CBE Gets Bloggy

SWFBUD meets with Commissioner Mark Sharpe

2009-08-05T11:26:00.004-04:00

Yesterday SWFBUD (South West Florida Bicycle United Dealers ) director Alan Snel, and shop owners Brian Eckman - CBE and Randy Myhre - Oliver's met with County Commissioner Mark Sharpe on the subject of keeping our Hills. County parks open 7 days per week. As noted in earlier posts, the County was previously proposing budget cuts that would close the parks 2 days per week. The county has also already layed off many of the rangers that keep these parks running.

After the meeting we were very hopeful that our voices have been heard and that the Commissioners are mostly on our side. Commissioner Sharpe in particular has been very vocal in his support of not only keeping the parks open, but has stated that he wants to try to make the Tampa Bay area a destination spot where cyclists and outdoor enthusiasts will want to be.
This is an ongoing process that will take time, but I am feeling mostly optimistic that we are making very good headway!
Here's the story from Alan's blog
This is another great example of the fact that your local bike shops aren't just here to make money. We're also here to grow and protect the sport of cycling and to advocate on your behalf!
If you'd like to support our efforts, contact me @ carrollwood.bicycle@verizon.net or send messages directly to your commissioners. Let your voice be heard!
Here's how to contact them: Commissioner's webpage
--brian

Help Save our Trails!!!

2009-07-06T15:22:00.002-04:00

This information provided by Alan Snel, director of SWFBUD which is our local Cycling Advocacy organization made up of CBE plus 6 other bay-area bike shops working together for YOU!

Please read, forward to your friends, respond to your representatives as requested, and HELP SAVE OUR TRAILS!

FLATWOODS
If you haven't heard already, the Flatwoods, Trout Creak, Morris Bridge parks are currently facing huge budget cuts. They are already closing Mondays and Tuesdays, with limited hours the rest of the week. Most of the Rangers are in line to be downsized, and access in general is in jeopardy!
On July 16, SWFBUD is leading a bike ride to the county center in Tampa to participate in a budget hearing regarding Flatwoods county park.
SWFBUD is announcing a "Keep Flatwoods Park Open 7 Days a Week" Bike Ride from the Seminole Heights Garden Center at 5800 Central Avenue to the County Government Center for the first Budget Hearing on July 16. Email your contacts and tell others.
5PM: Meet in front of garden center on Central Avenue, a half-mile north of Hillsborough Avenue. Lots of space to park if necessary.
5:30PM: Reach county government building in downtown Tampa and sign up to speak.
6PM: Hearing begins.

Also, make your voice heard! :Call the budget hotline at 813-307-8337 at tell the county to keep Flatwoods open 7 Days a week.Send an email to hcbudget@hillsboroughcounty

Friendship Trail Bridge

Hillsborough and Pinellas counties are seeking input on alternatives for the future of the Friendship TrailBridge. The counties received a follow-up inspection report for the Friendship TrailBridge in May. The inspection and tests confirmed the initial reports that girders of the bridge were heavily corroded and broken. Several options and their cost were provided in the report that included repair, replacement and/or demolition of all or portions of the bridge. The full report, along with graphics of proposed options, is available on the Friendship TrailBridge Oversight Committee website.
Two public meetings will be held, one in Pinellas County and one in Hillsborough County. Following the Hillsborough County meeting, the Friendship TrailBridge Oversight Committee will make its recommendation to the two County Commissions.

The dates, times and locations of the meetings will be:
Tuesday, July 144 p.m.Weedon Island Preserve Cultural and Natural History Center 1800 Weedon Drive N.E., St. Petersburg.
Wednesday, July 15th 7 p.m. Presentation and decision on recommendation. Jan Platt Regional Library3910 S. Manhattan Ave.
All meeting facilities are ADA compliant.
For additional assistance, call Steve Valdez at (813) 307-8384 (TTY: (813) 301-7173).
Residents can submit a comment through July 14 at the Friendship TrailBridge Oversight Committee website or by mailing it to: Pinellas County Planning Department, Attn: Friendship TrailBridge, 600 Cleveland St., Suite 750, Clearwater, FL 33755.

One town in Germany gets it....

2009-05-12T09:50:00.002-04:00

Very cool article from the NY Times forwarded to me by Gena Torres from the Hillsborough County MPO - Transportation Planning office.

I'm not saying that this would work everywhere, but it's nice to see a community that's purposely-planned to NOT revolve around cars. I like it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/12/science/earth/12suburb.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

CBE SWAP MEET - SAT March 3rd 10-4

2009-03-04T09:37:00.002-05:00

When: Saturday, March 7th from 10 AM to 4 PM
Where: Back Parking Lot behind CBE in the Grand Plaza on North Dale Mabry Highway
What: Bring a table or a blanket and sell your used bicycle gear, clothing and equipment. A Swap Meet is like a bicycle flea market, with great bargains and buys galore. Dozens of CBE customers have enjoyed previous CBE Swap Meets so we’re making it a yearly event!
We’ll also have selected bikes and accessories on sale inside the store!

See you there!

Cool Bike of the Month

2008-11-21T10:25:00.003-05:00

Meet the Surly Big Dummy. This is Surly's latest innovation, meant to be a Sport Utility Bicycle. It has a super long wheelbase, and a "FreeRadical" kit that's made by a company called XtraCycle www.Xtracycle.com

This bike will allow you to transport of large and heavy loads while handling like a normal bike. We got this as a "Shop bike" to run errands, etc. and so far it's hauled gallons of water, beer (of course), and a load of supplies from Home Depot. I've also made a bike delivery to a friend of mine who drives a convertible and didn't have a way to pick it up. I strapped her bike frame on the top board, put one wheel in each side "saddle bag" and rode it out to her with no problem at all. Total weight of that load with her bike, the Big Dummy and me all together was around 270lbs, and it rode great!

This particular bike custom built, but one just like it would be available for purchase for $2499.99 with parts like you see here. Other add-on parts include side racks for larger loads (I've seen pictures of people hauling lumber and kayaks!) foot pegs for rear passengers, etc.

This is one COOL bike!

New website!

2008-08-28T11:58:00.002-04:00

So, many if not all who check back on us regularly, have by now noticed that we have a new website!
I'm pretty excited about it, because it gives us (and you!) SO much more than the old site. You can browse our in-stock inventory, browse through THOUSANDS of special order items that we can order for you, post stuff for sale in our classifieds, all kinds of neat features.
Pretty soon, you'll actually be able to shop online, pay online and pick up at the shop. Hopefully within the next several weeks.
Keep checking back for more updates!
Ride safe
--brian

Great article about cycling

2008-07-31T13:47:00.001-04:00

http://www.globegazette.com/articles/2008/07/27/opinion/editorials/doc488bdef007f70310402909.txt

Mountain Ride Sunday 7/13 cancelled

2008-07-12T17:11:00.003-04:00

To anyone who's checking in on tomorrow's ride as planned in an earlier post, the ride has to be cancelled. I'm down with some type of virus and can't commit to leading the ride.
The trails are super-easy to navigate, so if you were planning to ride, don't let me stop you! The Trail map is available on our main page, follow the numbers and you'll have a good ride.
Sorry I won't see you! I'll keep you up to date on future planned rides.

-- brian

CBE Group Rides!!

2008-07-08T19:35:00.003-04:00

Thanks to all who responded to my last post, asking for ideas for our website and blog. I have a list going, and you'll see more updates as a result!

First thing I realized is that we need to get out and ride more!! As a shop in general, we don't ride enough. We used to have "shop rides" pretty regularly and it's been a long time since we've gotten out and pedaled with you all. I mean really, that IS what it's all about, isn't it???

I know there are a few great cycling clubs out there who have scheduled rides and we won't be stepping on anyone's toes, but I'm going to start scheduling regular rides for shop staff, friends of the shop and future friends of the shop to get out and ride together.

The first is going to be a mountain bike ride at the Flatwoods/Morris Bridge/Trout Creek trails, this Sunday morning. We'll roll out of the Trout Creek parking lot @ 9:00am. The ride will be at B - pace, meaning moderate speed and no one gets dropped.

The next scheduled ride will be a long-ish road cruise ride to Safety Harbor, date to be determined. After that, who knows?

If you want to be kept in the loop on our scheduled rides, please shoot me an Email at the shop Carrollwood.Bicycle@Verizon.Net . I'll add you to the "CBE GROUP RIDES" distribution and you'll get updates on upcoming rides, events you may be interested in, and any info we think is interesting to cyclists.

Let's ride!

-- brian

Been a long time

2008-06-08T12:39:00.006-04:00

Wow, things have been super busy and a little crazy here the past several months, and I just realized how long it's been since I posted anything out here.

So, I've got a little idea. I'd like to gauge just how much interest you have in our blog site (or website for that matter) and get a better idea of what kind of information you'd like to see posted. So if you'd like to guide the growth and/or content of this site, take a minute to shoot me an Email @ carrollwood.bicycle@verizon.net and let me know what you'd like to see on our site, or our blog. Send me a picture to post, information about a ride or event that I can distribute, or whatever ideas you have.

This way I'll see just how many of you are out there checking in on us, and what you'd like to see!

In the meantime, I'll leave you with a picture of one of the sickest bikes we've built up in a while. This Trek Madone 6.5 Pro belongs to Paul Goegebeur. It weighs in at a modest 16.7lbs with pedals, cages, computer, etc.

Thanks for looking!

-- Brian

2nd Annual CBE Swap Meet

2008-03-22T11:00:00.005-04:00

Last Saturday we held our 2nd annual CBE SWAP MEET. Each year we'll invite anyone who is interested to bring in old (or new) bikes, parts and other bike-related items to sell or trade.

We roped off a section of our back parking lot and let everyone set up tables, blankets or tailgates to show their wares.

The last two years have been alot of fun, and it gives everyone a chance to clear out their closets/garages.

We also took donations for Mike at God's Pedal Power (shown above with the 36" wheel cruiser!). These folks take bike and bike parts donations from several shops around town, and turn them into rideable bikes that are donated to needy families. We're proud to be associated with the the good people at GPP.

We hope to see you at the 3rd annual SWAP MEET next year!

--brian

Squiggy Classic Mountain Bike Race

2008-03-09T12:22:00.006-04:00

Here's a few shots from the quiggy Classic 6-hour mountain bike race held a few weeks ago. Manny, Jay Dugan and I raced as a 3-man relay team and had a great time despite the chilly conditions, wind, mud and water. The course disappears into the woods so I couldn't take many action photos. The SWAMP folks had a few guys out on the course taking photos, and those are available on http://www.swampclub.org/

Tampa's Downtown Guides

2008-01-17T12:22:00.001-05:00

We were recently given the opportunity to help out the Tampa Downtown Partnership. These folks had the great idea of an ambassador program downtown (Tampa’s Downtown Guides). They are a group of 10 individuals who patrol the downtown area on foot, bicycle and vehicle. They will provide restaurant suggestions, directions, give parking info and help stranded motorists with flat tires and dead car batteries.

The partnership came to us to outfit some bikes they had procured, and to help out with some training for the guides.

This is a great example of the many ways to utilize man's greatest invention to improve people's lives.

-- Brian

Alafia Ride 12/9 - Bring the kids!

2007-11-25T14:54:00.000-05:00

The CBE/Suncoast Trailside/Olivers gang is hosting a family-friendly mountain bike ride at Alafia River State Park's trails on Sunday, December 9th.

We'll meet at approx 8am - 8:15am and roll out at 8:30am.

This ride will be slightly different than usual in that we're planning to spend the day at the park, and several folks will be bringing their kids. The trailhead at Alafia has picnic area with grills, a kids playground area, and full bathroom facilities. The plan is to have a few folks take turns watching the kiddies while the others ride.

Alafia has trails for all riders from beginner/intermediate to some of the toughest trails in the state. For trail maps and/or directions, go back to the CBEBikes.com site and click "Other" from the main page.

If you have questions or concerns, please come by the shop, or give us a call!

--Brian

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!!!

2007-11-22T06:54:00.000-05:00

The shop will be closed on Thanksgiving day (Thurs. 11/22) so that we can all be with our families and load up on calories for this weekend's rides!

We'll be back open again on Friday at 9:00am, a little fatter, but ready to serve!

Happy Thanksgiving!

--Brian

Sunday 10/14 Mountain Bike Ride - UPDATE

2007-10-13T12:07:00.000-04:00

All,
I've had many requests to change the venue for tomorrow's CBE mountain bike ride. We'll now be riding the trails at Alafia River State Park.

Meet at the shop here @ 7:00am if you need a ride, or at the trailhead at 8:15. We'll try to roll at 8:30. The ride will last no later than 10:30am.

Need a map or directions? Look on our main CBE Site under "Other" then "Trail Maps". Driving directions are included on the maps.

See you there!

-- Brian

CBE October Ride Schedule

2007-10-01T17:16:00.000-04:00

Hey folks. In an effort to simplify things, I'm going to post the next several rides at once.

Saturday, 10/6 CBE Road Ride - Leaves from the shop @ 7:30 - 27miles at ~ 18mph

Sunday, 10/7 CBE Mountain Ride @ Boyette - Roll at 8:30am

Friday, 10/12 Downtown Urban Assault - meet at the shop @ 7:00pm or at the Walgreens on Bayshore and Platt @ 7:30pm

Saturday, 10/13 CBE Road Ride - Leaves from the shop @ 7:30 - 27miles at ~ 18mph

Sunday, 10/14 CBE Mtn Bike Ride - Flatwoods - meet @ "Hole in the fence" roll @ 8:00am

Saturday, 10/20 CBE Road Ride - Leaves from the shop @ 7:30 - 27miles at ~ 18mph

Sunday, 10/21 CBE Mtn Bike Ride @ Croom - Trailhead #1 ***Last chance to ride Croom before hunting season*** - Roll at 8:00am

Saturday, 10/27 CBE Road Ride - Leaves from the shop @ 7:30 - 27miles at ~ 18mph

All rides are meant to be fun, and not too overly serious. We ride about a B level pace and will not leave anyone behind.

