Big week

Last week was a week I'd been targeting for a few months now. The main reason was that our Spring bike ad started last Sunday which meant a big build up and lots of activity. We sold a ton of bikes this week and I sold enough over the last five days to get me over half way to my sales goal for May. I may have to increase my goal to give me a target worth shooting for. The larger my goal, the bigger my bonus if I hit it, so it's worth going for it.

To add more to my plate, I helped with a bike build that was going on for the company's bike university that was meeting in town this week. Lee, Dave and Brad (the full time shop guys at the store) and myself served as instructors for about 25-30 people who had never built a bike before and who were expected to build bikes that retail for over $2000 each. The challenge is that better bikes take more time to set up because they are more fine-tuned, precision machines. We were there for about five hours and I had already worked over nine hours at the store that day, so I was pretty much worthless by the time I dragged myself home.

The reason we were building that many good bikes was that we received our bikes for the competition that starts on the 15th. That means that I now have a Trek Madone 5.0 sitting in my basement. I would have been able to build mine on Monday night if I wouldn't have been helping out, but instead had to wait. I had hoped to build it while I was at work, but things were too hectic, so I brought it home and built it in the basement on my day off. It was a fairly quick build, but the weather has been horrible so I haven't had a chance to take it outside yet. I did ride it on the trainer on Friday to fine tune some adjustments to the bike, the saddle position and the cleats on my new shoes (also a part of what was given to me for the bike competition).

I'll be interested to see how it rides outdoors, but already see a few modifications that I would want to make if I were keeping the bike. The wheelset, stem and handlebars are all better on my LeMond. The thing I miss most is the ergonomic drop on my LeMond bar. It is a flat spot on the part of the bar right beneath the brake levers where I spend a good amount of time while riding. The bar on the Madone has a standard, rounded section there which means that I will likely be looking for other hand positions and wishing that I had my other bar on this bike. It's only six weeks, so I'm sure I'll survive, but if we get to keep the bikes, I'll have to see whether I keep it, sell it or sell both and buy something else. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it. In the meantime, I'll just enjoy getting to test ride other bikes.

Back from Trek

I got back last night from my long awaited trip to the Trek bikes factory in Waterloo, Wisconsin for work. I left on Monday, spent Tuesday and Wednesday at Trek with other sales and management types from our stores, spent yesterday morning with more training, took a trip to the Saris factory where they make bike racks and CycleOps training systems and then drove home.

It was a great week where we got the lowdown on Trek's history, operations and product development as well as just getting to hang out with some cool people. I got to have lunch with Trek's President and CEO, John Burke and had a good conversation with pro rider Justin Spinelli who went on some of the factory tour with us. Justin is currently riding for the Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast team on the domestic scene but was on the US Amateur team back in the day and has ridden for teams like Saeco and Navigators. His current team lists LeMond bikes as one of their sponsers, hence his presence at the Trek headquarters.

Not only did we get the lowdown on some great bikes that we'll be carrying, but I also got to channel my inner fanboy. The atrium/lobby of the new facility has a few displays of historically significant bikes from Gary Fisher, Greg LeMond and Trek including bikes from each of Lance's 7 Tour de France wins. I have to admit, I was definitely geeked out about two in particular.

The first is the time trial bike that Greg LeMond rode in the final stage of the '89 Tour when he came from behind to beat Laurent Fignon by eight seconds in the closest Tour in history. Greg liked the bike so much that when he switched teams the next season, he took the bike with him, had the new team colors put on it and continued riding it (hence the Z team colors).

The other fanboy bike was the bike that Lance rode in the '03 Tour on the infamous stage to Luz-Ardiden when Lance's handlebar caught a spectator's bag and sent him to the ground only to have Iban Mayo run over him. Lance got up, collected himself and then used the adrenaline to destroy everybody, win the stage and lengthen the lead for the overall on the decicive day. The bike has a visible crack in the chainstay from the Mayo impact and stands as a testament to how brutal that race win was for Lance.

I had a great week and may write more about it as I get the chance, but I've got to get myself to work so I can sell some bikes this evening.

An Actual, Authentic, All Natural Day Off

For the first time in I don't know how long, I have an entire day with no work, lessons, appointments or other obligations. I find myself paralyzed. I don't know when this might happen again and I don't want to waste the day. But would actually having a full day of rest and watching the NCAA tournament be a waste?

Alright, so I'm really not all that wound up about deciding what I'm going to do today. The weather is such that my biggest decision will be whether to go for a bike ride this afternoon even though it's only supposed to be about 44 degrees out. I did get out on Tuesday morning for a short ride between meeting with Shel at the church and going to work at the store. I only had about 45 minutes, but decided that 45 minutes on the road was preferable to 45 minutes on the trainer in the basement. 11 messy miles later, I had finished my first ride of the year.

Usually I'm good for at least one January/February ride, but this year the weather and my schedule have conspired to keep me off the South Dakota roadways until now. Even though the weather has been better and the snow has nearly all melted, I still have found myself working on the nice days and free on the cold, wet days. It's been a bit depressing, but I think I should be able to develop a rhythm soon.

