Food on Friday: Piney Mountain Bike Lounge

There is one spot that definitely needs to be on your bucket list this summer if you live in Greenville and have kids who enjoy riding bikes – Piney Mountain Bike Lounge!

Piney Mountain is a cross between a bicycle shop and a taproom, complete with a pump track out back! Located between downtown and Paris Mountain, the Lounge caters to mountain bikers on their way to and from the mountains. It has also become a gathering spot for the local community to come together and share their love for riding – or share their love for craft beer while their kids are busy wearing themselves out on the dirt bike course!

Our most recent visit was a weekday. The boys were all still running full steam, wearing on my last nerve. We still had several hours of daylight, and so we loaded up three kids, three bikes and three helmets and headed to Piney Mountain Road.

Although the exterior looks much like it did when it was the Landscapers Supply, the interior has been completely revamped. On one side is the bar, serving up craft beer alongside what is the bicycle repair space. On the other side is a lounge, complete with couches, a foosball table and handlebars in the place of mounted trophies. The center is filled with all the latest cycling gear and bicycles, trail maps on the walls of favorite dirt biking destinations in the area. Finally, in the back you’ll find the former loading dock, converted to outdoor patio. Full of picnic tables, the space overlooks the pump track, a small, looping trail system that you can ideally ride continuously without pedaling.

Since their grand opening in March, Piney Mountain has settled in with a rotation of food trucks to make the Lounge truly a one-stop evening hot-spot. With Upstate favorites such as Automatic Taco, Ellada Kouzina and Chuck Truck each night, for the current schedule check the website or follow Piney Mountain Bike Lounge on facebook. For the beer enthusiasts, a list of the 14 regional and local craft beers on tap can be found here. The pump track is closed when it’s wet for safety reasons as well as to protect the track, and a waiver must be signed before use. Usually one of us will take the boys & bikes around to the track and get them set up, while the other orders food and beer and gets settled in at one of the tables by the track – then it’s just a matter of shouting out a few encouraging words to keep them circling the track while we enjoy our meal.

The lounge

Piney Mountain offers a variety of tune-up and service options as well as a demo option if you’re looking to buy a bicycle but not quite ready to commit. For those with kids in middle or high school that might be interested in a mountain biking team, NICA (the National Interscholastic Cycling association) is coming to Greenville and often meets at Piney Mountain – check out Upstate Composite on facebook for more info.

When it comes down to it, I’m really more of a Swamp Rabbit Trail gal than a Paris Mountain cyclist, but it really doesn't matter: Piney Mountain is a great addition to the Upstate's cycling scene, as well as to the north-Greenville community. Whether you’re looking to get your bike ready for the season, catch up with friends after a day at Paris Mountain, or just ‘cycle’ through some of that energy in the kids on these long days, make sure to swing by the Lounge this summer!

Worn out!

For more information about Piney Mountain Bike Lounge go to www.pineymtb.com.

You can also follow them on twitter and instagram. For a similar experience, check out The Hub in North Carolina, the bike shop, outfitter and tavern on the Pisgah National Forest.