Need maps or directions? They're on our main page under "Other"

Any questions? Give us a call or come by the shop!

See you out there!

-- Brian

Suncoast Trailside Bicycles is now open

2007-09-25T09:55:00.000-04:00

CBE's little sister is now open on the Suncoast Trail. Located in the Super Target shopping plaza on S.R. 54 and the Suncoast the shop is a small 1300sq ft version of CBE. The store hours are the same as CBE except 10am on Saturday morning so Geoff and David can get a ride in beofre the doors open. Be sure to come by for a visit and or give us a call or a look up on the website.
(813) 920-2225 www.stsbikes.com 16242 S.R. 54 Odessa, FL 33556

The CBE Family ride leaves at 8am now instead of 7am, it is cooling off now and the sun is not coming up as early as it used to. So get the kids and come join David, Jodi, and Raegan for a 10-12 mile fun, slow bike ride on the Upper Tampa Bay Trail. We meet at the trail head parking next to Ballyhoo's restaurant on the corner of Gunn and Ehrlich. Be ready to ride at 8am.

CBE Sunday Mountain Bike Rides

2007-09-22T16:43:00.000-04:00

Alright folks, back by popular demand, it's time to start up our Sunday AM CBE mountain bike group rides!

Next Sunday, 9/27 @ 8:00am, Croom Trails - starting at Parking area #3 (Tucker hill fire tower parking) 12 miles at a B level pace. We should be done by 9:45-10am.

Go to http://www.cbebikes.com/newother/maps.html for trail maps and directions.

Be there...

Brian

TrekWorld '07

2007-08-29T09:13:00.000-04:00

Well this is a little late, but a few weeks ago Geoff and I traveled up to Cheeseland USA (Madison, WI) for TrekWorld '07.

TrekWorld is Trek's yearly dealer meeting, where we attend tech seminars, meet all of the product managers and reps from Trek, Fisher, Lemond and MirraCo, and drool over all of the new bikes, clothes and accessories. I was even lucky enough to spend a few minutes talking to the father of mountain biking himself, Mr. Gary Fisher.

I could go on and on about how excited I am with the lineup of new stuff from the Trek family of brands, but here's a few highlights from the show.

- Trek road bikes. Most of you have seen or heard about the new Madone, which is one beautiful piece of carbon fiber machinery, but the entire lineup of Trek road bikes went through a major facelift this year. Even the $769 entry-level Trek 1.2 aluminum bike shares the same geometry and styling of the Madone line. Check out http://www.trekbikes.com/ for more info, but you can see a preview in the picture above. How's that look for an entry level road bike? Pretty Nice! We have a size run of these babies in stock now in both white and black color schemes.

- Ditto with Gary Fisher bikes. Every bike from the $439 Wahoo (our entry level) to the $2999 carbon fiber Superfly 29'er race bike has a new look. Most of the higher end models sport Fisher's new G2 geometry, and are equipped with all new suspension technology from Fox. Check out http://www.fisherbikes.com/

- Trek's also revamped all of their accessories from racks to lights. I just started using the Trek Ion 6 headlight (it's already getting darker at 7:30 on my ride home!). This light is super bright and has a very nice 360* swivel, no-tools-needed mount that's really easy to use.

- The biggest highlight for me was the announcement of Trek's new "One World - Two Wheels" cycling advocay program. This program is the biggest ever of it's kind, and Trek has signed up to donate several million dollars over the next few years to groups like Bikes Belong, International Mountain Bike Association, and the Bicycle Friendly Community program. Trek plans to use it's network of ~ 2,000 dealers as voices in the fight for safer cycling, more accessible bike commuting options, and a cleaner, healthier world. Please go to: http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/trek_life/news/article/490/2007/08/28/trek_launches_one_world_two_wheels/

to read about this program. It affects us all!

Come on in and check out all that's going on. 2008 is going to be a good year to be on the bike!

-- Brian

2007-07-23T07:33:00.000-04:00

Well it has been a while since I have sent anything out so I thought I should let everyone know what is up at the shop.
Michael Rasmussen is leading the tour and we have several Discovery boys on his heels, lets hope they can pull it out and get the Disco team a victory,and no doping accusations either.
On the home front we have been fielding many requests for one of our old rides so it is time we do it. We will be having an URBAN ASSAULT downtown on Friday the 27th of July. I know not much notice, but it is fun and you need to come out and try it if you haven't done one. If you have I know I will see you there. For those of you that do not know what an URBAN is, we meet at the shop at7pm and/or downtown at Bayshore/Platt at the Walgreen's two blocks east of the Publix at 8pm. From there we ride on any bike you can bring with you, that is rideable, and we cruise the streets, parking garages, stairwells, escalators, and anywhere else we can take a bicycle, including ybor city and the projects, they have a place called the bowl, where some of the guys do freestyle.You do not have to do all of the hard core riding to have fun, and or to get a work out. Lots of people come just to watch the crazy ones do the hard stuff. We usually ride for 1-2 hours and I like to compare it to intervals training, due to a lot of start and stop riding.
Our FREE Tech class is this coming Thursday at 7pm and if you have not attended yet then you might want to call, and/or email us to reserve a spot for the class. We will teach you flat repair and basic cleaning and repair on your bicycle. Class is usually 1 to 1 1/2 hours and is free. Please besure to let us know if you are going to come, space is limited.
We are still having our Saturday morning rides. We meet at 8am at the trailhead east of Ballyhoo's on Ehrlich and Gunn for our 12 mile family ride on the Upper Tampa Bay Trail. Ride is lead by David, Jodi, & Raegan.
At 7:30am on Saturday we meet behind the shop and do our 25 mile road rideto Westchase and back. Speed ranges from 16-22mph. Ride is lead by Brian Eckman.
We hope that everyone is enjoying the summer, and please be sure to come by the shop to see all of the things we have on sale and if you would like to watch the Tour we have it on every day. We have Discovery jerseys on sale for $29.99 and most of our 2007 bikes are on sale. Oh, and if you have not heard we still have one 2008 Trek Madone road bike in stock and ready to ride. It will be another 1-2 months before we getmore.
Thank you, David Luppino
Owner

Advocacy works

2007-06-26T10:16:00.000-04:00

In case you hadn't noticed on our home page, CBE was featured on Bay News 9 last weekend. The story was about some of the advocacy we've been involved with in and for the local cycling community.

Here's the story the Bay News 9 website, with a link to watch the video clip that aired on TV. http://www.baynews9.com/content/36/2007/6/20/262670.html?title=Riding+toward

One of the ways that CBE tries to serve the Tampa cycling public, is to fight for local bike riders. We want to make the roads safer, raise awareness with drivers, get more people riding to work, help maintain our off-road trails, anything that will make you more happy riding your bike(s).

When you're out riding, if you run across any current or potential hazards or issues that need attention (rider safety problems, access issues, etc.) please let us know about them. If there's anything we can do to help, we will!

Saturday Morning Road Rides from CBE

2007-06-07T18:43:00.000-04:00

Beggining this Saturday, 6/9, I'll be continuing the Saturday morning road bike rides leaving from the shop @ 7:30am.

It's a B/B- level ride (fairly relaxed and new-rider-friendly) that averages around 16-18mph for 25.5 miles.

The route takes out through Carrollwood Village, to the Upper Tampa Bay Trail, around WestChase and back on a mix of roads with bike lanes, and of course the paved trail.

If you plan to attend any of these rides, please shoot an Email to us at Carrollwood.Bicycle@Verizon.net ...just so I know how many and who to expect.

See you Saturday!
Brian

Check out this bike!

2007-04-24T09:30:00.000-04:00

We have a very interesting new bike in the shop that I wanted to show off a little.

It's a little strange at first sight, but it's a really cool ride...

It's a Trek 69er. It's called a 69er because it has a 26" rear wheel, and a 29" front wheel.

Anyone who's talked to me about mountain bikes knows that I'm a firm believer in 29" wheels. They help maintain momentum and eat up trail bumps so well it's like having another inch of suspension. The only complaint that some have with 29ers (I don't, btw) is that the big wheels accelerate slightly slower from a full stop. So Travis Brown, a legendary mountain bike racer on the Trek/Fisher development team, came up with the idea of putting a 26" wheel on the back for quick acceleration, and a 29" wheel up front for traction and bump compliance.

This bike also sports the new Maverick DUC 32 fork with 4" of travel, Bontrager Race Lite wheels, Avid Juicy 7 hydraulic disc brakes, and other sweet parts.

It weighs in at a very light 24lbs. And it's a singlespeed - another thing that makes me want one!

Come check it out in person! We have a 17.5" in stock now, and a 19.5" on the way!

- - Brian

MS150 is coming, are you signed up?

2007-03-01T10:15:00.000-05:00

The 2007 Bright House Networks MS Bike Tour is right around the corner on April 21 & 22, 2007! Help us show those living with MS over one million reasons to hope, endure and fight for a cure. This year our goal is to raise over a million dollars in the fight against MS!

Starting at Cypress Gardens , Winter Haven you’ll bike through some of the best cycling routes in Central Florida to SeaWorld Orlando and back!

Enjoy scenic routes of 50, 75 or 100 miles with rolling hills and lake views. Whether you or someone you know is a recreational cyclist, a weekend warrior, or hard core roadie, the 2007 Bright House Networks MS Bike Tour is the place to be!

If you have already signed up for the big ride, make sure you bring your bike to CBE for that final tune-up and to buy some new gear to help make your ride as enjoyable as possible!

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Check out our website at www.nationalmssociety.org/flc or contact Michael Cooper at 407-478-8880 ext. 24 or email at michael.cooper@flc.nmss.org

Frostbike!

2007-02-21T09:34:00.000-05:00

Several of the shop staff just returned from our yearly trip to the "Frostbike" trade show event at Quality Bicycle Products in Minneapolis, MN. QBP is one of our largest distributors, and the parent company of two of our bike brands, Salsa and Surly (more about Surly later).

David, Manny, Chad and Brian spent 3 days checking out new bikes, frames, clothing and accessories from over 150 brands that QBP carries. We also attended several seminars on subjects like service quality, ordering and inventory management (to ensure we have everything you need in stock) and Customer Service.

The show also allows us to spend time with people from hundreds of other shops from around the country, sharing ideas and best practices. On Friday night QBP hosted a top dealers dinner in downtown Minneapolis, and afterwards we went to the coolest shop I've been to (besides ours of course) called One on One. It's a bike shop, antique bike gallery, art gallery and coffee shop all in one.

Some other highlights and notable info from the trip:

Salsa - Manny and I spent some time with our friends at Salsa Cycles, talking about our plans to to bring in more of their great bikes, as well as plans for some events like bike demos and such.

Surly - During the next few weeks, we will become a "stocking" dealer, meaning that we will have several Surly bikes in stock. Surly is a very cool bike brand, making some of the most innovative and yet simple and purposeful bikes and parts out there. For more info on Surly and their products, go to http://www.surlybikes.com/ . I'll post more info in the next few days about which bikes we'll be stocking and when.

Environmental practices - QBP is a big advocate for environmentally friendly practices, and we brought home many ideas for what we can do at the local shop level. We are partnering with some of their friends to recycle and/or better dispose of chains, freewheels, tubes and old bike parts. We'll also be doing more locally to promote more earth-friendly habits within our cycling community.

It was a fun trip for all of us, one that gives us the opportunity to learn new and better ways to serve our Customers and friends at CBE.

See you at the shop!
- Brian

More Saturday Morning Road Rides

2007-02-06T12:50:00.000-05:00

As you can see on our home page, David and Jodi will be guiding some casual hybrid/road beginner rides on the Upper Tampa Bay Trail.

We will also be offering a slightly more aggressive, but fun road ride starting at the shop on Saturday mornings. By fun, I mean we'll average around 18-19 mph and enjoy the ride.

The ride will leave from our parking lot, go through Carrollwood Village, make our way to the Upper Tampa Bay Trail, around Countryway and Westchase, then back to the shop. It's approx. 26 miles and takes around an hour and 45 minutes.

We'll meet in the parking lot behind the shop here at 7:00am and roll out by 7:15am.

A few of us from the shop have been doing this ride before work and it's a good mix of trail and roads with bike lanes.

There are several other rides offered around town on Saturdays, but if you'd like a slightly more laid back, smaller group to ride with, come join us!

If you have any questions, please call or stop by the shop!

- Brian

Tri team update 1-28-2007

2007-01-28T12:28:00.000-05:00

Ok for those of you that do not know Jodi and I have been graced with a baby! Little Raegan is doing fine and she is already over a month old, so what does this have to do with the Tri team. A lot and a little. It means my family time will take me away from being at the Tri's this year but it doesn't mean we can't still have a Tri team. I would like to continue as we did before but with some simple differences. We will not be putting together a goodie bag, or have someone out running swimming and biking every week, and I unfortunately will not be attending any races this year, but to make up for these loses we will be only charging $10 to join the team. You will continue to get the 5% off of bikes and 10% off of parts and accessories for all of 2007. We will still help organize putting together teams for the races and thru email will keep in touch on a weekly basis. we are going to be ramping up our Tri inventory as well. We have bikes already on the way including the all new 2007 Trek Equinox 9. A full rack of Tri clothing from Profile Design, TYR, and Craft. We have all of the Profile Design Aerobars in stock and are ready to help you with all of your Tri needs. Please feel free to come in and sign up starting now and take a look at our new Tri gear.

OK, Holidays are over, let's ride!

2007-01-18T07:55:00.000-05:00

OK folks. One of my big New Year's resolutions was to ride more, and have more fun when I ride. For me this means to ride whenever I can, but only if I really want to and not just because I feel like I have to. Make sense?

I've been riding alot so far in '07, but it's time to get the group rides started up again. Starting this Sunday!

Sunday, 1/21 we'll be doing a mountain bike ride at Hole in the Fence (Flatwoods/Morris Bridge trails). Meet at 7:15am - roll by 8:30. I'll be there in my white Explorer.

