photograph by Travis Long

“When I’m on a trail, I unplug completely. It sets my mind free. My imagination goes wild. And that’s what I try to create at Marbles, too: A place for kids’ imaginations to run wild.” –Sally Edwards, President of Marbles Kids Museum and avid cyclist.

As a student at UNC-Chapel Hill, Sally Edwards discovered competitive cycling, often taking long weekend rides from campus to her parents’ North Raleigh home. She met her husband of almost three decades at a bike race, and he got her into cyclocross, which she describes as “steeplechase on bikes.” Her 2015 race docket includes a few endurance cycling events, but her real goal is the fall cyclocross season. Each weekend holds one or two races across the state which culminate in the USA Cycling Cyclocross National Championships in Asheville. “It’s a big deal to have the championships in North Carolina,” says Edwards, 50. “I can’t wait. I ride my bike more seriously than just a recreational rider, but it’s not my life. It is my active pursuit.”

Edwards is never far from a Raleigh bike trail. One of her favorites is at Lake Crabtree.