Fall Riding.

Well, it is fall again,....or should I say still.  Not that I am complaining, I have really enjoyed this late riding season.  If the Mayans are right, they picked a pretty good year to wrap things up.

 

December 2nd, 2012

Now when winter does come, we can clean our gear, sit on the couch drinking beer, and catch up on all those episodes of Breaking Bad that we fell behind on.  So to the winter I say, I still kind of hate you, but thanks for letting me play a while longer while you waited.  

More Spring Cleaning

It is always nice to jump in the bathtub and get clean after a long ride.  Washing away the grossness of sustained exercise can always be a fantastic way to remember why we are humans.  (This is the part where we start the penetrating music like on a Frank Azar commercial, and the camera focuses in so I can accuse you of neglect.)  Well when was the last time your bike got a babble bath.  Before jumping into the tub and cleaning your bike I will give you a list of the don'ts. 

• Don't go to the car wash or use any type of high pressure wand. 
• Seriously, don't use high pressure wands. 

Wands will do more damage then they prevent, which is what we are trying to do by cleaning our bikes, prevent the dirt from working its way into our bike parts and causing damage.  Instead, use a bucket, a couple of brushes, some warm water, and a little bit of dish soap.  Gently scrub your parts, and rinse them off.  Dry your bike off, and lube. 

Also, if you want to really get crazy, you can clean your grips and saddle.  Both of them will have significant improvement with a little whitening toothpaste and an old brush, and without spending anything but quality time with a bicycle you love, you can give it that fresh breath feeling.  (The toothpaste isn't a joke, it works really well, and it is mild enough that it doesn't damage either your grips, or your saddle.) 

What to buy?

SO,...with the big Holiday just around the corner, I thought it might be a good idea to post a few gift ideas for that special cyclist in your life. The first thing you have to ask yourself is; "What type of cyclist am I buying for?" Sure you have Roadies, Mountain Bikers, Commuters, BMXers, Fixie Riders, Utility Riders, Touring Riders, Recumbent Riders, Or Cruiser Riders. It can be really intimidating when you start trying to figure all this out. But it isn't really all that hard if you break them down into the following three groups;


1. Emerging Cyclist. A person who fits into this category can ride any of the above styles of bikes. This type of rider is just getting into riding a bike, and to be honest, maybe they are trying it out but won't stick with it. The goal here should be to get them something that will make their lives easier to increase the chances of them becoming a full time cyclist. If you have a cyclist who has decided to start riding to work, even when it is cold and wet, the first gift that comes to my mind is Fenders. The likelihood of riding is increased greatly when you can stay dry. Planet Bike makes some great full coverage fenders for all types of bicycles that don't break the bank. Don't forget lights for the front and rear, or a good wind jacket.


For someone getting into mountain biking I would recommend a new bike! But if you don't have the funds for something that big, you can always get them a Big Air "CO2" contraption. (It is actually filled with Propane.) They are nice to have during mosquito season, and most Mountain bikers won't buy them for themselves for some reason.

A good gift for a begginer into any type of cycling is the good old fashioned cycling sock.
2. Intermediate Cyclist. This type of cyclist is usually a seasonal cyclist with many interests, like snowshoeing, climbing, backpacking, and/or rafting. They have a genuine desire to be outside, truly enjoy cycling, but aren't in the saddle every day. This is where it gets tricky. These guys and gals know good gear when they see it. And they probably have enough experience to know what they like. T-Shirts and Sweatshirts from your favorite local shop always hit home with this group. Consider it something to wear in the off season so they still feel connected to their bikes. A trail bell is also a creative way to spice up the handlebar, and help keep the cyclist in question safe. Simple tools are always nice, and so are helmets and water bottles.
3. Hard Core! This is by far the toughest group to shop for. They usually have everything they need. The key here is to look at their stuff, and try to find something that needs replaced. Tires on their favorite bicycle are usually a good place to start. Just copy down all of the information on the sidewall, (the side of the tire) and take it to your local bike shop. Inner tubes are another great item, because if you ride enough, you will go through them. The same sidewall information will be pertinent. And don't forget about the good old fashionedgift certificate for a Tune-Up. Even if they always care for their own bicycles, it is sometimes nice to let someone else do the dirty work. Cycling clothing is always a good idea, as long as you have access to the items they currently have and can check the size and styles they like. Roadies go through cycling hats like crazy, and they are always in need of a new hat to soak up their sweat.
No matter what type of cyclist you are buying for, it is always helpful to know a few things. Make sure you know what type of cyclist you are buying for. If you can take a picture of her/his bicycle to help with sizing and specifics for buying. It will help save time when talking to the trained professionals at your local bicycle shop. ...And yeah, he is one of the best mechanics I have ever worked with,...Happy Holidays from the Pedal House.

