bike, bike, bike

A couple weeks ago I had the chance to visit Wisconsin as part of my continuing education on bikes. Is this a great country, or what? A group of us traveled from Overland Park to Des Moines, where we picked up some bikes to demo on a "hybrid" ride that week. Then we headed to Madison for a few days. We got to hear from several reps from different bike, bike accessories, and bike clothing manufacturers, as well as some Scheels bike experts on how to help our customers enjoy biking as much as we do.

Despite recent snow and chilly temps, we road on some paved trails around the lakes in downtown Madison. And we took a bus ride to Waterloo to tour the Trek factory. They don't show you everything on the tour, but I did get to see where my Project One Madone was painted Chi Red.

I did enjoy this picture of Trek founder, Dick Berg and his son on Independence Pass.

Then we took a box lunch, got back on the bus, and rode to Milwaukee to visit Ray's MTB indoor bike park. To be honest, my strategy going in was "survive and advance", like most teams in the NCAA tournament. But despite a handful of spills, I ended up having a great time. I rode around on the easiest two routes for a while before discovering the "pump track". It was a short track with banked turns, and small humps in the straightaways. A lack of speed going high on the banked turns would leave your wheels sliding right out from under you. But if you used your bike correctly, it was something like a roller coaster powered by you.

After dropping bikes off in Des Moines we got home late Friday night. Four of us got together Saturday for a short road ride. And I've been exhausted to some degree ever since. I'm glad the weekend is here to rest up for another busy week at Scheels.

wrenches needed

We're still almost 4 months away from opening our new Overland Park Scheels, but we need some folks who might like to work on bikes. Experience would be a plus, but the main requirement is a mechanical aptitude and a love of bikes, as well as other sports equipment. If you know anyone who lives in the Kansas City metro area that might be interested, let me know and we'll figure out how to get together.

Scheels is an awesome company and we'll have lots of new bikes rolling in soon. Someone's going to have to help get them put together. What do you think?

first ride

Strictly speaking I guess this was a mild winter in the middle of the country. (I did drive back to Omaha in 2 of the handful of storms we had!) But it seems like it lasted forever! There was a nice day here and there, but more often than not it's been cold and windy for too darn long! Between my time in a hotel in Omaha and the blustery weather I haven't been outside on a bike since early last fall! That changed today.

After a few errands my wife and I enjoyed lunch with some old friends of ours. By the time I got home the temps had climbed to the upper 60s, and the winds were not too bad. I dressed warmly and pumped up my tires. Without checking wind direction I headed west and north and smiled to realize that I was riding right into the breeze. That meant it would be at my back for the return trip.

Less than half a mile from home, as I turned on to the bike lane that would get me across the interstate, I saw the first of several riders enjoying the day. A little over 25 miles later I made it home feeling pretty good. I was a little slow on the hills, but overall I was pleased with my first real effort of the season.

 My season this year may be limited to a few one or two day events as we celebrate opening the new store and get together with our families. But I'm hoping to spend a lot of days riding with friends, old and new, promoting cycling and helping folks get into it with a brand new Fuji or Scott.

next chapter

My four months in Omaha have come to an end. It was a great experience; a great store and an even better group of people. Now I'm ready for the next step. Monday a small group of us will start at the new store. For the first couple of months we'll be receiving freight, assembling displays, and generally doing "whatever it takes" to get the store ready for our June grand opening.

 Omaha Scheels


The tech outdoor department in Omaha had shrunk to a fraction of its peak size before I left, and we were able to set almost all of the expanded bike shop. It was fun to see some great displays of road, mountain, comfort and fat-tire bikes, as well as clothing and accessories. I'm glad that I got to be part of writing the next chapter before I left.

I would also like to announce another new chapter. I'm going to continue to use this blog to write about my cycling adventures, those accomplished and those being planned. And I also want to share the news of my new bike shop and beautiful new store as it comes to fruition. But I don't know if everyone who may read this blog about cycling wants to hear about my veganism. So I'm starting another blog devoted specifically to that. I would encourage everyone to follow me at Vegan For Life but if you only want to check in on the bike biz, this blog will be for that.

go big or go home?

Let me start by saying that I won't be able to do this in 2015. Maybe not even in 2016. But I've been thinking about a new challenge in cycling. Some things are a little too daunting. I'm too old, too slow, and too overweight, um, under height. But if I put my mind to it I can accomplish some things. With that in mind, I thought that I needed a new goal towards which to work.

My love of cycling in Colorado gave me the idea of something I've heard about for years, The Triple Bypass. It's a one day, 120 mile ride, with 10K+ feet of climbing, from Evergreen to Avon. It goes over Juniper Pass, Loveland Pass, and Vail Pass. I've climbed all of these passes, (Juniper in both directions), but not all in the same day. It would be tough, but I know I could do it. That's not optimal for a goal, is it? If you know you can do it? So, how could I take it up a notch? I'm glad you asked.

The slogan for the Triple Bypass is "For those who dare". For those who dare even more there is the Double Triple Bypass. After riding 120 miles over 3 mountain passes with over 10K feet of climbing on a Saturday in July, Double Triple Bypass riders get up and ride back! That sounds so hard, but so awesome! I could add this to my "bucket list", but that contains lots of things that I want to do, some of which I doubt I'll ever get to. So I'm making it a goal. I would like to do it next year, but if it takes a little longer, that's OK too.  But, I'm going to work towards successfully completing the "Double Triple".