We'll do the main loop once, and probably some extra miles depending on time (we open at Noon)

Need directions? Have questions? Give us a call or stop by the shop.

Free Swap Meet at Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium

2007-01-04T07:18:00.000-05:00

FIRST-EVER SWAP MEET
Clean out those closets and garages and bring your old bicycle gear to Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium on SATURDAY JANUARY 20 from 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. for an old-fashion bicycle equipment SWAP MEET.
Just bring your own tables or blankets to set up your gear in the Back Parking Lot and there will be sales going on inside the store, too!
Bicycle club members who normally get 5/10 percent off will get 10/20 PERCENT OFF inside the store as part of the day’s sale. All non-club members will get 5/10 percent off that day. THERE WILL BE LOTS OF FREE SWAG TO GIVE AWAY SO BE SURE TO ATTEND.
Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium is located at 14407 North Dale Mabry Highway, between Bearss and Fletcher Avenues. Call us at 813-963-5765.

There are a lot of 2006 bicycles and demo bicycles marked down with yellow tags in the shop.

FREE Tech Class Thurs Jan 25th

2007-01-03T08:21:00.000-05:00

Our next FREE tech class is Thursday, 1-25-07 from 7pm - approx. 8:30pm.

We cover the basics of trail-side flat repair and general maintenance.

Please email or call to confirm a spot,classes fill up fast. Remember they're FREE.

Mountain Ride @ Boyette on Sunday 12/17

2006-12-15T13:54:00.000-05:00

For those of you who won't be working on your Christmas shopping on Sunday AM, we'll be riding the trails at Boyette park.

Look for me in the white Explorer with a few others from the shop. We'll meet at 8:15 and try to roll out by 8:30am. Need directions or trail map? Call/stop by the shop, or look at the maps and links section of our website.

If you can't make it this week, we'll be posting a more regular ride schedule starting in January, once everyone gets over their holiday hangovers.

Have a good weekend!
-Brian

Christmas is almost here!

2006-12-14T21:07:00.000-05:00

Wow, another year gone by, and Christmas is almost here!

I know that everyone is shopping for bikes and gifts, so here's a reminder of our hours and whatnot...

- Up until next weekend - normal hours
- Saturday, 12/23 - 9am-5pm
- Sunday, 12/24 - 9am - 2pm (yes these are special hours to accomodate those doing last-minute shopping, and so we can all go be with our families a little earlier)
- Monday 12/25 - MERRY CHRISTMAS! - Closed

*** Last chance to order a bike or other part/gift not in stock is Sunday, 12/17 by 4pm!!!*** This is the deadline to make sure that the big brown UPSanta delivers to us by Christmas.

Thank you all for your continued patronage this year. We wish you a very Happy Holidays and we look forward to keeping your wheels turning next year!

-Brian

Carrollwood/Olivers Mtn Bike Ride Sunday 12/3

2006-11-28T13:12:00.000-05:00

We had a small but good turnout for last week's mountain bike ride at Boyette. For those of you who didn't show, you missed a good ride! The trails were in fantastic condition, and the weather couldn't have been nicer.

This Sunday AM, we'll be heading to Alafia and will be joined by some of our partners from Olivers. Meet us at the main Alafia mtn bike trailhead around 8:15am and be ready to roll by ~8:30am. If you haven't been to Alafia in a while, there have been some new trails added and improvements made to the old ones.

Need directions or trailmap? Visit our maps and links section of the CBEBikes main site, or call / stop by the shop!

See you Sunday!
Brian

Sunday Mtn Bike Ride 11/26

2006-11-23T19:47:00.000-05:00

Ready to work off some of that turkey we all just feasted on?

Meet me and a few of your CBE friends for a mountain bike ride this Sunday, November 26th at Boyette.

We'll ride 11-12 miles at a B/B- pace. Need trail map or directions? Call or stop by the shop, or look in the links section of our website for a map.

We'll meet at the trailhead at 8:15am, and role out at 8:30. I'll be driving a white Explorer.

See you there!
Brian

SWAMP Fat Tire Festival this weekend

2006-11-08T09:35:00.000-05:00

The SWAMP Fat Tire Festival is this weekend at the Alafia River State Park trails, and CBE and Olivers will be manning a tent at the main Trailhead.

We'll have bikes to demo, coupons to give away and other goodies for those in attendence.

The SWAMP festivities include guided rides, cookouts, bands and other activities. If you didn't sign up for that party, you can still enjoy the trails and be sure to stop by to say hi to us in the tent.

If you'd like info on next year's Fat Tire Festival, go to www.swampclub.org

See you this weekend!

Mountain Bike Race Report

2006-10-25T08:28:00.000-04:00

Mountain bike racing season is upon us! Week #4 of GoneRiding's Florida State Championship Series was held this past weekend in Gainesville on the Haile's Trails course.
The CBE Team was well represented! Here's a rundown of our Team's results:

Senior Sport Class:

Matt Foxenberger - 1st place (3rd trip to the top of the podium this year)
Andy Relue - 6th place

Senior Expert/Pro: Curt Skinner - 9th place

Master Expert (30+): Ryan Borger - 6th place

Master Expert (40+): Kurt Leverett - 5th place

Grand Masters: John Neill - 19th place

Senior Beginner: David Cordero - 6th place

Master Beginner: Brent Cutshall - 5th place

Women Beginner: Katie Neill - 2nd place

Congratulations to all of the racers. It's been a great racing season so far and we're looking forward to the continued success of our riders. Be sure to come by the shop to check out some of the bikes and gear that will make you a faster and happier rider too!

-Brian

Final Tech Class for 2006

2006-10-09T08:36:00.000-04:00

CBE will be hosting our final "Free Tech Class" of the year on Thursday, October 26th from 7pm-9pm.
We do not run these sessions during November and December due to the craziness of the holiday season.
Come in on the 26th and we'll teach you how to fix a flat and perform other necessary trail-side repairs.
It's free, and we try to make it fun as well.
If you plan on attending, please call us at 963-5765 so we'll know how many people to expect.
See you then!

Update from Interbike

2006-09-28T19:11:00.000-04:00

Hey all,

It's Thursday and we're still in Vegas for Day 2 of Interbike. Monday and Tuesday was the Outdoor Demo, where we test-rode bikes in the Bootleg Canyon area outside of Las Vegas. We got to test new bikes from some of our current product brands like Fisher, Salsa, Surly, and BMC, as well as some of the new stuff from our competing lines, so that we can compare their qualities for the good of our Customers.

Now we're inside the Venetian's convention center for the Interbike trade show, and it's a bit overwhelming to say the least. Every brand, every manufacturer of every bike, accessory, clothing item that you've ever imagined is here. We've learned alot, and will be bringing back lots of new products and information to share.

Please come in often over the next few months to check out some of the new and exciting stuff that's available for '07.

See you this weekend,
Brian (I finally stole the password for the blogger)

CBE has gotten bigger

2006-09-26T18:39:00.000-04:00

It is time to come by and say hi, and see what we have been doing with the place

Brian, Matt, Alan, & David are in Las Vegas checking out all the new bikes and 2007 product

this week and while they are away, we are making more room for the new stuff.

The wall is gone and the floor is down, we now have another 1,500 feet of space to make your

shopping experience more enjoyable. No we are not done, but we hope to see you come in and

check out our progress.

Jersey & Bibs are here

2006-09-26T18:33:00.000-04:00

The NEW CBE jerseys and Bibs are here.

Make sure to come in and see the new CBE Kit

complete with matching socks

Jerseys, short sleeve and sleeveless $55.00

Bibs with an awesome chamios $99.99

Race 2 Replace

2006-08-14T08:03:00.000-04:00

We were in Indianapolis over the wknd for the Race 2 Replace. What a great event and fun time. The track was donated for the day and all the people there were volunteers for the LAF foundation. Not only were they friendly and courteous, the weather was great. It was 59' when we got up at 5:30am to be able to get to the track just after 6am for registration. A lot of people had registered the 2 days prior so we got right in and had no problems.

Mary Stewart took photos for us and we are very excited about getting them posted for everyone to be able to see. There were 4 different age groups that raced starting with 50+ age group at 7am. They finished around 8:30am and that is when Simon Kessler and Ross Glass started in their wave. The track seems small when there are 93 bicyclists instead of 40 race cars. It feels even smaller when you are riding around the track at 30 miles an hour instead of 230mph. But, with that said, can you believe these guys were averaging 29.7 mph for their first 6 laps. Thats 15 miles at almost 30mph. They were going faster than we, or for that matter they expected. Simon and Ross did what they needed to do; they stayed in the front group and did as little work as needed to be able to maintain a good position for the final sprint. A couple of laps to go and there were a few attacks, but they get reeled back in.

The final lap was here and Simon and Ross were starting to make their move only about 6 from the front on the back straight away. There was a group of riders behind Ross that were trying to gain position and somebody touched wheels, 3 or 4 of them went down and one of their bikes dove under Ross, all he could do was hold on, at 30mph he hit the asphalt hard and slid for what seemed to be the entire back stretch. He was able to get back on his feet, see that nobody was seriously hurt, his front wheel looked like a folded over burrito. He took his shoes off and started walking the last 1.25 miles to the finish line. He said afterwards that he didn't come up here to not finish.

Simon heard the commotion behind him, but at over 30mph he didn't have much of a chance to see or know what happened, all he knew was that Ross was no longer there. Unfortunately at this point he knew our chances were small to win the day. Simon planned on leading Ross to victory by giving him a great pull into the last couple hundred yards of the sprint. This is due to a problem with Simon's bike that was not discovered until several laps into the race. We did not realize that during the shipping process his rear derailleur cable had been pinched and would not allow him to shift into his 11, or 12 gear. Simon sprinted with all he had in the final seconds and with a 53, 13 was still able to get 4th place just 3 seconds from winning the event.

Ross walked to the finish line and yes he was disappointed and a little bruised up, but still thankful and happy to be a part of this great event.

Geoff Lanier was in the last wave of the event and we still had a chance to win this thing. They started their race fast and had the largest field of the day. Over 176 riders took off down the front stretch and there was a crash on the first turn as everyone was trying to find their legs. Nobody seriously hurt just more road rash. Geoff stayed up front in the lead group and was never more than 6 or 8 spots from the lead. He pulled a little and jockeyed for the best position to get the draft and save his energy. They were doing very impressive times around the 28 mph speed, but were slower than Simon & Ross's group, so we knew we would not win the event, but Geoff still had a chance of winning his wave and getting a Dell Livestrong Laptop and a signed Discovery jersey. With 2.5 laps to go one of the leaders took a huge gap and it looked like nobody was going to catch him. Ross and I talked about weather or not they could get him, and as strong as he looked I felt like it would be impossible, but Ross was just out there, he had just battled the wind and the turns so maybe he was right, they would get him and Geoff could win.

The last lap they come out of turn 4 and we see someone out front by about 300 yards, maybe more, is it Geoff, no, sorry he did great and finished 7th out of 176 or more riders, but this guy was to strong to be caught on this day. He sat up with about 400 yards to go and began celebrating as the group of about 15 chasers was coming at, up to 38 mph after him, but still not enough.

AJ Smith won the event with a time under 53 minutes. That is 25 miles in under 53 minutes. That is fast, real fast. I want to say congratulations to everyone that raced, rode the lap with Lance, and the volunteers who made this event happen. Discovery Channel says they want to make this an annual event. I hope they do, and I hope that you will join us there next year and come have some fun on a bicycle on the biggest and best race track in our country.

Thank you,
David Luppino
Owner

CBE & Oliver's have hired a Marketing Director

2006-08-07T17:28:00.000-04:00

We are proud to introduce to you our newest staff member.

Alan Snel is officially working for CBE, Oliver's & Suncoast Trail-Side Bicycles as our Marketing Director. He has been promoting cycling for almost his entire life and now can officially say it is his job to do so. Below is a little news blurb about his latest achievement.

Please look to us for more bicycle advocacy and stay tuned for more info about our

BICYCLE BASH BY THE BAY

This will be a bicycle celebration on Sunday October 29th from 11-5 at the St. Pete Times Forum Plaza next to the Forum.

Goto www.alansnel.com for his blog.

This morning I was cycling along Rowlett Park Drive in Tampa when I saw a cool sight: Four Share the Road signs along this narrow and dangerous road courtesy of the city of Tampa.
You're probably aware that I contacted Mayor Iorio about this road about three months ago, and she transferred my inquiry to the city transportation manager who OKed the signs four weeks ago.
We plan a mini-campaign to install more of these types of signs around the county and we will be discussing this topic more with you in the future.
All the best,
Alan Snel
Marketing Director for Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium and Oliver's Cycle Sports

Alan Snel
"Hope is seeing an adult riding a bicycle."

American Classic Wheels with PowerTap

2006-08-07T17:18:00.000-04:00

August 7, 2006
Tampa, Florida, USA

American Classic wheels are now available with CycleOps PowerTap SL hubs. For customers who already know American Classic, the PowerTap hub brings a new dimension to the high end line.

“People want to race the PowerTap with light rims. There was a steady demand for American Classic wheels built with the PowerTap. We are happy to make this a reality for our customers by offering PowerTap wheels as part of our product line,” notes Simon Kessler of American Classic who established the program. Kessler, former pro rider, champion of South Africa and elite cycling coach, is committed to racing with power and brought the idea to the forefront at American Classic. “This is a custom option available on rear wheels with either 24 or 32 spoke hole drilling. Front wheels are available as well so that riders can have a matching wheelset,” adds Kessler.

“American Classic is a perfect match for PowerTap since they offer the same quality and performance that we build into our own products. We are excited to have another world renowned wheel for PowerTap customers,” says Jesse Bartholomew, product manager for Saris.

For example, a pair of American Classic sprint 350 road wheels built with the PowerTap SL starts at only 1490 grams. Our new magnesium tubular launch after Interbike will start at 1310 grams for the pair with the PowerTap SL. Also available in non-disc mountain bike 350 and other American Classic wheels. Currently, the program is only available in the United States.

