 With COVID-19 closing gyms, pools, schools and businesses we are seeing a mass of people seeking the health and recreation benefits of bicycling. With so many of our customers either returning to cycling or new to the sport we felt a strong need to teach the basics. To address this need we created the "DIY New Bike Series" targeted at new cyclists. The campaign consists of short videos that focus on explaining one key aspect of cycling at a time. So far we have created three videos and launched them on our South Florida focused FaceBook page. The videos have been very well received, with many likes, comments and shares and over 10,000 engagements! We will continue to build the series and will be adding the content on our website, YouTube, and blog to help more cyclists. Feel free to share this post and videos with any new cyclists. And we welcome you ideas for future topics.
1 Comment
When the COVID-19 Pandemic hit we had no idea how it would affect our stores and customers. We believe that bicycling is a healthy physical and mental activity, that doubles as a means of transportation. To that end we followed the CDC and local guidelines, limited the number of people in our stores, setup a disinfectant station, and did our best to serve our customers.
What we didn’t expect was an explosion of new sales with families flocking to cycling during this pandemic. With school, gyms, pools and beach closures residents of South Florida instinctively turned to bicycling. Fresh air, sun, and yes even social distancing! I’d like to share a few inspiring stories of how our customers turned to bicycling to help cope with the Pandemic... IronMom Training at Home: Cailin is an Ironman Triathlete who lives in Naples and is the mother of three girls. With school closures Cailin needed a way to stay at home with her kids and still workout. The solution was a Cycleops M2 “smart trainer”. By mounting her bike on this interactive trainer she can now virtually ride all over the world and even join virtual races with other cyclists and keep an eye on her girls. Photographer Expands his Riding with an eBike: Bill is a 71 year young photographer who had given up mountain biking until his purchase of a Trek Powerfly eBike. The pedal assist electric motor helped him ride the trails again. He is enjoying his new bike and reported “It feels like I am 20 years younger. A true fountain of youth which I needed during this time of self-isolation. Attached are a few shots with a gator and my magic bike!” A Resurgence in Family Cycling: It is really great to see whole families cycling together. While cycling through the Ding Darling National Wildlife Refuge we met a family of 5 riding together on new Townie beach cruisers. I explained I was Trek Florida’s Marketing Manager and asked if I could take their picture for our FaceBook page. They agreed and told me they just bought the bikes from our Estero Store. Yesterday in our Naples store we helped outfit a family of 6 with new bikes, and also twin brothers Max and Noah. A Bike & Trainer Replaces a Diabetic’s Gym Routine: Debbie and Heinz are 69 and 74 and live in Pelican Marsh in Naples. With the gyms being closed they needed a way to exercise safely. Heinz is a diabetic and stationary cycling is an essential part of his fitness routine. Sue Fleming our Naples Store Manager came up with a solution. She recommended a Townie 7 EQ in a step through frame to make it easy to mount and ride, and a Cycleops Trainer to convert the bike to an stationary exercise bike. Debbie also rides the bike in her community and has earned the nick name “Mary Poppins” when she visits her friends on the bright yellow bike. The government (CISA) recently recognizes the importance of bicycles and has deemed bike shops and service an essential critical workforce. And Florida's "Safer at Home Executive Order" allows cycling as an essential activity. We are here to help with all of your cycling needs. Don't hesitate to stop by or call our stores, visit our website, or email if we can be of assistance. In these uncertain times cycling remains healthy, fundamental and timeless. Wishing you health and safety, Greg Pelican and the Trek Bicycle Stores of Florida Team Having the proper gearing to match both your ability, the type of bike and where you ride it, is one of the most important factors of your bike setup. For example if your gearing is too high (hard) and you have to do a lot of climbing, will force you to stand or use too low of a RPM. Conversely if your gearing is too low or easy you will spin out and not be able to put out maximum wattage which will limit your performance. This short video focuses on having the optimum chain ring size and also touches on the advantage of Rotor Oval Rings. Anyone of our 9 stores can help you get the right gearing setup on your bike! Don't hesitate to email if you have any questions or if your need help to determine the optimize chainrings for your riding. Enjoy the video! As Florida cyclists we are all very familiar with heat, sweat and humidity. But do you know what effect this can have on your bike?
