Discover Statesville
Welcome to "Discover Statesville," the show that takes you on a captivating journey through the heart of one of North Carolina's most charming towns. Co-hosted by community advocates, Richard Griggs and Cindy Sutton, this weekly show brings you the pulse of Statesville, recording live at various spots throughout Statesville in partnership with Sow Media studios.
Join Richard and Cindy as they uncover the hidden gems and local treasures that make Statesville truly special. From the top-notch attractions and exciting events to the remarkable individuals who shape the community, "Discover Statesville" promises to leave no stone unturned.
Hungry for a culinary adventure? Tune in for their delightful restaurant reviews, where they'll guide you to the best places to eat in town. Whether you're a resident or a visitor, this podcast is your ultimate guide to all the things that make Statesville great.
You're invited to come along on this immersive journey, as "Discover Statesville" brings you closer to the heart of our vibrant town. Be prepared to be entertained, inspired, and enlightened each week, as Richard and Cindy share their passion for all things Statesville!
Discover Statesville
Cycling Through Statesville: From Gravel to Greenways
Let's explore the vibrant biking culture of Statesville, NC, with our special guest Wes Davidson, owner of First Flight Bicycles and the organizer of the Love Valley Roubaix event happening September 20-22, 2024. Wes takes us through the wide range of local biking options, from thrilling mountain adventures to serene gravel rides. Discover how First Flight Bicycles isn't just a shop but a community cornerstone, complete with a unique beer and wine bar that makes it a go-to spot for cyclists to connect. Wes also shares insights into the increasing popularity of gravel riding, offering a safer and more scenic alternative to traditional road cycling. You'll get a taste of the camaraderie and community spirit that defines the cycling scene in Statesville.
But that's not all—our conversation ventures into the future of cycling in Statesville, highlighting exciting plans to connect existing parks and trails. Wes and Richard shed a little light on the community-driven efforts to make these trails more accessible and enjoyable for everyone. And don't miss out on the details of the upcoming Love Valley Roubaix event, along with other notable cycling events in the area like the Purple Heart Homes, Take That Hill challenge and the Cycle NC, Mountains to Coast Race. Learn how First Flight Bicycles supports cyclists with tailored routes, ensuring an unforgettable experience for both locals and visitors alike. Whether you're a seasoned cyclist or just getting started, this episode offers something for everyone.
We want to know are you brave enough to take on the Love Valley Robe Tune in? Now hear the details.
Speaker 2:Welcome to Discover Statesville, the show that takes you on a captivating journey through the heart of one of North Carolina's most charming towns.
Speaker 3:Welcome back to Discover Statesville. Today, we are joined by Wes Davidson, owner of First Flight Bikes and coordinator and co-creator of the Love Valley Robe, coming up here very soon. Welcome, wes. Welcome back. Yes, thanks for having me Glad to have you back. Yeah, so I guess, before we get into, before we really dive into learning more about the Love Valley Robe, how about just telling us a little bit about First Flight Bikes and all the great biking that we have here in the area?
Speaker 4:Thank you. First Flight Bicycles is celebrating our 35th anniversary this year. Wow, so lots of good business over the years. We're deeply rooted in Statesville. I've been there for 28 years. We love our community and we love promoting cycling in general. Doesn't matter what kind of bike you ride, we just want you to ride and have fun. We do mountain biking, road biking, gravel biking, town riding, name it, and we probably deal with it somehow. So from there, yeah, that's us Okay yeah.
Speaker 3:So all kinds of bikes Yep. Bike repair yes. Bike rentals Bike rentals yes. Come grab a beer and just talk about bikes.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we do.
Speaker 3:I mean you can kind of do all of it in there right?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, let's take a minute to focus on the grab a beer part, because I really love that. You added that niche to your cycle shop.
Speaker 4:Yeah, a lot of shops have that these days, but we just as being a third space for a lot of folks. They have work and they have home, but they need that third space to hang out. We added taps and beer to the shop. We also have wine. We added all of that to the shop in 2019, but it's a great place. People come back to the shop after they go on a ride and sit down, have a couple beers and talk about bikes, maybe pick up a couple bike parts.
