Cyclists Take Over Fayetteville Street; Businesses Benefit

Raleigh, N.C. — Raleigh's Fayetteville Street turned into a bike lane for about 100 world-class cyclists Friday.

The annual event transformed the street into a high octane, fast-paced money maker for downtown vendors and businesses.

Events like this help Raleigh get a return on its investment. The redevelopment of the area is up to about $2 billion when you factor in the public and private sectors.

Harvey Yancey saw a difference with his downtown business, Yancey’s.

“This is great. It’s great to look at all the people that wouldn't normally come downtown,” he said. “They’re downtown now, which makes it a beautiful thing.”

The race drew Apex resident Lynn Senior and her friends.

“We moved here 20 something years ago, and you’d come down here after 5 and nothing. And now you come down here and this is what it looks like, especially on weekends,” Senior said.

The new course takes advantage of Raleigh's new main street - with spectators lining the entire race course, which is an upside for the racers and businesses.

Last year, the event drew about 10,000 people when it was in the City Market/Moore Square area. Preliminary estimates indicate about 30-40 percent more people this year.

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Lame. Everytime there is an event within 25 miles of Fayetteville Street-Mall-Whatever-The-Heck-It-Is-Now-They've-Switche d-It-Back-And-Forth-So-Many-Times-Now-I-Forget, the city of Raleigh tries to claim it as a big success for the downtown merchants to justify all that money they wasted on the conversion. Interesting how the only time people will go downtown is when there is a big event like this - they know there will be lots of people, so it will be safe. Any other time, forget it. People don't want to be robbed, have their cars vandalized, or be mobbed by panhandlers.

childfreeinrdu
May 27, 2007 4:49 p.m.

lets address them all shall we?

tyrone..if you are rider and its you and i chatting..its a twisted humor thing..fine...if you are not..and its a public comment..its wrong.

robrcb..dude..it was all over wral..and the indy and the news..the n&o had 2 pages on it..12k of your closest friends knew about it..

gofigure..the race was a race..not a charity..you wanna raise money on a bike? check out the MS150, or the ADA's Tour de Cure, or one of the AIDS rides, or the Alz Ride..or..or..or..it was just a race. think every NASCAR race benefits anyone but BUD or Enzyte?

aight..im off the soap box...it was a great event and a lot of fun.

one less car

House1506
May 27, 2007 12:40 p.m.

Obviously none of you who have commented were down there on Friday night. It is called the Raleigh Twilight Criterium and quite frankly, it was a lot of fun. So don't criticize something you didn't even bother to show up for. There were at least 10-12K people there who all appeared to be having a good time, so you just might find yourself in the minority.

As for the morons who made comments about cyclists.....better to keep your mouth shut have people think you are a fool than to open your mouth and prove it. Enough said.