Yes after many years of serving the community Agoura Cycles and Boulevard Cycles are closing the doors. It's a sad day, for me, for Joel (owner), for the dozen employees who will lose their jobs and for the clients who rely on the shop for gear, advice, repairs and more.
As you can imagine, we all are emotional and shocked. I'm disappointed, angry and sad about the whole thing. I am not in denial, mistakes have been made, but as an entrepreneur also, it saddens me to see this. America is built on the entrepreneurial spirit, people like Joel who risk everything in h0pes of giving something back to the community. Sure everyone wants to make a few bucks that's in our blood too, but rarely is that the main focus.
So, yes there's a big sale and you can get great deals and you're in shock too. Part of me feels for you and the loss, part of me thinks in all honesty (in my mind) "where have you been, I've been here two years and never seen you." Part of me knows that this will hit everyone hardest in a month, when we are gone, and you have a flat, or need a little valve stem or some obscure part that only Joel would have in a drawer that only he can find.
The other part of me sees all of our regulars, the die-hards who show up in the rain to ride, who've been so helpful to me as I learned to cycle, those who ate pink cake and celebrated with us, cried with us, those who have worked and are working all day at the sale w/o pay helping us physically and emotionally, bringing us lunch, coffee and hugs:)I will miss these friends and doing shop things with them, although we will always be friends in a different location maybe- they are amazing.
All in all, everything happens for a reason and this too shall pass.
We all will look forward to what a new beginning will bring
~~~RaeLynn
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Rock Store Moments
The morning before my Velodrome experience was wonderful...a big group of riders at Agoura Cycles, the sun was shining and Rock Store was the destination---a first time for several of these ladies::)) What fun we had!Can't wait to do it again,
RL
Velodrome riding
Yes, Velodrome...I attended a women's clinic at the Encino Velodrome last Saturday. It was scary to think of getting up onto that concrete ramp on a bike with no brakes, no gears...and I'm scared of heights.
I waited after the orientation and let Deanne go first, we would share a very small bike that fit her. Luckily KK was there and he gave both of us a "private lesson". Without him I would have never made it up that ramp:)
Deanne rocked the house getting all the way up to the rail with KK...she did experience a few moments when she stopped pedaling for a second--only to remember the briefing "don't stop pedaling or you'll cartwheel over the top". Not what you want to do at those speeds and with all that concrete.
I took quite a long time on the warm up track. KK was so patient explaining the track to me and what to do...finally he convinced me to get onto the track and off we went. I was like Nemo ..."just keep pedaling" the whole time this was in my brain.... Girls were flying by us like we were standing still...they yell "stay" as they approach, you better just stay or else it will be ugly.
Fun thing was that each track has rules and everyone has to ride a certain way. Unlike group rides when you have no idea what the riders are going to do. The velodrome is very predictable and it's a really great way to improve your pedal stroke.
I would definitely do this again, perhaps find a time when KK can do another lesson and when the track is fairly empty. I don't think I would race this type of thing...but never say never.
RL
Here are the pics Deanne took...
http://breakawaycycling.shutterfly.com/
I waited after the orientation and let Deanne go first, we would share a very small bike that fit her. Luckily KK was there and he gave both of us a "private lesson". Without him I would have never made it up that ramp:)
Deanne rocked the house getting all the way up to the rail with KK...she did experience a few moments when she stopped pedaling for a second--only to remember the briefing "don't stop pedaling or you'll cartwheel over the top". Not what you want to do at those speeds and with all that concrete.
I took quite a long time on the warm up track. KK was so patient explaining the track to me and what to do...finally he convinced me to get onto the track and off we went. I was like Nemo ..."just keep pedaling" the whole time this was in my brain.... Girls were flying by us like we were standing still...they yell "stay" as they approach, you better just stay or else it will be ugly.
Fun thing was that each track has rules and everyone has to ride a certain way. Unlike group rides when you have no idea what the riders are going to do. The velodrome is very predictable and it's a really great way to improve your pedal stroke.
