It kind of snuck up on me this year, but the Tour of California is coming back to the Central Coast. This time, Wednesday’s Stage 4 will begin out at Morro Rock in Morro Bay. The Rock’s backdrop is one of the special things on the Central Coast and people from around the world will be able to take in the majesty of Estero Bay as they get out of town.

Last year’s stage finish in Avila was really fun! By Owen Main

Being from Cayucos, I thought about going there to shoot the guys riding through, but instead I’ll be down at the Rock looking for the favorites, camera in-hand.

As for the race, Julian Alaphilippe is the leader going into Wednesday. Alaphilippe, a 23 year-old frenchman, won the climb to the finish on Gibralter Rd. in Santa Barbara on Tuesday. He’ll mark the third different rider in the leader’s jersey in three days.

For Morro Bay, it’s their first time hosting a stage. It’s really remarkable how many awesome places there are for a bike race on the Central Coast. In my memory, I know stages have started or finished in Pismo Beach, Avila Beach, San Luis Obispo, Cambria, and Paso Robles. Morro Bay is joining in, but you can’t tell me that places like Cayucos or Arroyo Grande wouldn’t also be awesome stage hosts. With our proximity to Highway 1, the Central Coast should always have at least one stage start or finish around here.

Tips for those who want to go watch the start: get there early — the start is at 9:55, so plan to get into town at least an hour or two early. Parking far away and walking will be two things you can count on, especially with the limited traffic flow the ithsmus provides.

If you see me, say hi. And have fun y’all.

For the first time, a Tour of California stage both started and finished in San Luis Obispo county. Riders started on the Pismo Beach pier and when Wednesday’s stage four ended beachside in Avila Beach, Peter Sagan held off challengers in an uphill sprint to win the stage.

The atmosphere was festive in both south county beach cities, though the attendance at both was somewhat less than either of the previous two years, when the cities hosted a stage start and finish respectively.

One spectator-friendly aspect of both Avila and Pismo was a bike valet, which I used at both locations after riding my own bicycle in.

Photos by Owen Main

The SRAM neutral race support vehicle waits on the Pismo Pier on Thursday. By Owen Main

Pismo Beach is a ten mile bike ride from my front door, making for a fabulous after-work destination for a ride in the summertime. On Thursday, it marked the first time an Amgen Tour of California stage started from a pier.

On yet another blistering day, riders stayed in their air-conditioned team RV’s as long as they could before braving the 90-plus degree temperatures at the beach.

Fans milled around, admiring the bikes, riders, and day. One common refrain was, “It’s great when the bikes on top of the car cost more than the car.” The car, in this case, was a Jaguar.

“Why can’t we start every stage from here?” said one person involved with the race.

As the riders dashed out of sight on Price Canyon Road, the crowd quickly dispersed. The cars, bikes, and RVs gave chase to the peloton. On to Santa Barbara and Southern California. Young American rider Taylor Phinney was a one-man breakaway on this day, separating himself at the top of the Cachuma Pass and racing down to the finish in Santa Barbara. For the second straight day, the field was not able to catch the breakaway, making for two unusual and pretty exciting Central Coast stages.

For parts of two days, the best cyclists in the world were right here in SLO County, giving racing fans a glimpse of the top level of the sport.

Here’s a video of the start of the race from The Tribune. Also, their story here.

Jens Voigt seems to enjoy himself on the Central Coast. By Owen Main

Jens is still my favorite

Jens Voigt. The guy is a legend — one of the best ambassadors the sport of cycling has left. He is an accomplished columnist for Bicycling Magazine (writing in a language that is not his first). Somehow, in a sport where personality isn’t as easy to recognize, Voigt’s is like a beacon of fun for fans looking for something a little different.

Jens Voigt prior to Stage 5 of the Amgen Tour of California. By Owen Main

In last year’s Tour, he pulled ahead of the field on a solo breakaway and sprinted the final few miles to the finish in Avila to capture the only SLO County stage. Witnessing it live and seeing the pain on his face over the final few hundred yards of the stage was truly awesome.

This year, he obliged a photographer’s request to go take some photos out on the pier before Stage 5. With a smile on his face, he stood up on a bench, with his bicycle. Pointing toward the West, out over the Pacific Ocean, he said in his trademark German accent, “Japan is about 5,000 miles that way.”

Voigt grew up in East Germany. Not the Eastern part of Germany — the country of East Germany, before the Berlin Wall came down. Here’s an interesting column he wrote in Bicycling about how he just never doped.

At the age of 42, it’s hard to imagine how he’s still keeping-up. I’m also not sure that there is an equivalent in any other sport. I’ll just say this — when he retires, the sport will lose a legend. He’s a one-man reason to be a cycling fan.