Suggested retail rear wheels only (including software and computer and cromoly quick release):

MTB 350 with PowerTap SL $1299.00
Sprint 350 with PowerTap SL $1379.00
420 with PowerTap SL $1499.00
Magnesium Clincher with PowerTap SL $1559.00
Carbon 38mm tubular with PowerTap SL $1699.00

Contact American Classic for details 800-813-5545 or 813-885-9040.

August events

2006-08-02T18:37:00.000-04:00

August 4th Carter Park mountain bike ride at 8am look for Matt in a white Ford Explorer

August 5th Top Gun Triathlon at Fort Desoto Park

August 11th Boyette Park mountain bike ride at 8am look for Brian in a whte Ford
Explorer

August 12th David, Ross, Simon, and Geoff will be in Indianapolis at the Indy 500
Raceway Lance Armstrong will be presenting the winners of each age
division with a signed jersey and the overall winner will be able to do a time
trial with the team on September 2nd.

August 15th David, Jodi, Matt, and Katie will be going to Wisconsin to see all the new
2007 Trek product.

August 18th Shop closed due to everyone coming and going to Trek in Wisconsin

August 19th-20th We will be running the shop with just 4 of us due to 6 being in Wisconsin for
Trek 2007 show.

urban assault rides on hold for a while

2006-07-07T17:25:00.000-04:00

Chad thought he was superman and doing backflips on his BMX bike up at Santos last wknd and on his last jump of the day he broke his foot. We will postpone the urban rides for a while until he gets healed up.

Race to Replace winners

2006-07-01T18:40:00.000-04:00

Well the day has come, the CBE/Oliver's race day has come and gone and we have our winners.

There were 41 racers that came out and participated in the race. We want to say thank you to all of you that came out to race and or watch the excitement. Some people came out and simply gave donations for the Sheriff's office and we thank you so much.

#1 Ross Glass 7 minutes and 51 seconds
#2 Simon Kessler 7 minutes and 58 seconds
#3 Geoff Lanier 8 minutes and 8 seconds

The flights will be booked and the winners will start training for the 25 miles that will be here before we know it. All the trainers were sold and we are sure that the new owners wil secretly be home triing to improve their times. We still have 2 Saris Cycleops stationary trainers for sale at CBE. They are 20% off and a great buy. The sale will be good thru the end of the tour/July 23rd.

July events and happenings

2006-06-28T12:13:00.000-04:00

June 30th Join us in the Suncoast Trail night ride starting at 7pm at the State Road 50 parking area on the Trail. Please scroll down to the blog below this one for more info.

July 1st - 23rd Tour Mania Trek sale starts today. Race to Replace Lance is all day today. Top 3 riders get an all expense paid trip to Indianapolis on August 11-13 to compete in the Race to Replace Lance. Scratch off tickets are now available. One per person per day. Win a ride with Lance New Trek Madone bicycle, Discovery swag, Powar bars and much more.

July 1st - 23rd Tour De France live every day in the store on our new Flat screen TV. Come in and ring our cow bell in support for team Discovery.

July 4th CBE will be closed for the holiday

July 9th CBE will be doing sag support for a Share the Road ride in Pinellas. The ride will start at Northsohrepool park leaving at 8am goto www.tbfreewheelrs.com for more info.

July 19th Join CBE and Bucs & Bulls Heaven in a party with CABA (Carrollwood Area Business Association). www.carrollwoodbusiness.com CBE will be helping with the activities from 5:30pm to 7pm. The address is 14823 N. Florida Ave. Call 908-2827 for more info.

July 27th we will be having our free tech class on flat repair and basic maintenance. The class starts at 7pm and it is not neccasary to bring your bike, we can provide them for the class. Please call or email to reserve your spot.

July 29th CBE will be providing free safety checks on kids bikes at the Hillsborough Sheriff's office Bicycle Rodeo located at University Mall. The rodeo will be in the West end of the parking lot and will be open from 9am till 1pm. Kids are encouraged to bring out their bikes and helmets. The bicycles and helmets will be given a free safety inspection. If the helmets are in need of replacement the Sheriff's office will have them on hand. There will also be a safety course set up for the kids to ride their bicycles thru.

Suncoast Trail Night Ride scheduled for June 30

2006-06-21T10:28:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the
Suncoast Sunset Spin
Friday, June 30, 2005
Bicycle Lights are required front and rear.
Helmets are mandatory.
Win prizes and/or gift certificates to a local bike shop!
All registrants must fill out the attached waiver and release.
This event is geared for everyone! Starting at SR 50 Trailhead there will be turnaround stations at
Centralia and SR 98. Total roundtrip mileage will be 13 or 24 miles.
Refreshments will be located at each turnaround station. Rider support ends at 9:00 PM.
Riders who pre-register before June 18, 2006 will pay $10.00. Day of registrants pay $15.00.
Free to children under 12 years of age. Children must be accompanied by an adult.
For More Information call: 813-558-1117 ext. 12 or e-mail: joanne.hurley@dot.state.fl.us
Forms May Be Duplicated As Needed
Please detach and make checks payable to: Florida’s Nature Coast Coalition, Inc.
Mail to: Community Relations Coordinator, P.O. Box 1409, Land O'Lakes, FL 34639
Name(s):
E-mail:
Address:
City: State: Zip:
Emergency Contact: Phone:
Amount Enclosed $
Brought to you by: Hillsborough, Pasco, and Hernando Counties and Florida’s Turnpike Enterprise

Trek 100, Bob Roll, secret Trek stuff, Lemond Carbon, MirraCo

2006-06-05T17:19:00.000-04:00

David made it back from Wisconsin and he was grinning from ear to ear. He flew up Thursday morning for an early sneak peak to what Trek has up their sleeve for 2007. Thursday was spent on the golf course with Trek staff and other dealers from around the country. Greg Lemond was even there playing behind him.

Friday included 6 hours of product intro. and lots of new info. about Trek, Gary Fisher, Lemond, MirraCo, and Bontrager components. Lemond has an entire new line up of carbon bikes that will start showing up at our shop by the end of July. Trek will be having new full suspension models, including one bike under 20lbs. If you have to ask how much you don't want it. Gary fisher will have a new full suspension bike, and they keep getting lighter. Bontrager has a great new waterbottle and cage that are a must for any triathelete. MirraCo was also introduced. This is a joint venture with Dave Mirra and Trek. There will be over 22 bikes designed by Dave Mirra and distributed by Trek coming available in August. We have already placed an order for 25 bikes and can't wait for them to get here. They are the best 20" bikes we have seen.

Friday night we attended a silent auction at the Trek factory, in Waterloo, that was raising money for the MACC Fund which helps fight childhood cancer. The event was a huge success raising over $158,000.00 for the Fund. There was a lot of excitement when they did a live auction for a large display of all 7 of Lance Armstrong's tour jerseys signed and framed. The bidding was fierce and in the end there were three buyers that each got a display for $50,000 each. Bob Roll, Greg Lemond, Tim DeBoom, and Dave Mirra were all there. Come by the shop to see the posters signed by Greg and Bob.

Saturday started before 5am getting ready for the Trek 100. This was the 17th annual ride in Milwaukee sponsored by Trek for the MACC Fund. We rolled out and after 10 miles joined up with Bob Roll. We rode with him for the rest of the metric century, 62 miles. Well David got dropped after 42 miles. The rolling hills and increasing speed became to much for him and his weak legs.
He asked Bob who was going to win the tour this year and he said Hincapie. We hope so, he deserves it after helping Lance for so many years. Hope to see you soon in the shop.

June events

2006-05-31T09:39:00.000-04:00

1st David fly's up to Wisconson for the Trek 100 ride and to see an early release of the new 2007 Trek, Fisher, and Lemond bikes. He will be able to ride the all new all carbon Lemond bikes and give you a full repoort next week.

7th Chad will be leading an urban ride downtown starting at 8pm in the parking lot on Bayshore where the pirate ship is docked. Be at the shop at 7:15pm if you want to follow him there. If you have not done an urban before then get ready for a good workout and lots of fun. They will be sprinting in and out of parking garages, jumping gaps and stairs, and finding all kinds of great places to ride your bikes where you would normally not go.

18th Mad Beach Triathlon start 7am. We have a relay team and several racers doing the race solo. Come to the beach and cheer us on, or better yet come out and race with us. If you join our Tri team you get discounts in the store and the ability to race with us, the ones having all the fun at the races.

22nd Free tech class on flat repair and general maintenance. Class starts at 7pm and lasts for 1-1.5 hours. Not necessary to bring your bike, please RSVP though, we have limited space.

WHAT TIME IS IT? It is tour Mania time. We will be having the scratch off's again this year and giving away all kinds of goodies during the Tour De France. Make sure you come in and see all the good things on sale and get all your bicycle needs from CBE. Who will win this year, one thing is for sure it won't be Lance. Basso? Hincapie? Ulrich? I can't wait to see.

Flatwoods, Spain, Urban

2006-05-23T09:15:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to say thank you to all that attended our demo at flatwoods on Sunday and a special thank you to the park for letting us be there. We had over 40 people come out and try out the new bikes. Several more stoped by to say hello and get some cold water. We have a winner for the $100 dollar gift certificate. Scott Carter from Quickdrop had his name pulled out of the hat out of 32 entries. Thank you all for coming out and be sure to come by the shop to see the new 2007 bikes that are starting to roll in.

I have heard from Jodi, Katie, and Suzi. They made it to Spain and are pedaling their way up the mountains with many stops to be able to take in the scenery. They had a delay getting there by one day due to their original flight being canceled, but it allowed them to spend the day in New York City. Look for more updates on the Spain trip soon.

Tomorrow night May 24th we will be having our next Urban Assault ride. Meet at the shop at 7:15pm and Chad will take you for a ride you soon will not forget.

2ND Wednesday Urban Assault Rides Every Month

2006-05-15T17:40:00.000-04:00

Chad will be leading an urban ride every 2nd Wednesday of the month. The rides will start at 8pm at downtown or USF campus. Call or email to find out the location or meet at the shop at 7:15pm to follow us to the ride.

The next ride is July 12th.

If you do not know what an urban assault is then even more reason for you to come out and try one.

We will ride around the campus or downtown area in search of parking garages to race up and down, gaps to jump and everything else we can ride over, under, in and out. We recommend mountain and hybrid bikes, but you can do it on a road bike. It is a great leg workout and feels like intervals when we sprint from street to street, or run from the security guards. Plan to wear a helmet and dark clothing, lights not required, but should be brought if you have them.

May Events

2006-05-02T09:25:00.000-04:00

5th -9th David Jodi Todd and Suzy will be doing the MS150 from Miami to Key Largo.

11th Thursday 6:30pm - 8:30 pm
Ladies night out Fit for women demo tour at the shop
We will have Chrissy De Jonge from Trek doing a fit clinic specific for women.
There will be snacks and drinks plus lots of give aways. 2 $50 gift Certificates
and many other items.

13th Saturday Mountain bike race at Carter road in Lakeland

14th Sunday Danskins womens triathlon in Orlando. Jodi will be helping Trek with their
demo bikes at the race.

20th Saturday Jodi, Katie, and Suzy leave for their Trek Travel bicycle trip to Spain.
Come by the shop and get your 10% off Trek Travel coupon and join us on our
trip to Switzerland in August.

21st Sunday Join CBE, Olivers and several other shops at the Flatwoods parking lot off
Fletcher for a trek road and mountain bike demo. There will be food, fun, and
prizes so be sure to plan on attending. See the latest Trek has to offer.
Starts at 9am until 3pm

CBE Mtn. Bike ride at Boyette Friday 14th

2006-04-11T07:17:00.001-04:00

April 14th, Good Friday, Brian Eckman, the newest member at CBE will be leading a ride at Boyette starting at 8am. For anyone that has Good Friday off or a great boss like Brian that lets him ride before work feel free to show up at Boyette for a great tour of the all new trails, if you haven't been there in a while it is great. The ride will be a B and C ride pace, in other words, not a hammer fest. Hope you can come, and if you need a map come by the shop or click on our Links page and goto our Local clubs & trails page for the directions.

April events for CBE

2006-03-29T00:11:00.000-05:00

March 29 thru April 2nd we are having the Trek Super Sale at CBE and Oliver's be sure to come by the stores and get lots of stuff, or even a new bike, great prices and selection

April 8th Saturday Joe will be at the Northdale Civic Association free festivsal from 11-3 showing off what CBE does best, having great bikes, parts, and service, and he will be handing out great coupons as well.

April 9th San Antonio ride leave at 8am. 35mile road ride in the hills, come by the shop for a map.

April 15th Escape from Ft. Desoto Triathlon 7:30AM. 1st of six races that our tri team will be doing.

Trek road and mtn. bike demo at Bellview in Ocala email us for more info.

2-4pm free clinic on bicycle fitting, tri training, core exercises for bicyclists
at Sports Orthopedic Rehab center just north of CBE behind the Pizza Hut.
Tell your friends and come out for the great info. and free swag.

April 19th CBE and Oliver's leave for the Tour De Georgia road and mtn. bike trip. We still have a couple of spots left on the trip as of 3-29-06 so be sure to reserve your spo now. Cost $150 for 4 nights and days of riding bliss. By the way the shops will remain open during the trip.

April 23rd return from Georgia

April 26th 3-7pm come out to the CABA expo at the India Conference Center to meet some of the over 450 businesses in the networking group that CBE is a part of. Carrollwood Area Business Association come by the shop for more info.

April 28-30 David will be at the St. Anthony's expo in downtown St. Petersburg with Kevin Doris from Prime Physical Therapy selling all the greatest Tri items and also doing VO2 max testing. Be sure to come see us.

April 29-30 Jodi will be doing volunter SAG support for the MS150 from Tampa to Orlando.
Andy and Katie will be doing the ride with over 1200 other riders as well. It's not to late to sign up for the ride and help a great cause. And if you do you will be one of the lucky ones that gets a free waterbottle donated by CBE and Trek for the ride. That alone makes it worth signing up and riding the 150+ miles over the two days.

Wow is that a busy month or what?

