I have a connection going back to 1996 with Shaw’s Cycles in Santa Clara, CA. I was living in San Jose and thought I knew a little bit about bikes. Boy was I wrong. Terry Shaw straightened me out with hours of banter on racing, riding, fit, shoes, wheels, parts, history, etc. He is the man. So, here is a hilarious review I found on Yelp about Shaw’s:
If you spent more than $2000 on your bike, you can come here. If not, I HIGHLY suggest you go somewhere else. While being the closest bike shop for Santa Clara University students to access, its the furthest from being friendly towards customers of any kind.
I came in here back in the Winter of 2009 because my bike needed some tire caps. Unfortunately, not having a bike that cost a ton did not fly well with whoever was there at the time. After asking if his store carried tire caps, the owner responded by telling me first, that he did not care for bikes of my type, and second, that he could offer me tire caps for free, both of which I found an insult. Yes, I’m not a hardcore bike enthusiast like this man, but I think if you are to run a business, you need to treat your customers like you may want them to come back or provide as a suggestion to other potential customers.
Unfortunately on my end, I will not do that. I think whoever was in there could have done better. But quite honestly, if you want better service for a bike, and want to be treated better as a customer, you best drive a bit further up El Camino Real and visit Calmar’s or The Off Ramp. You’ll thank me for it.
I can barely contain the laughter!!! Tire caps? This has to be a joke! Here is the link for your own perusal.
Two weeks ago I raced in the old man category in the Chuck Pontius Memorial Criterium in Santa Clarita. The 40+ 3/4 is the perfect category for me. No former world champions or ex-Olympians here, just regular guys that like to go fast(ish).
Before the race started I got signed up and said hello to a few people I knew. There was about 40 minutes til race time when I broke a spoke on my back wheel. Super Crap! I don’t have extra wheels for my road bike so I was in need of help. I found Bicycle John and asked if he had a space, no dice. He started looking for my fellow Bicycle John’s teammate Irene. I went the other way and found a few CX racer chicks and asked for a wheel. No goods there at that time. I went back to where my wife-n-kids were set up and Bicycle John was standing there with a wheel. YES! I was up and riding with about 10 minutes to go. I got in the best warm up I could and made to the starting line. There were at least 50 competitors ready to go. As we were waiting for the official to give his speech another official said to do another warmup lap. Cool with me! We came back around and I lined up in the back. The official gave us the usual deal and blew his whistle. Here we go.
The 1st lap was the usual deal, everyone settling in and getting up to speed. The 2nd lap was a little more exciting. Around turn 2 I was following two Major Motion guys. The one in front pulled his left foot out of his pedal and went way wide taking his teammate with him. Holey moley! I thought things were going to get spicy in a bad way for a second. No worries, everyone stayed up and kept going. There were numerous solo attacks – kinda funny if you ask me. How many cat 3/4’s can go solo into the wind up a slight incline with 49 people chasing them? The answer? None. This middle laps were good – fast and pretty uneventful. There was one guy out there that defined “fred” in a bad way. He was all over the place and he repeatedly put himself in a bad position. He was riding up too close to people, overlapping wheels, etc. I thought for sure he was going to stack a few times so I quickly decided to get as far away as possible. I moved out into the wind on the downhill stretch after turn 4 and moved up to mid-pack. Squirrly-Man couldn’t get me up here.
Once we got the 5 to go sign I started my deal. I moved up a few spots when things opened up after turn 2. This was a right hander into the wind so the front of the peloton was getting hit hard with the headwind and this allowed a few gaps to open so I took each one into the next 2 laps. Once the 2 to go sign was up I hammered (hahaa – comedy) down the side of the peloton and got a sweet spot near the front on the inside. Coming out of turn 3 towards 4 is a slight rise. Being on the inside here is a key position. This side of the peloton was sheltered from the crosswind. 1 to go! As we barreled down past the start/finish the final time I was actually feeling really good. I was about 4 rows back from the front on the inside and ready for the sprint. Coming around the 3 to 4 turns I turned it on and made it up even closer to the front. Once we hit the straight I started to go and the 3 guys in front of me sorta went and fizzled. The left side was blocked, crap, so was the right! I had to glass-pedal for a moment and go to my right and then get it on. I passed about 5 or 6 and ended up 13th. With a little luck I know for sure I can improve on that.
My wife commented afterwards,”That was like the old days, you were in the race!” Right! Just like the old days. I had such a good time I am now going to find a few more crits to race during the summer. The ultimate goal this year is a serious attempt at CX fitness. I am really going to focus and get after it and shoot for a top 10 finish overall in the 35+ 3/4 category. If anyone wants to send me a new cx bike let me know. I’ll fly any sponsors colors in a serious way!
The SoCal Masters Championships are coming up in June. I’ve been working like a dog at the kilo. It’s just a brutal event. Last year my best time was a 1:18 and with some focused training this year I am hoping to get below 1:15. If anyone wants to feel the pain come on out to the Encino Velodrome on Wednesdays for opening training. Track experience is required.