Sir Bradley Wiggins maintained the overall lead through the Central Coast stages, though he didn’t contend for either individual stage. By Owen Main

Two fun Central Coast stages

As I said earlier, the Central Coast got two really exciting stages this year. It’s always fun to see riders at such a high level, but real breakaways at the finish in Cambria and the finish in Santa Barbara made this year’s tour a little more special for Central Coast cycling fans.

Future stages and segments?

If you had your way, what segments of road would make for good stages in San Luis Obispo County? If you could construct your ideal stage you’d like to see professionals ride in this county, what would it be? I think I’d incorporate highway 46 west between Paso Robles and Cambria. My ideal stage would be some kind of hilly, looping, challenging route. I think it would start maybe at Morro Rock, going up Old Creek Road in Cayucos to 46, down toward Cambria and then back up Santa Rosa Creek Road, back to Highway 46, out in the country, and finishing in Paso Robles. Or the opposite. I think that would make for a really, really fun racing day full of real climbing and strategy…

Photos by Owen Main

[See image gallery at www.fansmanship.com]

Will Routley crosses the finish line first to win Stage 4 of the Amgen Tour of California. By Owen Main

Amid sweltering, record-breaking heat, the Amgen Tour of California rolled into Cambria for the finish of Stage 4 On Wednesday afternoon, with Canadian, Will Routley claiming the stage victory.

Though the heat kept many from showing up very early, there was a solid crowd lining Main Street on the West end of Cambria for the penultimate kilometer or so. A huge jumbotron showed spectators the race as the riders sped past Big Sur, San Simeon, Hearst Castle, and eventually the outskirts of Cambria.

The stage itself turned out to be a pretty exciting one, as a six-rider group made a charge and got out-ahead early. Usually, the peloton has no trouble catching a break-away group by the end of a stage, but the sextet was able to use a strong tailwind to maintain separation from the main riders through the finish.

Routley timed his final charge perfectly and crossed the finish line first, both arms in the air.

As if riding over 100 miles per day for over a week wasn’t already grueling enough, the riders on Wednesday had to battle extremely unusual 90-plus degree temperatures while hugging the coastline all day.

Cambria teacher honored

Pam Kenyon, PE teacher and volleyball coach from Coast Union High School in Cambria, was there to help present post-race awards to riders. Kenyon is a cancer survivor and avid cycling fan. Incidentally, she was a teacher for all three founders of this website and is probably one of the most underrated high school volleyball coaches this county has ever seen.

[See image gallery at www.fansmanship.com]

Finding a friend is way more important than a fancy contraption. By Harry Alverson from Shanghai, China, via Wikimedia Commons

Happy New Year. It’s 2014 and you’re trying to lose some weight, get in shape and turn your life around. If you are trying to exercise more in 2014, I have one piece of advice for you — get a friend.

Find someone who has a similar schedule and who likes to do the same activities as you — basketball, cycling, mountain biking, running, whatever. The last ingredient in this friend is that they are a little less lazy than you and possibly in a little better shape than you already.

I suppose you could call them your “exercise mentor.”

Before 2013 ended, I was down in my exercise. A new baby and lots of bad eating had my weight up about 10 pounds and I wasn’t happy about it. I wasn’t riding my road bike. I wasn’t playing basketball. I was turning more and more sedentary. As luck would have it, a friend gave me his old mountain bike and his father, who lives locally, started inviting me out on rides. My mountain bike buddy is 25 years older than me and has better stamina and skills. Most importantly, he’s had the kindness to show me new trails and parts of my hometown I’ve never seen before.

For the past two months, I’ve been furiously pedaling up the hill behind him — almost every weekend. Have you ever seen the view from the top of Irish Hills or the trails near Turri Road between Los Osos and Morro Bay. I assure you they are worth the walk/ride.

All this weekend mountain biking has caused me to be more motivated to work out during the week as well. You see, when you know that you’ll be chasing someone on Saturday, exercising on Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday becomes much less of an option and more of a necessity. Motivation becomes easier to come by. If I know I’m riding on Saturday, my meal on Friday night usually is pretty healthy, and not too heavy.

Over the past few weeks, I’ve started marking exercise on my calendar and, interestingly, I’m doing SOMETHING at least every other day, on average. This was unthinkable just a few months ago, when the lack of sleep from the newborn was a built-in excuse to not moving.

Communities can be very successful. For me, even a very small community of people I like riding and being with makes a huge difference. Though I am not, many of my friends are “Crossfitters,” and if I had to point to one thing that has caused Crossfit to enjoy a meteoric rise over the past two years, I would point to the sense of community that is clearly evident in that world. Both real social interaction at each “Box” and online virtual interaction with a community of people with similar goals can help a person achieve something remarkable there. Compare that to the weights and weight bench that have been gathering a sad, lonely layer of dust in my garage for most of this year, and the point is made.

Balancing a 5 month-old with the rigors of work AND exercise can be challenging. But, if I had one piece of advice this resolution season, it’s to spend some serious time and energy finding someone who you like and who enjoys the same type of exercise you do. It can make a world of difference.