Tri team update

2006-02-26T10:49:00.000-05:00

CBE Tri Team for 2006 is almost ready to launch. We will begin selling the kits on March 13th. They will be $25 and include 2 waterbottles, a racing singlet, with the CBE logo, and some Powerbar drink mix packs. A $40-$50 value. We will have a limited # of womens singlets.
When you sign up you will recieve 5% off bikes and 10% off parts & accesories for the remainder of the year, also we will have scheduled training for running, swimming and biking. There will be 6 races that David will be attending to be able to provide mechanical and inspirational support, as well as help getting relay teams set up for anyone that does not want to do a race solo. The 6 races are as follows:
1. April 15 Ft. Desoto Triathlon
2. April 30 St. Anthonys Triathlon
3.June 18 Maderia Beach Triathlon
4.August 6 Ft. Desoto Top Gun Triathlon
5.???????? Tarpon Springs Triathlon
6.Top Cop Temple Terrace Triathlon

March 2006 events

2006-02-26T10:18:00.000-05:00

March2

We are supporting a fundraiser for Multiple Sclerosis on March 2nd from 6-10pm at Winners Grill corner of Gunn/Anderson in the Publix shopping center.
12064 Anderson Rd.
Tampa, FL 33625
813-963-3200
All you have to do is come to the restaurant from anytime between the hours of 6 and 10 and eat as much as you can and when you pay for your bill tell your server you are there for the MS Society fundraiser. They will donate 20% of all sales to MS.There will be several door prizes, some from CBE, so plan to attend.

March 4

The sheriff's office will be having a FREE festival at the Citrus Park sub station from
9-1 which includes a kids bicycle rodeo. CBE & Oliver's will be providing mechanical support and the Sheriff's officers will be providing a free obsticle course for kids to learn riding skills. Please come out and have a family day.

March 10-11-12

The Squiggy Classic will be at the Flatwoods park. There are several events for kids and adults
and several CBE staffers will be out attending, please plain to join us. Come by the shop for more details or go to their website: www.squiggyclassis.rog

March 12

Anyone that will not be at the Squiggy and wants to ride mtn. bikes can plain to join David for a ride at Santos/Ocala. We will meet at the shop at 8am for a car pool to the trail, it takes about 1 1/4 hours to drive, but is woreth every minute if you have never been there.

March 16

Trek Travel party at Oliver's. For anyone that missed the party at CBE on the 23rd it is not to late to still get the 10% off coupons for a trip and to get all the free food and drinks. Not to mention the SALE. Plan to attend the party at Oliver's 16043 Tampa Palms Blvd. from 7-9PM.

March 19

Road ride at San Antonio. Meet at the ball field at 7:30 for a 7:45am rollout. If you are not sure how to get there be sure to come by the shop for a map. The ride is 35 miles of hills and great diversity you do not get riding on the trail.

March 23

We will be having our FREE tech class 7-8pm. Please call or email if you plan to attend. If you are not sure on how to change a flat or do general cleaning and problem solving for your bike this class is for you.

March 26

Strawberry Century in Plant City. They have sveral distances for all riding levels. Goto the TampaBay Freewheelrs for more info. www.tbfreewheelers.com

If you are not up to doing a ride in Plant City, CBE will be having a 35 mile traning ride for the MS150. We will be meeting at the Lifestyles gym on Dale Mabry where the Saturday Gaither ride starts. The ride start is 9am. This is a great warm up for anyone that will be doing the MS150. It is a great way to get comfortable riding with traffic at a safe speed.

QBP Minnesota trip Feb. 17-19

2006-02-21T11:21:00.000-05:00

Well we made it back from the cold, yes 4 of your friendly CBE staff braved the cold for further knowledge of the bikes and parts you want and need. Manny David Brian and Tim all went up to QBP, one of our largest suppliers of bikes and parts, for a 3 day blitz of seminars, product review, tech classes, and even a little riding and drinking. We have all kinds of new found knowldge at your disposal, so come in and throw us your best questions. We are now carrying Salsa brand bikes and will have three models in next week, including the Dos Niner.

It got down to -15' Friday night and when we were out racing the Surly Pugsley's Saturday night it was-3'. We got to ride laps around a frozen retention pond in snow and ice and even had to eat a frozen popcicle and chug a beer during the process, all for better knowledge of the product for you our customers. So next time you come in a small thank you for braving the cold is not neccassary, but if we are to do it again next year, can I borrow your thermals?

March 2 2006 6pm 10pm Winners Grill

2006-02-15T15:06:00.000-05:00

We are supporting a fundraiser for Multiple Sclerosis on March 2nd from 6-10pm at Winners Grill corner of Gunn/Anderson in the Publix shopping center.

12064 Anderson Rd.
Tampa, FL 33625
813-963-3200

All you have to do is come to the restaurant from anytime between the hours of 6 and 10 and eat as much as you can and when you pay for your bill tell your server you are there for the MS Society fundraiser. They will donate 20% of all sales to MS.

There will be several door prizes, some from CBE, so plan to attend.

February events

2006-01-26T09:13:00.000-05:00

Carrying over for the month of February, while supplies last, we still have the bike of the month as a 2005 Gary fisher Marlin in 13" and 21" for $300 which is $170 off the regular price.

CBE will not be having any scheduled rides this month due to other events and travel. Please goto http://www.tbfreewheelers.com/ http://www.swampclub.org/ http://www.tampabayadventure.com/ http://www.ridgeriders.net/
To find a ride near you.

Saturday 4th Safe Kids Bicycle Rodeo at Lake Magdalene United Methodist Church. David & Jodi will be helping with free bicycle inspections at the rodeo from 10-12

Sunday 5th Manny teaching a Park Tool school class. If you are interested in learning more about how to fix and maintain your bike contact Manny today.

Sunday 12th Manny teaching a Park Tool school class.

Friday 17th David, Manny, Tim, and Brian fly to QBP in Minnesota for Frostbike, a wknd bicycle convention on new 2006 products and educational seminars so we can be better bicycle guru's for you, our customers and friends.

Wednesday 22nd 7-8pm we will be having our FREE tech class on flat repair and general maintenance. Please call or email if you plan to attend. Class size is limited to the first 10.

Thursday 23rd 7-9pm we are having our FREE Trek Travel wine and cheese party. We will be having FREE food & drinks and talking about all the new and exciting 2006 Trek, Gary Fisher, Greg Lemond, and Bontrager bikes and parts. Also there will be a slide show and discussion about the Trek travel trips for 2006. David & Jodi will be going to Switzerland this year, August 6th, and Jodi is also getting names for people interested in a ladies trip to Vermont for October 1st or 9th 2006. Anyone is welcome to attend the party and will recieve a 10% off coupon for a Trek Travel trip, some restrictions may apply on their specialty trips. We would love to have some of you join us on our Switzerland trip and the coupon helps make it more affordable. Also as an added bonus when you sign up for a trip and tell them that you found out about the trip from CBE we will give you a $200 shopping spree in the store to get you ready for the trip.

Sunday 26th GROUP RIDING SKILLS
COACHING CLINIC, Jodi from CBE will be attending this clinic.

The Group Riding Skills Coaching Clinic presented by Simon Kessler, a former Professional cyclist and USCF certified coach, is designed to teach you the skills required to participate successfully in group rides. In this Clinic you will learn effective group riding skills such as rotating in a pace-line, positioning, and drafting, all key ingredients to successful group riding. So come and join Simon for a 2-hour Clinic packed with lots of fun and valuable riding skills that will increase your confidence and take your group riding experience to a new level!

“Simon’s bike clinic taught me advance techniques I have used in every group ride. It was a worthwhile experience." - Barbara Shircliffe, Road and MTB racer, Tampa, FL.

The Group Riding Skills Clinic covers:

How to ride a perfect pace-line.
Drafting safely and efficiently in a group.
Pack positioning for maximum advantage and safety.
Riding efficiently in windy conditions.
Correct cornering technique.

26th February, 26th March, (This clinic is repeated the last Sunday of each month)
Venue: Telecom Office Park (from I-75 take Fletcher Ave. exit. Approx. 1 mile traveling west on the left side)
Time: 8h30am-11am
Price: $50.00
Level: All levels welcome!

To sign-up or for more information email Simon at coachsimon@gmail.com or call 813-453-1719!

Participating cyclists must reserve their place by the Friday before each Clinic. Places are limited. Clinics require a minimum number to be held. You will be notified by email if there are cancellations. Helmets are mandatory. Participants should have some group riding experience before participating in this Clinic.

Sram STU university Colorado Springs

2006-01-09T23:27:00.000-05:00

Well in case you did not know I ,David, & Brian left for Colorado Sunday the 8th to learn all about Sram, Rock Shox, Truvativ, and Avid.
Sram offers a 4 day class on all the shox's and other accesories their 4 companies make and sell. We got here at 12 noon on Sunday and went striaght to the local bike shop and rented a couple of full suspension bikes. We rode right from the shop to a local trail network called Palmer Park. The trails go from easy to moderate to insane. It was hike a bike for us for a while, but we plan to go back on Tuesday and try again.
The temps. are actually not that bad. On Sunday it was in the 40's and today we rode after class and it was in the 30's.

We plan to go skiing on Friday morning before we fly out. Look forward to telling you all about our new knowledge of the products and show you the pictures of these awesome trails, not to mention Pikes Peak.

January events and rides

2006-01-01T18:20:00.000-05:00

1st store closed HAPPY NEW YEAR

2nd Katie Neill's 19th Birthday

7th Gaither/Freewheelers road ride, meet at 7:45am leave at 8am 30-50 miles

8th San Antonio road ride for beginners meet at ball field at 7:45am leave at 8am 35 miles
Canceled, to cold and fast up there!!!!!!!!!!!

14th Gaither/Freewheelers road ride, meet at 7:45am leave at 8am 30-50 miles

15th Mountain bike ride for beginners at Croom trails meet at shop at 8am to be at trail at 9am 15-20 miles

16th store closed for Martin Luther King Jr. Day

21st Gaither/Freewheelers road ride, meet at 7:45am leave at 8am 30-50 miles

22nd San Antonio road ride for beginners, meet at ball field at 7:45am leave at 8am 35 miles
Andy Relue's 22nd birthday

26th Tech class for beginners. Learn how to change a flat and do simple maintenance. Start at 7pm at store. Typically last one hour and it's free. You must call or come in and sign up, space is limited.

28th Gaither/Freewheels road ride, meet at 7:45am leave at 8am 30-50

29th Mountain bike ride for beginners at flatwoods, meet at shop at 8am or at Trout Creek parking lot at 8:30am 16 miles

December events and sale

2005-11-28T21:01:00.000-05:00

November 30th Wednesday
Trek the Halls sale begins. Mark downs throughout the
store on bikes and accessories for everyone on your list.

December 4th Sunday
8:30am meet at the Alifia mountain bike trails.
7:30am meet at the bike shop for car pool.

December 11th 8am ride at San Antonio 35 mile road ride.

December 18th mtn bike ride meet at shop at 8am ride at Morris Bridge at
8:30 am

December 24th shop closes at 2pm, be sure to pick up all last
minute gifts and layaways.

December 25th shop closed
December 26th shop closed

December 31st shop closed
January 1st shop closed

October/November events

2005-10-28T09:50:00.000-04:00

OCTOBER 28th-Friday
2nd InauGROWL Suncoast Trail Moonlight Ride
meet at 6pm, ride starts at 7pm
meeting place:
Pasco County's Crews Lake Park
16739 Crews Lake Drive,
Spring Hill, Fl
6 miles, 25 miles, or 36 mile courses available.
kids under 12 free!
$10.00 fee
Bicycle lights are required front and rear.
Helmets are mandatory
Participate in the costume contest, win prizes or gift certificates!
for more info contact Joanne Hurley 813-558-1117 ext 12 or email
joanne.hurley@dot.state.fl.us

OCTOBER 30th last Top Cop triathlon of the season will be at 8am at the Temple Terrace Rec center

NOVEMBER 6th- Sunday
Mountain Bike Ride at Boyette
meet at the shop 7:30am to car pool, we will start riding at 8:30am.

NOVEMBER 12th-Saturday
Ride for Science- independently evaluate how you feel the road accommodates
and serves you as a cyclist.
approx 19 mile course. Sign up sheets available at Carrollwood and Oliver's
7am thru 11am
Meeting Place:
MOSI
4801 e fowler ave
Tampa, fl 33617
must be 18 years or older to participate
for more info visit www.sprinkleconsulting.com "events" section.
refreshments provided
prize drawings
purpose: "your recommendations will be made to the Florida department of
transportation for better roadway design guidelines that will help improve
bicycling conditions in Florida and the us."

NOVEMBER 24TH- shop closed for holiday.

The raffle was a huge success and we have a winner

2005-10-03T08:21:00.000-04:00

6pm on October 1st we pulled the name Mitch Phillips out of the hat of 100 tickets and made him a happy man. Actually he was already happy, he was out on the golf course when we called his home to let him know he won. His wife was not sure if we were telling the truth, but after a call to him she found out we were for real. At 10 minutes to 7 Mitch arrived and picked up his new bike.

He said he will be hanging the bike on the wall in the house and decided he had better buy a road bike that he could ride. We found a nice Trek 2100 that was perfect for his needs and he will be out on the trail soon. Mitch has bought five bikes from us in the past 5 years and while in the shop getting a bike for one of his kids he decided to buy a ticket, we were down to 15 tickets left when he got his. The first thing he said when he came in the door was that he wanted to be at the shop for the raffle rather than on the golf course, he had a feeling he should be here, he was right.

I want to say thank you to everyone that bought a ticket, and even though everyone could not win the bike we will all be winners because of the money going to the Suncoast Trail.

The Limited edition Lance Helmet was won by Robbie Westfall and the $100 gift certificate was won by Karen Lambert.

