TBL Wrapped: Looking back at a year of growth and change

When the sun rose on 2024, the Espresso Express was a glorified double date between Vance, Sarah, Lauren and me. The unassuming gravel patch next to Lake Raleigh seemed like a turnaround for utility trucks... or something like that. A lot has changed since then.

If my math adds up, we have done 51 Espresso Express rides in 2024. There was one week somewhere in there where we didn't ride – I forget why. We have grown our operation from the back room of a brewery to the storage room behind a running shoe store to a guest house and now a shipping container. Several major news outlets in Raleigh picked up the story along the way.

Since starting Coffee Outside in the summer, we have probably spent 30 or so Thursday mornings at the lake, making coffee, eating homemade snacks, talking about bikes and watching the birds alight on the lake.

Most importantly, we grew into a much-needed inlet to the bike community. After realizing that bike rentals weren't enough to make the change we wanted to see, we opened up a nonprofit called Greenway Gear Collective to use education as a tool to break down barriers between people and a life on bikes.

We hosted bike maintenance classes, group rides, community conversations, and even a hike or two! We supported our friends at Oaks and Spokes and Community Kickstand. We rode with Bike Durham and Durham Courier. Lately, we've been helping the Carrboro Recyclery find a new home... in a shipping container. We rolled deep to events like the Raleigh Active Mobility Open House, Critical Mass, First Friday, Halloween in Oakwood, and more.

We built two bikes for girls in need. We gave people a welcoming place to come spend time with good company right by the water. We talked and rode and wrote and laughed and made things happen.

That, at least to me, sounds like a year well spent.

Here's to another one, except bigger and better this time around.