SPENCER — Cycle North Carolina says the North Carolina Transportation Museum will be a stop on its 21st “Mountains to Coast” ride.

Of the 1,110 bicyclists who will be staying overnight in Rowan County, 250 of them are expected to stay in local hotels. The rest will camp at the Transportation Museum on Sept. 30.

“Last year, the group made a quick pit-stop at the N.C. Transportation Museum,” says James Meacham, CEO of the Rowan County Convention & Visitors Bureau. “We are happy to host them overnight so that the riders can experience more of the great original features that Rowan County has to offer.”

Wit Tuttell, executive director of Visit NC, said overnight stops by Cycle North Carolina generate some of the largest sales days of the year for restaurants, hotels, bed-and-breakfast inns, visitor attractions and other businesses.

The route will begin in Blowing Rock and end in Atlantic Beach starting Sept. 28 through Oct. 5. The bicyclists will average 60 miles a day. Coming from Hickory, they will travel 62 miles to Spencer.

Over the past 20 years, Cycle North Carolina has stopped overnight in more than 100 North Carolina towns and visited more than 700 communities in the state.

“Transportation history is a story of journeys and all the different ways we, as a society, move from one place to another,” said Kelly Alexander, CEO of the Transportation Museum. “It is exciting for all of us at the N.C. Transportation Museum to share that history with these cyclists as they make their own journey across the state.”

Mark Brown, the museum’s information and communications specialist, recommended cyclists to enjoy the history exhibits in the museum and venture out to downtown Salisbury for its restaurants, microbreweries, museums, and arts and entertainment.

The Mountains to Coast tour is the state’s only cross-state ride and was created in 1999 with the N.C. Division of Tourism, Capital Broadcasting Co., the N.C. Department of Transportation and North Carolina Amateur Sports as founding partners.

Cyclists of all skill and fitness levels are invited to participate in the scenic ride. Online registration is open at www.ncsports.org.