm.org.
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