eLIFELIST.com Bike Trip

Day three was action packed!  We left Rocky Mount around 7AM and eventually got off of highway 64 which had tons of cars and was really annoying to ride on.  After 64 we rode on Highway 98 which was great, not many cars, beautiful scenery (cows, cornfields and trees pretty much.)  We encountered some pretty big hills on 98 but it's good for us to get used to.  Vollmer Farm was one of the places we stopped for a break on 98.  They had some great homemade peach icecream and peaches which really hit the spot.  The owner of the farm John Vollmer sat down with us for a while.  He was a really nice guy and said that his farm used to be a tobacco farm but in the late 90's they began to shift to more vegetables and fruits.  He told us a little bit about organic farming, basically said that the regulations and certifications for organic farming are very intense and also the organic seeds have to be shipped from Kentucky, Vermont and or Colorado.  He said that usually one ton of regular fertility products for a certain crop is arounnd $200 whereas the organic fertility products for that same crop is almost $500.  John's farm is 50% organic and he hopes to expand into even more organic products.  He has started an organic delivery service for a lot of his customers close to the farm and the demand continues to grow. 

We continued down 98 in to old Wake Forest where the campus for Wake Forest University was until it moved to Winston-Salem in 1956.  We got our first flat tire as we arrived in Wake Forest.  Not a big deal, had it changed in 15 minutes, it felt good to have the first one behind us.  Then we ate lunch as this great place called "Over the Falls Deli and Pizzaria" where Brent and I ate an entire extra large pizza, which our waitress Angela was shocked about.  It really is ridiculous how much food we're eating.  As we were leaving Wake Forest I had a bit of a problem with the rear derailer on my bike, it was bent slightly so changing gears was a bit of a challenge, but no big deal to get to Chapel Hill.  As we rode in to Chapel Hill our buddy Ramy greeted us  and rode the last mile in on his mom's 24 year old Schwinn.  He was blowing by us with our trailers.  Ramy's mom made a feast for us: steak, pasta, salad, pie, it was great.  Then we headed to the Durham Bulls game which was awesome, their ball park was top notch, the night was perfect and the stadium was packed.  We sat with Brent's cousin Melanie and her son Andrew and daughter Sarah.  Brent was able to check "see a Durham Bulls baseball game" off his list and the Bulls won 3-1.  Overall, it was a great day but the first day we encountered some larger hills, we know it's just going to get more and more intense the further west we go in the state.  Thanks so much to Ramy's and his parents for having two really smelly bikers into their house and feeding them inordinate amounts of food.  Tomorrow is Chapel Hill to Winston Salem.

Day 3 Pictures

I sat down with my friend George Babiak this past weekend to talk about the Bike Trip and some of George’s biking journeys.  In 1995 George biked with his wife from New York City to Alberta Canada and covered over 4,000 miles. 

George now works for the 52nd Street Project and has been there for several years.  The 52nd Street project as described by their website is “a not for profit organization that matches kids (age 9-18) of Hell’s Kitchen in New York City with professional theatre artists to create original theatre.”  The 52nd Street project is an exceptional organization and they do an amazing job of connecting with the young community in Hell’s Kitchen.  There are several types of theatre programs that the kids and professional artists can work on together.  One is called “One on Ones” where a playwright and kid work together and the playwright then writes a play specifically for that kid.  The kid then rehearses with a professional actor to perform the play in front an audience.  Another program is called “Playmaking” where the kids take classes in playwrighting eventually leading to them writing their own play, which is then produced with a professional director and performed by two professional actors.  The 52 Street Project productions are hands down the best theatre I’ve ever seen. 

George took a minute to sit down with me and talk about some of the things he ran into on his big trip.  George is also a pretty serious bike mechanic having worked at Bicycle Habitat in New York for eight years.  He also helped create the Recycle a Bicycle program that trains kids to repair and ride bikes.  One of the craziest things George and his wife Vanessa ran into on their long bike ride was a reckless driver in Canada hit both of them.  It was a hit and run, the car first struck Vanessa from behind and then moved on to hit George.  Luckily, they both turned out to be fine but one of their bikes was destroyed in the accident.  I guess it just goes to show that you can’t prepare for everything.  He said they also had a couple times where things were stolen, but nothing too major.   

George gave me a few tips on some of the basic maintenance issues we might run into on the road.  Watching him change a tire looked like it was on the same level of difficulty as him snapping his fingers.  I appreciate him taking the time to talk and show me a bit of his skills.  I’ll have his number on speed dial during the ride just in case.