A shop for cyclists.

 In my campaign to write and ride more often(actual pedaling could potentially cut into the writing portion of my day today). I must set goals, and it's nearing time for me to come up with a formula, such as i must do x posts within y time. Instead i set a mini goal of doing a post this week. So bear with me if this is a bit headier than normal, because I'm really just shooting at vague ideas that have been floating around all week.

 On our site if you go to our tumblr(link down on the right), and then click on READER on the top of our tumblr, you come to a little idea that I,at the time thought that I, came up with and Jon had the skills to make actually exist(I know that this exists all ready for personal use, and even in public use among big companies). I thought it would be a good idea to save everyone at the shop the time of looking at ten million different blogs every day web address by web address, and that it'd be neat for anyone interested in our little shop to see what ten million different blogs we were looking at and being influenced by.

 Because of my less than polished skills in the department of technology(Justin and I once couldn't figure out how to use photoshop to make a flyer or something the correct way, so we used our nice expensive computer as though it was only a copier and cut and pasted our way to glory) this leap was new to me even if it had been traveled by many before.

 I have no idea how much this is all ready used(that's more Jon's type of thing). I can however promise you that it is useful to me. I imagine it or something like it being very critical to anyone whose scope of business extends outside of the scope of a bodega(one of my dream businesses to own by the way). Not only is it informative as to the scope of the bicycle business, but it's also pretty entertaining, and even educational at times.  A bit of espn meets cnn(or whichever ones "reporters" couldn't contain their bias/bliss this last election) with a dash of discovery channel and skinemax, but all about bikes. 

 One particular post caught my eye recently. The short of it(I'll admit I skimmed) seemed to be that the cycle industry is really just a writhing mass of cut-throat competition and cramped quarters. It goes on to suppose that there are bluer waters that one can safely sail to and nothing other than narrow scope confining us to this well illustrated death zone.

 This idea immediately intrigued me, and due to synchronicity or whatever you'd like to call it. I had been talking to a couple of friends about their ideas about getting into the bluer cycle specific waters(though the sharks couldn't be so stupid as to not smell the faint traces of blood in those waters either). The main point of our conversation effectively turned into, jump into the abyss too soon and there won't be enough....well let's quit with the stupid ocean analogy.  

 Invest in a specialized market too soon(before there is enough interest or customer base) and you end up having to create customers and interest in your products. For some this can end up great, and you can position yourself apropriately to be one of the more established companies in your field, respected by your peers, and even sought out by customers on up to the global scale. Based upon our experience and the amount of money we had at our disposal I would say investing a little early beat out too late within our niche cycle market, if only so that we had enough time to get our shit together by the time that our local customers became interested in track bikes. 

 Diving deeper into the blue market theory(back to analogies!). I came to realize that no part of the ocean no matter how calm is devoid of life. You are unlikely to be the first(though there always is one, whether it's Trackstar or Gary Fischer), and the news is allready out and everyone is rushing in with money to flood the shit out of "your" market, so you won't be the last. 

 So after all that rethinking I went back to that post and checked the comments, and low and behold someone pretty much calls the bluer waters theory out as being a bunch of shit. Now I won't go that far but I would say that if you like pie charts as a way of looking at things that that blood zone of competition doesn't stay still. And that parts of that blue ocean are way to devoid of life to support anything more than plankton, let alone a hungry bike mechanic(at least locally). Oh and that there have got to be something like 500 different little mini blood zones. Essentially it'd be one huge blue, red, and well there'd be a bunch of other colors in there as well.....psychadelic pie chart. Oh and that it's getting bigger.

 So where can you find a focus in all of that for some hole in the wall local bike shop? I like to think that it really only makes sense to some who can walk into any bikeshop and immediately make the call. It contains in it's simple statement much more than meets the eye. We(and many others not only in this town, but globally), are at the end of the day... A shop for CYCLISTS.

 And that is what I plan to write about next...week?