Thousands of people came to Avila Beach on Thursday, but not as many as organizers had planned for. By Owen Main

They rolled in. At a pace that mortals should not be able to ride, the best cyclists in the world sped from Santa Barbara to Avila Beach on Thursday. Crowds lined the streets through some of the mostly-rural ride, but the big crowd was expected at Avila Beach.

“Over 7,000 people” were expected, according to the California Highway Patrol, and there was much talk of shutting down access into town because of limited parking. Everyone was on full safety alert. Then a funny thing happened. Barely anyone showed up. Based on Fansmanship’s totally unscientific and uneducated estimate, there were somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 spectators in the town. I don’t know if the golf-course parking lot ever filled-up. I’m pretty sure the parking areas at PG&E and Avila Valley Barn didn’t. The Bob Jones trailhead parking lot was about half-full around 11:30, which might not be that much more than a regular Thursday and is probably less than a sunny weekend day.

Don’t get me wrong, the preparation made the fan experience fantastic. I had planned on walking to and from the event on the Bob Jones trail from the KOA campground in Avila Beach, but ended up taking a mostly-empty shuttle both ways. I kept waiting for the “big crowd” to get there. The group of cycling fans that ended up coming were loud and excited, there just weren’t that many of them. It didn’t hurt my experience, though. I had no problem finding a great vantage point to take some photos from, my photographer was able to easily get out of town after the finish, and I was able to move pretty freely from where I stood to the podium to take some photos there too.

One really cool feature was having a video screen with the ATOC commentators easily heard on the street corner. Watching the pros pedal on the roads I frequent was exciting and watching Jens Voigt make his move on a “sticky” little hill that always annoys me was nothing if not really fun.

Watching the pack make its way into Avila with a crowd was one of the most interesting and different fan experiences I’ve ever been a part of. The build-up is huge, only to watch each rider pedal by for 15 seconds. Then it’s over. The podium celebration was cool to see, but the “bang for your buck” — how much of the actual event you get to watch — is actually pretty short. Short and exhilarating.

So what will the impact of the tour’s quick stop in Avila Beach be? Some businesses like the Hula Hut and Avila La Fonda Hotel went out of their way to greet customers (the cookies at La Fonda were incredible!). The Custom House looked more full than I’ve seen it mid-day on a Thursday in May and there was obviously a higher-than-normal buzz around town.

Unfortunately for Avila Beach, a coffee shop owner who closed down for the ride may have, in the end, been the most visible business in the area. The reason — this flyer that was posted on the door of Jo Mama’s Coffee last week:

http://teroknortailor.tumblr.com/post/45334356790/philhollywood-star-trek-the-next-facepalm

Photos of the flyer went viral faster than the swine flu. I saw it on Facebook as recently as last Wednesday, saw it myself on Saturday, and by Monday a friend of mine in San Diego emailed me and asked if this place was in SLO County. It’s possible at this point that most California cycling enthusiasts who spend any time on social media have seen it by now.

I tried to contact the owner, Michael Kidd (not to be confused with Michael Kidd-Gilchrist). I left a card at the shop last Saturday — but have not received a call back.

Reaction to the flyer has varied in intensity, but it has been about as one-sided as you might imagine. Local bicycle shop owners were confused both at how a business owner wouldn’t want to take advantage of the opportunity to do more business than usual and also at the “safety” issue, cited in the article, that nobody I talked to quite understood or bought-in to.

One local bicycle shop owner called it a face-palm moment. Another called it a head-scratcher.

The crazy and even more confusing thing to me is that Michael Kidd, the owner of Jo Mama’s and presumably the author of the flyer, has had a fleet of bicycles in the past to rent to visitors to Avila Beach.

Kidd has also taken to responding on the KSBY message board on this article.

On a local cycling email group, cyclists were not impressed. Here are a few tidbits:

Joe Momma,

You may think you can hate the Amgen and court the local rides at the same time but it doesn’t work for me.  I’ll never cross the threshold of your business again.

Sincerely,

Local Spandex Bike Jerk

And another,

Joe Momma’s “locals only” attitude is so small-mindedly cliche. The urban dictionary’s “locals only” definition reads, “Locals Only – A term used by local assholes, especially at beaches, who show hostility towards anyone who is not from the specific area. Also common in coffee shops. Be prepared to receive nasty glares from the locals. You don’t have to be a tourist or from out of state to experience this, you could live in the next town over. Local elitists love to ruin your fun.” If Joe Momma’s wants a “locals only” business, I recommed that it move to a less touristy area. Maybe Taft (off the main road) would be a good location for only crusty locals?

And another…

I’m pretty disappointed at this. We are out of town visitors who frequent the SLO area on vacation throughout the year. Looks like we’ll never be going to this coffee shop.  Oh, I think I am going to share this flyer on Facebook too. The great thing about social networking is that instead of telling just a few of your friends about something you can tell hundreds….instantly.

