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