Sweat and humidity leads to corrosion. And this can cause rust which will eventually lead to breakage or failure. This can not only rob your performance but can also cause an accident. The trouble is that often you can't even see the problem unless the parts are inspected (which may require removing them). Here are two good examples of corrosion problems I ran into in our Naples store. The picture on the left is under the aero-pad of an aerobar. The bolts are so corroded they are about to break, and can't be removed without destroying them further. If this cyclist was riding in the aero position and the bolt gave way he would have likely crashed. Triathlon bikes have the added problem of a sports drink spilling there. The picture on the right is of a headset bearing that is corroded and affecting the steering of the bike. This bearing is not dissimilar to a bottom bracket bearing. Imagine how much extra drag (cost in wattage) a corroded bottom bracket bearing causes! Shift and brake cables also can rust and corrode which effects the shifting and breaking properties. The bottom line is that for safety and optimum performance, any Florida cyclist should have your bolts and bearings inspected by a pro mechanic every 6 months. Be safe out there, I hope to see you on the road! Greg One of the rights of passage for any cyclist is changing a tube out on the road... but even this can happen to veterans! After the short teaser video watch the excellent flat repair video from Joaquin Herrera our Estero Service Manager. Joaquin does a great job explaining and demonstrating the nuances of on the road flat repair! Enjoy... Full flat repair video below...
Trek Bicycle Stores of Florida are a proud sponsor of both the Papa John's p/b Trek racing team and the Pan Florida Challenge.
Check out this great video that captures the spirit of the team and the event. The team rides the popular Emonda SL 6, click here to learn more about this great bike! Check out the team's schedule for a race near you!  We are a proud sponsor of the Naples Fitness Triathlon and have been helping out with their clinics as a build up to the race on June 4th at the Naples Beach and Golf Resort.
This week's clinic was on tri transitions. Here are a few tips from today...
Race List (Items you need to take to race):
We wish everyone luck and a great race! If anyone is interested in learning about the Trek Segafredo Tri Team you can learn more on the team page which also has a link on our homepage.  In just 60 days the creation of a Trek Triathlon Team went from being an idea conceived on a training ride to an official USA Triathlon Team with 34 members and strong sponsors! Trek Bicycle Stores have long been a strong supporter of the triathlon community in SW Florida, sponsoring many great races including...
Not only has Trek supported events, Trek customers and employees represent some of the top multi-sport athletes in the region. This core group became the nucleus for the team:
The formation of a Trek team was both organic and natural. Support for the new team was immediate. Trek Bicycle Stores found a strong co-sponsor in Segafredo Zanetti, the Italian Espresso brand that is the co-sponsor of the Trek pro road racing team. Segafredo loves the demographics of triathlon and they see Florida as a key market. The team also attracted a terrific local micro-brewery, Momentum Brewhouse, for the perfect combination of world class bikes, coffee and beer! Rounding out our sponsors are the Naples based law firm of GADC, Glamour Paws, A. Sardina Exterior Detailing, The Run Shoppe and Geared Up. The Team had its Kick-Off Meeting on April 28th in Momentum Brewhouse’s hip tasting room. Triathletes learned about the new club while sampling great local beer. The team welcomes athletes of all ages and abilities. 34 members signed up that night, and ordered custom uniforms made by Castelli. “ Our core values are good sportsmanship, race hard, help each other, have fun and be great ambassadors for our sponsors and the sport of triathlon”. The team got off to a flying start 5 days later at the Lake Avalon Reverse Triathlon with three members placing in the top 10 overall. Greg Pelican was 3rd overall and Masters Champ with a time of 54:43. David Bassel was 9th overall and Grand Masters Champ at 1:01:43. Roshale Gaytmenn was 4th woman overall and Masters Champ with a time of 1:12:21. And Amber Pachew was on the winning woman's relay time with a time of 1:12:08. We wish the team good luck racing this weekend and anticipate strong performances by Ross Lenehan and Kayla Schmidt at Ironman Florida 70.3 and also by our team members competing in the FGCU Eagle Sprint Triathlon. Follow the team's results on Facebook or learn more how to join.  Naples Lake Avalon Reverse Tri  Welcome to our new blog! We just eclipsed our 10 year anniversary, so naturally it's a time to reflect. Not only on what we have accomplished but also what we can do better. Over the past decade we have helped 115,000 customers with their cycling needs, and got them riding 50,000 new bikes! But we have done much more than than that... We have sponsored countless events, races, clubs, and teams. We lead rides, we are active in cycling advocacy and our stores are the hub of the local cycling community. But you would never know all of this this from looking at our website. We haven't done a good job sharing all of these activities and the human element of both who we are and who our customers are. This blog, "TREK TALK" will do that... share profiles of our customers and our great staff, feature innovative products, and let you know the latest success from our events, teams or clubs. We will keep the posts short and interesting with lots of images and videos. Thanks for your business and support and stay tuned! |
|
RSS Feed