Fall Views: Double Header Part 1

St. Paul's church on Burton Avenue on a stellar blue-bird day.

 Over the weekend I actually got out both days. The weather broke Friday evening and perhaps that will be that for Summer-like weather. Maybe we will get a week of Summer-like temperatures again in September, but that humid, hot weather is probably gone for the year. We will see. At any rate, it couldn't have been much better for riding over the weekend. The lows are into the 50's and the highs were supposed to only be in the 70's but I think it actually got warmer than that, just without that beastly humidity we had all last week. 

The route was going to head North, as the cold front brought a Northwest wind. So, I decided upon a "Three County Tour" in reverse from what I had done in the past.This would take in Black Hawk, Bremer, and Butler Counties. I had an option of making it a four county tour, as adding Grundy County wouldn't have have been hard to do, but I wasn't sure how many miles, or how much time I had, in the bank. Since I didn't get started until after lunch, I figured time would be the deciding factor. Not that this mattered. I was just glad to get out the door on such a great day to ride.

The roads to start out were excellent, once I got out on the gravel. There hadn't been any fresh grading or dump truck loads of gravel applied anywhere in Black Hawk County's Northern tier, so the mostly uphill route was easier into the stiff wind than it might have been otherwise. I headed up Burton Avenue and then cut over west on the county line, Marquis Road, to get over to Janesville, Iowa. There I was planning on riding straight West through the village to the pedestrian/bike trail bridge across the Cedar River, and then onward toward Butler County. 

A herd of cattle grazes peacefully in a pasture along the banks of the Shell Rock River

I had to grab another image at the West Point cemetery near Waverly Junction, Iowa.

The wind was tough, more than I had expected judging from the forecast. The wind had to be in the 20mph range and going pretty much straight North and West just kept me into it as it was solidly out of the Northwest. I ended up taking a break at two spots. Once on Burton for a 'nature break' and the other just West of Janesville to eat, drink, and reconnoiter my options via the maps app on the phone. I made a determination and set off, crossing the Shell Rock River and then going by Waverly Junction. 

Essentially I never had been in this area traveling in this direction before, so everything looked new. This made for a 'mistake' of sorts, in figuring out how to get to the only bridge across the West Fork of the Cedar on gravel in this part of Butler County. I knew it was on Willow, but I got off on the wrong foot to get to the gravel and instead I found the paved bit of Willow about 3.25 miles South of Shell Rock instead. You cannot use paved roads on my rides. Not gonna do it!

So, another couple of miles West and I finally found a Southbound road. Oddly enough, I had been following another's bicycle tracks for miles. Someone else was pretty much going the same way as I was. Or- I was going the same way someone else had gone already, to be more correct. But I knew sooner or later this would end. 

The highest elevation on the ride occurred out here in Butler County. It also was the chunkiest stretch of road too.

I saw about a quarter mile where the high lines were lined with small birds

I ended up stopping at one point where a Southbound road I found "T'eed" into an East/West bound stretch of gravel along a tree lined farmstead. I took the opportunity to stop, eat, and do more research on my phone maps to see where I should go next. Turns out I was on the right track if I went East, so off I went with the wind at my backside and I was rolling. 

I got passed by two dudes, each in their own 4X4 pulling flat bed trailers. They weren't friendly, and they doused me in the fine limestone dust that was prevalent all over due to the lack of any good rainfall in recent weeks. Nothing I am not used to, but this copious dust, and those two vehicles and trailers were the cause of something I came across later. 

Young, inexperienced, and in the ditch. This shot is looking back on the incident.

I turned right on Willow, and right away I spied a car in the ditch. Odd that. In Winter or Spring, this isn't out of the ordinary, but during late summer on a stretch of dead straight and level gravel? What were these two people doing? They looked to have backed right up to a corn field. At the time I saw them, they were just getting out of the vehicle. 

A young lady was driving and the young man who was with her walked up onto the road, saw me, and when I asked if all was okay, he responded. He said, "Yeah. We didn't see the oncoming car and.....", by this time I was passing by, because I could see two other cars full of young people pulling up. The young man turned his attention to these folks and it was obvious they all knew each other. 