Speaker 3:But even that opportunity, if you don't know anything about bikes and you may be in the market for a bike, you can come in, grab a beer, walk around, look, talk to the staff, Definitely. It just sort of loosens the tension on the.
Speaker 1:Or if you're tuning in and you're coming through states when you're like man, that west guy just really seems nice and I want to meet him.
Speaker 3:And I'm thirsty and I.
Speaker 4:And you also meet a lot of other cyclists as well, so there's people that don't know each other, but they can meet that way as well and start riding together.
Speaker 1:But you have some great beers on tap right. We do, I know you have some of my favorite dark beers.
Speaker 3:No one strives to have bad beer on tap.
Speaker 1:Well, fair Richard, I was trying to talk about the beers on tap, the town's worst beer.
Speaker 3:We're trying to carve out a beach. That'd be the worst beer in town.
Speaker 1:We don't want to lift that campaign up. It might be a cool campaign though, but you said, if you have a ride, you're talking about people getting together after they have a ride, and I always think it's fun being here in Statesville. From driving down the road and I see these bike lights going down the sidewalk or across the Broad Street Bridge I'm like, oh, there's Wes, but you'll be with a group of people. Tell us about some of these, because you guys do them often, these group rides, and is there opportunity for people who are looking for a group to ride with to participate in these rides?
Speaker 4:Yeah, we have a Tuesday night road ride that we do. It is pretty specific for the group that we have that it's usually somewhere around 35 to 40 miles distance at 6 o'clock after we close the shop, but we also average 19 to 20 mile per hour pace From there just to do more rides. It would take group ride leaders. That's a ride that I lead. We do a Thursday night mountain bike ride.
Speaker 4:Depending on the time of year, what trails are open, that ride can change venue, whether it's out at Signal Hill Lake, norman State Park or Big Leaf Slopes, based off of what the trails are open. During the winter, you know we will ride more locally because those trails are open for night riding fun in the dark with lights. And then we do a Saturday morning road ride. Road riding tends to not be as popular in the winter months so the rides are kind of fluid. The best thing to do there is, if you're looking for a ride, you know, contact the shop, because there's other rides that start from places that aren't at the bike shop but we can direct you to that. And if you have a certain style of riding you're looking for, we probably know somebody that we can direct that to.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and so, as of late, I've noticed on your social media channels, you guys have been doing more gravel riding and I, you guys, have been doing more gravel riding and I imagine that's a little bit of training and preparation for a big event that you guys have coming up.
Speaker 4:Yeah, gravel is just fun. I started riding a lot of gravel in about 2010. The big thing there is just getting away from traffic, especially if I was riding by myself. I wanted to be able to be on roads that there weren't going to be as many cars. Most people only go on a gravel road because they live on that gravel road. It's not a cut-through road, so from there it was just the exploration and finding those. If you think back to 2010, we didn't have the smartphones as much as we did, and you know I would pull out my Atlas.
Speaker 1:Good old days.
Speaker 4:Yeah, pull out the Atlas, try to figure out a route and then just go explore. And that was the fun, fun part of it. But then I really realized that it was just really beautiful and just a totally different type of riding. It's become more and more popular over the past couple of years, so from there it is just a really neat way to go out and get a lot of miles, see a lot of countryside that you don't see in a car or otherwise. So we do it a lot because it's just really, really fun.
Speaker 1:Okay. Okay, so it's coincidence, but I would say Love Valley, the Love Valley area, which is also statesville. I mean Love Valley is in statesville, north Carolina, and that is definitely off the road. Lots of gravel out there.
Speaker 3:Off the beaten path in general. Off the beaten path? Yeah, in general. And then you figure out the gravel roads up there.
Speaker 1:So that is why you chose that as the home for your annual Love Valley Road Bay. It's a beautiful town.