Raffle date for the Livestrong bike will be October 1st

2005-09-15T20:56:00.000-04:00

We will be having the party on October 1st Saturday from 5pm-7pm.
There will be beer, wine, softdrinks and food.
We will be having a huge sale on everything in the store and special order items.
Believe me this sale will be worth the price of the ticket.
Some items will be over 50% off including select bicycles.
You must have a ticket to be able to attend, immediate family will be welcome.
We will be contacting everyone by mail or phone who has a ticket and letting them know about the date and party. Please spread the word, there are still 15 tickets left. We will do the drawing weather they all sell or not.

There is only 100 tickets so only 85 are out there and several people bought more than one so we expect 50-60 people, please let us know if you plan to attend with more than 2 immediate family members so we can have enough food and drinks on hand.

You do not have to be present to win, however everyone that attends will get free goodies for coming and you will hate yourself for missing the sale.
thank you for your patience, it will be three months from the time the ticket sales started to the drawing and we are grateful to all who purchased a ticket. We all will benefit from the proceedes every time we ride the Suncoast Trail. We will have a sketch of the shelters that will be built on hand. We hope to be able to build 5 or 6 at different places on the trail.

September happenings Urban, beginner rides, tri races

2005-08-29T09:38:00.000-04:00

The next race is Tarpon Springs on the 10th at 8am sign up at www.altavistasports.com

Top Cop is the last race on October 30th at 8am, sign up at www.active.com

Wanted to let everyone know that instead of running onTuesday's August 30th and September 6, 13, 20, and the 27th I will be racing at the criterium at Woodlands Park on Waters Avenue. The race starts at 6:30pm and is a 30 lap race each lap is .8 miles. They will still have the run for anyone that wants to go at the Running Center at 7pm. Anyone that wants to work on their bike skills can come to the race, it costs $8 and is a real challenge. Also if you just want to ride Jodi, Katie and several other riders go to do a 15-17 mile pace around the course in the opposite direction and have a great casual ride and a good ride for any BEGINNERS. To get to Woodlands you head west on Waters from Dale Mabry and turn left into Woodlands about 2 miles down just before you cross the railroad tracks. Take the 2nd right once in Woodlands and park down on the left. Look for the bikes.

We will be riding at San Antonio on Sunday's the 4th, 11th, 18th, and 25th of September directions are as follows, we will meet at 7:15 AM to get there you drive up hwy 75 to the exit for SR 52 turn right, East go to blinking light then turn left onto Curly Rd and go down till a green sign for bicycles and turn left at the lumber yard and parking lot is on right.
Be ready to leave at 7:30 am. This is a 40 mile ride in the rolling hills and speeds range from 16-22mph. Not a beginner ride, we will have directions to hand out for anyone that shows.
The next tech class is September 22nd Thursday at 7pm. If you want to attend please email or call to put your name on the list. We will email you on the 19th of September to remind you of the class.

We are going to be having an Urban Assault ride on September 14th at 8 pm downtown. Meet at the shop at 7 pm or downtown at Walgreen's at the corner of Bayshore and Platt at 7:45 pm. Just behind the Publix's. A typical Urban consist of us on mountain bikes and hybrids riding thru streets and parking garages throughout downtown, Ybor, Channelside, and sometimes Hyde Park. We usually get 12-18 miles in and have lots of rest times while some riders do jumps and tricks at different locations.

Be sure to stop by and talk to Manny, he just got back from a Trek Travel trip to the Canadian Rockies. He has stories of snow, bears, and of course lots of great riding.

Raffle for Lance Livestrong bike

2005-08-07T19:10:00.000-04:00

The ticket sales are still going strong, we have less than 40 tickets to sell and hope to be out by the end of the month. Come in today to get your 1 in 100 chance to win the $9500 56cm Livestrong bike and don't forget we have a 2nd place prize of the Giro limited edition Livestrong helmet valued at $300 and a third place prize of a $100 gift certificate to the shop. That gives you a 1 in 33 chance of getting a prize. We will announce a date for the drawing, party, and sale once all the tickets are sold.

We will have an after hours party the night of the drawing and will only allow ticket holders and immediate family to attend. The party will be full of food and drinks, oh and did I say sale. If you can imagine it than it will come true. The sale prices will be worth the price of admission. We will have bikes and everything else under the roof marked down to unbelievable prices.

Please tell a friend and consider buying another ticket if you have already gotten one, remember that all the proceeds above the cost go towards building a bike shelter on the Suncoast Trail, something we all will use.

Tickets are $100 each

Thank you

August 2005 calendar of events

2005-08-07T18:50:00.000-04:00

For those of you that have not heard we have purchased Oliver's Cycle sports in New Tampa on Bruce B. Downs. Randy will be working there full time and Jodi will also be spending most of her time there. We hope that this will help us serve you, our customers and friends, better with all of your biking needs. Please let us know if we can do anything to make your experience with either shop better.

Tuesday 9th, 16th, 23rd, 30th we will be running at the Running Center at 7pm. 3 to 4 miles at whatever pace you are comfortable with. The Running Center is 1/2 mile south of our store in the same shopping center as Arigotos restaurant on the East side of Dale Mabry Hwy.

Thursday 11th and the 25th we will be swimming at Lake Josephine on Hutchinson road. We meet at the shop at 6:30pm and car pool to the lake, it is 6 miles away.

Wednesday the 17th David, Jodi , Chad, and Manny fly to Madison, Wisconsin to see all the new Trek, Gary Fisher, Greg Lemond and Bontrager products.

Saturday the 20th Randy, Tim, Joe, and Andy fly to Madison for the Trek show.

Be sure to stop by the shops after the 22nd to see all of the new catalogs with the new product.
You can be the first to back order that Madone 5.9 SSL that you have been wanting.
Also there are several 2006 models already arriving at both shops. Several WSD Women Specific design bicycles and products are arriving daily.

Thursday the 25th we will have our 7pm FREE tech class on flat repair and general maintenance. If you are interested in learning more than what our free class has to offer be sure to talk to Manny about his Park Tool School classes. Please RSVP for the Tech class so we can be sure to have enough staff for the class.

France here we come

2005-07-19T14:59:00.000-04:00

We left the shop at 12:30pm on Sunday and headed for the airport via Chad driving us in our truck. We flew out of Tampa at 2:15pm and landed in Miami an hour later.

We had a 3 hour layover in Miami and then started for France. It was a nine hour flight. We landed at 9:30am in Paris and spent several hours exploring the airport and finding our way around. Jodi was disappointed right away, because customs rushed us thru so fast they didn't even stamp our passports.

We flew out of Paris at 2:30 pm and landed in Biarritz a little more than an hour later. Biarritz is a small town on the Atlantic ocean and has been described as the French Riviera of the Atlantic.

After getting our luggage and boarding a double decker bus, yellow of course, we headed to the hotel and took much needed showers. We got on bikes shortly after and headed out for a 25 mile countryside ride with about 25 other store owners and guides. We even have John Burke, the president and owner of Trek with us.

After the ride and another needed shower we had a great French dinner, to long though, we were falling asleep after being up for 33 hours straight. We can't sleep very well on the planes. We went straight to bed after dinner, even skipped dessert, we had to be on the bus at 5:30am for the 2 hour ride to the Pyrennes and the hardest climb we have ever been on.

Day 2, Tour De France

2005-06-26T13:56:00.000-04:00

After a two hour bus ride to the town of Laruns we were in base camp. We all got a much needed expresso. We then mounted our bikes and headed out for our journey up the HC, beyond category climb, called the Col d' Aubisque a 16.5km mountain with a 7% grade. After one hour of pedaling we had gone 7.5 miles. We were impressed with ourselves and feeling pretty good. The climb would range from a couple of degrees of rise to as much as 13% in some places. All the way up we were going thru small quaint little towns, passing 100's of campers, cars and spectators along the side of the road. You could look out over the landscapes and see far off farms with sheep hanging off the cliffs. The mountain seemed to feel our presence and decided to try to get ride of us by steadily getting harder as we went higher. At the 9 mile point we were in the small ski village of Gourettes, where stopped to do some shopping and take a breather. Trek Travel had a base camp here complete with tents, chairs, beer, and lunch. They reserved a ski lodge for the day and had a viewing room set up with a large screen TV for us to be able to watch the race up to the point of them getting to the mountain, then we would go out and cheer them on.

I am getting ahead of myself, we first decided to finish the last 2.3 miles to the top so we could say we defeated the beast. We saw, and smelled, the devil, and I think I got a picture of him as we rode by. I must say with great delight that I beat Jodi to the top by about 4 minutes. Not bad, she is getting very strong, at one point early in the climb I thought I was in trouble after she passed me, but it was a short spurt of energy for her, and I was able to go back around her after only a couple of minutes.

We made it to the top and spent about 45 minutes there enjoying the sites, and sounds of the tour and the energy everyone was putting out. We had a sausage and some frys, did a little shopping and then rode back down to Gourettes where we had lunch and watched the race on the big screen until they were just a few miles from us then we went down to the road and cheered them on as they rode by. Lance was right where he needed to be and they all went by in a matter of minutes. Sorry I thought I could put pictures up, but have not figured out how so I will have them all at the shop when we get back.

Day 3 Tour De France

2005-06-26T13:36:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the 2 day disappearance. We were staying at the Crown Plaza in Toulouse, France and I could not figure out how to get onto the wireless internet.

So we got up early for a great breakfast in Biarritz and took a 4 hour bus ride to the town of Revel. The Trek Travel team was all set up with bikes and had reserved a restaurant on the last climb of the day. Jodi and I went for a short walk and decided we wanted to enjoy the sights and sounds of the tour rather than ride for the day. We stayed at the open area of the restaurant and had lunch with about half of our group. The other half went out for a hilly 40-70 mile ride around the country side. We are surprised with the food and people of France. The smaller towns are unique in every way from the type of service and appearance you experience. The staff at the restaurant would not serve us food until we filled all of the seats at the table and would smoke cigarettes while serving food. This I must say is not the norm, we only experienced it in the town of Revel. The food was a local dish full of beans, cheese, chicken, bones included, pork, and sausage. Jodi and I did not care for it, but most seemed to like it and were excited to have a dish that was local. We were able to have a great time and were still full from breakfast so it didn't really matter. The caravan from the tour started to roll thru town shortly after lunch. This is several hundred cars and trucks made up of all the sponsors of the tour. It is a free for all of flying trinkets and food. They have trucks roll thru before and after selling magazines of the tour and all types of shirts, hats, and mussetts. They have loud speakers and blair out French and American music as well as promote their products. The caravan has tons of people like a parade dancing and waving while throwing all the goodies. We were able to swipe a couple of hats and small items.

The riders came shortly after the caravan was gone and there was a breakaway that went fling by us, shortly followed by the peleton. Once the peleton rolled thru the last car is a tow truck and then the road fills with spectators and cars from all over. It is amazing how fast the tour breaks down after it flys by.

We watched the finish on TV's and then loaded into the bus and drove back to the hotel in Toulouse. Once we all checked into the hotel we all walked to a restaurant about 15 minutes away. It was very European. We went down several flights of stairs and were in what seemed to be an old wine cellar. There was constant tiny pieces of brick that would fall onto the table from the ceiling. It was a wonderful dinner and evening for us to be able to learn more about France from one of our guides, Nat, He was a lot of fun to talk to about the cultures and experiences of France. He is studying French literature at the Colorado University and has lived in France before. French pay 65% income tax and work only 35 hours per week. They get 11 holidays and 5 weeks paid vacation. Also they get free education to any level and free health care. Lots of good, but lots of TAXES. Things are not cheap here. A Euro is valued at $1.30 US and you can't get much for a Euro.

Well to top off dinner John Burke and the rest of the Trek staff had a great surprise for us. They did a drawing for 7 winners to be able to ride in the Team Discovery van on the 18th stage from Albi to Mende. Four winners got to also go on a helicopter ride in the middle of the tour and see the tour for 20 minutes from the sky. The luckiest of the 7 winners got to spend the day in the second team car and watch and hear all of the team strategy unfold right in front of them.

Well beyond my wildest dreams Jodi and I were chosen as a winner to be able to ride in the Team Discovery van and go on the helicopter ride. Only one of us could go and Jodi would not let me convince her it should be her. So tune back in tonight and I will give you all the details. Now we have just gotten to Paris and are going downstairs to watch the finish of today's stage and explore the sights. The Eiffel tower is only a 20 minute walk away.

Day 4 Tour De France

2005-06-04T20:52:00.000-04:00

The morning started at 6am with a wake up call that would not stop. The phone would keep ringing every 5 minutes. Anyway it worked we got up headed to the lobby for breakfast and got on the bus for the ride to Albi. It was about a 1 hour ride to town, once there we split into two groups. Those of us that were going out on the ride went to a kiosk and got our credentials for the day. We then went to the Tour village. It was an area that was set up for all the VIP's and sponsors. Lots of music, food and entertainment. A couple of riders were there doing autographs and even getting hair cuts. After walking around I went out into the race course at the start line. If anyone has experienced the pits of a Nascar race or other event it was very similar. I was the lucky one on the inside of the fence. I got to walk up to the beginning announcer stage, thru the start line and even with all the riders. As all the team buses rolled up we were able to stand there and be beside all the riders when they came out and got on their bikes and rode up to the sign in table. It is a policy that every rider has to check in each morning before the race starts. I was able to brush shoulders with Levi, Jan, Landis and 50 or 60 other riders I don't even know. It was a very cool 20 minutes. We all gathered at the Discovery bus, but Lance has learned not to come out until the very last minute, so no Lance shoulder rubs. We had to rush off about 1/2 mile up the race course by foot 35 minutes before the start so we could get in the Discovey van, it was a Mercedes mini van, and get out on the course.

We had to spend the entire day in our own race. If we got caught by any of the riders we had to get off the course and yet we couldn't go so fast to get up into the sponsorship parade otherwise we would be stuck due to them being strick about staying put in your place on the course. There are almost exactly 1000 cars that drive on the daily closed course, except for time trial days. We had Shaun for a driver and this was his 16th day doing the VIP drive on the course. Believe me he knew exactly what that Mercedes could do. We were going over 60-70 miles an hour on the road in both lanes thru turns and round abouts. It is an average of 20 feet that get ran over per year in the tour, we were not one to do it today, but did anyone see the guy that got hit by the motorcycle a few days ago?