Then I looked up the road and the massive powerslide skid marks were easy to pick out. Somehow or another the female driver lost control, looped it out, and it would appear that she backed the car into the gently sloping, grass filled ditch in an arc, almost pointed in the direction of original travel again. The skid marks were at least a couple of hundred feet long and I estimated that the young lady was going at least 40mph if not more. Probably faster to skid that far, I would think. Thankfully they looked none the worse for wear, but considering the ditch the car ended up in, they were pretty fortunate. It could have been way worse. 

I figured it was the two truck/trailer vehicles that had kicked up all the dust, and I would imagine the young lady probably lost her bearings in the blinding cloud of dust. Moral to the story? Go slower! MUCH slower! 

The old bridge across the West Fork. The only one on gravel on the Eastern side of the County.

I ended up stopping again on the bridge over the Beaver Creek to see why I was feeling like I had a stone in my right shoe. I had checked this several miles back, but maybe I missed it or another got in there? I did a much more thorough investigation this time, going as far as taking my sock off, turning the sock inside out, and even removing the inner shoe liner, just in case. I found nothing. I determined that it must have been a nerve issue and I pedaled back the rest of the way without incident. 

Since it was getting on into the afternoon and I had well over 40 miles in, I decided to make it a three county tour by turning East at Westbrook Road, ironically which is the corner of Butler County that touches Grundy County. Oh well....... Another time then. 

I went into Cedar Falls on West First Street and then I used my normal commuting route home from Andy's Bike Shop once I reached downtown. I ended up with a little over 53 miles on the afternoon. Not bad. I was tuckered out though and I still had to get up early to meet Andy for a Sunday mornaing ride. 

Next: Double Header Part 2

Fall Views: Double Header Part 1

St. Paul's church on Burton Avenue on a stellar blue-bird day.

 Over the weekend I actually got out both days. The weather broke Friday evening and perhaps that will be that for Summer-like weather. Maybe we will get a week of Summer-like temperatures again in September, but that humid, hot weather is probably gone for the year. We will see. At any rate, it couldn't have been much better for riding over the weekend. The lows are into the 50's and the highs were supposed to only be in the 70's but I think it actually got warmer than that, just without that beastly humidity we had all last week. 

The route was going to head North, as the cold front brought a Northwest wind. So, I decided upon a "Three County Tour" in reverse from what I had done in the past.This would take in Black Hawk, Bremer, and Butler Counties. I had an option of making it a four county tour, as adding Grundy County wouldn't have have been hard to do, but I wasn't sure how many miles, or how much time I had, in the bank. Since I didn't get started until after lunch, I figured time would be the deciding factor. Not that this mattered. I was just glad to get out the door on such a great day to ride.

The roads to start out were excellent, once I got out on the gravel. There hadn't been any fresh grading or dump truck loads of gravel applied anywhere in Black Hawk County's Northern tier, so the mostly uphill route was easier into the stiff wind than it might have been otherwise. I headed up Burton Avenue and then cut over west on the county line, Marquis Road, to get over to Janesville, Iowa. There I was planning on riding straight West through the village to the pedestrian/bike trail bridge across the Cedar River, and then onward toward Butler County. 

A herd of cattle grazes peacefully in a pasture along the banks of the Shell Rock River

I had to grab another image at the West Point cemetery near Waverly Junction, Iowa.

The wind was tough, more than I had expected judging from the forecast. The wind had to be in the 20mph range and going pretty much straight North and West just kept me into it as it was solidly out of the Northwest. I ended up taking a break at two spots. Once on Burton for a 'nature break' and the other just West of Janesville to eat, drink, and reconnoiter my options via the maps app on the phone. I made a determination and set off, crossing the Shell Rock River and then going by Waverly Junction. 

Essentially I never had been in this area traveling in this direction before, so everything looked new. This made for a 'mistake' of sorts, in figuring out how to get to the only bridge across the West Fork of the Cedar on gravel in this part of Butler County. I knew it was on Willow, but I got off on the wrong foot to get to the gravel and instead I found the paved bit of Willow about 3.25 miles South of Shell Rock instead. You cannot use paved roads on my rides. Not gonna do it!

So, another couple of miles West and I finally found a Southbound road. Oddly enough, I had been following another's bicycle tracks for miles. Someone else was pretty much going the same way as I was. Or- I was going the same way someone else had gone already, to be more correct. But I knew sooner or later this would end. 

The highest elevation on the ride occurred out here in Butler County. It also was the chunkiest stretch of road too.

