One of my favorite stories is that a gentleman stops in the shop and wanted to start riding to work and has not ridden since high school.  He lived 1.1 miles from work and he drove a full size Chevy Suburban then he said before you get on my case I have a family seven.  Not that it matter to me but I thought it was funny that he pointed out that fact.  One evening he decided to ride one of his children’s bikes to work to see how long it took him to get to his office.  He was surprised by a couple things that happen that evening.  First it was shorter since he was able to ride through a city park.  As you can imagine it was faster and second he didn’t have to find a parking space for his Chevy Suburban.

He had a couple of concerns on what style and kind of bike that would best fit his needs.  Since he wore a suit to the office every day we outfitted his bike with fenders and a chain guard.  We also installed a rear bicycle rack with rear bags for his brief case a lap top computer.  That was it he was happy a good to go.

The story doesn’t end just yet!  I had not seen (Joe) for about 4 weeks when he came back to see us at the shop and I ask how things were going with his new commuting experience and it makes me smile even today as I type this.  (Joe) goes on and asks if I remember everything from his first visit to the shop and I mostly did then he goes on to tell that he lost three pounds in the month.  Part of that is due when he rides to work he packs his lunch so he eats healthier plus the riding has helped as well.  Then he ask if I remember that he had a family of seven I chuckle and said I did.  He goes on a tells me that is not a .8 mile trip home any longer it might be three or four miles before he gets home to unwind a little from his work day and  be refreshed when he got home.  He then precedes to let me know he has been going out on Sunday mornings riding for a couple of hours and that he’s in the shop today to look at road bikes and fitness bikes for those Sunday rides. He decided that a fitness bike was the way to go for him.