The Last Family Bicycle Shop in Northeastern California

Twelve years ago there were two bicycle shops in Susanville, one in Burney, one in Quincy, one in Graeagle and one in Chester, Ca. Of those, the only family bicycle store that remains is Bodfish Bicycles and Quiet Mountain Sports in Chester. A bicycle shop wrenches on everyone's bicycle, brings old bicycles back to life, putting them back into circulation and attempts to stock new bicycles for the whole family. Public service is high on a bicycle shop owner's list of responsibilities.....'where to ride' and 'how to ride' safely is incredibly important. You don't get that from the Big Box sellers. So, what has led to the disappearence of bicycle shops? Online shopping is number one, however, large fires have made the territory seriously less attractive to vacationing cycliists and local self-propelled wanderers. Tariffs have had an effect as well. In 2018 the Trump administration decided that tariffs on Asian goods were a good idea. Prices on new bicycles and bicycle gear increased by 20%, scaring off many who were considering a new bike purchase. The Covid epidemic should have been good for bicycle shops but the epidemic and tariffs combined to result in a serious supply-chain problem and hardware was difficult to obtain, limiting store owner options. Finally, suppliers decided to bypass small independent dealers and sell everything on-line.....at bargain prices. This eliminated already slim margins and has resulted in the disappearance of many rural bicycle shops. Bodfish Bicycles is actually operating on life-support, luckily our bills and mortgages are paid and our one employee is willing to work for minimum wage.

Insanity....continued

Same thing over again.....expecting different results. Obviously, I don't know what I thought I knew. As an amateur Psychologist and Counselor, I SUCK. Wrenching on old bicycles today has been incredibly therapeutic.....predictable turns of the wrist resulting in beautiful rehabs of old friends, now destined to be satisfying "town bikes". People, on the other hand, I certainly don't understand. How anyone can vote for such a train-wreck of a human to represent our hopes and dreams for our nation.....spoiling the future of millions of young Americans who will miss out on lessons of honor, truth and compassion for their fellow citizens. The return of Trumpery will set numerous bad examples that are bound to be adopted by 50% of Americans. How long after will it take to re-establish our national integrity.....and regain the respect that world citizens have had for our stable form of Democracy? What I really don't get.....how is that 50% of our fellow voters don't see the insanity in supporting this degradation of our national ideals. Do you want your kids to adopt any of these behaviors displayed by the man called The Donald.

Losers and Winners

The Yankees have lost the World Series...they weren't quite good enough when it counted..."That's how the cookie crumbles." My mother used to say. No 'sore losers' here. No lawsuits, no whining, no threats of violence. Baseball is a civilized game with well over a hundred years of following the rules and accepting the results of these yearly campaigns. The judges deciding between right and wrong are called umpires. Get 'huffy' with an umpire and you are expelled from the contest. Baseball players know better than to get 'huffy' with an umpire. Managers are a little more likely to kick dirt on an umpires shoes. They are also immediately expelled from the contest. Sore losers never come out on top. Donald Trump is preparing his sore loser campaign in these weeks before the contest results are tabulated. He has an ugly history of being a sore loser. He insists he never loses, his cult of followers are prepared to kick dirt on the shoes of Uncle Sam one more time.

My First And Last Rotary Club Meeting

The Chester Lake Almanor Rotary Club caught wind of my intention to enter the small business realm back in 1993. They invited me to their November meeting, "See if you belong in this club." offered a business consultant, who I counted as a friend. Lots of friendly handshakes as I walked in the front door of The Golden Bear in West Chester. The meeting came to order and right away they asked me to speak of my intentions. "I have a ton of passion for cycling and outfitting cyclists", I began. The chairman interrupted, "Now, I think that's worth a $10 fine. One, we don't have those people in Chester more than one day a year." The Mile High Hundred was a twelve year old event that started and finished in Chester every August. I was a little shocked, a $10 fine? What was that all about? A man walked over to me with an empty coffee can and asked for $10. The local grocer put a $10 in there for me. Ok, this is strange...The butcher, a guy named Norm said, "If I may speak...we don't have any of those granola-eating bicycle people in Chester. I don't think this is a good idea." I picked up my sweater and said, I'm done. My bicycle business has thrived for thirty-one years. Nearly all of those Rotarians have left town, died or retired.

Wake Me, When It's Over

We are three weeks out from the weirdest Election Day Circus ever concocted or imagined, in this country. A person of good character...a tough experienced prosecutor, senator and current vice president, who happens to be a multi-racial woman, is pitted againest an old white Joker-faced wanna-be entertainer who represents the worst behaviors... (a daily embarrassment to any of us who have ever tried to present to children what a good human being should stand for and act like to our fellow human beings). The most despicable behaviors that prove that this man has zero scruples, no hint of descency and an incredible disregard for how his actions affect the people around him. His bad behaviors are frequent and he wears them on his sleeves...in our faces. His lies are so frequent and repeated so many times that he puts his audiences in a trance...those watching him don't know up from down, he spins them and then suggests that they drink the Kool-Aid.

Freaky Times

The news always goes sideways a couple of weeks before a national election. The question is, who presents and stands behind truthful statements and who continues to lie and exaggerate. Well, it can go both ways because this is a competition here and absolute fact goes right out the window. Don't hold your breath until after the election...keep breathing and try to keep a clear head. There'll be sour grapes and cries of foul play and there will be joy and celebrations. Thanksgiving neatly follows the election (victories and disappointments) three weeks after, giving us an opportunity to forgive, forget and accept that the next four years will not really be that different than the previous four years...even though the wheel-wobble seems a little more severe in recent times. Generally, we all need to find common ground between us and act in a civilized manner, lowering the stress levels we experience for the remainder of our days.