Solution to the enegy crisis.

Energy crisis? Wait I though we were in an economic crisis.

Lest we forget, our economy, and the economy of the world, is very closely linked to the energy that powers it. So what fuels our economy right now? The quick answers are Coal, Oil, Natural Gas. People thinking a little further will start listing our electicity sources, Solar, Nucular, Wind, Hydro etc. But the one we often forget is food.

A huge segment of our productivity is human powered which means that the energy source is cheeseburgers, Clif Bars and sweetpotatos, and pasta. The beauty is that most food stuffs are domestically produced, renewable resources. So while our politicians work out all the details of trying to find ways to get greener sources of energy for our big machines, we have the ability to change many things in our lives over to food fuel.

Now I want everyone to stop and examine the treadmill.

A treadmill is a machine designed specificly to waste energy. The average treadmill user will get in their car, drive 2-8 miles to a gym, get on the treadmill, run for fourty minutes, get back in their car and go home. Now lets look at that in terms of energy.

Our treadmill runner had a cheeseburger for lunch which was 400 Calories which she now feels guilty about because she thinks it is going to make her look fat, so she heads to the gym. Assuming 5 miles each way in a car that gets 20 miles per gallon, the car ride to and from the gym will burn 1/2 gallon of fuel. At the gym she is on the treadmill for 40 minutes to burn the 400 Calories. Now remember that the treadmill is an electrically powered device with a roughly 2.5 horsepower motor that will be running for 40 minutes. The calculation of how much coal you have to burn to create the electricity to run a treadmill for 40 minutes is beyond me, so let it suffice to say that it is an amount that exists.

So in sum we are out the 400 Calories in the Cheeseburger, 1/2 gallon of gas, and some coal to power the treadmill. Net work done? zero.

All of this energy was wasted by design.

Alternativly, our heroin could have simply eaten the cheeseburger and ridden her bike home from work. The 400 Calories that she didn't want in her body would be gone, but they would have been used for productive means, and we would have saved the energy consumption of the trip to the gym.

Now I am not saying that we should stop using the gym, but I wonder if we all converted a fraction of the energy we waste by design into productive energy what kind of effect we could have on the energy market. Understanding that biking to work is not always logistically possible, here are the two big things that cyclist can do than many of us neglect.

#1. Ride to the Gym. If you go to the gym for your winter workout, ride your bike there and back. It makes for a great warmup and cooldown.

#2 Ride to your Ride. How many times have you gotten in your car and gone to meet someone to go riding? Next time ride your bike to the start of the ride, it saves you the effort of loading up your car, and you also get to feel smug about having ridden more miles than anyone else there.

Your bike is a great toy. It is also an amazing tool, and too many of us forget to use it as such.

Stans in my car?

Okay, I have recently had a rash of slow leaks in my car tires. Normally when I get a flat I check the tires and see if it is time to replace them. If it is, I just do that. If not, I use a plug kit. But these last two flats have been slow leaks. These are the kind that you pump up and the tire stays inflated as long as the car is sitting, but as you drive you slowly lose air. I coundn't plug them because I couldn't find the hole, and I was not due for a change in tires, so I decided to put Stan's in.

Considering that I have had better luck with Stans than Slime on my bike, it seemed to be the way to go in my car as well, but I checked with Stan first. So the things you will proabably want to know.

#1: Yes the normal Stan's is the same as the Lawn and Garden Stans. They just put it in a different bottle.

#2: The recomended volume of Stans in an Auto tire is 2oz. More that that may mess with your balance at high speeds.

#3: The best way to get it into the tire is to remove the valve core, then use and injector to measure and inject the Stans, then put the valve core back in, pump up the tire and drive around your neighborhood to spread the Stans around in the tire.

#4: The soulution remains liquid down to about -40degF so it will work fine in the winter

#5: The solution may dry up in a few months, depending on how many flats it prevents, so you can either add a little two or three times a year, or you can wait until you get a flat as a sure indicator that the sealant has dried up and then add solution.

