 Bikes line a rack near campus. Photo by Katey Bozorth | Intern Photographer Inside, Magic Cycles owner, founder and logo designer Michael C. Boone, tinkers with the spokes of a wheel, greeting customers from behind the repair counter.
As an Appalachian State University 1990 Bachelor of Arts alumnus, Boone has always enjoyed mountain biking with his friends in and around the High Country.
“There was a lot of mountain biking going on here [in Boone] in the early 90s and that kind of tapered off after a while and road bikes became more popular,” Boone said. “It was just, ‘Go out in the woods and ride.’ It got to be about being out in nature. Bicycles kind of evolved and it’s become more and more competitive [cycling] over the years.”
Throughout his college career and beyond, Boone entered mountain bicycle races all over the East Coast, pursuing competitive road biking in 1999.
Aside from getting a rigorous cardiovascular workout, biking is an environmentally friendly form of transportation.
“Biking is one of the greenest things anyone can do,” Boone said. “We [Magic Cycles] are probably the greenest business in Boone because we promote riding bikes, not driving cars.”
On campus, students and faculty are also blazing the path of biking more and driving less to protect the environment.
This year, a group of 15 faculty approached Housing and Residence Life to create Pedal Power, a co-ed cycling Residential Learning Community for freshmen located in Justice Residence Hall.
“We are hoping that it [Power Pedal] will be in conjunction with the university’s efforts to be a little more sustainable, promoting that kind of green transportation around campus,” Matt M. DiCicco, Justice Residence Hall director and secondary graduate college student development major, said. “I was in this building last year and we definitely had students who rode their bikes everywhere, but they didn’t really have a way of getting together other than the [Appalachian] cycling team, so this is definitely a new opportunity for them.”
Pedal Power consists of about 30 cyclists who are required to take a freshman seminar course focusing on biking and sustainable living.
In addition, they plan to attend at least one community cycling outing per month. Their first outing was to the Virginia Creeper Trail in Damascus, Va.
Students in this community range from the more experienced cyclists competing with Appalachian’s cycling team, to the more recreational biker.
In order to get the most out of their cycling experience, the community hopes to partner with local bike shops to attend bike safety and repair clinics.
For instance, Magic Cycles offers winter bike care clinics every Wednesday night beginning in January, which covers replacing flat tires, fixing chains, brake adjustments and other common repairs. For more information, visit their website, magiccycles.com.
Boone Bike and Touring Company, another full service and repair shop near the intersection of U.S. Highways 105 and 421, first opened its doors in the 1970s and continues to offer bicycle maintenance and rental.
Group rides are frequently posted on their website at boonebike.com.
Now a sales manager at Boone Bike, Joseph S. Grimes first became interested in cycling after high school when he sold one of his cars to buy a bicycle.
For a beginner cyclist, Grimes recommends purchasing or renting a hybrid bike with flat handle bars and mountain bike tires. According to a town of Boone ordinance, every cyclist must wear a helmet when cycling both on campus and in Boone.
Additionally, Grimes recommends investing in a tire pump, flat tire repair kit and proper biking attire.
Grimes feels the Town of Boone is biker-friendly with plenty of bicycle trails and many bicycle racks at local businesses, such as Chick-fil-A and Stick Boy Bread Company.
However, after hearing about the death of a few Mooresville cyclists hit by cars a few years ago, Grimes recognized the need to inform motorists to respect cyclists’ right to the road.
“I got this idea about how there needs to be infomercials to educate drivers, kind of like don’t text while driving [campaigns],” Grimes said.
“Don’t steer your 3,000 pound car at cyclists. I think it’d be rad if there was an ad campaign about giving a few feet to cyclists.”
Story: MEGAN NORTHCOTE, Senior Lifestyles Reporter
Photo: KATEY BOZORTH, Intern Photographer |
