Ok, so this has gotten confusing what with the KYMBA fundraiser, rain and all the things that are messing with our plans. At any rate here is what the Goose Creek Cycle schedule looks like for the next couple weeks.
Right now: LaGrange fully open, Westpost Rd location soft open with short staff, and short hours
Tues Feb 20: First shipment of Specialized bikes set to arrive (let the building commence)
Sat Feb 24: KYMBA fundraiser (this was going to be our grand opening but we didn't want to conflict with these guys so we gave them a bike instead and moved our opening)
Sun Feb25: 1 PM easy no drop 25mi road ride from Wesport rd location followed by first peek at fully open shop
Mon Feb 26: First day of fully open Westport Rd location open 10-7
Sat Feb 3: Afternoon-early evening Grand Opening Party Ride and Party full details to follow
Sunday Feb 4: 1pm Shop ride 25-30mi road
Tuesday, February 20, 2018
Monday, January 29, 2018
Westport Road Location is now "Openish"
Hey all it has been a little slower getting the new shop open than I expected, but I am officially changing the new Westport Road Shop status from "coming soonish" to "openish".
Am I going to be blown away by how awesome it is? Probably not, but if you are close enough to the Goose Creek Gang to have ended up here, you will get it. We still have a lot of inventory to bring in and still a bit of work to do on the building, but we are plugging away at it and making progress every day. So while we are not doing any major advertising campaigns, we are slowly getting the word out to our existing customers and friends.
What will I find at the new shop?
Service area up and running - We have our service area set up and ready for use and have done the first few repairs. So although we are a little sparse on in stock service parts I am still confidant that we can get about 90% of repairs done within 24 hours.
Bikes- There are about 10 bikes on the floor right now, so not a great selection but we still have the ability to pull bikes from the other shop or grab them from a local warehouse. So as a deal until March, I will give 10% off any bike I can't get in and built within 72 hours.
Stuff - Stuff is rolling in quickly, You would be surprised as how many service parts there are that don't even make it to the floor, they just live in the basement until we need them. Its rolling in and you will find new stuff every day.
When is the Grand Opening? - Not 100% sure, but we are hoping sometime early to mid March we will have a Grand Opening for the Westport Rd. store in conjunction with the 10 year aniversary of the original La Grange Store.
Is the La Grange Store going to remain open?
YES. This is not a move it is an expansion. The LaGrange store is open and with the help of Kyle actually looks better and runs more efficiently than it ever has before.
Where is the new shop located?
10210 Westport Rd
louisville, Ky 40241
Just inside the Gene Snydor, across from Home Depot
So to all of you who have been with us all these years. Thank you so much for sticking with us. This is the next step in what has been a wild ride, and we are excited to have you with us.
Am I going to be blown away by how awesome it is? Probably not, but if you are close enough to the Goose Creek Gang to have ended up here, you will get it. We still have a lot of inventory to bring in and still a bit of work to do on the building, but we are plugging away at it and making progress every day. So while we are not doing any major advertising campaigns, we are slowly getting the word out to our existing customers and friends.
What will I find at the new shop?
Service area up and running - We have our service area set up and ready for use and have done the first few repairs. So although we are a little sparse on in stock service parts I am still confidant that we can get about 90% of repairs done within 24 hours.
Bikes- There are about 10 bikes on the floor right now, so not a great selection but we still have the ability to pull bikes from the other shop or grab them from a local warehouse. So as a deal until March, I will give 10% off any bike I can't get in and built within 72 hours.
Stuff - Stuff is rolling in quickly, You would be surprised as how many service parts there are that don't even make it to the floor, they just live in the basement until we need them. Its rolling in and you will find new stuff every day.
When is the Grand Opening? - Not 100% sure, but we are hoping sometime early to mid March we will have a Grand Opening for the Westport Rd. store in conjunction with the 10 year aniversary of the original La Grange Store.
Is the La Grange Store going to remain open?
YES. This is not a move it is an expansion. The LaGrange store is open and with the help of Kyle actually looks better and runs more efficiently than it ever has before.
Where is the new shop located?
10210 Westport Rd
louisville, Ky 40241
Just inside the Gene Snydor, across from Home Depot
So to all of you who have been with us all these years. Thank you so much for sticking with us. This is the next step in what has been a wild ride, and we are excited to have you with us.