I saw about a quarter mile where the high lines were lined with small birds

I ended up stopping at one point where a Southbound road I found "T'eed" into an East/West bound stretch of gravel along a tree lined farmstead. I took the opportunity to stop, eat, and do more research on my phone maps to see where I should go next. Turns out I was on the right track if I went East, so off I went with the wind at my backside and I was rolling. 

I got passed by two dudes, each in their own 4X4 pulling flat bed trailers. They weren't friendly, and they doused me in the fine limestone dust that was prevalent all over due to the lack of any good rainfall in recent weeks. Nothing I am not used to, but this copious dust, and those two vehicles and trailers were the cause of something I came across later. 

Young, inexperienced, and in the ditch. This shot is looking back on the incident.

I turned right on Willow, and right away I spied a car in the ditch. Odd that. In Winter or Spring, this isn't out of the ordinary, but during late summer on a stretch of dead straight and level gravel? What were these two people doing? They looked to have backed right up to a corn field. At the time I saw them, they were just getting out of the vehicle. 

A young lady was driving and the young man who was with her walked up onto the road, saw me, and when I asked if all was okay, he responded. He said, "Yeah. We didn't see the oncoming car and.....", by this time I was passing by, because I could see two other cars full of young people pulling up. The young man turned his attention to these folks and it was obvious they all knew each other. 

Then I looked up the road and the massive powerslide skid marks were easy to pick out. Somehow or another the female driver lost control, looped it out, and it would appear that she backed the car into the gently sloping, grass filled ditch in an arc, almost pointed in the direction of original travel again. The skid marks were at least a couple of hundred feet long and I estimated that the young lady was going at least 40mph if not more. Probably faster to skid that far, I would think. Thankfully they looked none the worse for wear, but considering the ditch the car ended up in, they were pretty fortunate. It could have been way worse. 

I figured it was the two truck/trailer vehicles that had kicked up all the dust, and I would imagine the young lady probably lost her bearings in the blinding cloud of dust. Moral to the story? Go slower! MUCH slower! 

The old bridge across the West Fork. The only one on gravel on the Eastern side of the County.

I ended up stopping again on the bridge over the Beaver Creek to see why I was feeling like I had a stone in my right shoe. I had checked this several miles back, but maybe I missed it or another got in there? I did a much more thorough investigation this time, going as far as taking my sock off, turning the sock inside out, and even removing the inner shoe liner, just in case. I found nothing. I determined that it must have been a nerve issue and I pedaled back the rest of the way without incident. 

Since it was getting on into the afternoon and I had well over 40 miles in, I decided to make it a three county tour by turning East at Westbrook Road, ironically which is the corner of Butler County that touches Grundy County. Oh well....... Another time then. 

I went into Cedar Falls on West First Street and then I used my normal commuting route home from Andy's Bike Shop once I reached downtown. I ended up with a little over 53 miles on the afternoon. Not bad. I was tuckered out though and I still had to get up early to meet Andy for a Sunday mornaing ride. 

Next: Double Header Part 2

Fall Views: Barns For Jason

Over the weekend I did two rides and saw a lot of new-to-me barns. So, as you know, that means one thing and one thing only. A new "Barns For Jason" post!  So, again, as you may know, these posts are an artifact from an old contest I had going on with Jason Boucher to see who could post the most unique barns. (Meaning that you couldn't post one barn twice, they had to be 'unique' to the series) Now this series has become a way for me to document the old structures which are quickly fading from the rural Iowa landscape. 

These are barns from Saturday and Sunday's rides. The first batch are from barns in Northern Black Hawk, Soutwestern Bremer, and Eastern Butler Counties. The second batch is from a Sunday ride I did with Andy of Andy's Bike Shop and are from North of Cedar Falls. 

Separate ride posts will happen tomorrow and Tuesday. 

Enjoy!

And that's a wrap on this "Barns For Jason" post.

Fall Views: Barns For Jason

Over the weekend I did two rides and saw a lot of new-to-me barns. So, as you know, that means one thing and one thing only. A new "Barns For Jason" post!  So, again, as you may know, these posts are an artifact from an old contest I had going on with Jason Boucher to see who could post the most unique barns. (Meaning that you couldn't post one barn twice, they had to be 'unique' to the series) Now this series has become a way for me to document the old structures which are quickly fading from the rural Iowa landscape. 