I would definitely do this again, perhaps find a time when KK can do another lesson and when the track is fairly empty. I don't think I would race this type of thing...but never say never.
RL
Here are the pics Deanne took...
http://breakawaycycling.shutterfly.com/
Friday, January 16, 2009
New Year Goals: Conquer my Fear of Failure
Here's an article I think was written for me....
http://www.roadbikeaction.com/fly.aspx?layout=content&taxid=97&cid=1015
HEALTH AND FITNESS: CONQUERING THE FEAR THAT SLOWS YOU DOWNKatharine McCoyJanuary 9, 2009
Use your brain to conquer fear, and become a better riderFear is good. A healthy fear while riding your bike is what keeps you alive. Everybody from the time they first start to pedal their bike needs fear. Good fear is what keeps you from charging into the street without looking, putting on the brakes in the middle of the pack during a group ride or cutting in front of the teenager who looks like they just got their driver’s license.However, there is another kind of fear; a fear that slows you down and keeps you from doing your best. Many people don’t even recognize that it is fear. They never stop to questions if it is fear that keeps them from making a breakaway when they are feeling strong, keeps them from attending a group ride or that sends them back home when a ride starts to seem a little too hard. There are two factors in the success of any sport: the body and the mind. We tend to just focus on the first because it seems like it is easier to control. It might sound like a bunch of psychobabble to some, but any successful athlete will tell you that it is the mind that separates the mere talented from the standouts. Cycling is an especially mental sport in that injury, and often pain is always just a bobble away. Even the best riders have experienced an unexpected crash resulting in at least a serious case of road rash. Our brains tend to remember these experiences and often times it takes a while after a crash for a rider to feel confident again. But physical pain is only one aspect of the way that fear can slow you down. There is another type of fear that is some times harder to spot. Often times it is simply the fear of failure or even embarrassment that keeps us from reaching our potential.RECOGNIZING THE PROBLEMMaybe you think that only wimps have fear. Not true. AA has it right when they say that the first step is admitting that you have a problem. The truth is that this is a problem that affects in someway almost everyone. You don’t need a fancy therapist or sports physiologist to figure out if fear is one of you’re the things holding you back. A little self analyzing and learning to recognize the symptoms are a good start. Ask yourself what you would do if you weren’t afraid? Is there something that you have avoided doing because thinking about it makes you feel apprehensive? Have you avoided committing to that 100 mile ride that your friends do because you really are too busy or because you fear that you can’t make it. Do you tend to ride towards the back of the pack because you are afraid of making a mistake or even becoming involved in an unavoidable crash? Do you avoid riding with anyone who might be better than you? Have you wanted to enter a race but keep putting it off? Be honest with yourself about what your real limitations are and what you fear that they might be.Learn to recognize the signs that fear is holding you back. Are there points while you are riding that you tend to tense up or feel like you could push yourself harder but instead hold back? Once you acknowledge that there is fear you can learn to control it rather having it control you.USE YOUR IMAGINATIONMost of things that we worry about or are fearful of never happen. And even if we do experience what we are afraid of it often isn’t as bad as we thought it would be. At the same time if you have suffered a bad crash your imagination often replays the incident in your mind, causing you to experience the crash over and over. The first step in conquering a fear is finding the good in the fear. What have you learned from that crash that you won’t do next time? What is you brain trying to protect you from? If it is a real issue acknowledge it. Yes, riding a bike has risks, but so does spending your life on the couch. It is one of the oldest mind tricks in the world but one of the best defenses against fear is to replay the positive in your head. Imagine the best thing that would happen if you found that you could ride 100 miles, or if you did enter that race or if you did decided to brake-a-way and it worked. Just thinking positive thoughts won’t make it happen, but the opposite is often true as well. Thinking negative things will often times keep the good things from happening, many times because you didn’t even try. TRAIN PAST THE FEARIf a certain part of a ride always makes you shaky then train there. If you really want to try that 100 mile ride start to train for it. Telling yourself it is achievable goal. Ask another experienced rider if they will help you set up a training program or if you can afford it get a coach