We went out about 35 km and stopped in a field where there were no spectators to take a whiz. Lots of sun flower fields and rolling hillsides. At 91 km we came to the feed zone and Shaun said this would be a great spot for us to stop for lunch and talk to the guys that hand off the Mussets. We got some sandwiches and drinks from the back of the van and had a bit to eat as we walked over to the Team Discovery Subaru. The guys were finishing up with the Mussets and gave us a look inside. They were white with the Discovery logo, they had a Coke, two waterbottles, some Powerbars and gels and some pastries wrapped in foil. We also had a wonderful surprise when we were there. Another Team Discovery Subaru was there and Sheryl Crow was riding in it. She came out and started chatting with all of us like she knew us for years. She told us about her and Lance picking out her new bike on the Project One website. She loves to ride and was hoping she would have time on Friday. She was going to go and pick up Lance's kids and his mom so they could all be there for the finish in Paris after the time trial on Saturday. We all got pictures with her and she was very nice. She was asked by one French men that wondered up if she was Lance's wife and she laughed and said no, but I am his girlfriend. She was very patient and took pictures with anyone that came up and asked. We left the same time she did and got back on the road so the riders would not get to close.

If you were wondering, Shaun said that Robin Williams is doing a movie and was not going to be able to come to the tour, although he thinks he still might show up for the last day in Paris. I will Keep an eye out for him.

Our next stop was at 122km where the helicopter drop off was. It was at the base of the category 2 climb which was 9.2km tall with a 5.3% grade. We, the four lucky ones, were dropped off here and got to watch the 10 man breakaway fly by us then we went down to the helicopter and after the peleton rode by we took off. The pilot spoke only French and lucky for us one of the four winners was Eve from Quebec and spoke great French. The flight was about 20 minutes long, we flew over the riders two different times in a circle motion with about 5 other choppers and then started to go to the next chopper drop point. We have tons of pictures to put up on the site when we get back.

We landed without any problems and got back into the van and speed off to the finish. It is really cool to see the race from the racers perspective. There are at least 1 million people on the race course per day. Most of them were happy to see the Discovery van and were waving and cheering. We went thru tiny villages, farm land, up and down mountains and thru large towns. Everywhere we drove there were people out having picnics. Cars, trucks, campers, tractors with trailers and hay bales with tarps. They were all happy and anticipating their 1 minute of seeing the peleton race by at 40km. We did have a few people that booed or put there thumbs down at us. A couple threw water at us and when we reached the last climb of the day we got attacked by hundreds of people. The crowd was so thick you could barely drive thru them. It was just like you see the riders just before they summit a mountain, walls of people. They were banging on the side of the van and Boeing us for a few moments. At the end of the race the last climb was a category 2 3.1 km climb with a 10.1% grade. Believe me it was steep.

We rolled over the top and went the last 2km to the finish which was an airport runway. We parked behind the Team Discovery bus and went up to a VIP viewing area 100m before the finish. There was a 2 story TV screen there and we watched the riders suffer up the last climb. They came thru the finish area at such great speeds I didn't get much more than blurs on the camera. It was neat to see the riders come back by us after they finished the race on their way to the team buses. I got a couple of good shots of some guys. You would swear Hincapie is posing for me. Before all the riders were even finished we had to start our way to the bus that was to take us back to Albi. We waited a while for all the riders to come in and the jersey ceremonies then we got to start our journey back. It took us 3 hours on the bus to get back to Albi and then another hour in a private van to get back to Toulous. We got in after 10:30pm.

It was during the bus ride home that Ed, another lucky guy that got to go with me for the day, said today he really realized that this is a tour of France. We saw just one stage of this 3 week race and it took us all day to cover the course. You start to realize just how super human these guys are to be able to ride in this race.

Jodi and I shared stories, went out for a bit to eat, ended up at McDonald's, all we could find by this time it was 11:30pm. She did not ride for the day because it was a long ride and was afraid she would not keep up with the group, they had no maps and or real idea of where they were going to go. The thought of being lost in the middle of France in spandex and no money intimidated her, it would me too, we can't speak French and in this part of the country almost all the people here can't speak English. So she spent the day touring Toulous and visiting with the other dealers on the trip.

I forgot to mention we saw for the second time the Devil. He is a smelly and loud one. He was on the second to last climb and screaming at the top of his lungs when we drove by. Shaun said he thought he might be sponsored because he has a new car and a couple different outfits, but in the same sentence said it probably is not much of a sponsorship because he saw him doing his laundry in a river a few stages ago.

Anyway we will let you know how Paris is and talk to you soon.

Day 5 Tour De France

2005-05-20T21:55:00.000-04:00

Today we were able to sleep in until 8:45, skipped breakfast and got on the bus to the airport headed for Paris. The plane ride was just under an hour, leaving us lots of time in Paris before night came on. When we checked into our 4 star hotel, the Chateau Frontenac, we found a balcony calling to us. Our room is one of the only rooms in the hotel that has a balcony access and it just happens to wrap around the building for a perfect view of the Eiffel Tower. After checking out our room for the next three nights, we headed downstairs to the basement for a quick drink and watched a bit of the tour. From then on, it was time to explore.
We headed to the Des Champs Elysees which is a street full of shopping, higher end. We ate at a nice pizza café on the sidewalk. We sat there eating and watching people. Several different languages and several different styles walked by our table. We kept guessing where people were coming from, their nationality being French, Japanese, English, American, or German. We were getting pretty good at guessing. After lunch we high tailed it back to the hotel to change into warmer clothes for our adventure to the Eiffel Tower. It took us about 20 minutes to walk there from our hotel. We had a nice walk along the river, and stopped for a chocolate crepe and popcorn. We then crossed the street and sat beneath the tower on a bench and ate our snacks looking up the center of the tower. We then decided to walk up instead of taking the elevator due to the lines were very long and the top was already closed due to weight capacity, too many people. We ended up walking up the stairs to the 2nd level, about 175 feet high. Pretty scary when your afraid of heights, but if you looked around instead of down, you were ok. It was absolutely beautiful. We missed the sunset due to climbing stairs, but once we were to the viewing level, the lights of the city really started to show. After reviewing the history of the city, we decided to head back down the stairs to take a better look at the tower of lights from a distance. The whole tower is lit with flashing lights as soon as the sun goes down. You can see the lights for up to 24 miles.
After gaulking at all the structures and monuments that Paris has to offer, far more than one can possibly absorb in just one day, we decided to take a long walk back to the hotel and then across the street for our nightly expresso.

Day 6, Tour de France

2005-05-20T21:44:00.000-04:00

Today was another great adventure. We were determined not to take any taxi's or any other transportation except for our feet. We ended up walking for about 5 or 6 hours. We had to start the day by going for breakfast. They eat a lot of fish here, salmon. Bread is usually served without butter, and they usually have either a honey bread or French bread that always says its fresh, but if you are going to eat any at all, you must eat first thing in the morning because the same loafs stay out all day uncovered and become very hard. The sandwiches are the same way. They pre make all the sandwiches even with tomatoes, meat, cheese, but they don't cover them, they leave them out like on display, except when you order, you get the display. We noticed that the French do not use preservatives, so all their food is fresh. We even experienced a grocery store here. They had one whole isle just for cheese, all sorts of cheese. Don't get me wrong, the food here is good, lots of restaurants to choose from. Enough with that, on with our day.

We went to the Louvre. Our mission was to see the Mona Lisa painting by Leonardo da Vinci. Getting inside the Louvre was very challenging. There were no signs letting us know where to go to enter. We finally figured out that you have to go downstairs underground to enter. Once inside we needed to find a toilet because we had eaten breakfast and walked all across town. Little did we know that the French have these massive buildings but didn't think of toilets, they must have been an after thought. We finally found them after asking directions twice- my French is not really good so I had to rely on hand gestures. Everyone we approached was very nice, smiled, and attempted to help us in English as much as possible, but not all speak English. Sometimes here in France they have only one bathroom for men and women. Sometimes you go in and there will be stalls with doors for women, and then urinals for men. I wasn't so sure a couple of times if I was in the right place so I would ask and they assured me that I was correct. I saw more than I should have a couple of times, but oh well. Mostly this was in the country areas of France. In Paris, all was normal, just like in the USA. After the restroom issue, we adventured off to locate the Mona Lisa. They are remodeling, so the map that we had was not always correct. Some portions of the museum were closed. We finally decided to go all the way to the top and work our way down. When we still could not locate the painting, we followed the flow of people. We finally reached this room with swarms of people around the painting. I always thought of this painting as being more massive than what it turned out to be. I also pictured this painting as being in a dark room with soft light illuminating the painting with it being the only painting in the room so as to not take any attention away. Instead, it was on display, rather a new display, that positioned the painting in the middle of the huge room with tons of other paintings on the other outer walls of the room. It was hard to get close enough to see due to all the people. Next, we headed to the basement of the Louvre where we caught a glimpse of the castle that the Louvre was built on top of. Some of it's original structure was still there.

After the Louvre, we went to the Notre Dame. Even if your not a religious person, the beauty of all the stain glass windows and the enormity of the structure will take your breath away. The thought that they could start building something this detailed and massive in 1163. They were even doing confessionals that had a line out the door. There were candles lit everywhere and people praying everywhere as well. This is a very busy weekend.

Next, we walked over to one of our favorites, the Musee d'Orsay. This is a museum full of impressionists, art. Claude Monet's paintings were here in three different rooms. This museum has more than just paintings, but that is all we wish to see.

Now it is time for our lunch in town. We decided to go down some side streets to get away for the touristy part of the city. We ended up going for giro's. This was funny because an avian water, coke, and a huge gyro with fries that both of us shared cost only 7.50 in euros, but we had McDonald's before and it cost us 20 euros. We have found that the prices here are not consistent. They pretty much charge you what ever they can get in a certain area. So, if you go to another area, you might pay more, or you might pay less. Now, we must find another toilet. Our adventure led us to a hotel tucked away in the middle of everything. We asked the lady if we could use the toilets and she agreed and instructed us on where to go. This is very uncommon, due to there are public restrooms about but you have to pay anywhere from 20cents to 50cents to use them, and good luck finding them. While we were inside the building we investigated a little, we took pictures of an old elevator that was a cage. We also did a little shopping and picked up some mouth watering treats made here in Paris. After that, we headed back to our hotel to get ready for dinner. Dinner tonight was on Trek. They were taking us to a lovely restaurant about 10 min walk. We ate like Kings, and had lots and lots of wine. Another successful end to a wonderful day, although for some in our party, the night was still young. 4am??

Day 7 Tour De France

2005-05-06T21:09:00.000-04:00

Here it is the last day of our trip and the day Lance wins number 7. We got up late and missed the ride on the Champ Elleesy. We spent to much time and energy walking everywhere yesterday. After breakfast I went with a couple of other people from our group and walked to a souvenir stand. We waited for about 30 minutes in the rain to be able to get some cool Tour things. It was raining off and on the entire morning. After walking back to the hotel Jodi and I decided to go out for some more things, this was our last day to shop. We were walking up the Champs Elleesy heading for the Arc De Triumph and I noticed a couple standing with two Trek bikes in neon yellow rain jackets and without hesitation blurted out Jim and Kim. We ran into Jim and Kim Griffin from Tampa in the middle of Paris and millions of people. We talked with them for at least an hour and got caught up on their travels. They went to Germany on June 27th and rented a RV, drove to France, and have followed the tour to different areas for the entire month. They even competed in a one day race that covers one of the stages in the tour. During breakfast they even got to talk to John Kerry about the race and their travels. This was a wonderful treat to be able to find them. We had their phone number and wanted to get in touch with them, but between our travels from town to town and my cell not working and fear of trying to use a phone we never called them.
We parted ways and went out for some lunch before heading over to the Automobile club, where we would be watching the final stage.
At 1 pm our group headed out for a 25 minute walk to our viewing area. We walked by several Embassy's from around the world and the Automobile club was next door to the US Embassy. Security was tight. We had two floors reserved for about 300 Trek and Discovery people. One floor had a huge balcony and the other floor had big windows looking out onto the course. We had a great view of the Eiffel tour and all the team buses were parked directly in front of us. There was a huge jumbo TV out in one of the turns and a lot of TV's throughout our two floors, so we had snacks and watched the race work it's way towards Paris. Lance was getting way to much film coverage, it looked like there were more motorcycles filming than riders riding. It was scary several times looking like there would be a crash. As they got near Paris several of the Discovery riders went down in a turn on the slick roads, Lance and his mountain biking skills avoided a crash and they had a good laugh after everyone was up and ok.
The race entered into Paris and they rode by us on several laps around the Champs Elleesy. There were a few more crashes, but no one was injured. After the finish they had several ceremonies for the different jersey winners and the best team. We decided to go into the, pits, or team bus area and walk around. We were with one of tour guides from Hawaii named Shannon. Her and her husband were there, she was with a Trek Travel group doing a trip and he was visiting from London. We walked up to the Phonak bus and she asked if Floyd was there and the guy says sure I'll get him for you. Floyd came out with champagne in hand and we started chatting with him like we had known him for years. It is nice to see that the riders are very accessible and friendly. The Discovery bus had a couple of hundred of people crowded around, we hung out there for a few minutes and got a couple of pictures and then decided to walk around and see other people. We got several other good pics and had a great time hanging out. We walked back to the hotel and decided to go out for some dinner. We found a small little family restaurant a few blocks from the hotel and had a nice meal. After that we went to the room packed up everything and hit the bed. We fly out at 12:20pm on Monday.
The pictures are up on the website, in order to get to them on the home page simply click on the large landscape picture of all the mountain bikers at the top of the page and that will take you to our picture page. The tour pictures are the top item.
We hope that you enjoyed reading about our adventure and highly recommend to anyone a Trek Travel trip. When you sign up for a trip and mention that you found out about the trip from Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium you will get a $200 credit in our shop. We have brochures here on all there trips which range from wknd getaways to the California wine country to 10 day trips to New Zealand. They are worth every penny.
Lastly I want to say thank you to all of you for helping us earn this trip of a lifetime and thank you to Dan and Andrew who invited us to go. Trek is a great American company that knows how to take care of it's staff, and customers. THANK YOU

ladies night out/fit for women demo tour May 18th

2005-05-06T21:05:00.000-04:00

Ladies mark your calender for May 18th 4pm to 8pm at the Suncoast trailhead we will be hosting a Demo tour with Trek bicycles.

