Ride 12: North Carolina
The Tar Heel State
State: North Carolina (#12)
Area: Durham/Chapel Hill
Route: Loop connecting Durham, Chapel Hill, and Hillsborough
Final Mileage: 51.65
Date: April 15, 2022 (Tax Day!)
We had been waiting for some time to knock out the Tar Heel State, but this trip had to be done the right way: with a tour guide. Specifically, with someone who went to grad school in the state and happened to be dating one of us—and who would have been pretty irked if we’d gone without her! Yes, Michael’s girlfriend, Meagan, spent two years at Duke University earning her master’s degree and could not wait to bring us all down to Durham.
Given Meagan’s tenure at Duke—and the fact that the school had just played an iconic tournament game with its longtime rival, UNC, the week before—we figured it was a must to incorporate both campuses into the ride, especially given that they are only about 8 miles apart. We also learned that there was a delicious ice cream store near a farm just outside Chapel Hill, so we obviously added that to the route as well, helping turn it into the shape of a…chicken?
Although we created the route before actually doing the ride (and therefore didn’t really know what the landscape would look like), it turned out we incorporated nearly every type of scenery you can think of: urban forestry, college town vibes, sprawling suburbs, and beautiful swaths of the countryside. We started the ride on a gorgeous spring day in downtown Durham, where Meagan saw us off.
We then meandered toward Duke’s campus, where we saw part of its gorgeous botanical garden. While this sight was a beaut—including a vintage Drew Lock Broncos jersey sighting—we decided to wait and explore it more in-depth with a larger crew the next day.
So we set our sights for the next major destination: the University of North Carolina campus. As previously mentioned, this stretch of the ride took no time at all. We had barely left Duke’s campus before we suddenly found ourselves crossing the city line into Chapel Hill. After briefly riding a gorgeous stretch of paved trail that followed along a creek bed, we hopped into a neighborhood that took us straight to the heart of the UNC campus.
After perusing the campus for a bit, we decided to stop for a bite to eat. Initially, we had no idea where to go, so we pulled over on the side of the road to use the Maps of Google. However, one of us looked up and saw a lonely restaurant across the road called Lucha Tigre, whose description was “Latin-Asian fusion” and whose menu looked delectable. So we made the excellent decision to park there for a bit and grab some sustenance:
This is the point in the story where we wish to tell you readers about an important life event that occurred at this lunch: Alex asked Michael to make him the luckiest man in the world—and be his best man. Which for Michael was a no-brainer. (See you soon, Nashville!)
We wrapped up a lovely lunch and moved on to the next major event: ice cream. Meagan drove out to meet us at Maple View Farm, which was set atop a hill overlooking bucolic farmland in Hillsborough.
It’s worth noting that we were only about halfway done with the ride at this point, so we had a little over 25 miles left to go and were fueled up on meat and ice cream (just as most cyclists would tell you to do). But we made it! And Mary Kate, who drove down from Baltimore while we were riding, and Meagan were waiting for us at Fullsteam Brewery in downtown Durham with some much-needed beers…
This concluded our first full day in Durham. After our beerventure, each couple went to stay overnight in the area with their respective local friends. The next day, we all gathered together (including said friends) for some epic barbecue at Q Shack followed by further exploration of Duke’s campus, where there were gems at nearly every turn.
And we wrapped up the weekend with some ciders at Ponysaurus Brewing. All in all, this trip was a blast, made even more memorable by sharing the weekend with our friends and loved ones. Given the chance, we’ve no doubt we’d both return to Durham in a heartbeat. Cheers to all the Tar Heels—the residents, not the athletes, we promise, Meagan—for being great hosts!
