I had the privilege to travel to Holly Springs, North Carolina for the first annual TeamCBC (Carolina Brewing Company) Swap Meet on March 10. The swap meet was to bring riders together for some great rides, find some sweet deals on bike stuff, and most importantly, raise awareness & money for MS. Before the event, I didn’t realize how familiar I was with TeamCBC.
For the past two years, I have gone up to New Bern (NC) for the MS150 event where over 2,000 riders congregate for a superb cause. I’m up there to provide some mechanical support and to display Kane bikes. During this event my days are 5am to 11pm and they are jam packed, so I don’t have time to meander around. I did have one moment during the dinner hour to grab some grub and savor a much earned beer the second night last year. It was a tasty brew and I learned it was from a Carolina-based brewery, but my thoughts were quickly diverted to the task of loading up the van. That moment had slipped my mind until early this year.
When I learned about the swap meet, I pretty much said this is a no-brainer. I mean, bikes, beer, and a good cause? Absolutely. It was also exciting because I was bringing a few demo bikes. Finally, our sponsored athlete Corporal Michael Politowicz was able to accompany me on this trip. He had recently returned from Camp Pendleton where he competed in the Wounded Warrior Regiment in the Marine Corp. Trials. Despite fighting jet lag, he soldiered on.
Calling the day gorgeous would be an understatement. Mid to upper 60s and loads of sunshine. The day started with quite a few group rides for all skill levels that started leaving at 9am. That gave me plenty of time to get set up. I found some time to shoot a few photos with the bikes in the brewery too. Once riders started coming back, we were swamped. I had a few riders take out Nighthawk and Battle Axe SLs to test ride. It never gets old seeing the smiles and hearing the great reception of our bikes.
As the day went on, it was relaxing talking to riders about bikes, hearing music carrying itself in the air, people finding wicked deals on gear, and being outside.
Favorite part of the trip — A couple of the guys were telling me that when they heard “Kane Bikes” was coming, they were like, “cool, another vendor”. They hadn’t really heard of us or knew what we did. Once I started unloading our van full of bikes, they were like extremely pleased . You bet’cha they know who we are now!
In closing, I’m pretty stoked for the 2013 edition of the New Bern MS 150 ride. While it will still be chaos and long hours, at least I’m going to see familiar faces and have a great time. The 2014 TeamCBC Swap Meet will be even bigger than this year.
The TeamCBC website