All of this was done with the same tools and solutions I use on my bikes, so other than being out 8oz of solution this (about $4 retail) This was a very inexpensive fix to what would have otherwise meant buying new tires. This should also prevent further flats in those tires. So again I have found new uses for my bike stuff. If you care to join me in my worry free driving experiance, everything you need to get your car proteted is at the link below.

Stans Stuff

Stans sues Specialized

Ok, I just got the press release today that Stan's No-Tubes is filing a suit against Specialized asserting that some of Specialized Wheels infringe on patents that Stan holds. It will be interesting to see what happens with this. Comparativly, Stan is a very small company and so if Specialzed wanted to they could probably just burry them in paperwork until such time as they didn't want to produce that wheel anymore, but who knows. Anyway, press release is below

NoTubes.com Files Lawsuit against Specialized Bicycle Components Inc.

BIG FLATS, N.Y. – Nov 12, 2008 - On September 15, 2008, NoTubes.com® filed a lawsuit against Specialized Bicycle Components Inc. (“Specialized”) alleging that certain rims and wheels of Specialized infringe U.S. Patent No. 7,334,846 (the “‘846 patent”). This lawsuit, styled K.G. Motors, Inc. v. Specialized Bicycle Components, Inc., is currently pending in the United States District Court for the Western District of New York.

As set forth in NoTubes’s complaint, Specialized is alleged to infringe the ‘846 patent by making, using, selling, offering for sale, and/or importing into the United States certain tubeless wheels and rims, including without limitation Specialized’s Roval brand wheels. The technology disclosed and claimed in the ‘846 patent was invented by NoTubes’s founder and owner, Stan Koziatek, while pursuing a better solution for tubeless bicycle wheels and rims.

Georgia Gould wins at USGP.

Yeah so Georgia Gould took the win, but the cool thing is Goose Creek Cycle Rider Caitlyn Swinford got her picture taken with her...

The Tubeless revolution continues

Those of you who know me or have visited our shop know that every time I sell a tube, it is with a heavy heart. I discovered Stan's tubeless system a few years back after a 24 hour race in which I had 6 flats. Even in 24 hours, fixing that many flats costs a significant amount of time. So within a week of that race I had my first Stan's tubeless system mounted on my bike. Since then I have had only one flat in a race, and that includes numerous 24 hours solo bids, and local cross country races. So whats new?

Stan has been busy over the last few years. With the way paved by Hutchinson and Shimano with the developement of road tubeless systems, Stan jumped in with rim strips that will allow you to convert any road rim to tubless (sorry you have to use the Hutchinson tubless tire). Also in stores now is the cyclocross version and a cyclocross version of Stans "Raven" tire which is specifically designed for lower pressure riding.

So it looks like, from now on there is really no need to buy tubes ever. So whatever your reason for hating tubes (don't like flats, sick of paying for them, don't like to buy stuff from China, not hip enough, boring, the term pinch flat, etc) It looks like you can leave that in the past.

Below is some other suggested reading:
Original stans review - Includes tips
Pricing

Both of these products are now in store for us, but are not up on our website due to the impending website conversion. Feel free to call in your order.

Offroad Catagories Changed for 2009

According to VeloNews, there will be a change in the ranking system for mountain bikers in the 2009 season. The move makes the off road catagorise look a lot more like the Road catagories and is designed to enlarge the pro field. How will this affect you?

If you are a Beginner you are now a Cat3

Sport-------> Cat 2

Expert -----> Cat 1

Semi-Pro-----> Your choice Cat 1 or Pro

Pro ------------>Pro

Why they felt the need to rename the catagories is beyond me, but basically they just eliminated the Semi-Pro Field. Leaving Semi-pros the option to go big or go home.

Their gamble is that more of the Semi-Pros will suck it up ang go pro rather than take the perceived drop in catagorization. At first this will probably be true, but I predict that people are a lot more cautious about jumping out of the Cat 1 class that they were in the old system. I hope I am wrong here, but what it will take to really get the move upward started is to ensure strong (numberwise) Pro fields at local races. Riders will want to have some feel that they can ride at a pro level at all of their races and not be strictly limited to traveling to big national events to get enought pros together to have the race be worth while on a pro level.