These are barns from Saturday and Sunday's rides. The first batch are from barns in Northern Black Hawk, Soutwestern Bremer, and Eastern Butler Counties. The second batch is from a Sunday ride I did with Andy of Andy's Bike Shop and are from North of Cedar Falls. 

Separate ride posts will happen tomorrow and Tuesday. 

Enjoy!

And that's a wrap on this "Barns For Jason" post.

Trans Iowa Stories: New Process- Less Stress

You can barely see Jeremy Fry here in "The Truck With No Name". T.I.v9 recon

 "Trans Iowa Stories" is an every Sunday post which helps tell the stories behind the event. You can check out other posts about this subject by going back to earlier Sunday posts on this blog. Thanks and enjoy!

The post-Trans Iowa v8 editions were mainly marked by how things were streamlined and less stressful than they were from v1-v7. One of the biggest helps in that regard was the addition of Jeremy Fry to the Trans Iowa team.

I never asked for help, and most times people just offered themselves up and I'd find a way to use their talents. Just as in the case of Jeremy Fry, he had come to me after T.I.v7 and said he wanted to be a part of Trans Iowa. Initially, that was being a volunteer at a checkpoint, which Jeremy did from v8-v13.

If all you considered was the impact Jeremy had from the standpoint of volunteering, Jeremy was invaluable to Trans Iowa. He would sacrifice a whole day of his for the event, traveling to and from his post, and often times he made a way to transport things I needed as well. He also brought along a friend of his to assist the day of on several occasions. He was trustworthy and I never had to wonder how he would handle my event if the need to enforce time cuts or if policies came in to question concerning the event. Jeremy was probably more prickly about those things than even I was!

A lot of Trans Iowa participants could probably vouch for Jeremy and his volunteering help. However; what a lot of people do not know is that Jeremy Fry was a big reason recon was so efficient and why the cues were so exact over the last several years of Trans Iowa.

Jeremy was perfect for the job, as he is a mathematician and teaches math at a local community college here. Me? I am horrible at math! The thing is, a LOT of math is done to get Trans Iowa cue sheets produced, and time figuring, which placed checkpoints, was a big part of recon and the event cues as well. Jeremy had to, more than once, send me corrections on my math. But that isn't all.

Wally and George also made the process of course checking really streamlined.

He also was another check on the cues from a rider's standpoint. We sometimes would lock horns about how things should be presented, but we always seemed to get through that and end up with the best cues in the business. Of course, as time went on, less and less of the gravel events used cue sheets. 

Jeremy and I didn't care. We used cue sheets ourselves to recon the course with every year for v-9 through v-13. (Jeremy rode in v14, so he had to recuse himself from helping me out that final year) Those draft cue sheet sets really helped speed things up in regards to field work, and with Jeremy in the truck taking notes, and with me concentrating on driving, we got to the point where getting recon done in a day happened. Usually it took two shots, but this was a MAJOR improvement over previous years when reconning the course might take several trips and not get done until shortly before a Trans Iowa was to happen. That never occurred with v-8 through to the end.

The processes were revised, and we had a method which allowed for a lot less stress and anxiety on my part. Adding in the yearly course checking with Wally and George, which also ended with v13, and Trans Iowa was almost becoming second nature to put on, in terms of logistics.Wally and George became invaluable to these processes as well. They were yet another layer of checking, another set of viewpoints, another set of reasoned opinions from which I could learn from and draw upon.

Of course, they were a blast to hang with as well, so that didn't hurt anything either! Also, it was another thing that took care of the imagery for the event, as Wally and George would use that annual Spring trip to scout out image taking opportunities, thinking about the timing of the light and where riders may be at during the event at certain spots. All this tied into making me more aware of things concerning the event itself, which in turn made how I ran it ever easier.

I hand cut and collated cues into sets, and bagged them, from v8 up through v10.

Then there was the offer from Mike Johnson, a multiple time Trans Iowa finisher, who wanted to contribute to the cue sheet production. He and his wife, Amy, would front the paper and the money for printing to get Trans Iowa cues done for the last few events. Not only that, but they, along with Jeremy or N.Y. Roll, would help to bag the things. Mike also was a valued volunteer, often manning a chase vehicle which marked corners and watched over riders with another stellar volunteer of mine, Tony McGrane. So, between Mike, Tony, and N.Y. Roll and Jeremy, I had more help with cues and with looking after riders than I ever could have dreamed of.