Speaker 4:You know we wanted people to be able to come see that portion of Statesville. The riding is fantastic. You have a lot of mountains. With the Brushy Mountains you have the you know just great sights. But then from that it's just, it's a tough challenge to be able to challenge yourself. So Love Valley is a really good home base that is kind of in the center of a lot of the northern Iredell gravel going over to the Brushy Mountains, so that it is a really nice hub for the gravel cyclist.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 3:So what kind of so Love Valley Robe? Is it a race? Is it just a multi-day group ride? What is the premise?
Speaker 4:It's technically a race, but a lot of people will come and just come to ride their bicycle so a casual cyclist can come and do the event. There are definitely people there racing. We do have cash prizes for the Omnium riders. So the Omnium is somebody that's going to do three days of riding, that is, friday night, saturday and Sunday. The Friday night is only available to the people doing the Omnium and it's basically a very short two-mile hill climb up Fox Mountain Road in Love Valley. But it's based off of time and it's one person at a time in a time trial. Oh, wow, okay, so seconds count. The faster you can do it, the better you are. Sunday for the Omnium riders they're going to do 100 miles and over 10,000 feet of climbing, so it's a brutal, brutal day.
Speaker 1:Endurance for sure.
Speaker 4:Yes, there's a 50-mile option for folks that just want to do Saturday and Sunday or just Saturday. That is the same first 50 as the 100-milers. So Saturday is unique that there are two options. And then Sunday is our classic route. It's the very first route that we did that leaves Love Valley and goes up and over Brushy Mountain a couple of times.
Speaker 4:So it's a diverse. It's not the same course every single day, so some people will come and just do Saturday, sunday Some people just do Saturday, some people just do Sunday. Over half of our current registrations are for multiple days, whether it's the three-day omnium or a Saturday-Sunday. That's the exciting part is getting people into the town and keeping them here so they can see other things while they're here as well.
Speaker 3:So you can come and be competitive, or you can come and participate casually and just enjoy the atmosphere. Definitely that's awesome yeah.
Speaker 1:So when we spoke earlier in the week, you were happy with the current registrations you had and those seem to continue to be climbing. And what we've seen kind of since the pandemic is more and more people wait until the last minute, right, so it's harder to plan Well, and they're weather watching as well. Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 4:Our past events have always been in the end of March, so we've always experienced weather watchers because it's going to be cold, there's potential of snow, there's potential of rain. We've moved it to September this year to try something a little different. Now, the only weather we really have to worry about is a potential hurricane. Hopefully not. It will definitely be hotter.
Speaker 1:The weather's going to be perfect. I can see it, yeah.
Speaker 4:It's going to be good, no matter what I. Oh, it's going to be good, no matter what I mean. Riding in the rain is not a bad thing. It's actually pretty freeing and very fun and kind of energizing for me. I like riding in the rain as long as it's not too hard. That's just going to make that after-ride beer taste that much better and the grill's going to be going, so come have some refreshments afterwards as well. Do most people camp in the area? There are some campers, then hotels as well. Do most people camp in the area? There are some campers than hotels as well?
Speaker 4:Some people are close enough that they will go home but, we are pushing for more and more people to stay in the area. There's Airbnbs in the area. We've seen a little bit of everything.
Speaker 1:Okay, so Wes fun fact serves on the Statesville Convention and Visitors Bureau Board of Directors. So cycling in the outdoors is important to what the Statesville Convention and Visitors Bureau does and we're really trying to lean into that. So I foresee in the future that we, as we can get ahead of it, we'll do some stay-and-play packages and be more intentional with people staying in town. But I think you said you were anticipating maybe 75 upwards of over 100 people cyclists to come.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we're approaching that 75 registrations already. So I would like to see over 100 to 150 at least this year. Fantastic and for multiple days.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Now, forgive me if this is an ignorant question, but is this a spectator sport Like? Are you wanting the community to come out to be at the finish line? Or you mentioned the grill's going to be out. Is that just for the cyclists? It is.
Speaker 4:It's just for the registrars. You know, you can always throw a couple bucks and we'd throw another hot dog or piece of chicken on the grill or something like that for you.
