Local Bike Shop Interview: Fat Tire Cycle

Today’s post is an interview with a LBS in Buckhannon, WV: Fat Tire Cycle with owner Gene Wells.

Gene Wells is well… a swell guy (see what I did there?) He is active in many aspects of his community as a business person should, but you can also tell he cares about everything he does. He can also kick most of the people in town’s butt in speed and distance on a bike, yet he chooses not to. (sometimes!)

(I’ll let you know before this interview gets through that he is my main mechanic, I was sponsored by him during my tenure as President of the Cycling Club/Team at West Virginia Wesleyan College with the standard collegiate store discount. I have also purchased a pretty sweet rig from him, my ’09 Gary Fisher Cobia. All in all, we have a pretty good relationship by means of business and also friendship.)

With that out-of-the-way, let’s get to the Q&A!

1.) First of all, tell us about your history, how did you get into cycling?

Well, I got into cycling in 1972. I was doing a lot of cross-country racing, and touring in the area around Pleasantville, Pennsylvania. I remember getting my first road bike in that town in 1973.

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Book Review: The Story of the Tour de France

Being the cultured cyclist that I am, I saw Padraig’s post about a new book set on Red Kite Prayer. I’m not sure I even finished the review before heading over to BikeRaceInfo.com to buy them.

First of all, let me start by saying seven-hundred pages between the two books! SEVEN HUNDRED PAGES. In English at that! About Cycling! And when I say cycling, I don’t mean “The Complete History of Lance, Lance, Lance, and Some Other People Who Rode Bikes.” No, this is the Α to Ω of cycling literature.

The book starts out in the gritty post revolutionary times of France, and tiptoes around to explain the Dreyfuss Affair to us, while showing us what Henri Desgrange went through to make news to promote his little newspaper all the way to what the tour has evolved into today. The best part about ordering these books was that I was not sent some cheesy robo-automated shipping/payment confirmation. The authors contacted me and let me know that they would be willing ot autograph the books, and that they were going to be sent on their way on X date or so. Just having them do a mom and pop selling of their book and handling it their selves is a reason to buy these books.

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Interview with WVU’s Cycling Team President: Ryan Post

With this blog, one of my big goals is to grab and pick little sections of West Virginia’s cycling scenes and locations, and be able to convey them to others who may not live in this state, or may not get to travel to areas that posts are created.

This time, I have interviewed the Cycling Team President of West Virginia University. WVU has around 29,000 students and the main campus is located in Morgantown WV. if you’ve been in WV at all, or follow any sport – you know that WVU is a big deal.

I wasn’t able to make it up to motown this week to interview Ryan, but I was able to speak to him on the phone, and email him some questions. Lets get started!

Ryan started competitively cycling in 2005, starting with MTB. He is a USAC Official, and often promotes races, and still has time to race himself. I remember first meeting Ryan in Phillipi in 2008, during a criterium where he was logging times and data. I volunteered to use my car to block off an entrance/exit point in the crit loop.  He became President of the WVU Cycling Team/Club in 2007, and became President of the WVU Sports Club Federation in 2008. Funny enough, in 2005-6, he logged over 300 miles on a unicycle! Talk about dedication!

20Q With Ryan Post

1.       What was it like racing with the WVU Team in the 2009 season?

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Road Review – Route 33

While Route 33 itself is not a road that is the best for cycling, it is like a vein home for so many road and mountain rides as a way to get home.

Here’s what Wikipedia says about Rt33 as it pertains to WV:

US 33 extends 248 miles (399 km) in West Virginia from the Ohio River to the Virginia state line. Shortly after entering West Virginia, US 33 intersects with I-77.

After passing through the town of Ripley, WV, US 33 joins US 119 at Spencer, WV. The road then passes through rural areas of Roane, Calhoun, Gilmer, and Lewis counties.

US 33 Intersects Interstate 79 at Weston, WV. US 33 from Interstate 79 east is 4 lane, built to Appalachian Development Highway System and is part of Corridor H. The 4 lane continues on through rural areas of Upshur, Barbour, and Randolph counties.

At Harding, WV, US 250 joins US 33 for several miles. At Elkins, WV US 33 joins SR 55, and returns to a 2 lane road, except for a seven mile (11 km) section of 4 lane across Kelly Mountain between Canfield, WV and Bowden, WV. US 33 joins SR 28 at Seneca Rocks, WV, and continues through rural areas of Pendleton County, WV.

US 220 joins US 33 for a brief time through the town of Franklin, WV. The road continues on into the mountains where it crosses the state line into Rockingham County, VA.

Off the top of my head, I can think of five to ten routes that end up taking me home via this freeway with signs all over the place showing that it is a registered and dedicated bicycle path. Some may say that it is dangerous, but a two lane road with a six-foot (or wider) shoulder to ride on keeps me feeling pretty secure. The stretch of road that I am usually on is about 41 miles long, or 1/6th of its entire WV length. This span is from Weston to Elkins and goes right by my home of Buckhannon. Every once in a while I use it to test new bikes, or TT equipment for reviewing, or to climb the nasty Buckhannon Mountain.

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Sunday Video Post

Weekend = Off time, so I’ll typically post a video of mine or some other really interesting thing right here.

This Week, High Quality Bike Ride 9/15/09 Buckhannon WV

I highly suggest pressing the {HQ} Button!

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