Sunday, January 8, 2017
Skateboarding in La Grange
Let me preface this by saying that people in general are highly annoying, and also easily annoyed. This makes it a wonder that we are able to be around each other at all. We hate bikes who slow us down when we are in our cars, we hate cars that honk at us when we are on our bikes. We hate when kids haul their basketball goal out into the middle of the road. Unless they are our kids, then we hate people who drive too fast in the neighborhood. Any event that causes a backup in traffic is just really annoying and should be held elsewhere, unless we are attending the event, and then we are just mad at the other drivers going to the event because if they knew how to drive in the first place everything would be fine.
Which brings me to skateboarders here in La Grange, but no one likes them anyway, because they are all punk kids, high on drugs, and out generally to cause trouble... Unless they are your kids.
So lets take a step back and look for a second. I won't deny that there are some people out there who are just jerks, but the vast majority of people who annoy us on a day to day basis are just people going about their lives. There are truly some bad drivers out there, but most of the stupid stuff you see is just a moment of inattention or small mistake from someone who is otherwise a good driver. Admit it, you have spaced out and gotten confused about who's turn it is to go at a four way stop before too. While we are at it, I will bet when you were a kid you did at least 6 things that you are not real proud of today.
Which again brings me to our skateboarders. And this time lets look a little closer and see more than just punks who haven't figured out how to properly wear pants yet.
Where do skateboarders come from? If you go to almost every 10 year old kids house you will find an array of sports related toys. These range from Nerf Footballs, to bikes, skateboards, baseball bats and gloves, plastic bowling pins, whatever. If you take his video game away for long enough, he will actually play with this stuff, and given enough time he will start to develop favorites. What sports a will gravitate to is influenced by any number of things. They are influenced by parents, peers, siblings, natural abilities, availability of equipment and probably a few other things I'm missing. I won't break all these down for you because if you stop to think about them, you will probably be able to figure them out by yourself.
I will point out though that there are a small handful of sports that are dominated by young athletes, usually because the sport is so hard on the body that by the time you turn 20 you are pretty much done. Skateboarding may be second only to women's gymnastics in this regard. This means that by the time a skateboarder enters the "adult world" and has kids and a full time job, they have left their skateboarding for behind. I can count on one hand the number of parents that I know who skateboard with their kids. All of them are in the skateboard industry in some manner.
Another way to say this is there is not typically a huge amount of parental support for skateboarders. I am not implying that skateboarders are neglected by their parents, although that may be the case in some circumstances, I am just pointing out that this is a sport that is picked up, practiced and perfected on their own time. It is a stark contrast to team sports where parents are typically bringing the kids to a specific field/court/gym at a specific time and usually watching the competition. There are no coaches in skateboarding.
If you put ten kids in a downtown area with no parents or adults around, 8 of them will do something stupid.
(totally made up statistic, I admit that)
Everyone with me so far? Here is where I am going to lose you.
I would argue that if you take those same 10 kids and involve them with a sport like skateboarding where they are trying to perfect as physical skill, the stupid things they do will tend more towards pushing the limits of their sport, and less toward drugs and petty crime.
Providing a public place (like a skatepark) and or simply not banishing them from every spot which lends itself to skateboarding, keeps this group closer to where people are. The closer they are to people the more likely they are not to do things that could get them in trouble.
What I have seen in the last few years that I have been working with our local skateboarders is that they have pockets of support for what they do, and broad resistance to what they do. I have had grown adults tell me they are scared because young teenagers are hanging out around their work skateboarding (seriously 13-15 year old kids who are actually quite nice if you talk to them). I have seen police officers run kids off from skating in the street but then not be quite sure if it is legal for them to skate in the street or not. (locally there is a debate if they are "skateboards" which are legal in the street as long as they yield to motor vehicles, or "Toy Vehicles" which are not legal in the street except in crosswalks, upon last check it hasn't been tested in the courts so there is no president). And for liability reasons they are run off from most private property like parking lots. For safety reasons they are run off of public property like sidewalks and parks.
What I see for the most part is a sport which has had to insert itself into places where it is not wanted. Only at the really high end (think X-games) is it really accepted. We all want to watch it on TV but we don't want them in our back yard. It is one of the few sports where there is next to no development program but somehow the talent emerges.