The Purist in Me Died a Little Today.

I have seen the look in a person's eyes when they get a new bicycle and I have been extremely honored to help facilitate that feeling. I have helped several people get bicycles; The single mom hoping to save money, the Wyoming Technical Institute student who was too broke to pay for a $50 bicycle, the child who wanted something without training wheels, the family who wanted to spend more time together. All the while I was plugging along on my 1996 Bontrager Race Lite, proud that my bike was made of steel, proud that I only had the one gear, proud that I was a purist.

But, as I mentioned in my last blog entry, things change. Well today, the purist in me died a little. The good news is, like an old oak tree, when part of it dies, another part flourishes. I got a new bicycle. Not just any bicycle either.

It is carbon.
It has gears.


It has suspension.

It has disc brakes.

And it is worth every penny. It is the Anthem X Advanced SL 1, and I am happy to say that I love my new bicycle, and I am happy to enter a new stage of my life. Let us call it, the carbon era. Just a side note, apples in the carbon era are so much better than they were in the grumpy old steel era.

Happy Trails.

P.S. I think Jeff likes the new bike too. He slept all day after our ride, and if you know Jeff, you know that is an impressive accomplishment for a fat guy like me.

Photos By Jessica Flock.

Bicycle Love

Sometimes life will bring about challenges that we are not expecting. Look at stage eight of the Tour de France this year. It seems the American Favorite, Lance Armstrong, has fallen from grace and yet he continues to ride. Now let us be clear, I am not a Lance Armstrong fan. I believe that most people admire Lance simply out of the love of a champion. I think his fame is simple; people who do not watch cycling on a regular basis admire him the same way people who know little about basketball admire Kobe Bryant. He simply gets a great deal of press. I admire Lance's skills, but he isn't my favorite rider. Andy Schleck was my pick of the year. (Pictured in Yellow)

But there is something to be learned from Lance's Tour this year. He is out of it. He has failed miserably, and not because of something he did. In fact, he was riding an outstanding ride. Cadel Evans cracked under the pressure of yellow, and is a broken shell of a man at his own hands. But Lance was taken out by other's mistakes. And still Lance rides on. Instead of packing up and heading home, he has reinvented himself as a support rider for his teammate and hopeful podium contender Levi Leipheimer. He rides simply out of his love of the sport, and his commitment to the other riders. That is something I admire about him. I am never happy to see someone fail at their endeavors, but I love to watch when people accept the challenges of life and remain a positive member of the community. Kudos Lance, from the Pedal House.

Preaching Sportsmenship

I am a horrible example for sportsmanship. I have never been good at being good at something. I try to be humble when I am excellent at something, but truth be told I have a lot to learn. For instance, I need to learn to be excellent at something. :)


But I do know one thing. Justice, one of my young apprentice mechanics is a much more suitable individual for teaching the ways of sportsmanship. During this last weeks race he had a mechanical, as we call it in the bicycling world. (A quick and easy way to say something went wrong with his bicycle's mechanical workings.) Anyway, as he pulled over to fix it another young rider rode by him and laughed. He actually found his misfortune amusing. Justice finished way ahead of this young man, but in the end was humble and didn't gloat. I made a funny comment, meant to be a joke, about how he tried to leave that kid in his dust for laughing, but by the time the kid had arrived the dust had settled, and Justice defended the other rider. Kudos Just Ice, for teaching me about sportsmanship, and how to be a better role model. You are the reason that I work with young people...and welcome to the Pedal House, (He fixed two bikes today up to Joel's standards.)

I would also like to welcome Max to the Pedal House. Though he has some major catching up to do in the mechanical realm, at least compared to his young friend Justice, he does outshine him in the quote department. Welcome Maximus...and my you have a thousand quotes on the bathroom door before you move on to bigger and better things.

Summer Outdoor Slam

For kids across the country there are a few days that stand out as worth remembering. National Bath Safety Month was always a favorite on the playground when I was young. But there is nothing more celebrated than the first day of summer vacation. The pagan in me says that the Summer Solstice is when I should be harvesting my medical herbs and getting outdoors and frolicking, but I needed to get out of the house early and shake off the cabin fever. Since it is WAY too wet to be riding a Happy Jack yet, at least if I want to be able to live with myself, I was extremely happy to participate in the Summer Outdoor Slam at Curt Gowdy National Park this past Saturday.


As representatives of the Pedal House Lindsey and I worked diligently to show young people how to ride safely, and how to prepare for mishaps while riding in the mountains. Actually, all we did was sit around and catch some sun rays, and then we basically took a group of kids and adults for a ride on the trails of Curt Gowdy.


There was a lot to do, kayaking, rope climbing, bicycle demos, and an ATV simulation; which was the only way I really like to see ATV's...simulated.

