America’s Fourth Best Bike Shop Newsletter

Just like that, a month is gone!

Pedal’s managers and I meet once a week for breakfast and work talk. As I was driving to our meeting/feast last week, WIDR was on the radio, and the DJ was talking about the weather and said something like, “This winter that just won’t end!” Hmmm.

Around the Shop

Thanks to everyone that showed up to demo fat bikes at Boatyard during beer week. It turned out to be a great day for such an activity. We had lots of fun and raised a total of $304 for the Markin Glen trail project.

People with really good memories might recall that the December Bicyclical included a brief survey. I look at these survey results much like I remember looking at letters from companies to which I had applied for jobs in college: very spooked, with potential for both great and awful outcomes. I address some of the survey results here.

We’re taking our act on the road and will be present at the Greater Kalamazoo Women’s Lifestyle Expo on March 4th and 5th. If you have a chance, please stop by the Expo Center and say howdy.

We’re going to try something new (for Pedal, at any rate), and you’re invited: a one-day sale for our customers on March 12th that we’ll advertise only in the Bicyclical. Sure, you can bring a friend or tell your coworker or whatever, but it’s for you. We have some products that need good homes, and on the 12th we’ll see what we can do. So: customer sale on 3/12/16. Both stores. Hope to see you there.

Stuff To Do

These gravel races are popping up like crazy. The latest one to get my attention is the Waterloo Grit and Gravel event on March 19th. More dirt (har har) here.

And the very next day brings us the THIRD Melting Mann race down in good old Vandalia, MI. Yepper, on the 20th of March you can zoom around lots o’ lakes just south of here. It’s been a fun race in years past, and I think the later start date will bring only good things. Check it out! What’s that? You need some sort of inducement? In conjunction with our good buddies at Kona and Central District Cyclery in GR, a Kona Rove AL will be raffled off to some lucky racer.

And now we’re into April, and April 16th brings the Barry Roubaix, which is now so big and cool that the route is marked with special MDOT-approved signage. Sweet! Anyway, good times abound at the BR, regardless of the distance you pick or the pace you race. Just remember: fast dudes and dames like to pass on the left, so good practice is to stay on the right.

Just a few short days afterward is the Yankee Springs Time Trial. Pull out those knobbies and hit the trail!

If we look just a tad further into the future, May 1st is the Custer Stampede. All you folks that’ve spent the last few years missing the stampede because of Borgess Run obligations: you’re unshackled!  Come on out and enjoy a fun day in the woods.

And then it starts to happen in a fast and furious fashion: triathlon, bike tours, bike camp, bike week. Bikey bike bike bike. Fun.

Ramble

Last Saturday night I went to the Kalamazoo Bike Club’s Recovery Party. Fun time. Lovely people. KBC is a very good organization. People in that club do the hard work of talking to politicians and administrators in our community. They speak at community meetings. The work they do with Bike Camp, a very nice, organized introduction to road cycling, is without peer in the area. What I’m suggesting is that KBC has great community value beyond the organized rides on Monday and Wednesday evenings. Please consider joining. It’s good stuff. PLUS, membership is dirt cheap at $15/year.

Big Finish

Thank you! We are pleased and honored to serve you.

Sincerely,

Tim