Speaker 1:You'll feed me if I come.
Speaker 4:Yeah, 100%. But from there, unfortunately, it's not a great spectator sport because you are leaving the town of Love Valley and you're going on a 50-mile or a 100-mile loop, going on a 50 mile or a hundred mile loop, so it's not like the criterium that we used to have in Statesville where you're being passed every six tenths of a mile. This is one long, long day, so you're most likely not going to get in a car and drive behind cyclists for 50 miles. It's kind of boring For the riders. It's exciting and very fun. It's not a spectator sport, unfortunately.
Speaker 1:Richard, do you have anyone ever ask you about the Criterium? I have people ask me a lot.
Speaker 3:Yeah, pretty often. I mean I think the community really enjoyed that event for sure.
Speaker 1:Do you know any people that have inspirations of potentially bringing that back to Statesville? I do get asked quite often.
Speaker 4:I get asked very often. Unfortunately, Criterium Racing just isn't as popular as it was many years ago. It's a very expensive event to put on, so the numbers just weren't working out the last two years that we put it on. Okay, I would love for it to be able to come back one of these days. I think it would take multiple days, like it was over 10 years ago. There was five days and five towns and that was really really neat and that drew a lot of people. But as Criterium Racing just declined, a lot of other towns weren't able to put it on.
Speaker 3:Yeah, a much larger partnership than just the city and Statesville's piece of the puzzle, yeah, yeah, than just the city and Statesville's piece of the puzzle.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know I hear you and Richard just in passing, talk a lot with Richard leading our Recreation and Parks Department here in Statesville. Do you guys, either of you, have anything that you could share about future aspirations? I mean, it's obvious, based on the conversation we're having, that we are a destination for cycling, for bicycling, and I don't know if I said that right, but but I there, there are things that we can do right to to enhance our offering and, um, I think there are things that you guys would hope for, like what are, like, what are some of those things that you've received for the future, for states, if we can get everyone in the right place to make that happen.
Speaker 4:Putting you guys on the spot. I don't want to speak out of turn but Richard and I have both talked about you know there's still plans to connect the two portions of current Greenway. That's been before all the interstate construction. I know that's just tied up in, I think shortfall. We're hoping to bid that out, hopefully this fall shortfall.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, I think that's a big piece is you know? So Wes mentioned a little bit ago. So you know, here locally we've got, we've got big leaf slopes, which is an auto county park that has a number of miles of mountain bike trail. The city has Signal Hill mountain bike trail and so you know, one of the goals is to connect those two, those two parks, via Greenway. You know, because now you know maybe you're talking, you know four miles of trail over here and four miles of trail over here.
Speaker 3:But if you could connect those to where you could, you could park at either one and not ever have to get on the road between the two. It's like, oh, I'm going to ride Big Leaf, then I'm going to take the Greenway over and I being able to ride multiple different trails and not ever have to ride out on the road. So those kind of things, I think, become a draw. And then I think it's to Wes's point, figuring out, add some additional, you know, trail out here to where you'd have the greenway and then you'd maybe, you know, cut off and there'd be dirt trail out in this area. So just trying to look at how we can sometimes add small pieces to our existing you know our existing greenway, and figuring out just how to connect all these dots to where it's it becomes a draw. I mean, we're probably a long way from having 30-plus miles of mountain bike trail like they have down at Lake Norman State Park. But I think we can start to make a dent in what we offer here by connecting some of these individual pieces.
Speaker 1:Yeah, like we have at Lake Norman State Park is what you meant, that's correct, correct, that's exactly right. I didn't mean to put you guys on the no.
Speaker 4:Go ahead, go on from there, it's also we've talked about it's connecting the community to those trails, making sure that we have greenways that are accessible from neighborhoods very easily. As you said, in between Big Leaf and Signal Hill, there's a lot of communities in between there, so not only would you be able to park at one of those parks and ride from one to the other, but a lot of people would be able to ride, and that makes the biggest difference for a lot of people. They don't want to load the bike up and go somewhere. They want to be able to leave out their back door.