Imagine what would happen if we supported these kids.
Am I suggesting that we spend millions of dollars building skate parks, and let them skate all over our personal property and in our buildings? No. There are legitimate reasons that they can't skate everywhere all the time. What I am asking is that when you see them, take a closer look. If we treat them all like they are bad kids, the good kids will start to drop off because they don't like being considered bad, or worse may start to conform to the image we created for them.
On the other hand, I have seen a lot of positive growth when Church groups, parents, and even sometimes older kids, help create and steer the younger kids to places where they can skate, be welcomed and develop their skills.
So sorry for the round about way of getting there, but if you want to ignore all the rambling, I guess what I am saying is that seeing a young kid do a" kick-flip off a three stair" is a heck of a lot more impressive than watching him play X-box, so we ought to encourage rather than discourage him.
And yes, THANK YOU to the City of LaGrange for not closing the park, I know my kids are happy to be able to skate for a while before they come to work, and I know a lot of other kids feel the same way.
Which brings me to skateboarders here in La Grange, but no one likes them anyway, because they are all punk kids, high on drugs, and out generally to cause trouble... Unless they are your kids.
So lets take a step back and look for a second. I won't deny that there are some people out there who are just jerks, but the vast majority of people who annoy us on a day to day basis are just people going about their lives. There are truly some bad drivers out there, but most of the stupid stuff you see is just a moment of inattention or small mistake from someone who is otherwise a good driver. Admit it, you have spaced out and gotten confused about who's turn it is to go at a four way stop before too. While we are at it, I will bet when you were a kid you did at least 6 things that you are not real proud of today.
Which again brings me to our skateboarders. And this time lets look a little closer and see more than just punks who haven't figured out how to properly wear pants yet.
Where do skateboarders come from? If you go to almost every 10 year old kids house you will find an array of sports related toys. These range from Nerf Footballs, to bikes, skateboards, baseball bats and gloves, plastic bowling pins, whatever. If you take his video game away for long enough, he will actually play with this stuff, and given enough time he will start to develop favorites. What sports a will gravitate to is influenced by any number of things. They are influenced by parents, peers, siblings, natural abilities, availability of equipment and probably a few other things I'm missing. I won't break all these down for you because if you stop to think about them, you will probably be able to figure them out by yourself.
I will point out though that there are a small handful of sports that are dominated by young athletes, usually because the sport is so hard on the body that by the time you turn 20 you are pretty much done. Skateboarding may be second only to women's gymnastics in this regard. This means that by the time a skateboarder enters the "adult world" and has kids and a full time job, they have left their skateboarding for behind. I can count on one hand the number of parents that I know who skateboard with their kids. All of them are in the skateboard industry in some manner.
Another way to say this is there is not typically a huge amount of parental support for skateboarders. I am not implying that skateboarders are neglected by their parents, although that may be the case in some circumstances, I am just pointing out that this is a sport that is picked up, practiced and perfected on their own time. It is a stark contrast to team sports where parents are typically bringing the kids to a specific field/court/gym at a specific time and usually watching the competition. There are no coaches in skateboarding.
If you put ten kids in a downtown area with no parents or adults around, 8 of them will do something stupid.
(totally made up statistic, I admit that)
Everyone with me so far? Here is where I am going to lose you.
I would argue that if you take those same 10 kids and involve them with a sport like skateboarding where they are trying to perfect as physical skill, the stupid things they do will tend more towards pushing the limits of their sport, and less toward drugs and petty crime.
Providing a public place (like a skatepark) and or simply not banishing them from every spot which lends itself to skateboarding, keeps this group closer to where people are. The closer they are to people the more likely they are not to do things that could get them in trouble.
What I have seen in the last few years that I have been working with our local skateboarders is that they have pockets of support for what they do, and broad resistance to what they do. I have had grown adults tell me they are scared because young teenagers are hanging out around their work skateboarding (seriously 13-15 year old kids who are actually quite nice if you talk to them). I have seen police officers run kids off from skating in the street but then not be quite sure if it is legal for them to skate in the street or not. (locally there is a debate if they are "skateboards" which are legal in the street as long as they yield to motor vehicles, or "Toy Vehicles" which are not legal in the street except in crosswalks, upon last check it hasn't been tested in the courts so there is no president). And for liability reasons they are run off from most private property like parking lots. For safety reasons they are run off of public property like sidewalks and parks.