As for work, things have been a whirlwind. This week saw us pack up all of the cold weather coats and accessories and increased our bike area so that it's about four times what it has been to this point. It will take a few more day for us to get our shop all set up, but we've seen a big increase in bike sales over the last week. We've still got a lot of last year's bikes to move, but it's shaping up to be a fun year in bikes.

Now I have to get acclimated to the "manager" part of my title and figure out what I need to do when it comes to inventory and ordering. Everything is happening so fast that I haven't quite been able to catch how to do all of the things I'm supposed to do. It will come, but it probably would have been better for me to start this job a few months earlier so that I could get settled in before the spring rush of activity. I know I'll catch up, but this week will be another flurry of activity and the two following weeks will see me going to Wisconsin for my Trek trip and attending golf training back in Sioux Falls.

All told, things seem to be settling into a rhythm. Granted, the tempo is a little quicker than I like to function at, but at least I'm doing things that I'm passionate about. Between selling bikes, leading worship and teaching trumpet I'm active in just about every area that I've ever imagined myself working in. Now I just need to figure out how to balance it all.

Quick Update

For the first time since taking my new position, I had a day completely off yesterday. March roared in with snow and high winds and closed school for Xander and at USF on the only day that I teach. It also closed the store early meaning that my 8pm sales training (which was to have been my last session) and 9pm meeting were both cancelled. We also had to opt for a Saturday rehearsal at church instead of our (somewhat) regular Thursday night rehearsal.

Today I head back out to work at noon even though it's still a bit of a mess outside. We live right on a snow route though, so I shouldn't have any trouble getting where I'm going. We'll see if I actually get to sell anything today. We've had several days lately where the weather has been a bit less than ideal which has made work very slow at times. I'm also at a disadvantage because most of the space that I will have to manage for bikes is currently filled with coats. Until the coats move, I don't have much space to play around with my inventory. That will change soon enough.

I've also been spending a bit more time on the trainer in preparation for my Trek trip. I doubt I'll get to do a lot of riding there, but I don't want to be totally embarrassed should the opportunity present itself. It does get a bit hard to drag myself into the cold, cement basement to ride, but the iPod has been helping out a great deal. I did up a playlist with several hundred songs of appropriate tempo and mood to ride with and put it on shuffle. Sometimes I ride with a specific timeframe in mind with specific interval training in mind, but mostly I just ride the tempo of the music. Those workouts are a lot more enjoyable and seem to go by faster.

I was talking with my neighbor, Dick, the other day and he said that he's done 1000 miles over the winter. Overachiever.

The Perks of Being a Bike Manager

Yesterday was my first official day as the Bike Manager at the store where I've served as a bike mechanic for most of the last year. It was a fairly uneventful day in terms of keeping busy. I am still in training mode but will get to sell some tonight and spent most of yesterday following other people in sales to see how they do it and to learn about some of the other specialty shops. Yesterday it was skateboarding, inline skates and exercise (both equipment and machines), today it will be golf.

There were a lot of reactions from coworkers to my change of apparel from a red, shop shirt to the blue shirt and tie that is worn by the sales staff. I came up with a few responses such as "I got dressed in the dark this morning" and "I made the mistake of telling them I owned a tie" just to mention a few. I've had people tell me I'm moving up, to which I respond that I'm not moving up, just to the other side of the counter. I love and respect the guys in the shop too much to act as though I'm more important than they are to the store.

I did get to help one of the new sales guys sell a bike at the end of the day. He doesn't know bikes too well and usually will be in sport & game, baseball, hockey... We tag teamed the sale and sent the customer off with a Gary Fisher Tassajara Disc women's bike that, I think, is a pretty sweet bike for the price. I let Keaton take credit for the sale since I don't even know how to report my commission stuff yet and since I'll also get a percentage of the bike department sales. I have to say it did feel very weird to bring the bike back to the shop to have it checked over. I told Lee, the shop manager, that it felt like I was doing something wrong, but I suppose I'll get used to it.

I also got a couple pieces of very fun news. The first is that I get to go to the Trek bikes mothership in Waterloo, Wisconsin next month for work. I know several of my friends who I just made incredibly jealous with that statement. It looks like it will be a three day trip and I'll be the only one from the store to go. I don't know if I'm driving or flying, but we may see about having the whole family go if I'm driving and if it's permissible by the company. The only downside is that it will only be March and I'm not sure that I'd be able to do much in the way of riding while I'm there.

The other fun news is that in addition to Trek, LeMond and Gary Fisher bikes, we'll be carrying a line of Orbea bikes. Orbea is a Spanish bike that I've been watching for the last several years in the pro ranks with the Euskaltel-Euskadi and Jelly Belly teams and is a gorgeous bike. The company is "making" us carry them. Oh well, if the company says we have to, I suppose we'll just have to suffer through having more beautiful bikes around.

So far, I love my job!