Just south of town, a parallel universe with huge agricultural fields traversed by dirt roads awaits the adventurous cyclist. This scenic ride has the feel of rural farmland even though it is only 4 miles from the center of Raleigh. The route turns at Lake Wheeler Rd., just a stone’s throw from the Howling Cow ice cream and the NC State Dairy Museum. To add some history and nature to your bike hike, Yates Mill Park is about a third of a mile south on Lake Wheeler Rd.
This route is basically an out and back, and uses very little of the greenway system, but the idea of a bucolic ride close to town combined with the possibility of fresh ice cream seemed noteworthy. From Dix Park, this ride crosses through Centennial Campus to Trailwood Dr. where heads south across the beltline to Tryon Rd. Cross Tryon and use the sidewalk to jog west for a block to Mid Pines Dr., where the route turns to the south. After a mile or so through a neighborhood, the ride opens to NC State pasture land, and the surface changes to dirt – complete with some serious potholes. The scenery on this stretch of the route is more that enough to make up for the nuisance of the potentially jarring bumps. At Lake Wheeler Rd., the Howling Cow ice cream stand is just across the street. To make a loop, this route heads back on Lake Wheeler Rd., which used to be a great road to ride. These days it seems busy and narrow, except on Sunday mornings, so there is always the option to retrace.