What I see for the most part is a sport which has had to insert itself into places where it is not wanted. Only at the really high end (think X-games) is it really accepted. We all want to watch it on TV but we don't want them in our back yard. It is one of the few sports where there is next to no development program but somehow the talent emerges.
Imagine what would happen if we supported these kids.
Am I suggesting that we spend millions of dollars building skate parks, and let them skate all over our personal property and in our buildings? No. There are legitimate reasons that they can't skate everywhere all the time. What I am asking is that when you see them, take a closer look. If we treat them all like they are bad kids, the good kids will start to drop off because they don't like being considered bad, or worse may start to conform to the image we created for them.
On the other hand, I have seen a lot of positive growth when Church groups, parents, and even sometimes older kids, help create and steer the younger kids to places where they can skate, be welcomed and develop their skills.
So sorry for the round about way of getting there, but if you want to ignore all the rambling, I guess what I am saying is that seeing a young kid do a" kick-flip off a three stair" is a heck of a lot more impressive than watching him play X-box, so we ought to encourage rather than discourage him.
And yes, THANK YOU to the City of LaGrange for not closing the park, I know my kids are happy to be able to skate for a while before they come to work, and I know a lot of other kids feel the same way.
Saturday, December 10, 2016
Fat Bike Rentals at Goose Creek (can deliver to Louisville)
Hey all, it is Fat bike season so we have added a couple of Fat Bikes to our rental fleet. If you have ever wondered what the fat bike thing is all about this is a good way to try it without having to commit to a purchase.
Here at Goose Creek we really love fat bikes this time of year for a number of reasons.
#1 Fat bikes are always fun to ride so this time of year is no different.
#2 As the temperatures drop mountain biking in general becomes a better idea because the woods will offer some shelter from the wind, and slower speeds with more effort keep you warmer.
#3 Help preserve the trails. In the winter most of the plants are dormant or dead which means they are not sucking up the water like they do in the summer. This means the trails stay wet and muddy more than they do in the summer. On the other side of this coin, when the temperatures drop enough all this water freezes and you can again ride the trails without doing damage. Fat bikes give you a wider range of ride time because they float over snowy trails, have better traction on wet leaves, and do less damage to the trail if you do hit that occasional section of mud.
#4 The off season is all about maintaining fitness and avoiding burnout. Trainers can get deadly boring, a fat bike is a great way to keep interest up with a fun new toy that doesn't break the bank.
This year we will be renting KHS 4 seasons fat bikes. Give us a little warning and we can have one ready for you.
Rental rates are offered on a daily, weekly, or mothly rate.
1 day - picked up and returned within one business day $35 (add time for $10/day)
1 week - $65 (additional weeks may be added for $20/week)
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KHS 4seasons 500 just in from a ride. |
Here at Goose Creek we really love fat bikes this time of year for a number of reasons.
#1 Fat bikes are always fun to ride so this time of year is no different.
#2 As the temperatures drop mountain biking in general becomes a better idea because the woods will offer some shelter from the wind, and slower speeds with more effort keep you warmer.
#3 Help preserve the trails. In the winter most of the plants are dormant or dead which means they are not sucking up the water like they do in the summer. This means the trails stay wet and muddy more than they do in the summer. On the other side of this coin, when the temperatures drop enough all this water freezes and you can again ride the trails without doing damage. Fat bikes give you a wider range of ride time because they float over snowy trails, have better traction on wet leaves, and do less damage to the trail if you do hit that occasional section of mud.
#4 The off season is all about maintaining fitness and avoiding burnout. Trainers can get deadly boring, a fat bike is a great way to keep interest up with a fun new toy that doesn't break the bank.
This year we will be renting KHS 4 seasons fat bikes. Give us a little warning and we can have one ready for you.
Rental rates are offered on a daily, weekly, or mothly rate.
1 day - picked up and returned within one business day $35 (add time for $10/day)
1 week - $65 (additional weeks may be added for $20/week)
Friday, October 23, 2015
Discouts for blog followers
Ok, so I totally get that there at only about 6 of you who pay attention to my babble on this blog, so if you are one of the elite few, I am going to make it worth your while.