Ladies Night Out/Fit for Women Demo Tour
Wednesday May 18th
Suncoast Trailhead At Lutz Lake Fern Road
4pm - 8pm
There will be a 14ft Trailer and Touareg with music, a professional Female Mechanic to help women do bike set up on their own bikes, promotion for women specific products, Free Bicycle Demo, hydration, and lots of give away items.

Activities:
Bikes Available for Demo Rides:
Madone 5.2 sl WSD
Pilot 5.0 WSD
Equinox 7

There will be a professional female mechanic to do bike fit for women, either on the bikes that you demo, or on your own bike. Any mechanical questions can be answered as well as any fit questions you have.

Give Away’s- FREE
-Schwagg Bags (goodie bags)-They will contain (maybe more):
Peak bar, Water bottle, Bottle,Dasani water,All in a Nike bag!

-Chance to enter drawing with Trek Bicycle for future drawing.

-Enter drawing for $100.00 Gift Certificate to Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium.

-Everyone who attends will receive a $20.00 Coupon for Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium.

Sponsors:
Trek WSD bikes and accessories, Dasani Water,
Nike cycling clothing and shoes, Peak Bars, Volkswagon

Ellijay/Tour De Georgia was a success

2005-04-24T01:35:00.000-04:00

Well the trip is almost over, it is Sunday morning at 1:30 am. Half the crew is downstairs in the lobby getting a good drunk on and the other half is sleeping and will be leaving early am to get back home. The drunks and myself, after lots of beating on doors to get the drunks up, will be heading out into the freeze warning weather for our last mtn. ride at river loop. The temp is going to be hovering around 32' and we will even have some small river crossings. Brrrr.

The Tour will end Sunday at Alpharetta around 6pm so we will all miss it, however we will be cheering for team Discovery to pull it off. They have a 1'11" lead going into the last stage for team results and Lance is in 5th place overall. I hope that everyone that came on the trip had a great time and we will begin plans for next year soon. I want to give a special thanks to Matt Foxenberger for helping with the shuttle runs and to Manny, Joe, Jodi, Chad, and Tim for staying behind to run the shop, and to everyone on the trip for coming and joining CBE for this adventure.

I would like to get feedback from anyone that is interested in doing a trip next year as to weather they would prefer another trip to the Tour/mtn. in Georgia, North Carolina, or out west to Colorado or Las Vegas. We have a year to plan, but the sooner we start the better.

Thank you,

David

Tour De Georgia, Ellijay mtn. and road ride April 21st

2005-03-28T00:01:00.000-05:00

If you want a real road/mtn. challenge or have never seen a profesional stage race then you need to come on our trip to Georgia. We will be leaving April 20th after work and driving up to Ellijay Georgia for 3 nights and 4 days of the best riding, racing and just plain fun you can have with the Carrollwood gang. David,Randy,Tim and Andy will all be your guides on an adventure you will soon not forget. Please call us or email us for more details on this trip. It costs only $125 for the hotel and 4 days of guided riding.

April Tech class Thursday the 28th

2005-03-27T23:58:00.000-05:00

The next tech class will be on April 28th Thursday at 7pm. Remember it is free and all we ask is that you RSVP so we can plan on how many will be in attendance. If you need to learn how to change a flat or want to have some basic maintenance questions answered than this class is a must.

Easter Sunday ride

2005-03-27T23:51:00.000-05:00

We hope all of you had a great Easter, sorry we were closed.
The 7am ride from Lutz Lake Fern on the Sun Coast was a success.
The turn out was great and I hope everybody enjoyed the challenge as much as we did. I have to admit that 84 miles is the longest one day ride for both Jodi and I and the wind on the return made it feel like it was 120 miles. We averaged 17-18 on the 42 miles north and 10-11 on the 42 back south. Special thanks to Suzi and Dennis for sticking it out with Jodi and I. Also want to say congrats to John for having the legs to make it back on his on way ahead of us. Keep up the good work!
We finshed the ride in 7 hours and 5 minutes. Longer than expected, but a great success considering the wind.

March Tech Class is the 24th Thursday at 7pm

2005-03-11T00:49:00.000-05:00

Do you need to learn how to change a flat tire? Then you need to come to our tech class on the 24th. It will be a hands on class that will teach you all the things you need to know to change a flat tire and even make you get down and dirty and change a flat in the shop. You can bring your bike if you want or we will gladly supply bikes for the training course. Best of all it is FREE. Please call or email us and let us know you are coming so we can prepare. The class will usually last an hour and starts at 7pm.

Phone : 813-963-5765

email www.carrollwood.bicycle@verizon.net

ok so we will do the urban next week the 10th

2005-03-03T16:39:00.000-05:00

We got rained out Thursday the 3rd for our urban so we will reschedule for the 10th of March next Thursday. Please let us know if you have any questions. We will meet at the shop at 7pm or downtown at Bayshore and Platt at the Walgreens at 7:45pm. For those who do not know what an urban is we will ride downtown through the streets and parking garages as well as many other downtown locations. Urbans are a great way to learn how to ride in groups and get in sprints.

Livestrong arm bands are here

2005-02-24T12:56:00.000-05:00

Yes we got them back in stock. 300 bracelets are in and selling fast. We are not holding or reserving them and will only sell 10 per person to try to allow everone to be able to get some.

Finally we are going to do an URBAN RIDE Thursday March 3rd

2005-02-24T12:24:00.000-05:00

Yes we have finally set a date for a downtown urban ride. For anybody that does not know what this is, basically we go downtown and hop onto our mtn. BMX or just about anything else with pedals and we ride all over downtown including Ybor, Davis Island, Channelside. We find all the parking garages and whatnot that we can ride through. We meet at the shop at 7pm or downtown at bayshore and Platt next to Publix there is a Walgreens. We meet there at 7:30 to 7:45. We sometimes will go out to eat after at Estelle's or someplace else if everyone feels like it.

CBE 2005 Mtn./Road bike ride to Ellijay Georgia April 21-24 (Tour De Georgia)

2005-02-23T16:01:00.000-05:00

we have set the date for our 2005 trip north. We will be driving up on Wednesday night the 20th of April after everybody gets out of work. It should be a 8-9 hour drive including stops and breakfast. We will drive straight to a ride and start riding at sun up on Thursday. We will split up as desired into road and mtn groups and ride all day the 21st including a night, mtn., ride at Bull Mtn.

We will get some shut-eye and then head out Friday morning for another epic ride, both mtn. and road including another night ride. The Tour De Georgia is riding thru Ellijay, Rome, Dahlonega, and Brasstown Bald from the 19th to the 24th. And yes Lance will be there. You are welcome to bring both a road bike or mtn. bike or no bike at all and just hang out at the indoor heated pool and hot tub at our hotel or watch the Tour and cheer on Lance as he goes for his second title.

The rides will be fully guided and supported with water and energy bars. We will provide maps of the trail and roads for the days ride each morning and discuss everyones desires. A lot of the mountain bike rides will include shuttle rides to the top of downhill sections if needed. This will not be the case for the road rides. The hopes are to be able to split 6 gap into two rides over two days. For those that do not know, 6 gap is a very hard combination of six peeks and descents that cover 100 miles.

Saturday will be more of the same and can include another night ride if anybody has the legs left.

Sunday will be an early morning ride and then at our leisure we will begin to head home for Florida.

The things you need to know:
Cost: $125.00 (per person dbl. occupancy) 3 nights hotel room and guided rides for 4 days.

You will be responsible for transportation and your own food. We have done this for 4 years now and have found with carpools, meeting at the shop around 8pm, and eating at normal restaurants you can do it on $100 spending money.

The payment will be non-refundable due to us having to reserve and pay for a block of rooms in advance.

Bring lights and extra clothes, it can still get cold in the Georgia mtns, especially at night.

The rides will not be for the faint at heart. There will be some serious climbs and descents in both mtn. and road. So get some training in before we go.

If you have questions email us or call us. (813) 963-5765

MS150 Bank of America and cbebikes are looking for you

2005-01-30T23:55:00.000-05:00

Have you rode for 150 miles in two days? It isn't really hard and it is for a good cause. Multiple Sclerosis has Whales to Tales on April 9th and 10th. The ride will be starting at Busch Gardens and will end at Sea World in Orlando. I always like to describe the ride as if you are doing six rides that are fourteen miles long. They have rest stops and even a lunch stop every 10 to 14 miles. To top things off Jodi and myself, David, will each be driving the course with other bike shops waiting to help with any of your needs. So if you are ready to raise some much needed money for the cure of MS and want to challenge yourself to a great bicycle ride call us or send us an email and we will let you know how to sign up on the Bank of America team. If you hurry you will even be able to get a jersey that is being made for the team. the website is http://www.nationalmssociety.org/flc/event/default.asp?g=6
The CBE/Bank of America team sign up code is FLCBBANC01

Trek Travel February 24th 7pm wine and cheese party

2005-01-30T23:32:00.000-05:00

In case you were not aware Jodi and I are in Hawaii. We are on a Trek Travel trip riding around the big island. We will be back February 8th. On February 24th at 7pm we will be having an after hours sale and a Trek Travel wine and cheese party. We will be showing our pictures from Hawaii and Randy's pictures from the 2004 Tour De France. There will be plenty of food and drink for all as well as information on all the new Trek product and trips offered this year. As a bonus if you attend you will recieve 15% off a Trek Travel trip and if you book and pay for a trip any time this year tell them you heard about Trek Travel from Carrollwood Bicycle Emporium and you will get a $200 credit in our store. The after hours sale will be from 7pm to 9pm and will be 10% off parts and accessories and 5% off bikes. Anybody with a current club membership will be able to double the discounts. The party is free and expect a lot of free swag so be sure to attend.

Aloha

Race Team Updates...

2004-12-09T15:42:00.000-05:00

The race team has been on a roll, moving up to the top ten. Several of the riders are in the top 3 in their class and have a chance to win their class. Will post some more pics of these studly cyclers when we get em.

Lance Livestrong Madone SL...

2004-12-02T17:12:00.000-05:00

has been featured in the Outside Magazine Holiday Gift Guide this year.

The article features a sneak peek and more info on this gorgeous bike.

(Photo courtesty Outside Magazine)

Gobble gobble...

2004-11-23T19:15:00.000-05:00

...the shops gonna be closed. CBE is going to be closed on the 24th and 25th to catch up with family and eat some turkey.

The shop will be open normal hours on Friday the 26th.

Morris Bridge Sunday the 14th 8AM mtn. ride

2004-11-08T19:45:00.000-05:00

Can't make it to the Fat Tire Festival at Alafia because you gotta work, yeah us too. So come ride with us at Morrise Bridge and stretch your legs. We will meet at the hole in the fence on Morris Bridge Road at 7:45am for a 8:00am departure. We can see what the trails look like after all the storms and water and watch Jodi on her new Gary Fisher bike.

Hawaii-Trek Travel-need we say more

2004-11-08T19:37:00.000-05:00

Yes, we loved it so much we are going back. If you have never taken a bike ride for 4 or 5 days across a landscape, especially Hawaii, then yoo have to go with David & Jodi to the big island. The trip is February 1st for 5 nights and 6 days. They will be fliing out the week prior to see some other islands and tour the many beaches. The trip is thru www.trektravel.com and when you sign up tell them you heard about it from us. We will give you a $200 credit in the store to spend on all your hawaii themed jerseys.

CBE/Bank of America MS150 Team...

2004-11-05T14:51:00.000-05:00

On April 9th and 10th, CBE and Bank of America will be teaming together to ride the MS150. The ride will go from Busch Gardens to Sea World and incorporate riders of all levels. If you sign up by November 30th, the fee is just $20 and will include a Bank of America/CBE jersey. More information including a sign up form is available at http://www.nationalmssociety.org/flc/event/default.asp?g=6.

The CBE/Bank of America team sign up code is FLCBBANC01

Busy Weekend, CBE out and about...

2004-10-28T19:19:00.000-04:00

The CBE crew will be out and about at several events this weekend.

Friday Oct 29, there will be a Moonlight Ride on the Suncoast Trail. Starting at 7:30 from Pasco County Crews Lake Park, the event is open to everyone for $25.

Saturday Oct 30, from 10-2 there will be a Fall Festival at 7202 Gunn Hwy . It will be put on by the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and will have free food, fun and information.

On Sun Oct 31, Dave will be riding in the Top Cop Triathlon. Here's your chance to make fun of Dave's running, biking, and swimming skills all at one time. More info here http://www.active.com/event_detail.cfm?event_id=1167814

Don't worry though, there will still be some loyal employees holding down the fort to deliver that special CBE care everyone loves.

Tech Class Thurs, 10/28/04...

2004-10-27T19:09:00.000-04:00

There will be a free Tech Class for anyone interested on Thursday, October 28.

The class begins at 7:00 P.M. and covers basic bike maintenance, including flat repair and adjustments.

Racing pics...

2004-10-22T15:35:00.000-04:00

Pictures from the first 2 races have been posted.

Check em out in our gallery here.

Trek Travel Hawaii...

2004-10-22T15:28:00.000-04:00

We've finally got pictures from Dave and Jodi's Hawaii trip online.



You can check the pics out here.  You can also check out the other Trek Travel pictures in our picture gallery here.

CBE goes racing...

2004-10-22T13:01:00.000-04:00

The racing season has begun and Andizzle, Mizatt, Ryan, Brent, and Curt are representing.

With a 1st and 3rd finish the first race, and a 1st, 6th, and 2 7th place finishes in the second the team is off to a strong start.

We'll have pictures up soon, so be sure to check the website.