You get the idea. In an age of social networking, cyclists from all over the state and probably the country were made aware of Jo Mamas’ anti-spandex declaration in a flash. Perhaps the “All publicity is good publicity” mantra is where he’s going with it?

I grew up in Cayucos, a town with many similarities to Avila. We live in an amazing place that is calm and peaceful the vast majority of the time. People come and visit places like Avila and Cayucos from all over California and all over the world. When people come and visit, us locals don’t always like it. We complain that the “out of towners” ruin our local scene.

Here’s the thing though — and I’ve understood this since I was in 8th grade and cleaned rooms at a Cayucos motel for some cash in the summer. Without tourists in town spending money, the options we have as locals become much more limited. If you’re going to be excited about a cool little coffee shop, know that it probably doesn’t exist without visitors. When we start limiting who these visitors can and should be (for instance, I heard Kidd talk about how Avila was for people from Santa Maria to Paso Robles to enjoy), you also start coming off as xenophobic.

In Cayucos, the Fourth of July is a big deal. Ten thousand people visit the town for the parade and/or fireworks. Hotels are booked. Beach rentals are packed for a week before and after. People, mostly from out of town, come and spend money at their favorite cookie shop and restaurants. I think the community has come to generally accept that there will be different people in town at the beginning of July. For a place that is so mellow most of the time, it can be a fun change.

Businesses in Avila Beach had the opportunity to make a good impression on Thursday. I think they did. All except one.

And in case you’re wondering, I did have my spandex.

So I guess, in the end, the Tour proved Jo Mama’s Coffee wrong. Instead of an “unsafe” throng of fans in town, there ended up being marginally more people in town than during the Friday evening farmer’s market they hold there most of the year — with significantly more security. This article said there were “no incidents to report” from the Sheriff’s office.

In the end, everyone did almost too good a job of “warning” people and not quite a good enough job of “getting people excited” about coming. What should have been behind the scenes planning was made so public that people didn’t want to go through the hassle and worry of getting out to Avila for such an unknown. Ironically, had they come they wouldn’t have had any difficulty getting in and out of town for a world-class sporting event.

The Avila Beach finish for Stage 5 of the AMGEN Tour of California was somewhat underwhelming. The fans who did show up were excited die-hards, most of whom rode their bikes from San Luis Obispo or South county. But for those who were looking for the huge crowds reminiscent of the San Luis Obispo or Paso Robles finishes of years past, the expected swarm was more like a flock.

The cool thing about it was that there still were a large-enough number of people there to make it seem like the big event it was, but not so many that it was uncomfortable. The racers were still the best in the world and the man with the most recognizable name in the Tour, Jens Voigt, pushed ahead in the last few miles in a daring move to take the stage.

On a small little uphill that I’ll now call “Voigt Hill,” the German made his move. Voigt even called the hill “sticky,” which made me feel so happy that it isn’t just me who might have a hard time on the little bump at the beginning of San Luis Bay Drive.

What did you think of the tour? Did you expect more people? Why do you think more people didn’t come?

By Owen Main:

By David Livingston:

Bike shops in San Luis Obispo are plentiful, and that’s good for local cyclists. By Owen Main

“We live where you go on vacation.”

It’s a mantra that seems slightly uppity, stuck-up, and can come off as condescending. But it doesn’t make it any less true. For cyclists, San Luis Obispo County is a wonderland of rolling hills, coastal cruises, and an increasingly bicycle friendly community that will welcome the AMGEN Tour of California’s Stage 5 finish to Avila Beach this Thursday.

For many local riders, including me, the final stretch from San Luis Obispo out to Avila Beach is a carbon copy of a ride that has by-far one of the prettiest finishes in the county. On a hot Summer day, the ocean breeze and sunshine of Avila Beach can be the perfect weekday antidote for a tough day at work. Less than 10 miles away from Avila is downtown San Luis Obispo — home to five full-time, full-service bicycle shops.

When it comes to bike shops, I’m something of a nomad. I bought both of my bikes at Art’s and have had them both serviced at at each of the five shops in town over the years. I’m far from a mechanical expert. From my experience and from talking to a number of cyclists over the past few years, I am basically confident in the quality of service at all of them. I talked to as many as I could to get an idea of the history of each of the shops and what kind of specialty each one might have. If you have comments about any of the shops, I welcome them as well. Whatever your thoughts are on any of the bicycle shops in town, I’ve found that I love having options and we are lucky to have so many good ones in San Luis Obispo.

View San Luis Obispo Bicycle Shops in a larger map

Art’s Cyclery

For many long-time Central Coast cyclists, Art’s Cyclery is where bike shops start and end. Started in 1982 in Los Osos, California, Art’s has grown into probably the most well-known bicycle shop in San Luis Obispo.

After years on Santa Barbara Street, Art’s recently moved to a less prominent location on Suburban Road, but according to Web Content Manager Daniel Slusser, didn’t lose any business.

