A statistic I found interesting yesterday on my visit to the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte: of the 540,000 people who walked through the gates of this 400-acre outdoor playground last year, only 150,000 bought passes enabling them to play on/with the equipment.
So, I asked, the center’s marketing guy, Stephen Youngblade, what are the other 390,000 up to if they aren’t taking a whitewater raft trip, or climbing the 46-foot outdoor Spire, or standup paddleboarding? Do they come for the $6 cheeseburgers?
Youngblade explained that while they don’t keep numbers on this segment of the operation, many of those — 200,000, perhaps? — come for the Center’s 17-mile trail network. Mountain bikers, trail runners, hikers. As for the rest?
“There are people who like the outdoors,” he said, “and there are people who like the idea of the outdoors. Really, a lot of what we’re about is trying to make a connection with those people who like the idea of the outdoors. To create a spark.” A spark.
Youngblade told me the story of a woman looking to get in better shape who signed up for 5K on the Center’s trails. She was taken by the experience, so she signed up for the next race in the four-race series, a 10K. Then she did the 15K and finally the half marathon. A spark.
Or the 12-year-old boy who showed up a couple years ago for day camp. A typical 12-year-old in a lot of ways — until he was given a paddle and put in a kayak. This year, at age 14, he tried out for the Olympic kayak team. He didn’t make it, but he had found his passion. A spark.
I wandered around the Center looking for sparks. For signs of people who might not consider themselves outdoorsy, but had tapped into something that registered. People who weren’t just having fun, but were challenging themselves in new and different ways while having fun. I found numerous examples of sparks flying on the Ridge Course, seven aerial challenges consisting of cargo netting, thin tightrope cable, unstable bridge planks and ziplines ranging from 20 to 40 feet off the ground. I watched a guy who probably wasn’t on the football team in high school bite his tongue as he navigated a cable tightwire — then beamed at the end. I watched a very focused 8-year-old girl and her equally focused mom successfully navigate a similar obstacle. And I watched a women not-at-all happy to being clipped into a zipline 40 feet up take a good ribbing from her less concerned sister on the adjoining zipline. I watched the sisters drop off their platform and speed to the ground, where upon the reluctant sister yelled, “I totally hate you!” — sporting one of the biggest smiles I’d seen all day.
They were perfectly safe, being clipped in to safety lines. But there was that perception of danger. And, at the end of the line, there was that impossible-to-miss look of satisfaction, of accomplishment, of overcoming a fear. And, perhaps more significantly, that look of, “What’s next?”
Sparks — they were flying at the National Whitewater Center yesterday.read more
Today I’m heading down to the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte to do some … reporting. Yeah, that’s it, reporting.
That’s a taller task than you might imagine because the Whitewater Center is about more than just whitewater rafting and kayaking. It’s about flatwater paddling, about stand-up paddleboarding, about rock climbing, mountain biking, canopy tours … . In short, it’s a microcosm of everything adventurous you can do in North Carolina.read more
Bike sharing, a transportation concept embraced around the world but only slowly making its way to the United States, has come to North Carolina. Charlotte B-Cycle began operating yesterday, with 200 bikes located at 20 stations in Uptown, including several along Charlotte’s Lynx light rail line.
Bike sharing programs offer the use of bikes to people who don’t have them. They’re typically intended to help people run errands or commute to work in urban areas. Bikes are parked at strategically placed stations around town. Participants in in the programs typically pay a usage fee. Generally, you can ride the bikes anywhere (they have GPS tracking), but you must pick them up and leave them at a station. (Lose a bike in the Charlotte system and it will set you back $1,000.) According to Wikipedia, bike sharing programs were operating in 165 cities around the world as of May 2011. France had the most programs, with 29, followed by Spain, 25; and China and Italy, both with 19.
The Charlotte program will allow riders 30 minutes of free use, making it an ideal option for quick trips in Uptown. Each additional 30 minutes is $4.Twenty-four-hour passes are available for $8 — perfect if you’re just visiting for the day — and annual passes, a good option for urban dwellers and downtown workers, are available for $65. Memberships can be purchased online or at the stations.
However, through Sunday the fee is being waived.
Bikes in the Charlotte program as in most bike share programs, are designed for short trips (see photo). All come equipped with baskets, lights and a bell. The bikes, which resemble beach cruisers, have three speeds and are equipped with tires somewhere between a balloon tire and a road tire.
Similar B-Cycle programs are in place in 12 other U.S. cities, including Spartanburg, S.C. An effort is underway to bring bike sharing to the Triangle.
Charlotte’s B-Cycle program was launched with funding from Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina’s new Get Outside North Carolina! initiative. That program promises to pump $4 million into bike and greenway projects around the state over the next four years. Two other programs in line for GO NC! funding include the two-mile Blue Loop greenway at the North Carolina Museum of Art in Raleigh and the 15-mile Gary Shell Cross-City Trail linking Wilmington with the drawbridge to Wrightsville Beach. According to BCBSNC, every $1 invested in biking trails and walking paths can result in $3 in savings in medical expenses.read more
Triathlete Lance Armstrong. Word is he's strong on the bike.
In today’s Charlotte Observer and The News & Observer, I write about a Charlotte group (about to expand into the Triangle) called TriItForLife. The nonprofit’s goal is to take not particularly active women and make triathletes out of them. In six years, it’s produced more than 700 triathletes. But it is limited to women and until next year, only those in the Charlotte area. So what are the rest of us supposed to do?read more
A dream when I was younger was to have a house with a basketball court in the basement. A full-size court, with a knee-friendly synthetic surface. With backboards that dropped to dunk-friendly heights for an Earth-bound 5’9” guard. Throw in my vintage red, white and blue ABA ball, my knee-high tube socks and my Converse All-Stars … . Heaven, I’m in heaven …read more
