Category Archives: Shop news

News about Chain Reaction Bicycles

Shouldn’t it be the older guy with the knee issue?

Ride reports (not Tu/Th), Shop news

A former Quarry now turned into a small lake
It was going to be our “Return to Pescadero” after a few weeks away from the usual Sunday loop, but Kevin’s knee was acting up, so we pulled over at the base of Old LaHonda and decided it wasn’t worth risking further damage. He figured he could make it to the top, but it wouldn’t be much fun. While stopped, we did get to fix a guy’s Di2 electric shifting problem (his cable had pulled out of the shift lever).

So instead of the coast we took one last ride to check out the dismantling of our Los Altos operation, a very slow ride because his knee wasn’t getting any better. In fact, by the time we got to the store, we decided it was going to be a one-way for Kevin, getting a ride back home with my wife, who was also able to pick up the computers and bring them up to our Redwood City operation.

While we’d deliberately chosen the easiest route possible heading to the store (mostly Foothill), I decided to explore a bit on the way back, taking advantage of the new Garmin Edge’s monstrous screen to check out roads I’d never been on. It’s pretty fun, actually, just cruising through the hills, trying every uphill direction you can that isn’t a dead end. My plan was to try and connect up with Moody, not knowing if it was possible, but figured I’d just stay “high” and keep heading north and eventually I’d get there. Along the way I discovered an old quarry that’s been turned into a small lake (shown in the photo above) and a “Not a through street” that most definitely does go through!

This was one of those rides where it just got more fun as I went along, feeling stronger all the time. By the time I finally did get to Moody I was able to push to a new PR on the climb, which was mildly surprising, but yeah, I was pushing pretty hard.

Hopefully next week will be back to normal. At least most of the angst closing the store will be over with; no more moving stuff from Los Altos into Redwood City from 9:30pm to midnight like tonight. Won’t miss that!

Said good-bye to Los Altos today…

Personal stuff, Ride reports (not Tu/Th), Shop news
Our Los Altos store after the last customer, 24 years after the first customer, has left and the front door locked for the last time.

It was a day in three parts, and definitely didn’t save the “best” for last.

It began with Kevin and I providing ride support for the annual Foster City Community bike ride, like we’ve done the past quite-a-few-years. Basically it involves inflating a whole lot of flat tires. I mean tons of ’em. As if nobody has a pump with a gauge at home, even though everyone claims they do. We bring a bunch of floor pumps, but nobody seems to know how to use them, even though they claim they have one. So yeah, we get quite a workout! Actually this year Kevin seemed to have gotten a bit smarter about things and was often putting bikes in the stand to take care of some adjustments, leaving me to pump the tires. Kid’s getting smarter!

Get home about 11:30, get dressed and go out for a quick ride ‘cuz Kevin’s got a train to catch at 3:20 to see a girlfriend near Berkeley. Has to be something short & pretty hard, just like last week. I’m really missing a longer ride!!! Next week, Pescadero or bust. Today it was Old LaHonda, West Old LaHonda (yes, you can squeeze past the barriers when they’re not working on weekends), then back up to Skyline, north all the way to 92 and back via Canada. A surprisingly-tough ride with Kevin pushing the pace most of the way.

And then Becky, Karen (my wife) and I headed down to the Los Altos store for its final hour. More like 90 minutes, as it stayed pretty busy for a while. I figured they could use the help and it wouldn’t seem right not being there for the end. It was a bit emotional at times, with regular customers coming in to say good-bye, and Amy, former store manager, flying in from New York, a complete (and emotional) surprise for my brother Steve. One of the staff (CJ) set up a grill after everything was over and served burgers as we discussed the good times and the… actually, just the good times. Many to remember. Some will be heading up to Redwood City after we get the remaining inventory moved up.

The total remaining inventory of socks after we closed down the Los Altos store. Wonder what was so wrong with these last 5 pair?

And tonight, it’s been all about running down the various places people would find information about the Los Altos store and making sure things were updated to show it’s no longer in operation. That’s an emotional thing in itself, and something I want to get out of the way quickly not just so customers don’t head down there thinking they can buy a bike, but also because it’s a bit painful and I’d rather not have to do it down the road. Just get it over with.

So yeah, kind of a big day, with many more still to come, as we have to make room to absorb what’s left. Have to admit we did much better on the closeout apparel than I thought we would.