“We started a joint venture with sports warehouse, so we moved our warehouse from behind our shop to down here. This started off as a showroom for everything we sold online and everything that was in the store only was in the other store,” said Slusser. “But we had all these warehouse parts over here that we sold in both places and it just became such a headache going back and forth, moving parts. We said, ‘This just isn’t working.’ It just wasn’t paying off, and so we moved everything over here and it’s been so much better and our retail business — we haven’t lost any of it. That really speaks volumes about our customer loyalty because we’re, honesty, way out of the way.”

The new location allows Art’s to team up with other warehouses in the same complex including Tennis Warehouse, Running Warehouse, Riding Warehouse, and Tackle Warehouse, among others. What it all means is that Art’s still has the brick and mortar store with a great selection of bikes and gear, while at the same time growing their business and offering a much larger variety online.

“We’ve won the [New Times] Best of San Luis Obispo for bike shops for the past 25 years,” said Slusser. “They have only done the ‘Best Bike Shop’ category for 25 years, so we’ve won it every year.”

Art’s staff always seems friendly and knowledgeable. I’ve often gone in just to pick their brain about a topic and am usually satisfied with the answers I get. I have two Specialized bicycles from there, but they sell many brands both in the store and online.

This one time… I bought both my commuter and road bike at Art’s. The sales people have always been professional and courteous and I got a GREAT deal on a Specialized Roubaix a few years ago. The best Art’s story I can tell is actually with regards to my seat post. When I bought my bike, I got it fit, but still tinkered some. Having a carbon bike with a carbon seat post, I made a rookie mistake, lining up the collar in line with the slit in the frame. The result was a cracked post three days before a long ride. I was bummed.

I went to Art’s and asked them to take a look. They recommended a new post and installed it for me. A short time later, I was back on the road, but noticed that, again, the post was cracking. Whoever had installed the new post had also lined up the collar with the slit, a fatal mistake. Now devastated, I went back in the next day. Instead of hassling me about breaking seat-posts, they apologized, hooked me up with a new post, installed it right, and sold me a torque wrench so I wouldn’t crack my post again. Owning their mistake and made it right is one thing I really respect about Art’s and I know that partially because of how big they are, they won’t hassle me in an unusual situation like with my seat post. I appreciate businesses that stand behind what they do. People are going to make mistakes and, in this case, Art’s made it right.

Cambria Bicycle Outfitters

Like Art’s, Cambria Bicycle Outfitters, or CBO started in a North coast San Luis Obispo County town in the 80’s and eventually moved to San Luis Obispo. CBO, located on Monterey Street between Cal Poly and SLO High School, is one of the closest shops to Cal Poly. Much of their business caters to students — the shop is especially busy at the beginning of Cal Poly’s school year.

“[Cal Poly] is essential to our business,” said Parker Musselman, a manager at CBO. “We’re right here on Monterey, so whenever the kids come down from school, we’re usually one of the first two stops. September 1st, it’s a madhouse getting kids on bikes. Everyone’s got their parents in and we’re selling 10 bikes a day when kids come back to school. It’s really cool to see them move to town, talk to them, get them on bikes, and let them know about all the really cool bike stuff that goes on in the community and then see them three years later doing all kinds of crazy stuff — starting on a hybrid and ending up racing triathlons or something like that.

CBO also has an online branch to their business — running a warehouse out of Paso Robles. While they carry both road and mountain bike brands, CBO has become better known for their mountain bike selection.

“Predominantly, we’re kind of the mountain shop in town,” said . “We’ve always had kind of the best deals on mountain equipment. We do tons of demos. Our biggest thing is just getting people out on bikes. We know that San Luis Obispo has some of the best mountain and road biking in the country and getting more people out there and just helping the community people keep riding [is our goal].

There are also regular mountain bike rides that start at CBO and visit one of the 4-5 trails that are near enough to downtown San Luis Obispo to not require a car to get there.

“There’s a road ride that leaves from CBO on Tuesday evenings and then we do a shop mountain ride on Wednesdays,” said Musselman. Wednesday’s mountain bike rides are often night time rides.

“We might go up to Shooters, Irish Hills, Madonna. I don’t own a car so being able to mountain bike feasibly five days a week is unheard of.”

All three of Fansmanship’s founders went to high school in Cambria, so we have lots of love for upper C-Town. While there isn’t a shop there anymore, CBO’s San Luis Obispo location is generally pretty convenient. I don’t personally own a mountain bike, but from everything that I’ve heard, CBO can give you great tips on both the mountain biking scene and mountain bikes themselves.

“We do mail order and web sales as well,” said Musselman. “All of that is done in our Paso Robles location. We have thousands of items in our Paso location so if you don’t see it here, we can usually get it from our warehouse.”