From here on it, if I review a product, or have to personally buy a product in one of my adventures (like my current Ironman quest) I will give 25% off that product for 7 days following my blog post about it if you are buying in store and mention the blog. If the item is in stock, it is 25% off the tagged price, if we have to special order, it is 25% off MSRP pricing. This discount doesn't combine with other promotions.
At the bottom of each post I will have in parenthesis what items will be on sale. How specific I am depends on how I am feeling at the moment. For instance if I buy a cable lock I might put (cable lock) at the bottom of the page which means all cable locks will be on sale. Or I might be less specific and say (locks) which means all locks of any type will be on sale. Another example is if I review the KHS Four Seasons 2000 Fat bike, I might put (Four Seasons 2000) which means only that model is on sale. Or I might put (Four Seasons) which means any model of the four seasons bikes would be on sale. If I am feeling particularly feisty, I might put (bikes) which would mean any bike would be on sale.
No mater how you slice it, if you watch the blog you will find some deals. So enjoy my blather and get some cool swag.
From here on it, if I review a product, or have to personally buy a product in one of my adventures (like my current Ironman quest) I will give 25% off that product for 7 days following my blog post about it if you are buying in store and mention the blog. If the item is in stock, it is 25% off the tagged price, if we have to special order, it is 25% off MSRP pricing. This discount doesn't combine with other promotions.
At the bottom of each post I will have in parenthesis what items will be on sale. How specific I am depends on how I am feeling at the moment. For instance if I buy a cable lock I might put (cable lock) at the bottom of the page which means all cable locks will be on sale. Or I might be less specific and say (locks) which means all locks of any type will be on sale. Another example is if I review the KHS Four Seasons 2000 Fat bike, I might put (Four Seasons 2000) which means only that model is on sale. Or I might put (Four Seasons) which means any model of the four seasons bikes would be on sale. If I am feeling particularly feisty, I might put (bikes) which would mean any bike would be on sale.
No mater how you slice it, if you watch the blog you will find some deals. So enjoy my blather and get some cool swag.
Sunday, October 18, 2015
New sport new gear.
As I start out on this new triathlon adventure I am having to look at some some of my gear in a new light. Those of you who know me know I am a cheapskate. When it comes to my gear I ride it to the bitter end. I won't throw a tire out until you can see fabric or the sidewall blows out. I have been known to put all the little chain installation scraps from the shop together and make a new chain for my fixie. Given the choice of the product that matches my bike and the one on sale, I get the one on sale.
That being said, as one who has spent endless hours on a bike, I understand what quality can mean to a ride. If you put junk components on your bike, it will ride like junk. Together these two qualities have left me with the general view that usually your best bet is to ride component groups 1 to 2 years old. If you always chase the latest and greatest, you will pay a premium and often get the components before the bugs have really been worked out. For example if you were the first to jump on SRAMs road components you got the version that didn't have a trim-click. 2 years later, prices came way down and you had a trim click. If (like I did) you jumped on the XX1 bandwagon when it first came out, you got to ride a fully dialed system that changed the industry. Of course now the prices of your replacement rings and drivers have come down to about half the original price and they are every bit as good and more available.
As I start in with triathlon gear, I am finding that I already have a lot of the gear I need. The increased use of said gear will hopefully give me the chance to wear some of that gear out and buy the gear I want.
Until that time comes however I am starting my assembly of new gear a little slower. So while no one can steal my swimsuit while I am swiming, my valuble flannel shirt and the keys to my 94 Ford Explorer remain unprotected in my locker. So purchase #1 for the new venture was a combination lock. While significant, I'm sure this won't be the only purchase I will have to make as I wind my way toward the Ironman, so I have decided to have a "feel my pain" sale at the shop for those of you who follow my blog. I'll post the details later but basically if you mention the blog, anything I have to buy will be on sale at the shop for a week after I post it up here. So for the next week all locks will be 25% off if you mention this post.
Congrats to the 7 of you who actually read my ramblings. You get to keep your stuff safe for discout prices.
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
Ironman Louisville 2016
Ok,Ironman Louisville 2015 is safely behind us. As usual the Goose Creek Cycle team experienced the race from the sidelines. As bike shop guys we experience the race a little differently from those of you who were racing or cheering on your friends and family members.