to help. Knowing that you have the physical tools and have done the work will give you the confidence to do it. Having the help of a more experience rider can inspire you to workout at a new level. It may take your brain awhile to adjust but when you begin to do whatever it was afraid of your brain will see it as something that can be done rather than an overwhelming task. STAY FOCUSED ON THE NOWAccording to studies done on successful athletes one of the things that they are able to do is to focus on the here and now and not ten minutes from now. A football player who is thinking about a Superbowl ring instead of the current play or a baseball player who is worried about his next at bat while he is covering first base tends not to do as well. The same holds true for riding your bike. When you are on a big hill don’t worry about the decent and when you are in the flats don’t worry about the next climb. Don’t allow the fear of the next thing rob you of the energy that you need for the here and now. FEAR: IT’S NOT ALL IN YOUR HEADThe fear response of the body does not stop within your brain. We are all very aware of the way that adrenalin can affect the body for the good as well as the bad. Any experienced rider knows that a good dose of adrenalin at the right time can be the very thing that propels them to the finish line or over the top of hill past their riding buddies. Adrenalin can give our muscles an extra does of energy, but too much over longer periods of time can also wear our muscles out and cause us to be tense, off focused and feel drained. That is why you often see riders at the beginning of a long race working on relaxing their muscles and calming their thoughts rather than pumping themselves up as they might do before a sprint. The more we learn about the way that the mind affects the body the more we learn about how some of the processes can be controlled for our benefit. Using music, positive imagery and relaxing breathing techniques can actually have a real impact on your brain and therefore the body. MRI’s have shown that these things can affect the way that our brains function. When we are tense and fearful our breathing tends to be quick and shallow not allowing our bodies to get the oxygen that they need. We are in an age where calming music and proper breathing techniques are just a download away. Listening to your mp3 player or even your walkman (do they still make those?) can actually help you to learn to relax so it can be a trained response when you are undergoing unhealthy fear.Acknowledging and letting go of fears that are holding you back can make a huge impact on the way that you ride and whether you reach your full potential in any area of your life.
http://www.roadbikeaction.com/fly.aspx?layout=content&taxid=97&cid=1015
HEALTH AND FITNESS: CONQUERING THE FEAR THAT SLOWS YOU DOWNKatharine McCoyJanuary 9, 2009
Use your brain to conquer fear, and become a better riderFear is good. A healthy fear while riding your bike is what keeps you alive. Everybody from the time they first start to pedal their bike needs fear. Good fear is what keeps you from charging into the street without looking, putting on the brakes in the middle of the pack during a group ride or cutting in front of the teenager who looks like they just got their driver’s license.However, there is another kind of fear; a fear that slows you down and keeps you from doing your best. Many people don’t even recognize that it is fear. They never stop to questions if it is fear that keeps them from making a breakaway when they are feeling strong, keeps them from attending a group ride or that sends them back home when a ride starts to seem a little too hard. There are two factors in the success of any sport: the body and the mind. We tend to just focus on the first because it seems like it is easier to control. It might sound like a bunch of psychobabble to some, but any successful athlete will tell you that it is the mind that separates the mere talented from the standouts. Cycling is an especially mental sport in that injury, and often pain is always just a bobble away. Even the best riders have experienced an unexpected crash resulting in at least a serious case of road rash. Our brains tend to remember these experiences and often times it takes a while after a crash for a rider to feel confident again. But physical pain is only one aspect of the way that fear can slow you down. There is another type of fear that is some times harder to spot. Often times it is simply the fear of failure or even embarrassment that keeps us from reaching our potential.RECOGNIZING THE PROBLEMMaybe you think that only wimps have fear. Not true. AA has it right when they say that the first step is admitting that you have a problem. The truth is that this is a problem that affects in someway almost everyone. You don’t need a fancy therapist or sports physiologist to figure out if fear is one of you’re the things holding you back. A little self analyzing and learning to recognize the symptoms are a good start. Ask yourself what you would do if you weren’t afraid? Is there