This one time… As an aside, I did feel a little bit overwhelmed and intimidated at CBO when I took my bike there four or five years ago. This week, the experience was much better. Whether it was because I’m more confident now around a bike shop or because of a change in staff there, this week’s visit was much more comfortable. My feeling is that they’ve made a conscious effort to be friendlier and more welcoming to bike enthusiasts and “sunday riders” alike.

Flanders Bicycles

Flanders has an old-school vibe inside the shop. By Owen Main

Every shop has a place you can stand and watch a bike mechanic do work, but few have the kind of stage that you find at Flanders Bicycle. Approaching the building a stone’s throw (OK, maybe like 5 throws, unless you’re Raul Mondesi or Jeff Francour… but I digress) away from where Art’s used to be, Flanders has an old-school vibe.

“Everyone told us we were pretty crazy to open up a shop, just because of the number of shops that are already in SLO,” said Flanders co-owner Shawn Hafley. “We felt there was such a need for the type of shop that we do.”

So, what type of shop is Flanders?

“To us, our favorite thing is to be the epitome of a local bike shop,” said Hafley. “Be a part of the neighborhood, deal with the neighborhood kids, deal with the people who live around the shop. To us, that’s our favorite description.”

The mechanic area has enough room for two bikes and has a window in the front that makes the work that’s being done almost like a show. It’s not uncommon to find two to three cycling enthusiasts leaning on the window sill, shooting the breeze with any of the mechanics there, including Jon Richert who is one of the owners. At about 6’6”, he’s a hard guy to miss. It’s also easy to guess which of the bicycles around the place are his (try to picture an unimaginable seat height that makes George Hincapie look like… I dunno…. somebody short).

Flanders opened it’s doors almost two years ago, around the time Art’s moved to its warehouse location.

“It’s been successful beyond our wildest dreams so far,” said Hafley. “We’re about two years or more ahead of where we thought we’d be right now.”

Flanders is bigger than the size of its cozy store room suggests — warehouse space in the back of the lot allows for more inventory than you think. That being said, I recommend that anyone who might be shy go hang out there. Customers can watch the mechanics’ area from both sides — there are even stadium seats inside that fold down and are a super-comfortable place to wait. Another nice touch is the cycling videos that are constantly playing on a TV in the corner. There was a BMX movie on the other day, and being a child of the 80’s, I commented.

“This movie is rad,” I said.

“Yes, this movie literally is Rad,” replied the owner.

So is Flanders.

This one time… I got a fitting recently at Flanders and got to spend some time with the owners of the place. It’s not every day that you can get a recommendation from the owner of a bike shop about both technical stuff and where to ride. The fitting was great — I feel significantly faster and more comfortable after the adjustment (it had been a few years and I’m a little stronger rider now). The “bike talk” was even better.

I still consider myself a novice, but I never feel like the guys at Flanders are talking over my head. The idea of a bicycling community is one that is clearly important to them. “Our favorite thing is just helping people from Point A to Point B on a bike, with a smile” said Hafley.

Foothill Cyclery is a friendly place for students and the more hard-core local cycling community alike. By Owen Main

Foothill Cyclery

Foothill Cyclery has existed in one location or another since 1989, serving the local cycling population and the student population at Cal Poly. Being so close, Foothill is the shop of choice for the Cal Poly Wheelmen and many other students and residents of San Luis Obispo.

Owner Josh Cohen has owned the shop since 2002. Cohen is someone who is clearly connected with the local cycling and business scene. He describes the local cycling community as one deserving of respect.

“There is a lot less of the southern California-type community here,” says Cohen, a native of Los Angeles who came here to go to Cal Poly and never left.

“People don’t have a bike just for show. If you sell an expensive bike, the owner is much more likely to actually ride it a lot and it’s likely that I’ll see them on group rides later on. There are riders here who actually ride.”

Cohen is heavily involved in Central Coast Concerned Mountain Bikers and also is involved with practice criterions throughout the year.

“We’ll see 40-60 riders sometimes in mid-winter practice criterions,” said Cohen. “The Community is legitimately fast. Some people from out of town will come and tell us that our practice criterions have more people than their actual races. The cycling community itself here is quite robust.”

This one time… I’ve been by Foothill on multiple occasions looking for bikes. The first time was for my wife when she was looking for a bike to ride on the Bob Jones Trail (and in town, etc…). The folks at Foothill were knowledgeable, but were not a hard sell. They were VERY respectful of her needing to ride other bikes and encouraged us to look around before we made a decision. The decision then was to come back to Foothill to buy the bike my wife really wanted.

A few years later, when I was searching for my road bike, I again went to Foothill. Of all the places I went, they gave me the best information about what to look for when buying a bike. Again, they stressed the importance of finding a bike that I liked, even if it wasn’t the Trek I was trying in their shop. I really appreciated their up-front sales pitch and even though I didn’t buy my bike there, I have had it serviced there many times. One of those services was a tune-up that included a complete washing and degreasing of both cassettes and the chain. For a little more than $100, my bike came out feeling as if I had just bought it. Gearing was just about perfect. The black, greasy scourge that had enveloped my drive train was no longer and I felt almost like I’d bought a new bike.

