From the Pocket

For the last six and one half years I have enjoyed the skill, the personality, and the counsel of an exceptional individual. I hope to continue to enjoy his personality and counsel, but my opportunity to use his skill will be diminished. Tuesday Adam began work full time at Spot (French commercial imaging satellite system). As a graduate of George Mason University with a degree in Geography and credentials working for Northrup Grumman his career path has widened with this move to his chosen field.

There are lots of stories from these six and one half years. Good years. My grandfather used a phrase as a high compliment that I still hear used once in a while.......a gentleman and a scholar. Adam Ward is a gentleman and a scholar.

His new employer, Spot, makes me think of the Dick and Jane books which were so popular in my youth. Dick and Jane had a dog named Spot. The text would say "See Spot. See Spot run. Run Spot run".

I am pleased to "See Adam Progress".

Soon after I opened bikes@vienna my lovely mother-in-law, Sara, sent me an article from the Seattle newspaper. The article featured a Seattle bike store which provided continuing service on the bikes they sold. I do not remember all the details, but it was the inspiration for what is called Continuing Care at bikes@vienna.

When you buy a new bike from bikes@vienna I promise that we will provide small repairs and adjustment for as long as your family owns the bike. As long as the cost of labor is under $20 then you will only be charged for the parts. A flat tube under Continuing Care is a good example; we will replace the bad tube and only charge you for the cost of the tube. You have saved $8 (our charge for switching a tube). We will adjust a derailleur or adjust a brake and because the labor is under $20 you’ll pay nothing. Our idea is for you to keep your bike in good condition so riding is fun and you ride more.

The question gets asked whether we give free or annual tune-ups? We do not. A brake and gear tune-up costs $40 so that is beyond the threshold. We do much better in my opinion. We work to keep your bike in better condition all year. Our effort is for you to visit us more than once a year. While you’re here might I try to sell you a new pump or basket or helmet? Yup, but I am low key.

Continuing Care is a reason for you to consider making your bike purchase at bikes@vienna.

Last Sunday bikes@vienna held the Bike Info Expo at the Vienna Community Center. We took recumbents, trikes, tandems, folders, and even some upright bikes over to display. We enjoyed the company of several groups who had tables of information. PPTC and Bikes For The World joined the fun. Bruce Wright brought maps of the Fairfax County Trails. Pat Kraker set up the display of rider generated electricity. Becky Strode brought her highly acclaimed guide to bike rides on the back roads of Virginia and Maryland titled "Burn The Quads Feed The Brain".

I appreciate all the people that joined us. I was disappointed in the number of people that attended. We had almost 300 people attend the event last year and this year we didn't make it close to 100. I may not have done as good a job of publicity. Perhaps it was a mistake to schedule it during the President's Day weekend. Maybe the forecast of lousy weather played a part. Whatever the reason or reasons I have lots of work to get the event back on track for next year.

The event reaffirmed what I already know about bikes@vienna. There is too much in the store. The gym at the Community Center was filled with bikes and there were still lots at the store. I have to make changes. I'll tell you what I'm considering in a near future entry.

Happy Trails to you and my thanks to all the people that participated in the Bike Info Expo.

The Bike Info Expo is later today. For many years I wrote to rides all over and had them send me brochures about their ride. The result was a sea of paper and too much waste. Here are nearby cycling opportunities that I gathered. You can explore rides that are within several hours of Northern Viriginia. I'll have information about rides in other parts of the country next week.

2005 Calendar of Cycling Opportunities

Capitol to Capitol Century 5.14.05

Maryland Tour de Cure 5.14.05

Bike To Work Day 5.20.05

Virginia Dare MS 150 Bike Tour 6.4.05 - 6.5.05

Patuxent River Rural Legacy Ride 6.11.05

VA Tour de Cure 6.12.05

Shenandoah Tour 6.13.05 - 6.17.05

Mates Williamsburg Tandem Rally 6.17.05 - 6.19.05

Cycle Across Maryland 6.23.05 – 6.26.05

Bike Virginia 6.24.05 - 6.29.05

Great Peanut Ride 9.8.05

Bike DC 9.TBA.05

PPTC Century 9.18.05

50 States Tour 9.24.05

Shenandoah Valley Classic MS 150K 9.24.05 – 9.25.05

Seagull Century 10.8.05

Kernstown Battlefield Association Ride 10.9.05

Shenandoah Fall Folliage Bike Festival 10.15.05 – 10.17.05

Tour de Port 10.16.05

Canal Tour 10.16.05-10.21.05

bikes@vienna Guilt Reduction Ride 11.24.05

I'm tilting my head one way and then the other. I guess I'm hoping for blood flow that will result in greater thinking power. Here's a twist that will test my business skills.