In other news, I was extremely happy to have the Cathedral Home come and join us for a ride. They have been so supportive of the cycling community in Laramie, that it wouldn't have been the same without them.

Speaking of the Cathedral Home, Saturday was the first day of our new partnership with the Cathedral Home, as we took on our first employee, a young man who has worked his way through the Vocational Education program there, and will be joining the Pedal House staff in our mentoring program. He goes by the handle Sushi, and he is one of the best 14 year old mechanics I have ever met. I am thankful to have him, and appreciative of all of the support and help I have received from the staff and kids at the Cathedral Home.

Welcome aboard Sushi, we are looking forward to having you brighten up the place...and by that I mean we are looking forward to having you clean our stands and benches daily. (HEE HEE.)

All in all, it was a fantastic day, and a great way to kick off what looks to be a wonderful riding season. Happy Trails from the Pedal House.

Merchandise

As a great man, (or anthropomorphic lizard???) once said, "Spacebaalls the T-shirt, Spaceballs the Coloring Book, Spaceballs the Lunch box, Spaceballs the Breakfast Cereal, Spaceballs the Flame Thrower." And Now....Spaceballs water bottles;

The new Pedal House water bottles are in. Specialized, so they won't leak all over you while you try to drink from them,...Nat. We will be donating these, along with a bunch of other gear to the Laramie Mountain Bike series, so if you don't want to shell out the four dollars, go and race and win one.

In other news, I finally got out on a bicycle and turned over a few pedals. It was fun, but I got dropped by my riding buddy, who was so excited about the possibility of a ride he was geared up from the get go.

Dmitri was a rock star and I think that he is going to be a beast this season on the bicycle, so all you Juniors out there, you should know he already has a wool jersey. Happy trails from the Pedal House.

A Few More Changes

I was working in a kitchen once when a good friend of mine, and my boss at the time, Gabe Aragon told me that in any good restaurant, the cooks have to run the place. That is where the old saying comes from; if it is too hot, get out of the kitchen.

The same thing is true when you are working in a bike shop. Keep the cooks happy! And the only way we can help do that is by keeping the guys who work on their bicycles happy. At the Pedal House we wanted some room to move around, room to grow, room to blossom, room to....fix bikes. So Saturday we decided to jump into another project.

This is our shop area. Notice the familiar look of sawdust on the ground, however, it is not because there was another famous blowout Friday night closing "celebration." No, this time it was due to the cutting of particle board and 2x4's for new bench parts. Notice Joel on the right side of the photo installing a bench in our new and high tech "welding center." I wanted to name it "Big Al's Extravagant Table for All Things Metal", but I was outvoted.

Here we see the new Shock repair area. Our goal was to keep all of the machine work away from the areas where the mechanics do their magic. Grinder, welding, drill press, and all have been moved around the corner where the flakes can fly and you don't have to interrupt the Bike Whisperer.

So come and see our happy mechanics, a road race on the box, and let us help keep you in the saddle.

Off and Runnin'

What a monumental weekend. Friday night we had an open house, and boy did we ever enjoy ourselves.

We cleared out the center of the shop so that we could accommodate a soccer game that eventually made us start thinking about putting turf in the showroom.

I do believe a good time was had by all;

We were going to have a simple little gathering from 6-8pm, but somehow we didn't get home until 2:15 in the morning, And Pedar found a new protege to mentor...in the art of bicycle mechanics of course.

The next day we had a Grand Re-Opening celebration that lasted all day. We gave out prizes, visited with old friends and family, made some new friends, and even found time to complete some mechanical work....(Thanks to Joel, Pedar and Lindsey!) So now we are in full swing, and I just can't wait for Mother Nature to provide us with some weather to ride in. Happy Trails from the Pedal House.

Grand Re-Opening

I was walking through campus today when I saw a flyer carefully taped to a pole. It was like I took the little red pill. It hit home, Jess and I are really a part of the best bike shop in town. I know I am supposed to say that, but I am shocked to be part of something I find so special. I am also shocked by the amount of work we still have ahead of us before Saturday.

As you can see from the flyer, this Saturday is going to be fun. We will unveil the new t-shirt designs, nothing radically changed, but a new twist on the old idea. I even heard that we might have a few as door prizes...But I'll never tell.

There are also a good number of bicycles in boxes that we just pulled off the truck today, and a number of bikes that we can special order to meet the needs of all the local riding fanatics. Joel, Pedar, Lindsey, Miguel and I will be working quite diligently to create a quiver of bicycles that will tickle your fancy and help you shake off the winter blues.

As far as the reorganization, it goes well. Here we see my dear friend Joel enjoying the fruits of our labors...that is apple juice in his hand. Cold brewed, frosty apple juice.