Speaking of watching over riders: John and Celeste Mathias were also indispensable and always cheerfully at the ready to help watch riders during a Trans Iowa weekend and report in numbers they saw go by their totally random observation point. By the way- I never asked for them to do this. They completely did it of their own accord. Celeste's photos were greatly appreciated by many as well, and her very unique perspective was so very appreciated by myself and others. Again- all unasked for. I couldn't have gotten better help. In fact, they were the ones who shepherded a fallen rider during the last Trans Iowa, making sure that rider was cared for and that this person got the proper medical attention. I am soooo thankful for the Mathias' help during those final T.I. years!

Mike Baggio and the the rest of the Slender Fungus, (Ari Andonopoulous, Dr. Giggles, Gumby, and more) were also stalwart volunteers over the last several Trans Iowa events. I'll get into some important stuff they helped me with in the upcoming stories, but suffice it to say, these folks made my life WAY easier in terms of putting on Trans Iowa too.

By the time the last Trans Iowa rolled around, I was set for help and these people took a TON of stress off my shoulders every year. They all were ready at a moment's notice to lend a hand during the event, and immediately afterward, almost always, they were the first to say that they were in again for another one, should I decide to do a Trans Iowa the following year.

I have no idea why that was, but I was amazed, and I still am, that these folks would be willing to throw their efforts and money behind Trans Iowa. They took a lot of worry off my shoulders, that's for sure. But in some weird twist, not having to stress about those things perhaps gave me too much latitude to stress about other stuff. For whatever reasons, I ended up being emotionally flattened after almost every Trans Iowa anyway. But that certainly doesn't take away the fact that these folks and their contributions made a HUGE difference to me personally, and in terms of the event. I know that the riders were impacted positively by their efforts as well.

Next: A Tool For Marketing

Trans Iowa Stories: New Process- Less Stress

You can barely see Jeremy Fry here in "The Truck With No Name". T.I.v9 recon

 "Trans Iowa Stories" is an every Sunday post which helps tell the stories behind the event. You can check out other posts about this subject by going back to earlier Sunday posts on this blog. Thanks and enjoy!

The post-Trans Iowa v8 editions were mainly marked by how things were streamlined and less stressful than they were from v1-v7. One of the biggest helps in that regard was the addition of Jeremy Fry to the Trans Iowa team.

I never asked for help, and most times people just offered themselves up and I'd find a way to use their talents. Just as in the case of Jeremy Fry, he had come to me after T.I.v7 and said he wanted to be a part of Trans Iowa. Initially, that was being a volunteer at a checkpoint, which Jeremy did from v8-v13.

If all you considered was the impact Jeremy had from the standpoint of volunteering, Jeremy was invaluable to Trans Iowa. He would sacrifice a whole day of his for the event, traveling to and from his post, and often times he made a way to transport things I needed as well. He also brought along a friend of his to assist the day of on several occasions. He was trustworthy and I never had to wonder how he would handle my event if the need to enforce time cuts or if policies came in to question concerning the event. Jeremy was probably more prickly about those things than even I was!

A lot of Trans Iowa participants could probably vouch for Jeremy and his volunteering help. However; what a lot of people do not know is that Jeremy Fry was a big reason recon was so efficient and why the cues were so exact over the last several years of Trans Iowa.

Jeremy was perfect for the job, as he is a mathematician and teaches math at a local community college here. Me? I am horrible at math! The thing is, a LOT of math is done to get Trans Iowa cue sheets produced, and time figuring, which placed checkpoints, was a big part of recon and the event cues as well. Jeremy had to, more than once, send me corrections on my math. But that isn't all.

Wally and George also made the process of course checking really streamlined.

He also was another check on the cues from a rider's standpoint. We sometimes would lock horns about how things should be presented, but we always seemed to get through that and end up with the best cues in the business. Of course, as time went on, less and less of the gravel events used cue sheets. 