Wally’s is a place that prides itself on having the latest and greatest in cycling technology. By Owen Main

Wally’s Bicycle Works

Walter Ajanel is a classic. He is the owner of Wally’s Bicycle Works, located in a converted garage across South Higuera Street from Ben Franklin’s Sandwiches. Originally from Guatemala, “Wally” has been the most consistently visible bike shop owner in town, leading rides and wrenching on bikes in his shop for the past seven years. I could write a whole post on Walter’s life and how he got into bicycles, but my recommendation is that if you want to know, just ask him.

Walter is also a technophile. He loves European bikes — especially Italian ones — and he can’t help but to have all the latest gadgets, even if it’s just for the sake of having them. Ask him about the latest cycling gadgetry, watch his eyes light up, and then sit back and get ready to go to school.

“We have a lot of European bikes,” said Ajanel. “We do a lot of everything, but what we’re known for is the really super-duper high-end stuff.”

Wally’s loyal customer base of cycling enthusiasts can always find the latest and greatest when it comes to new bikes or any new cycling technology.  The collection of high-end bikes on display in his shop is pretty impressive.

You can also get custom-colored bikes at Wally’s.

“People want to have a unique bike, and usually uniquness in the end comes down to color, so we do custom colors,” said Ajanel. “So, we have a professional bike painter that we work with. We recently had one that a customer has a yellow Porche 911 and he wanted it to look like a yellow Porche. He had trouble somewhere else getting a yellow bike, so he came to me and said, ‘Hey, I want to buy a bike from you.’ I said, ‘That’s not a problem, come over and let’s sit down and figure it out.’ He got his yellow bike and it’s gorgeous!”

This one time… Two quick stories about Wally’s — First, when I go in there, I always look at the price tag on the bikes in his show rooms. He doesn’t ONLY sell high-end bikes, but when I look at some of them, I get the exact feeling Wayne Campbell did in the first Wayne’s World movie when he looked at the guitar in the window.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7jJnwEeiU0

The second story is a quick one. I have never seen a human being change a tire faster than Walter. He belongs in NASCAR or something. I also watched him put baby powder on a tube he replaced and have tried to do that with all mine since then. The result — about half as many flats. As I said before, I have no clue about bicycle wrenching, but I’m pretty sure that Walter is a master.

There has just been too much material.

Betwen Manti Te’o and Lance Armstrong, last week was filled with an over-hyper media, once again simultaneously covering a story and covering themselves as part of a story in a sort of snake eating its own tail kind of a way. Weeks like this are the stuff legends are made of.

As consumers of sports, the last seven days have, like a political race, either opened our eyes to new and fresh ideas or further cemented our sports media allegiances.

Bill Simmons’ “malibag” columns were made for situations like Manti Te’o. By David Shankbone (Own work) via Wikimedia Commons

For some, a daily dose of Grantland.com is necessary even in a pre Te’o scandal world. Post Te’o, I would argue that there are few things more salacious or tasty to read than a Bill Simmons Manti Te’o mailbag post. Sure, the sports guy runs Grantland.com and had a podcast bigger than his ego, but the way he got to the top of that mountain was through columns like the mailbag he put out on Manti Te’o last week. This scandal was made for Simmons.

If you’re looking for someone with a strong alternative opinion, I recommend Jason Whitlock. Whitlock describes himself as “agenda free, honest, and unpredictable,” and if you like someone who tries to “stick it to “the man” on a regular basis, Whitlock is the guy to read. His twitter feed is constantly updated and his views, while extreme sometimes, are usually healthy to have in the sports ether. If you want someone who is not afraid to criticize anyone, Whitlock is your guy.

The Te’o story provided lots of targets for Whitlock’s wrath including mainstream media, ESPN, and Notre Dame. His take on Manti is one that I think lots of people didn’t know they had until they read the article, and that’s probably the biggest compliment I can give Whitlock.

More local writers, like Bill Plaschke of the LA Times, pondered a specific part of the story — namely the media’s inability to do it’s job as watchdogs. Perhaps this was a more mainstream, less intense version of Whitlock’s view, but it was a solid piece for a west-coast paper.

In the midst of Te’o “tooling out” (as C.J. Silas would put it), Lance Armstrong remained in the midst of a 15-year “tool-out.” For Armstrong, TJ Simers of the LA Times wrote a nuanced Lance Armstrong column. Simers is more the king of sarcasm and making himself a story usually, but it’s gems like the Armstrong column that keep bringing me back.

I guess, this time, it’s because I have mostly the same opinion on the matter as Simers. Does what Armstrong says now have the ability to take away all the people who found some inspiration or positive message in what he did?

