Now - Arden Hills

Paul & Tracy at Now in Arden Hills, MN were a little reluctant to ride in the blizzard but they have a very large store that allowed them a test ride.

Dinkytown

Varsity Bike & Transit in Dinkytown has been selling e-bikes for years.  They know e-bikes.  Look for some Izips on their floor soon.

Rob fixing the cordless drill

Edina

Things were a little quiet in Edina, MN during the blizzard so the guys had plenty of time for me.

Edina Bike

Monday Morning In Minneapolis

Lots of snow, -2˚ temps and traffic at crawl.  The traffic on 494 Monday morning made the I-5 in Los Angeles look like a race course.

 

 

Mike Bikes

Wayne Mikes from Mikes Bike Shop in Palatine reluctantly rode the bikes but the shop guys seemed to enjoyed the ride.

Main Street

Main Street Bicycles in Carpentersville, Il has moved into this terrific new location.  The building was constructed back in 1830 as a grist mill.   When originally built they diverted the nearby Fox River under the building to power a hydroelectric generator.  In the 1870's they added a state of the art grain elevator in the building.  Over the years the owners have kept a good deal of the original components intact.  In the photos below you can see the grain hoppers are still hanging form the ceiling.

The shops new location is ideal.  It's located on the popular Fox River Bike trail that I rode frequently while I still resided in the neighborhood.   The trail was snow packed so there was stroll down memory lane.

Fox Valley Bike Trail

Kegel's

Test riding the bikes after a substantial snowfall is always fun. Rob from Kegel's in Rockford, IL did a nice job of getting the bikes covered with snow & salt.

 

Ace

The guys at Ace Bike Shop in Springfield, IL were willing to brave the cold temps to ride samples.  The store manager  (Rich) reminded me that I was responsible for getting him on the Mongoose Factory BMX team back in 1996. 

The Arch

Bike Center - St Louis

Just little over 20 years ago on January 17, 1991 the first Gulf war started.  On that day the owner of Bike Center (Jim) and I were on a trip together in Acapulco Mexico.  The trip was sponsored by Giant to reward the great sales people (Me) and the best Giant dealers in the country.  Jim is still a Giant dealer and me, well.......

Jim is one of our better dealer dealers but I don't think Pizzi will be rewarding anyone with an all expense paid trips to Mexico.  Perhaps Chatsworth?

KCMO

This store is located in the historic River Market area in Kansas City - hence the name River Market Cyclery.  Joel & Bill tell me they have been selling Giant electric bikes for years but have just caught on in KCMO. 

Sunflower Outdoor

What a great store!  I finally got a chance to visit this Top 100 dealer in Lawrence, KS.  It was good to see a former colleague and friend Collin Earhart.  The store is in a very historic building dating back the mid 1800's.  The building had a catastrophic fire in 1997 and the folks here did an unbelievable job restoring it to it's original condition. 

The staff braved the cold and snow to test the samples.  I have to admit the highlight of the visit was meeting Stanley the cat.  Stanley has his own facebook page with 600+ friends.

Bicycle X-Change

The Bikeman in Wichita, KS was kind enough to allow me store the Izip in the back of the store while I take a one week hiatus from the road trip.

The Bicycle Shoppe

Larry at the Bicycle Shoppe in Shawnee OK was happy to see me.  The store originally was Mooreyhans Sunshine.  A local grocery store operated from 1903 until 1971.  Check out the original phone number on the building - 234.

Bike One

Bike One in Oklahoma City is a great store.  Very nice location with great guys working there.  It was 12℉ with a 20 MPH wind and the guys spent almost 30 minutes riding all my samples.  The wind chill had to be below zero. Brrrrrr!

The Cross

Just snapped a shot of this giant cross as I came into the great state of Oklahoma.

Albuquerque

Fat Tire In Albuquerque is one of our better dealers.  The cool weather did not stop the staff from test riding.

Week one took me to stops in Flagstaff AZ,  Albuquerque NM, Amarillo TX, Oklahoma City,  Tulsa & Wichita.

Along the way I stopped in Winslow, AZ for lunch.  I just couldn't resist finding the corner where Jackson Browne wrote the lyrics for the song the the Eagles made famous - Take It Easy


Well, I'm a standing on a corner
in Winslow, Arizona
and such a fine sight to see
It's a girl, my Lord, in a flatbed
Ford slowin' down to take a look at me
Come on, baby, don't say maybe
I gotta know if your sweet love is
gonna save me

The High Desert

Coming into Flagstaff had some nice views.  I never took my knee off the wheel while I took this photo.

A sign of things to come

The gas stations on the AZ/CA border are a bunch of crooks.

Preplanning

The Zip Road Trip

The Izip Road is something cooked up by the sales folks at Currie.  The purpose of the trip is to spread word about the opportunity for the IBD's in America to sell more stuff.  I will be driving the Izip truck leaving from San Diego on January 10th for points east.  My goal is to visit as many IBD's a as possible in some 25 different states.

Loading up the truck in Chatsworth........

Can't remember if I signed for the bikes -  sorry Tracy

Trip Route

Here is an overview of the where the trip will take me.