Jeremy and I didn't care. We used cue sheets ourselves to recon the course with every year for v-9 through v-13. (Jeremy rode in v14, so he had to recuse himself from helping me out that final year) Those draft cue sheet sets really helped speed things up in regards to field work, and with Jeremy in the truck taking notes, and with me concentrating on driving, we got to the point where getting recon done in a day happened. Usually it took two shots, but this was a MAJOR improvement over previous years when reconning the course might take several trips and not get done until shortly before a Trans Iowa was to happen. That never occurred with v-8 through to the end.

The processes were revised, and we had a method which allowed for a lot less stress and anxiety on my part. Adding in the yearly course checking with Wally and George, which also ended with v13, and Trans Iowa was almost becoming second nature to put on, in terms of logistics.Wally and George became invaluable to these processes as well. They were yet another layer of checking, another set of viewpoints, another set of reasoned opinions from which I could learn from and draw upon.

Of course, they were a blast to hang with as well, so that didn't hurt anything either! Also, it was another thing that took care of the imagery for the event, as Wally and George would use that annual Spring trip to scout out image taking opportunities, thinking about the timing of the light and where riders may be at during the event at certain spots. All this tied into making me more aware of things concerning the event itself, which in turn made how I ran it ever easier.

I hand cut and collated cues into sets, and bagged them, from v8 up through v10.

Then there was the offer from Mike Johnson, a multiple time Trans Iowa finisher, who wanted to contribute to the cue sheet production. He and his wife, Amy, would front the paper and the money for printing to get Trans Iowa cues done for the last few events. Not only that, but they, along with Jeremy or N.Y. Roll, would help to bag the things. Mike also was a valued volunteer, often manning a chase vehicle which marked corners and watched over riders with another stellar volunteer of mine, Tony McGrane. So, between Mike, Tony, and N.Y. Roll and Jeremy, I had more help with cues and with looking after riders than I ever could have dreamed of.

Speaking of watching over riders: John and Celeste Mathias were also indispensable and always cheerfully at the ready to help watch riders during a Trans Iowa weekend and report in numbers they saw go by their totally random observation point. By the way- I never asked for them to do this. They completely did it of their own accord. Celeste's photos were greatly appreciated by many as well, and her very unique perspective was so very appreciated by myself and others. Again- all unasked for. I couldn't have gotten better help. In fact, they were the ones who shepherded a fallen rider during the last Trans Iowa, making sure that rider was cared for and that this person got the proper medical attention. I am soooo thankful for the Mathias' help during those final T.I. years!

Mike Baggio and the the rest of the Slender Fungus, (Ari Andonopoulous, Dr. Giggles, Gumby, and more) were also stalwart volunteers over the last several Trans Iowa events. I'll get into some important stuff they helped me with in the upcoming stories, but suffice it to say, these folks made my life WAY easier in terms of putting on Trans Iowa too.

By the time the last Trans Iowa rolled around, I was set for help and these people took a TON of stress off my shoulders every year. They all were ready at a moment's notice to lend a hand during the event, and immediately afterward, almost always, they were the first to say that they were in again for another one, should I decide to do a Trans Iowa the following year.

I have no idea why that was, but I was amazed, and I still am, that these folks would be willing to throw their efforts and money behind Trans Iowa. They took a lot of worry off my shoulders, that's for sure. But in some weird twist, not having to stress about those things perhaps gave me too much latitude to stress about other stuff. For whatever reasons, I ended up being emotionally flattened after almost every Trans Iowa anyway. But that certainly doesn't take away the fact that these folks and their contributions made a HUGE difference to me personally, and in terms of the event. I know that the riders were impacted positively by their efforts as well.

Next: A Tool For Marketing

A Little Job Update: Part 2

 Back in March I posted a bit of an informational post to help answer some questions I'd been getting about my new place of employment at Andy's Bike Shop. This was early in March and right when we entered this "new-normal" we have been in ever since. I figured that with all the changes in my life of late, the upheaval in the bicycle industry, and with all the changes in all our lives, I would give a new update on my situation and how it's been going. 

So, yeah......bicycles. As most of you know, this whole deal with the pandemic has slammed some areas of the economy in a bad way and some in a good way. In my view, the bicycle industry got both: Good and Bad. 

First- we sold everything we could get our hands on. Not just at Andy's, but all shops nationwide were in this situation. Then the supply chain was drained. And well......we're still dealing with that. Then people brought out every bike in a barn, garage, or from a dumpster pile that they could find and brought them in to be repaired which drained that supply chain. Try to get a 7 speed shifter right now. Not happening. 26" tires were gone for a while. Chains were too. You get the picture.

