A Good Week
New shop, celebrity guests, national stage, and a lot of coffee.
March 15, 2010
Before the sun had made its appearance on Monday, I was on my second cup of coffee and attempting to get ahead (or catch up?) on the infinite number of details that required my attention before the new City Hub opened its doors to the public later in the week. In the midst of Monday morning email chaos, I received a message indicating that Mr. Gary Fisher had reserved a bicycle from the Hub for the duration of his visit to DC for the tenth annual National Bicycle Summit. After a long snowy winter on the trainer and strong coffee on an empty stomach, my cardiovascular system was ill prepared to handle the news of our first customer. The sky was beginning to show shades of orange, and a week of exhilarating, exhausting and encouraging events was about to commence.
A week later, the days and nights spent at the shop seem like a blur. Somehow, we tuned and organized one hundred new bicycles, unpacked thousands of pieces of cycling accessories and apparel, went for a night ride with Gary Fisher on the Mt. Vernon trail on the new Trek Allants, completed an unknowable number of marketing and merchandising projects, social networked until Chris’ hands fell off, and consumed enough coffee and espresso to support a small country for several years. On Wednesday, Mike stepped out of the shop and onto the stage to discuss the role of bicycle retailers in local advocacy in a rather timely seminar at the National Bike Summit, and Jakob was called onto the carpet the next day to talk about bike share programs. Friday morning finally/suddenly arrived, and our first guests on opening day were Trek President John Burke and several members of his marketing team. For me, any week that has cycling legend bookends is a pretty good week.
Mike, Pinkey and Jakob are veterans of opening new shops. The City Hub in Crystal City is the fifth Revolution Cycles location, and these guys have been through the process a few times, but each location presents interesting new challenges. Take bicycle sales out of the equation and focus on bike share and bike rentals in a much smaller, boutique space and you end up with a few unique situations for consideration. This was my first new venue adventure, but for both me as well as the crew that has a bit more experience turning a vision into something with four walls, it was pretty incredible to see all of the little projects that we were juggling start to fall gently out of our hands into place. From being awarded silver status as a Bicycle Friendly Business to gaining the attention of industry greats, the week was a historic and satisfying one after months and years of hard work. More importantly, though, we did something different. We did something a little risky. We did something that we believe in, and that we feel is long overdue. We made bikes more accessible. And for us, getting more people to share our love of bicycles, to understand how bicycles can make you feel better in so many ways, is the most satisfying reward that we can receive.
