Occupy Edenton

If you passed through Edenton the weekend of April 5-7, you might have wondered if the town had become the latest addition to the coalition of encampments popping up all of the United States earlier this year (think Occupy Wall Street, Washington, etc.).  Everywhere you looked there were tents.  Big tents, little tents, red tents, blue tents.  Tents with fences, tents with patios, tents attached to other tents.  And outside all of those tents, there were bicycles.

While the downtown area was transformed into a tented city, complete with mobile shower facilities, the “Occupy Edenton” movement was different than all the others.  This weekend, Edenton was home to Cycle North Carolina’s annual Spring Ride and all of those tents were full of bikers.  The kind of biker that is lung-powered, not gas-powered.  We had young bikers (the youngest being age 4), mature bikers (age 81), female bikers and male bikers (42/58%). The average age for this year’s 1200+ participants was 55. 

 

 

Cycle North Carolina is a non-profit organization founded by North Carolina's Department of Transportation and Department of Commerce's Division of Tourism, Film and Sports Development.  Their first event was organized in 1999 and the location of their inaugural Spring Ride in 2004 was to Edenton.  The bikers have returned 2 other times since then and this year’s event attracted riders from 28 states and the District of Columbia.

Since this is a weekend event and not all riders want to stay in tents, the community offers riders an opportunity to stay with a “host family” for a modest fee which is then donated to the local charity of the home owner’s choice.  Larry and I learned about the event from our neighbors, Patrick and Jeanne, and offered to house some friends of friends that were staying with them. Unfortunately, those friends turned us down preferring to enjoy the “full experience” by pitching a tent on the shores of the Albemarle Sound in Colonial Park.

 

 The weather that weekend was chilly—about 50 during the day making cycling a dream, but down into the 30s at night making sleeping a potential nightmare. No doubt, those friends of friends might have been regretting their decision.  It was also the NCAA basketball finals, and those friends of friends had no way of watching the game from their primitive tent.  So Larry and I invited those friends of friends to share our satellite TV at The Big Yellow House.  To our delight they came by and together we enjoyed the game, a few beers, and stories of their ride.

 

This small town event is what attracted Larry and I to Edenton and we were happy to play a small part in making our visitors feel welcome.  We look forward to the next time Cycle North Carolina returns to Edenton and hope to play an even larger role.  Heck, maybe we’ll even get our own bikes out and go for a ride!