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

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.