something that you have avoided doing because thinking about it makes you feel apprehensive? Have you avoided committing to that 100 mile ride that your friends do because you really are too busy or because you fear that you can’t make it. Do you tend to ride towards the back of the pack because you are afraid of making a mistake or even becoming involved in an unavoidable crash? Do you avoid riding with anyone who might be better than you? Have you wanted to enter a race but keep putting it off? Be honest with yourself about what your real limitations are and what you fear that they might be.Learn to recognize the signs that fear is holding you back. Are there points while you are riding that you tend to tense up or feel like you could push yourself harder but instead hold back? Once you acknowledge that there is fear you can learn to control it rather having it control you.USE YOUR IMAGINATIONMost of things that we worry about or are fearful of never happen. And even if we do experience what we are afraid of it often isn’t as bad as we thought it would be. At the same time if you have suffered a bad crash your imagination often replays the incident in your mind, causing you to experience the crash over and over. The first step in conquering a fear is finding the good in the fear. What have you learned from that crash that you won’t do next time? What is you brain trying to protect you from? If it is a real issue acknowledge it. Yes, riding a bike has risks, but so does spending your life on the couch. It is one of the oldest mind tricks in the world but one of the best defenses against fear is to replay the positive in your head. Imagine the best thing that would happen if you found that you could ride 100 miles, or if you did enter that race or if you did decided to brake-a-way and it worked. Just thinking positive thoughts won’t make it happen, but the opposite is often true as well. Thinking negative things will often times keep the good things from happening, many times because you didn’t even try. TRAIN PAST THE FEARIf a certain part of a ride always makes you shaky then train there. If you really want to try that 100 mile ride start to train for it. Telling yourself it is achievable goal. Ask another experienced rider if they will help you set up a training program or if you can afford it get a coach to help. Knowing that you have the physical tools and have done the work will give you the confidence to do it. Having the help of a more experience rider can inspire you to workout at a new level. It may take your brain awhile to adjust but when you begin to do whatever it was afraid of your brain will see it as something that can be done rather than an overwhelming task. STAY FOCUSED ON THE NOWAccording to studies done on successful athletes one of the things that they are able to do is to focus on the here and now and not ten minutes from now. A football player who is thinking about a Superbowl ring instead of the current play or a baseball player who is worried about his next at bat while he is covering first base tends not to do as well. The same holds true for riding your bike. When you are on a big hill don’t worry about the decent and when you are in the flats don’t worry about the next climb. Don’t allow the fear of the next thing rob you of the energy that you need for the here and now. FEAR: IT’S NOT ALL IN YOUR HEADThe fear response of the body does not stop within your brain. We are all very aware of the way that adrenalin can affect the body for the good as well as the bad. Any experienced rider knows that a good dose of adrenalin at the right time can be the very thing that propels them to the finish line or over the top of hill past their riding buddies. Adrenalin can give our muscles an extra does of energy, but too much over longer periods of time can also wear our muscles out and cause us to be tense, off focused and feel drained. That is why you often see riders at the beginning of a long race working on relaxing their muscles and calming their thoughts rather than pumping themselves up as they might do before a sprint. The more we learn about the way that the mind affects the body the more we learn about how some of the processes can be controlled for our benefit. Using music, positive imagery and relaxing breathing techniques can actually have a real impact on your brain and therefore the body. MRI’s have shown that these things can affect the way that our brains function. When we are tense and fearful our breathing tends to be quick and shallow not allowing our bodies to get the oxygen that they need. We are in an age where calming music and proper breathing techniques are just a download away. Listening to your mp3 player or even your walkman (do they still make those?) can actually help you to learn to relax so it can be a trained response when you are undergoing unhealthy fear.Acknowledging and letting go of fears that are holding you back can make a huge impact on the way that you ride and whether you reach your full potential in any area of your life.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