As it is now I have seen local races where only one pro shows up and only needs to turn the laps to win. There is not fun in that and it is not worth anyones time. With the semi-pro ranking at least there was the feeling that you could race the pros if they showed up and race in with the experts without feeling too much like a schmuck if that was the only competition you had. We will see what happens. Maybe I will actually get a NORBA liscence this year so I can get stomped by a bunch of Cat 1's who used to be semi-pro. (and also probably the Cat 1's who used to be Expert, either way I'm getting stomped)

It has been a while

Ok, it has been a while since I have posted to the blog, so I may as well let you all know what has been going on at the creek. So here is the brief run down.

Product: Since the last time I posted, be have become a Salsa dealer, and have a couple of frames on the floor. Look for a more complete line to show up for 2009. We have also taken another big skate shipment so expect to start seeing some more skate related cloting. Preseason orders are filling in from any number of other product lines, so expect to see a lot of new product in the next month. Also we have some 2007 bikes left on the floor which have now been marked way down, we should start to see 2009 bikes shortly, so we don't want to be sitting on and 2007's

Racing Team: We have added a few new riders to the lineup. Rich Buchannan has been pulling down some good results in an Ironman and some Local Tri's. Luke McLaughlin has joined the team and pulled a 4th place at the Otter Creek Sport Class race. He should be flying for Cross season which is now upon us. (First local race in Sunday)

The Shop guys: There is a little flux in the shop guys and folks head back to school. Ryan joined the Army and is off at basic, so Will has picked up a bunch of hours. Schoen is at the shop quite a bit and is holding down the bike side for the time being. I am a little in and out of the shop, and am working on some big things on the online side. Expect our new online site and shop to by up and functioning by end of year.

The deals: Because of the transfer in the sites, we are going to start having some screaming deals on the old version. This saves us from having to upload products to the new site, so check the site out frequently you sould see some deals on there that are beyond the normal good pricing. Check out our selection of bike parts

New logo???

Ok we got some new graphics programs here so we can enhance the site etc. So I got messing around with is and designing a new logo. What do you think? Add it in? or just stick with the old Curls logo? I figured it is pretty basic and a little more recognisable. It probably needs a little refining, but I thought I would just put it out there. -Jon

Drink More Coffee

Ok so I got an earfull the other day. It wasn't anything I had done wrong, but every now and then my wife works an overnight shift at the local children's hospital. One would think that working with kids even sick kids would be an uplifting experiance, but when you have a floor where half a dozen of your patients that night are labled "non-accidental Trauma" it is hard to remain upbeat, and when she comes home I serve as the outlet. "Non-accidental Trauma" is a steril way of saying that mom or dad beat their toddler or infant nearly to death. How someone can throw an infant against a wall, or hit their own child in the back of the head so hard that his eyeballs explode, or otherwise bludgon a child to the point that the bleeding in their head causes the brain to swell leading to brain damage and a life on the ventilator, is completely beyond me. But apparently it is not that uncommon.



Many of these children, simply die. And in many cases this is a blessing. Still many of them live as vegitables or in constant pain at least long enough for their parent to be charged with the lesser crime of child abuse rather than murder.



Some of them survive and regain some degree of functionality, and yes some do recover completely from their wounds, and if they are luckey find a loving home that will take them.



So I hear these stories a lot, and I usually become mad enough that sit around and contemplate ways to get even with people who do these things, and invision myself as some crazed vigilanti. Unfortunately, I have no way of tracking these people down, and even if I did there would be legal issues to contend with. All this is topped off by the fact that I am probably not strong enough to pull off what I would want to do. The way I see it, any worthless, sissy-faced pansy can throw a 13 month old at a wall, but I would have a little more difficulty throwing an adult hard enough to cause his brain to hemorage on impact. So as all these fantasy of being some sort of masked avenger fade into a pile of logistical problems, I have to focus on what I can do.



And what I can do, is drink more Coffee.

