Category Archives: Personal stuff

WHAT CAN AN E-BIKE DO FOR YOUR RELATIONSHIP?

Personal stuff, Ride reports (not Tu/Th)

Mike J- reasonably hard-core enthusiast road biker who likes to push hard up tough climbs.
Karen J- married to Mike J and has very different ideas of what a good time on a Sunday afternoon means. Hint: It’s never, ever, meant sweating hard on a climb, trying to keep up with people who think that’s fun.

Can this marriage be saved? Er, I mean, can these two go out on a bike ride together and have a good time? It’s been literally 40 years since that answer was sorta yes. But that changed when the two did “The Loop”, Mike on his road bike, Karen on a Trek Super Commuter E-Bike. Truth be told, Karen hadn’t been on a bike ride longer than 4 miles in quite a few years. She’s endured breast cancer three times and willfully inflicting pain on her body just doesn’t make much sense to her. But that Sunday, she cruised, pedaling easily (“effortlessly” would be stretching things just a bit) up Woodside Road from Redwood City to Woodside, and rode comfortably along Mountain Home Road. Meantime Mike was riding at an enjoyable speed, a little bit below normal, but happy that he could actually ride with his wife again.

The plan (if you’ve read his “Almost daily diary” you’ll know there’s always a plan with Mike) was to head out to the new Roberts in Portola Valley for lunch, before completing the loop and returning home. Karen didn’t think she could make it that far, but she did, with just a couple stops along the way for water. She was so please with the E-Bike that she was even giving test rides to other cyclists who stopped at Roberts.

After lunch she was convinced climbing back up Sand Hill would be too much and tried to convince Mike to head back via the much-flatter Alameda; this was probably the only real disagreement on the ride. She gave in to “the plan” though, and motored up Sand Hill quite nicely. Then it was back to Woodside via Manzanita & Mountain Home, then Canada Road and over Jefferson to home. But, not before stopping to say hi to a Woodside resident walking his Corgi (named “Lance” and he had another until recently named “Tiger” and yes, both named after defrocked sports heroes before they were defrocked).

All in all a very nice Sunday afternoon bike ride, made possible by Trek’s Super Commuter E-Bike. It’s entirely possible that Mike & Karen could do more rides together, and still remain married. That’s amazingly high praise for what an E-Bike can do for a couple, any couple, where one is a much stronger rider than the other. Mike J, Partner, Chain Reaction Bicycles

Said good-bye to Los Altos today…

Personal stuff, Ride reports (not Tu/Th), Shop news
Our Los Altos store after the last customer, 24 years after the first customer, has left and the front door locked for the last time.

It was a day in three parts, and definitely didn’t save the “best” for last.

It began with Kevin and I providing ride support for the annual Foster City Community bike ride, like we’ve done the past quite-a-few-years. Basically it involves inflating a whole lot of flat tires. I mean tons of ’em. As if nobody has a pump with a gauge at home, even though everyone claims they do. We bring a bunch of floor pumps, but nobody seems to know how to use them, even though they claim they have one. So yeah, we get quite a workout! Actually this year Kevin seemed to have gotten a bit smarter about things and was often putting bikes in the stand to take care of some adjustments, leaving me to pump the tires. Kid’s getting smarter!

Get home about 11:30, get dressed and go out for a quick ride ‘cuz Kevin’s got a train to catch at 3:20 to see a girlfriend near Berkeley. Has to be something short & pretty hard, just like last week. I’m really missing a longer ride!!! Next week, Pescadero or bust. Today it was Old LaHonda, West Old LaHonda (yes, you can squeeze past the barriers when they’re not working on weekends), then back up to Skyline, north all the way to 92 and back via Canada. A surprisingly-tough ride with Kevin pushing the pace most of the way.

And then Becky, Karen (my wife) and I headed down to the Los Altos store for its final hour. More like 90 minutes, as it stayed pretty busy for a while. I figured they could use the help and it wouldn’t seem right not being there for the end. It was a bit emotional at times, with regular customers coming in to say good-bye, and Amy, former store manager, flying in from New York, a complete (and emotional) surprise for my brother Steve. One of the staff (CJ) set up a grill after everything was over and served burgers as we discussed the good times and the… actually, just the good times. Many to remember. Some will be heading up to Redwood City after we get the remaining inventory moved up.

The total remaining inventory of socks after we closed down the Los Altos store. Wonder what was so wrong with these last 5 pair?

And tonight, it’s been all about running down the various places people would find information about the Los Altos store and making sure things were updated to show it’s no longer in operation. That’s an emotional thing in itself, and something I want to get out of the way quickly not just so customers don’t head down there thinking they can buy a bike, but also because it’s a bit painful and I’d rather not have to do it down the road. Just get it over with.

So yeah, kind of a big day, with many more still to come, as we have to make room to absorb what’s left. Have to admit we did much better on the closeout apparel than I thought we would.