The Shop rats (Lane, Levi and Cam) set up their annual "lemonade" stand in the Goose Creek tent while the mechanics nervously check split times of the bikes we built or serviced going into the race. While we like to see our riders do well, the main thing we are looking for on our little electronic devices is even split times. We are equally happy with a rider who's average pace is 14MPH at every split as with a rider whose pace is a solid 22MPH. What we are looking for is the dreaded "Long Split". The Long Split is that one where there was clearly a problem. A suddenly drop from a 20MPH pace to a 10MPH pace screams mechanical problem. And mechanical problem means either a crash, or we made a mistake.
This year we continued our clean streak. To date, none of the bikes (at least that we know of) that we have either built for or serviced going into the race have had any major mechanical problems. We like to think that this is a testament to the almost neurotic testing and retesting we do on bikes especially when someone has flown half way across the country or world to get here for this one ride.
But something new happened at the 2015 Louisville Ironman. This year the Shop Rats moms showed up and put their heads together and issued a challenge. In past, I had actually been forbidden from doing this race on account of the time it would take to train for it. But now with the kids in school and a little extra time in the margins of our lives there is a possibility of getting back back to racing.
Now keep in mind, I am not a triathlete. I have done one sprint triathlon. If you look back far enough into history you will see that I have a background in 24 hour mountain bike racing, so the distance here is maybe not as daunting as it might otherwise be, but lately my focus has been on light commuting, beer drinking and snack cakes. So with the exception of the fact that my extra layer of blubber helps me float a little better in the swim, I am singularly unprepared for an Ironman.
Truth be told, I probably wont actually do it, but I am putting this post up on the shop blog just so there is a public record that I said I would so now maybe I will have to. I have a year, so I am starting with baby steps. Baby step one was to take a bunch of steroids to try to get rid of this terrible case of Poison Ivy I contracted clearing trails at Briar Hill. Steroids can only help right? Also, and mainly because I was told that the chlorine would help dry up my poison ivy, I got in the local pool for 20 minutes this morning before work.
So there you have it. Day 1 training: Don't drown for 20 minutes. Mission Accomplished.
The Shop rats (Lane, Levi and Cam) set up their annual "lemonade" stand in the Goose Creek tent while the mechanics nervously check split times of the bikes we built or serviced going into the race. While we like to see our riders do well, the main thing we are looking for on our little electronic devices is even split times. We are equally happy with a rider who's average pace is 14MPH at every split as with a rider whose pace is a solid 22MPH. What we are looking for is the dreaded "Long Split". The Long Split is that one where there was clearly a problem. A suddenly drop from a 20MPH pace to a 10MPH pace screams mechanical problem. And mechanical problem means either a crash, or we made a mistake.
This year we continued our clean streak. To date, none of the bikes (at least that we know of) that we have either built for or serviced going into the race have had any major mechanical problems. We like to think that this is a testament to the almost neurotic testing and retesting we do on bikes especially when someone has flown half way across the country or world to get here for this one ride.
But something new happened at the 2015 Louisville Ironman. This year the Shop Rats moms showed up and put their heads together and issued a challenge. In past, I had actually been forbidden from doing this race on account of the time it would take to train for it. But now with the kids in school and a little extra time in the margins of our lives there is a possibility of getting back back to racing.
Now keep in mind, I am not a triathlete. I have done one sprint triathlon. If you look back far enough into history you will see that I have a background in 24 hour mountain bike racing, so the distance here is maybe not as daunting as it might otherwise be, but lately my focus has been on light commuting, beer drinking and snack cakes. So with the exception of the fact that my extra layer of blubber helps me float a little better in the swim, I am singularly unprepared for an Ironman.
Truth be told, I probably wont actually do it, but I am putting this post up on the shop blog just so there is a public record that I said I would so now maybe I will have to. I have a year, so I am starting with baby steps. Baby step one was to take a bunch of steroids to try to get rid of this terrible case of Poison Ivy I contracted clearing trails at Briar Hill. Steroids can only help right? Also, and mainly because I was told that the chlorine would help dry up my poison ivy, I got in the local pool for 20 minutes this morning before work.
So there you have it. Day 1 training: Don't drown for 20 minutes. Mission Accomplished.
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