Not long after we started this business we started our Koffee for Kids program. The idea was origionally that we would give $1 for every bag of coffee we sold to the Home of the Innocents. When we got around to sending that first payment (aproximately $3) it was just impossible to send a $3 check so we sent one for about $20 instead. Sales have picked up slightly since then, and we finally gave in and just said we would give 100% of the profits, but every time I go to write the check, it doesn't seem like it is enough, so despite our advertised 100% of profits, we usually come in well above that. I just sent in our payment for our march sales, and realized we still have yet to have a month were we send over $100 from coffee sales. In my book this falls roughly between pathetic and shamefull, especially considering that most of the kids I talked about in the first part of this eventually end up at Home of the Innocents. So I am going to drink more coffee. It would be awesome if everyone else bought a buch of coffee too, but it would be even cooler if they just sent a bunch of money to the home. (www.homeoftheinnocents.org)

If all this just sounds like one big guilt trip, please know that I am not intending to guilt everyone, I am just letting you in on the guilt I have been having every time I hear one of these stories. Any letting you know why I am sitting here at 10:30 at night drinking decaf.

The obligatory April Blog

So I figgured I ought to blog at least something this month. Things have been busy, and it is safe to say they will remain that way. There are a lot of things that are on the verge of happening that should be really good for us, so lets run through some of them.

Getting an employee. No names yet released, but suffice to say the holdup is on my end getting all the legal junk out of the way to start hiring employees legally. This is really exciting for me as the website has been a little neglected other than taking and shipping orders of current product. I have a "Clearance Section" in the works that desperately needs to be finished, as we are now getting bombarded with 2008 product so it is time to roll out some discounts on 2007 product and bikes. Some of these have already hit the site, but are not organized into a section of their own. (If you run tubeless, you should check out the deals on the Racing Ralphs with last years tread design) I am also hoping to be able to get out and ride more with the new addition. Everyone was racing or at Thunder over Louisville this weekend and I was sitting in the shop.

We have a fridge!!! Ok so we have an old dorm room fridge with Gatoraid in it, but at least it is now possible to get a cold drink if you are out on a ride and stop and see us. A real display fridge is in the works.

Ok, so how about putting up a sign?? - We are working on it. Yes we will eventually hang a sign in front of the shop, but the way we see it. EVERYBODY has a sign, and why should we be like everyone else. Being hard to find sets us apart. Look soon for our ads... "Bike Shop now open, but we ain't tellin' where it is!!"

More Spiuk: A shipment of Spiuk womens clothing is now on the way so we will no longer have to pitch "unisex" as the best option for womens clothing. And as a footnote, the 2008 Blue and White Spiuk shoes are on the shelves.

BMX: We took our first shipment of Free Agent BMX bikes early this month, and we now have most of them built up. If you are into BMX you should come have a look, they look better in person than in the catalogue.

Anyway, that about wraps it up for now. See you all soon.

What happened to the Blog?

For those loyal readers of the blog (and other ficticious charactors) you may be saying, what is it with the lack of updates and stunning commentary. Well, the deal is that as indicated by the last post, March happened. People have started to walk through the doors and we are getting busy. On top of this, new products are arriving every day. We just took a huge delivery of Rocky Mounts racks, and we have been keeping the folks at Wheels Manufacturing and Stans busy making product for us. At one point today I was staring at deliveries from three of our major distributors which had effectivly blocked the entry way to the main "showroom" and I just didn't know where to start. (The pile has now been cleared, so it is okay to come visit us again) At any rate, I will try to get some new pictures and stories up in the next few days, but your best bet is to come down and check out all the new developements. There is something new every day.

Three Cheers for march

Ok everyone, pull your bike out. It's March and the sun is shining. Since we kicked open our retail doors in February our mantra has been "get through February, make it to March". So now our last excuse for putting things off is gone. It is time to ride. The first race of our spring series is today so the roadies have been shining up their bikes and wiping the last of the salt away. And the mountain bikers have prepped themselves for the pre-season.

Here at the shop we are finally moved in to a point where we feel comfortable with the day to day traffic and no longer have to start every sentance with "when we get fully moved in..." Despite this, there is still a lot of work to be done until we get the shop exactly where we want it. We have yet to put in the "lounge" in the front room. And the office space is still just a computer on a card table, but with the arrival of clothing racks this week, the showroom floor is just about done.

