Ironically, I grew up going to bike shops with my dad - which is probably why I was a bit nervous about going to one once I decided to buy a bike. I had seen the inside of many a bike shop and knew what was in there and I knew that it was waaaaaaaaaaay outside my comfort zone.
Cycling is my dad's passion. He is an Old School Roadie. He's been riding over 30 years and put over 7,000 miles on the bike last year. At 60 years old, he kicks off the summer riding season with The Assault on Mt Mitchell --11,000 plus feet of climbing for about 100 miles and finishes the season with DALMAC - a ride across parts of Michigan for five days.
I don't know if he has ever tasted a gel and I'm pretty sure he's never worn toe warmers. While growing up I recall Snickers candy bars and crackers as his fuel of choice - if anything at all.
In the wintertime, his extra layers aren't the latest in technology for breathability and warmth - all he needs is a section of the Sunday New York Times tucked inside his jersey. And what if it is below 32 degrees you ask? Why, he just layers two sections across his chest!
Occasionally he might pull out the tights, but then the temperature would have to be close to zero. "It was a little nippy today," he'll say when he gets back from his 65 mile ride. When I was very young, I would wonder why my dad's water bottles on his bike never seemed to empty - he would start the ride with water at one level and then he would return and the water would be at the same level. Did he fill it up along the way? I'd take a drink and spit out the warm, stale water trying to comprehend how he didn't get thirsty on the ride!
Needless to say, he loves everything about bikes (including the suffering that goes along with being a Roadie) and if he can't be on the bike, well, he'd like to be at the bike shop. So,while I was growing up, on the weekends, to give my mom a break every once in a while, my dad would take my brothers and me to the bike shop for what seemed like an eternity but was probably only a half hour.
I hated the bike shop. The bike shop was so BORING! I don't know what my dad did there - talked to the guys about tubes? Looked at wheels? Touched the bikes? Yearned for one of those new aluminum frame Cannondales (which he eventually bought without first telling my mother)? The bike shop smelled like a mixture of rubber and oil, it always seemed dimly lit, and there were only a few kids' bikes in there - and I already had a bike and we couldn't ride them there anyways! I had nothing to do except wander around looking at the weird metal contraptions - trying hard to be interested but just royally bored out of my mind! The guys who worked there looked scary too - they were always holding some awkward-looking object and their clothes and hands were always dirty with grease.
I am told there was one time when my dad was engrossed in a conversation with the Bike Shop Guys (about tubes?) and I was excitedly jumping around at his feet trying to get his attention - but apparently he was so captivated by the conversation (Was it about handlebar tape? Derailleurs? Did bikes have derailleurs back in the 70s? I'm kidding!) - he ignored the pitter patter and went on with his conversation. Well, apparently I had a good reason for getting his attention, I needed to go to the bathroom! So I did! Right there in the the center of the bike shop floor.
Oh - and I was 12.
I am just kidding! I was little! I don't even remember this - I was probably 7. No, I am just kidding - I was 2 or 3! or 4 or 5....
My dad's trip to the bike shop was cut short and cost him no end of embarrassment. I don't think he was embarrassed because I wet my pants - if my lack of bladder control had happened at - say - the mall I am sure it would not be mentioned 30 plus years later, but because it happened at the Bike Shop in front of the Bike Shop Guys - well, I'll never live it down.
Needless to say, I don't have the fondest memories of bike shops and wasn't excited to visit one as an adult. However, IronShane and Tri-Dogmom accompanied us to several stores and I found that it wasn't as bad as I had anticipated.
Number 1 (no pun intended), all had a restroom so I had no anxiety about where to use the bathroom. Ha ha - ok that's enough of that joke.
Number 2, it helped to have two knowledgeable people along to help navigate this new world. However, after the initial Sunday visit to four or five different shops, Dave and I did venture out on our own.
Number 3, perhaps because of Lance and triathlon becoming more common, the cycling industry has grown and most of the people who work in the shops want to make a sale and are interested in helping you find the right bike. We did run into a few bike snobs during our quest to find the right bike (we didn't buy our bikes from them!), but all in all, most of our experiences at the bike shops were good. The workers were friendly, knowledgeable, helpful and patient as they tried to explain to us Newbies some of the basics about buying a bike that would be right for us.
Now I can't say I love going to the Bike Shop - I still feel out of my element when I go into one, but it doesn't scare me as much as it once did. The more comfortable I get with my bike, the more comfortable I get in the bike shop. I even hung out at the bike shop the other day for almost an hour while the guys did some work on my bike. My father, the Old School Roadie, thinks there's hope for me yet!
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