I would argue that Armstrong’s consecutive Tour de France wins put more people on bikes than Tiger put on golf courses. Those people have burned millions of calories and, I would argue, are probably healthier than they were before Armstrong put the Tour de France at the top of SportsCenter. An entire industry has gone from something that was a niche sport to something more mainstream. I have ridden 3 century (100 mile) rides over the past two years and rode over 2000 miles in 2012 while losing a little weight and getting my astronomical cholesterol numbers in-check, all of which came from having a bike — and I can’t be the only one. Without Lance Armstrong’s rise I think it would have been unlikely that I would have ever gotten into cycling in the first place.

As Simers said regarding Armstrong’s confession:

… But what difference does it make today to those who found hope so long ago in his own cancer story?

His story was alive and brimming with inspiration when those afflicted at the time needed it the most.

How many took what Armstrong had to say as the gospel, finding common resolve in their own yellow wristband, only now to have to watch Oprah?

I have no interest in watching. Who cares what Armstrong has to say now? Who cares how this story plays out, with his athletic career over and his influence now old news?

Like so many other athletes and celebrities, he had the ability to uplift, did so for a time, but ultimately wasn’t up to the task.

None of it changes the power of inspiration and what it means to some — even if under false pretenses.

Would you lie to someone dying if you thought it would bring them some peace?

Where someone gets their news and opinion says something about their fansmanship. By Cortega9 (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons

Point made. I wasn’t dying, but I did use Lance as an inspiration at some level and that’s not something that even his confession can take away from me — and I’m not ashamed of it either.

So what website did you visit last Wednesday when the Te’o story broke? Even though the Te’o story was only related to sports and the Armstrong story potentially outdated in its relevance, we can learn something about our fansmanship by thinking about where we look for our information about sports and about which outlet has the information in its most relevant and useful form.

While the LA Times and Grantland are staples for me already, I think I’ll be reading a little more Whitlock and a little less ESPN.com this week (and yes, I know ESPN owns Grantland…). Whatever I’m reading about though, I just hope it has a little more to do with what’s happening on the field than off it.

I like to make predictions. Sometimes they are right. More of the time they are not. It’s fun though, so I do it anyway.

Here’s my latest prediction: Lance Armstrong will confess to doping when he is interviewed by Oprah (airing) on January 17th. I’ve written about Lance Armstrong before. Things have gotten even worse for him since then.

When it comes to baseball’s steroid users or anyone in the public eye who do anything bad like this, the almost-cliche response about what they should do is, “Go on Oprah and come clean.”

Alex Rodriguez did it. Instead of Oprah, Rodriguez chose ESPN’s Peter Gammons to come clean with. He wore a blue sweater, sat-down in a homey environment, and came clean. He came off as mostly honest, admitting that he used steroids and saying he was sorry.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WSwiYnSBis

Lance Armstrong is riding his way straight to a confession, I believe. By Daniel Norton (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

What does this have to do with Lance Armstrong? Well, if he was smart he would be studying the A-Rod confession. He would also be looking at the respective sideshows that Roger Clemens, Sammy Sosa, and Rafael Palmiero participated in. All those guys look like clowns now. Rodriguez may be perceived negatively, but not like those three.

Another great role model for Armstrong might be Mark McGwire. Big Mac vehemently denied use for years and finally capitulated and came clean, and has been better-respected for it over the past two years, serving as hitting coach for the Cardinals and now the Dodgers. He wanted to be back in the public eye and had to pay the price to do so.

Armstrong has also denied PED use with about as much force as a person can. He has been tested hundreds of times and always pointed to the always-outmoded tests as proof he didn’t do it.

If you are not easily offended, aren’t worried about foul language and are a fan of South Park, Lance Armstrong, and/or the Sneetches, you’ll probably want to look at the South Park episode HERE. South Park’s Trey Parker and Matt Stone are the kings of modern satire. The sports world and its reflection on society are so easy to make fun of sometimes…

Anyway, back to Lance and Oprah. It is happening at Lance Armstrong’s home, so the “softer” non-studio, private environment is already in-place. I’m sure Lance will have lots to say. I’m sure millions will watch.

I play two scenarios in my head:

Scenario 1: Lance goes all Rafael Palmeiro on Oprah. “I never did any of that,” he says. “My teammates were forced to lie by USADA and WADA. Everyone is turning on me.”

Scenario 2: Lance goes all A-Rod: “I did it, it was the culture, everyone was doing it and I got caught-up in it. I’m sorry for any hurt I’ve caused.”

I just don’t think there’s a third scenario. I cannot imagine that, 10 years from now, Lance wants to have an embarrassing Palmeiro-like moment on tape when definitive proof emerges that, beyond any shadow of a doubt, he doped. I can’t imagine anyone would put themselves in that position, and because of that, I think Scenario 2 happens. I think Lance admits he doped. Two years ago, some people would have been surprised. Not anymore.

//www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAxo4pCITRM

I can’t imagine Lance letting himself have a Palmeiro moment, especially with Oprah.