The design work for our sign in being finalized and then it is a waiting game to get it approved by the historic committee and liscenced by the city. But people seem to be finding us without it. Sometimes a bike in the window is all the explanation that a shop needs.

So good luck to the racers today. Spring may be 20 more days away, but we are ready for it, and are going to start without it.

2008 Teams and Beyond

The Goose Creek Cycle team actually got a little press in the Courier journal last week, but since then a lot has happened. The roster will look a lot different in 2008 as we are adding riders quite quickly. We just signed a group of 5 new road riders who are already used to training and working together. The group does include one Junior who we should expect to see great things coming out of in the future. Also a couple of Cat 3's that should give us more of a presence in the local scene.

It looks as if we will also be adding a couple of mountain bikers for the 2008 season. I will release a full roster as soon as we get it all finalized.

We are also in the middle of releasing a "Club" team that is focused on local and natioal riders who enjoy the sport and ride a lot but would not typically be candidates for true sponsorship deals. By end of season we will convert that team over to the current jersey and you can look to see a new jersey design with a new list of sponsors for 2009.

All and all very exciting stuff. Even for February. See you all out there on the road.

Ahh the Joys

So it has been kind of slow at the shop customer wise, but there is plenty to keep us busy. It seems like we are hitting one fiasco after another. Our printer stopped working in the move, so we got behind a day in shipping while we went and got a new one. All of out gridwall shipped, but we found out after the fact that they were backordered on all of the mounting brackets, so once it arrives we will have no way to hang it. Our tire display shipped, but went to the old location and the moving company couldn't get the truck in there so I had to go pick it up in my station waggon, which was a trick considering that I just had surgery and can't lift anything over 10lbs. We still need to regravel the neighbors parking pad which we had to dig up when the water main broke. An issue with the citys new sign policy has caused them to suspend issuing sign permits for the next 4 months, so getting a sign up will be a bit of a trick and golly it would be nice if people rode bikes in February because customers walking through the door would make all this a lot easier to pay for.

Anyway, these are the joys. To pass the time we are going to start doing trainer rides at the shop which should be fun. See you all out there

It is starting to look like a shop

Ok, so it doesn't really look like we are open yet, but it is getting closer. It my gimped out, not allowed to lift over ten pounds state, it is going a little slowly, but thanks to some help from David we have gotten the shelves built in the stock room and more of the product is tagged and out on the floor. We did have a couple of firsts today that I was excited about.

First #1: The shop phone rang - Sure it was a telemarketer, but whatever. Really, how do these people get you numbers so quickly.

First #2: someone I didn't know walked in. Sure she was looking to find out what happend to the store that was in there before us, and she never actually got all the way through the door, but whatever it is a start.

So hang on to your hats folks, eventually someone is going to come in and buy something.

Open... Sort of

We have now moved most of the product from the internet end into the new shop now and we have the doors open. This by no means means that we are a fully functional shop. We are still short some things like a cash register and most of the diplay cases, but if you need a small part, or a repair we can do that. Once we move the computer system in we will be able to take credit cards, but for now we are taking cash and checks. Please feel free to come by and check us out, we don't have set store hours yet as we are kind of in and out picking up supplys as we need them, but after today someone should be out there most of the time. Once we get settled we will set up real store hours and we should have a grand opening in March sometime.

Oh how far we have come...

This almost doesn't look like the same building, but asside from some minor finishing work and installing racks etc. the inside of the shop is done. Now that the interior is safe for people to walk around in, we will be "open", and people can come in and hang out, check out the shop etc. As you can see the inventory is a bit limited, but as of today much of our online inventory has been moved in, and I have started to build some bikes.

Also note that Lane has been hard at it as well. If you look closely at the far end of the shop there is a pile of jackets. Lane is fast asleep in that pile.

Random interlude...

Ok so enough with all the updates about the shop for a minute...

This is what happened when Santa told Lane he couldn't have another bicycle for Christmas. It wasn't pretty and he still hasn't recovered.