Yesterday my sales representative for an important source of recumbents told me that the cost of their recumbents will go up 20% on March 1. Holy moly! Let me tilt my head to the right. I'm trying to figure out the best action based on that news. The product has been a leading seller for bikes@vienna. I've got time to stock up, but little space for storage. My sales reports for recent years show that early spring is not when most recumbents are purchased. Chances are good that I'd have boxes and boxes to work around until mid summer.

Is this a trend that I will see from other companies? I need to do some research today. Is it exchange rates? Is it material costs? Is it a company improving their profitability? Excuse me, I need to do a head tilt to the left. We were working towards inversion poses at yoga class last night and maybe I need to accelerate that process to stimulate this brain.

Business is seldom boring because much of the time you are adjusting to the ebb and flow of circumstances over which you have little influence. 20%......???? That's a big ebb.

Larry Varney of Bent Rider On Line Magazine was kind to send me the photo above. It was captured last weekend in Florida at the Catrike Rally. Shown from left to right are Len, Mary, Paulo, Hank, and Ken. Most of the time you can find Len, Mary, Hank and Ken riding their Catrikes on the W&OD Trail. Paulo is the designer of the Catrike line of trikes.

I appreciate the wonderful publicity that bikes@vienna gains when delightful people like Len, Mary, Hank, and Ken are so thoughtful as to wear t-shirts promoting the store. My thanks to the Northern Virginia Chapter of the Catrike Owners Assocation.

I hope I can tell this story well.

Wednesday, Bruce, Pat and I had a small supporting role in a nice event. A large employer had gathered employees at a local hotel for training which stressed diversity and team building. They had arranged with a second company for a team building activity which was based on assembling children's bicycles. bikes@vienna supplied the bicycles.

The team building activity was cloaked in secrecy. The unassembled bikes were hidden until the last moment. The meeting participants were divided into teams and then told of their task. In addition to the assembly task they had to decorate the bikes, create a team poster, and a team chant. An important theme was diversity.

We walked into the ballroom as the teams began one by one to tell why they had selected certain names for their group, to show off their bike and their poster and perform their chant. It was a fun activity of people shedding some of their reserve. The crowd roared with laughter at many of the presentations. The setting was fun-filled.

With the last presentation the moderators directed the teams to line up their bikes at one end of the ballroom. The noise was peaking as the teams anticipated that the bikes would be ridden in a comical race of adults on 16" kids bikes. A number of people were already seated on the bikes.....ready to ride. The moderator worked to get the attention of the 140 adults in the room. She urged them to get their bikes ready for their riders.

Then the ballroom doors opened. Hand in hand twenty-four children walked into the room following their leader. These children, students in a local Headstart program, were to be the riders and ultimately the owners of these new bikes. The emotion in the ballroom was electrical. Teams reached out to children. Children rode the bikes. There were plenty of teary eyes, but tears of joy.

I share with you a photo of this sweet group of children sneaking down the hotel corridor to surprise the adults in the ballroom and to be surprised with receiving a new bike. Bicycles bring joy.

Last weekend we had a display booth at the McLean Health and Beauty Expo. John and I set up a few bikes, including an EZ-3 trike, and the 2005 Barcroft Columbia recumbent tandem that we recently received. I've done a few of these shows, and I've noticed that many of the visitors to the booth can't resist sitting on the trike. Many people who haven't ridden a bike in a while feel much more comfortable and secure on a trike than an upright.

As I was discussing the benefits of riding a recumbent, one of the visitors asked rather facetiously, "Does Lance ride a recumbent?". This is a common question; if recumbents are so great, why don't the pros ride them. My response was that Lance would probably be riding a recumbent had they not been banned from pro racing in the 1930's. According to The Recumbent Bicycle by Gunnar Fehlau, the first recumbent ridden by a professional cyclist was used to break the 1 hour record in 1932 with a distance of 45.1 km (27.9 miles) and to win the Paris-Limoges race in 1934. Shortly afterward, the Union Cycliste Internationale, UCI, voted to change the rules of pro racing to effectively ban recumbents from all future events. Imagine what kind of bikes pros would be racing had this vote not occurred.