A summer journey covering hundreds of miles through Virginia and North Carolina with bmx bikes in tow.
The route:
A few summers back I took a bike trip with a couple friends through rural Virginia and North Carolina. Like any bicycle trip we set out to enjoy the open road free of worries and full of possibilities, only this time we each brought something to help us enjoy the spoils of the road… our BMX bikes.
With some camping gear, our “little” bikes rigged to the back of our “big” bikes, and a rough idea of where we are going, we set out for a few weeks of bike riding. For the most part our destinations were skateparks, friends, or campgrounds but making a point to take the scenic route there.
We rode through forty mile straight-aways never seeming to end, through beautiful beaches and tidal waterways, through wooded roads with logging trucks screaming by, through forgotten small towns stopping to grab a bite from a local vendor, into bustling cities much like home, all the while towing these ‘little’ bikes.
In Virginia Beach, Jason managed to get 13 flats in a day, the last being a mile from the skate park so he switched bikes and towed the ‘big’ bike, a plus to having two bikes any where you go. In Greenville a few puzzled locals asked us …”why?” In who knows where NC a puzzled country boy asked…”where do y’all take showers?” I simply replied… “in showers.”Â
On the Pamlico Sound we watched bushels of crab being unloaded from a boat, the crew offered up some of the catch, but it was early in the hot summer day and they would have spoiled.Â
While camping we realized we had no bowl to make dinner so we lined a skate helmet with a plastic bag and had chili. One morning in rural NC, a maid told us we should pray for a place to sleep that night. We ended up stuck in a rainstorm and retreated to a church’s covered playground. In Charlotte, NC a friend led us to a backyard pool built by Wally Holiday, the owner was a wild sculptor/skater/father and let people come over on Saturdays, heavy shredding that day.
At times we would go for days without removing the BMX’s from tow but well worth it once we arrived at our destination or found something “wild” on the road.Â