Speaker 3:Well, a lot of people ask us about what the big plan is for the Greenway, and so oftentimes I'll use that bicycle wheel analogy, in that we're trying to build a loop that circumnavigates the city and then we start focusing on the spokes of that wheel to where it's. Hey, here you know, how do I get from, from where I'm at, to get out there on that loop? Um, so yeah, lots of opportunity.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sorry to put you guys on the spot, but I know you live breathing. I mean you. I knew it wouldn't be hard for you guys to answer and I I thought it would be cool for our listeners to hear. You know, sometimes there are lots of great conversations happening for the future of our community to be both a destination and have even better quality life than we have already, and I just thought it'd be cool for them to hear that there are those conversations happening. There are those intentions?
Speaker 3:And I think one of the coolest parts about certainly the cycling community and the mountain bike trails that we have here in the area. Um, those are, those are labors of love for the people that maintain those yeah so you know, whereas like signal hill, the city will come out and do some projects that are necessary, but that's primarily a volunteer driven effort to keep that trail open and operational martin in general, yeah, and big leaves in the same way I, so it's you know, that's the coolest part about, I think, the mountain bike community, or the biking community in general, is that it's a bunch of people that will gladly put their money where their mouth is.
Speaker 3:You know they'll say we want this, we want more trail, and we're going to be willing to come out here and help maintain it and they do, which is cool. Yeah, big volunteer community.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, I think you're a big part of that too. I was going to say I think Wes Davidson puts his money where his mouth is. You don't just ask you Shovel in the dirt it, shovel in the dirt it's fun. Yeah Well, I mean even serving on you. Served on the downtown Statesville Board of Directors and you served on.
Speaker 1:Recreation Parks for the county, For the county, and you know now on the CVB board that you're present and you have a voice for to bring our community all these great things. And while we have this time with you, I just wanted to say thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 4:I enjoy it.
Speaker 1:We are a couple weeks out, right from the Love Valley Robe, so there's still time to register.
Speaker 4:Still time to register Lovevalleyrobecom. Robe is spelled R-O-U-B-A-I-X.
Speaker 1:Are you proud of me for saying it?
Speaker 4:right.
Speaker 3:Yes, you have learned over the last couple years. Is there a deadline to register?
Speaker 4:We would love to have the registrations the week before. I do not have a cutoff date. I will accept your money the day of Just bring me cold hard cash please.
Speaker 3:That's what I was curious about. If somebody woke up on Sunday morning and were like you know what? I'm feeling spry today, I'm going to go up and I'm going to write.
Speaker 4:It's tough out there because there's not great cell phone reception so it's hard to take credit cards and things like that. Also, most people will show up an hour before the event, an hour before any event. You've run plenty of events. We're running around like crazy. The last thing I really have the opportunity to do is take a couple dollars, so it makes it a lot easier on anybody planning an event to sign up well before. It also helps us plan for food, drink, any of that, but I'll gladly take your money just about any time You're willing to give me money.
Speaker 2:It won't be me, it'll be you.
Speaker 4:I can drag you out there.
Speaker 3:I'll loan you an e-bike.
Speaker 1:He loaned me an e-bike for a spotlight we did with Visit North Carolina. Gosh, I don't know if I could ever go back to a red light. What is happening right now. I love beer, e-bikes, so we talked a little bit about Statesville being, or this, the greater States area being, a destination for cycling, and I'm very, very excited about that. So, after, after your event, well, I wanted to ask you are you, do you ride the Robe or you don't have time?
Speaker 4:I did in the first couple years because I was not the promoter Right. My friend Cameron Frazier was, but since we took it over I'm not able to ride during the event. I'm way too busy running around trying to fill gaps and make sure everything's running as smooth as it possibly can.
Speaker 1:Well, there's another endurance cycling event that our friends at Purple Heart Homes put together. Take that hill. They do it out, starting from Southern Distilling, or at least the past couple of years, and I understand or maybe I saw it on your wall that you may have conquered, you may have won that event right. I don't know if it's a winning, but yeah.