This means that we had a spike in sales, then we had a leveling off, and we probably are missing more sales than we made in the beginning because parts and bikes are in such short supply. Now Winter is coming and well, that means even if we get bikes, it'll be next Spring before we can make any headway there. 

In the meantime, specifically for Andy's Bike Shop, we're repairing stuff like crazy and getting the odd new and used bike out the door. I'm busy. No lack of work here, but what I found out the other day about this new gig surprised me. I will share what showed me something I was unaware of here......

The other day, and this happened for the third day in a row, I was all ready to walk out the door, hop on my bike, and make the commute to Andy's. I looked at my watch, and for the third day in a row I was 15 minutes too early to leave. I had to sit down and just relax for a bit so I wouldn't get to work 45 minutes to an hour early. Why was I all jacked up to go already this early? 

Because I am excited about working at Andy's! 

That may seem obvious to you, but here's the thing. I had spent over a decade not being excited to go to work, and that became 'normal' for me. I used to have a hard time getting out of the door to make it to work on time, and I was sooooo frustrated by that! I couldn't figure out why I just didn't get my rear in gear in the morning. I figured it was just 'me'. My issue with being too distracted or something along those lines. Well, it wasn't that. I didn't like working at the old shop and this was my subconscious way of dealing with it- by putting it off till the last possible minute. 

So, when I realized all of this, I was really happy the other day. I now know what it is like to want to be where I work. And let me tell you- it is pretty refreshing! I notice it in everything I am doing there now. So, if you've been wondering how things are going for me at Andy's, well, they couldn't be much better for me personally. Now if we could get a room full of new bikes to sell!

A Little Job Update: Part 2

 Back in March I posted a bit of an informational post to help answer some questions I'd been getting about my new place of employment at Andy's Bike Shop. This was early in March and right when we entered this "new-normal" we have been in ever since. I figured that with all the changes in my life of late, the upheaval in the bicycle industry, and with all the changes in all our lives, I would give a new update on my situation and how it's been going. 

So, yeah......bicycles. As most of you know, this whole deal with the pandemic has slammed some areas of the economy in a bad way and some in a good way. In my view, the bicycle industry got both: Good and Bad. 

First- we sold everything we could get our hands on. Not just at Andy's, but all shops nationwide were in this situation. Then the supply chain was drained. And well......we're still dealing with that. Then people brought out every bike in a barn, garage, or from a dumpster pile that they could find and brought them in to be repaired which drained that supply chain. Try to get a 7 speed shifter right now. Not happening. 26" tires were gone for a while. Chains were too. You get the picture.

This means that we had a spike in sales, then we had a leveling off, and we probably are missing more sales than we made in the beginning because parts and bikes are in such short supply. Now Winter is coming and well, that means even if we get bikes, it'll be next Spring before we can make any headway there. 

In the meantime, specifically for Andy's Bike Shop, we're repairing stuff like crazy and getting the odd new and used bike out the door. I'm busy. No lack of work here, but what I found out the other day about this new gig surprised me. I will share what showed me something I was unaware of here......

The other day, and this happened for the third day in a row, I was all ready to walk out the door, hop on my bike, and make the commute to Andy's. I looked at my watch, and for the third day in a row I was 15 minutes too early to leave. I had to sit down and just relax for a bit so I wouldn't get to work 45 minutes to an hour early. Why was I all jacked up to go already this early? 

Because I am excited about working at Andy's! 

That may seem obvious to you, but here's the thing. I had spent over a decade not being excited to go to work, and that became 'normal' for me. I used to have a hard time getting out of the door to make it to work on time, and I was sooooo frustrated by that! I couldn't figure out why I just didn't get my rear in gear in the morning. I figured it was just 'me'. My issue with being too distracted or something along those lines. Well, it wasn't that. I didn't like working at the old shop and this was my subconscious way of dealing with it- by putting it off till the last possible minute. 

So, when I realized all of this, I was really happy the other day. I now know what it is like to want to be where I work. And let me tell you- it is pretty refreshing! I notice it in everything I am doing there now. So, if you've been wondering how things are going for me at Andy's, well, they couldn't be much better for me personally. Now if we could get a room full of new bikes to sell!