This was a rewarding Saturday evening, if you will notice, the picture is moved closer to the mechanics were we have opened up a little space to view the latest races on the telly, or to try on a pair of Shimano road shoes. Notice that the counter is clear and the mechanics are visible for harassment, or just a little social interaction.

So come and join us on Saturday, check out the new bikes and see what all the fuss is about. Hope to see you there.

"We need the moisture"

When I flung open my curtains on Saturday morning, my first thought was, "NO" ! I was in denial about the chances of snow in Laramie during the spring,...as if I have not lived here my entire life.
The snow was extremely wet and heavy, but at least there was a lot of it.



The snow did provide us with the opportunity to examine our layout around the Pedal House. Joel revealed that in another life he was actually an interior decorator, and so the adventure began. We decided that we did not want the customers to come in and feel like we were a completely different bicycle store. In fact, we wanted to have the customers feel at home, like always. Which leads me to my first dilemma. I had some bad feelings toward this painting;


I won't go into detail, but it has nothing to do with long standing love triangle between Lance, Greg, and Trek. We don't sell Trek, so I don't care. :) I am just a huge feng shui kind of guy, so we moved it to accommodate my flow. In fact we found a few changes that made us all feel a little more comfortable.

Before:
After:


So come on down and let us know what you think of the new face of the Pedal House. We did a lot, and it was all thanks to the snow. Mother nature, you are the best. Thanks for the chance to clean and reorganize, and as so many people who optimistically view the world, "we need the moisture."

Weather in Laramie

Today is Earth Day, a celebration of the planet we inhabit. Plans to provide free tune-ups at Prexy's pasture today were changed due to the earthly produced moisture we cyclists like to call, rain. On the subject of rain, this is a wonderful time to talk about commuting in the spring. Though we might step out the door and find a clear sky and a sun drenched view over our handlebars in the mornings, often times by lunch we find the truth in the words of Biggie Smalls when he said "things done changed." Remember to throw a rain jacket in your backpack, and gloves are always nice. I like a brimmed hat, usually a Dodgers baseball hat, because I wear glasses and the brim helps keep the rain off of my lenses. Another tip I hear all the time is to pack up your daily necessities the night before. If you are at all like me, mornings are the worst time to try to plan anything except where to get some coffee. So I pack my day bag (not to be confused with a European Carry All) the night before. Then in the morning, when I am a caffeine deprived primate, all I have to remember is my bag and my bike.
Oh yeah, and one last thing. When it rains, slow down a little bit. I was talking to my friend Miguel tonight about the various crashes we have been involved in due to the rain. Things to watch out for: crosswalk paint, smooth sidewalks (usually older ones), decorative rocks, and as I found out this very evening...cornering at high speeds with slicks in the poring rain. I went down like a sack of potatoes. I am fine, but after inspection I did notice that I have a bloody and bruised ego. Ride Safe, and Happy Trails.

Opening Day

Bicycles have a special place in a young persons life. Before the bicycle, children are part of a family unit, traveling in herds of humans with little to no real say in the direction of the packs movement. But when you straddle that iron machine, leather grips in your hands, wind in your hair, suddenly you have a degree of autonomy that is not only new, but exhilarating. Individual thoughts can guide your every move, and for the first time, you can decide where the wind will take you...at least until supper time.
I have never stopped feeling that excitement in the saddle. Sure, I have bicycle mechanic experience, but it is all derived from the love I have for everything bicycle.
Recently, Jessica (my beautiful river rat of a wife) and I purchased the Pedal House, THE bicycle shop in our home town. It is an honor and a privilege to be associated with such a stellar bike shop. The reputation and traditions that have been developed over the last 20 years will be held in the highest esteem, and as the new owner of the Pedal House, I will work to insure quality and service not only stay the same, but they improve. Of course I could never do any of this by myself. I have a team of amazing employees, and I would like to extend my deepest gratitude to my friends Pedar, Joel, Lindsey, and Pee Jay for remaining patient and supporting me through the transaction process. I would also like to thank Carl Gose, my friend and the former owner, for taking me seriously when I told him I wanted to buy his business. Thanks could not be extended in this blog without mention of the mothers and fathers, both mine, (Don & Gloria) and Jessica's (Dean & Phyllis) for the unwavering support. And where would I be without Jessica? I can't even begin to describe how much I am indebted to Jessica for helping me realize my dreams. Not only did she agree to riding a tandem through town on our wedding day with a "Just married" sign on the back, but she encouraged me to enter into this adventure.Last, but obviously not least, is you, the customer; thank you. The Pedal House is your shop too, and we don't want to come in a make huge sweeping changes. We want the quality of our services to be something you can count on. So come on down to the Pedal house for a bike, a tune up, or just to say hi. I look forward to sharing my love for bicycles with you and helping keep your bicycle on the road.