Speaker 4:I mean they have multiple distance available. They have a 35, a 60, I believe, and an 85. The 60 and the 85 go from Southern Distilling out to Barrett Mountain in Taylorsville. There's a tough hill called Barrett Mountain and then they do time just the segment from the bottom of Barrett to the top. A couple years ago I was fortunate enough to be the fastest person up Barrett Mountain, so that was neat and really cool. It's a great event put on by wonderful folks. I'd highly recommend signing up for it as well.
Speaker 1:It's a very good time it's the weekend after the Robe, so it's October. Is it two days, one day.
Speaker 4:Just one day.
Speaker 1:It's on Saturday the 4th or 5th, 5th, okay, and I only know these dates because on Monday, the 7th, and we have Chip Hoffler is going to be on with us this month or maybe next month too, but Chip Hoffler from Cycle NC, the Cycle NC Mountains, to Coast Race states will stop three. So we're going to have registrations are up to over 800 people, I think, as of this week, um 42 states represented. I think it's the last thing I heard. Alaska and alaska yeah, it was just very cool.
Speaker 4:So um I just think they said the united kingdom yes, that's right, it's just a theme.
Speaker 1:I mean we I mean people aren't going to come here for cycling events if we're not well prepared for cycling events, and I'm very excited about that. And one thing I want to mention before we finish the show is that you guys have done a really good job of putting. I'm going to say pass, that's not right. Routes, routes.
Speaker 4:Routes Okay, sorry yeah.
Speaker 1:Putting routes together, and they are on your website, right? Firstflightbikescom.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that's always one of the number one things when somebody comes and buys a bike and is like, okay, now what do I do? And it's like, well, not everybody that buys a mountain bike knows where all the mountain bike trails are. Not everybody that wants to ride or buying a road bike knows where to ride a road bike, pathway, bike, same thing. They're interested. But that's also a part of what we do for our community is we want to make sure we give you the best experience and help you find that best experience. So we have a map on our wall at the shop with great QR codes that will send you to the routes. We have all those listed on our website as well, and an expanded amount of routes. So whether you're wanting to ride road, gravel, mountain bike trails, pathways, we have a great place for you to start and then other places that you can look to expand as well, yeah, or you can go to states1ccom under things to do.
Speaker 1:We've linked to all those great routes. I mean, there's at least a minimum, I think, of four or five, for each type of ride. Like you said, there are many more, and I think on your website it says, or we can do a custom one.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I've done plenty of custom routes for folks as well, from there. Once again, it just depends on if somebody comes in and says I'm a road cyclist but I don't like riding fast, I don't want to ride very far, I'm staying at, you know, this B&B or this hotel. I can create you a route from there for you know, and give you the safest roads. That's the other big thing for a road cyclist is you want to be safe? I'm not going to put you, you know riding up 115 at 8 am or something like that.
Speaker 4:It's just not good for the cars, it's not good for the cyclists. We want you to have a good time, so we'll detail that for you specifically, that's a great resource.
Speaker 1:We're very excited about the Love Valley Robe and thank you for bringing that here to the community. So lovevalleyrobecom Love Valley.
Speaker 4:Robe.
Speaker 1:You can still register or firstflightbikescom if you need a bicycle and or address in downtown Statesville.
Speaker 4:It is 216 South Center Street.
Speaker 1:Yeah Well, we appreciate you, Wes.
Speaker 4:Thank you. Thanks for everything you're doing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we wish you the best of luck with your event. We invite you to Discover Statesville everyone Till next week.
Speaker 2:Thank you for joining Discover Statesville. You can email us at discover at statesvillenccom. Check us out on Facebook at Discover Statesville, nc hashtag Discover Statesville and our website, statesvillenccom. Catch us next week as we continue on our journey to uncover the hidden gems, culinary adventures, entertainment, and to be inspired and enlightened as we Discover Statesville.
