A beautiful Sunday Ride

Hi all! What a beautiful Sunday morning ride my husband and I had. The weather is great - finally. We didn't have any errands to run this morning so we just headed out and road for about an hour. The wildflowers are in bloom along the trail and the fragrance is fantastic. Lots of birds chirping and rabbits hopping along the trail. The route we took had an every so slight incline on the return trip home that I had a chance to try what I had learned about shifting to make pedalling the bike easier while not feeling like I was just spinning my wheels and not going anywhere. There is also an overpass that we need to cross which is still quite difficult for me to manage but I will get there. At least I have not had to get off the bike and walk it up. I figure out what works soon enough.

Off on a business trip until Wed so I won't be riding the TREK for a few days. My husband and I have coordinated when I will get back Wed evening and we will ride then.

Going By.....Off Road.

My first attempt at mountain biking:) Only kidding! Friday night we had to go down this dirt path to get to the actual store we were going to. Competitor of the one in the photo. We needed some shelving supplies for the new house so we decided to 'GO BY BIKE'. It was a 6 mile round trip to Lowe's. Quite an easy ride on the trail. I waited in the parking lot modeling my new shirt while my husband went inside to get the supplies we needed. The trail was crowded with

families riding and walking, very experienced racing cyclists and every kind of walker and biker and roller blader in between. We are learning the rules of the trail as we ride. Found a website that gives us lots of trail info.

It's Saturday evening and we are going to go to Culver's for dinner. It's right on the path so we plan to 'GO BY BIKE'. Picture to follow tomorrow.

Follow our friend Steven Garrett as he crosses the country

Our friend and mechanic Steven Garrett has started his trip across the U.S. to California. We've got a link to see his progress (or if he needs help) and would like to share it with you. So far he's just south of Denver, Colorado.

Click here to watch him ride!

Karen finally gets a shot at a good ride!

This needs almost no introduction as we follow Karen (one of our Go By Bike winners) and her fun rides on her new bike:

It was a chilly rainy day today but we got our ride in about an hour ago. Went out the garage around the corner and we were on one of the Madison County Trails. My husband and I rode about 5 miles to the south of our home tonight - no where in particular to go just checking out the trail. The Trek is great. I had several small hills to go up and down and managed ok. My husband says they were just inclines but they seemed liked hills to me. I wore my new jacket and it really kept the chill off - Thanks again! We stopped to speak with some friends of ours who ride bikes. They asked whenI got the new bike. I told them my story and they were surprised and excited that I might be going on longer "TREKS" from home on the bike. There are 85 miles of trails connected to the one in my backyard. I will be getting some extras for the bike - bag for the back, odometer and other bike stuff.

Gene checks in!

Our other Go By Bike winner Gene Cahill recently wrote us to tell us about his new bike and what all he's been able to do on it:

I have received all of my trek accessories along with my trek bike last week. Although the weather has not been ideal for riding I have managed to get out and ride almost everyday for short trips. The bike is fantastic! (although I have taken some razing from my family about the day-glow chartreuse jacket & jersey :-) My new Trek beats my 30 some year old Murray (which I still have) hands down.
My wife's car quit running last week, so I had to pick up a fuel pump and fuel filter for her car. So instead of taking my truck to O'Reilly's to pick up the parts I rode my new Trek bike. This wasn't my first ride, but I thought what a great theme for "go by bike" to fix your car! I should have taken those pic's.
And tonight I had a hair cut appointment which wasn't to far, maybe 3 miles or so. So I rode my trek to my haircut appointment.
But most of my rides so far have just been around my neighborhood. I cannot wait for the weather to get a little better for riding. I haven't taken any pictures yet, but I will. I was hoping to ride over to my granddaughters and get her out to do some bike riding. But I haven't had the chance. Those are the pictures I was wanting to send in. She is just 5 years old, but lets get her started young. She would love riding bike with Grandpa. I hope to get over there this weekend.

We hope that the weather will get better for Gene (and the rest of us for that matter...) and can't wait for those pictures.

Karen's off on a windy ride!

As we follow our friend Karen and her quest to find that fair-weathered day to ride, she writes and even sends us a picture! Here's what she had to say:

Here is a pic of me heading toward Cracker Barrell for lunch. The weather didn't cooperate with us this morning for breakfast so we stayed home until it cleared and headed out for lunch. It was fairly windy and the bike handled very well- after I figured out which gear would work best for the conditions. That wasn't difficult at all. When we first headed out I thought the bike and I were going to end up in the field to my right. But the ride went smoothly. We live exactly 2 miles from the restaurant going on the country roads. My husband and I were discussing that we never thought this would be someplace we would ride our bikes to.

We'll keep checking in with Karen regularly and posting it here on our website.

The St. Louis Store is under new management...(drum roll please?)

<-- This is the enthusiastic pose of the new store manager, Greg Lyeki. Greg has spent a couple years as sales manager at the Trek Bike Store in St. Louis and feels more than able to fill the big shoes left by our former manager, Chris Brewer. We on the staff couldn't agree more.

Chris Brewer has left the Trek Bike Store of St. Louis to pursue a job as an outside Trek representative-meaning that even though he may not work here, you'll still see plenty of him in the store from time to time. He fills the position left open by Jeff Chattin, who is moving down to Texas to become the outside rep of that territory. After 20+ years doing only the Missouri beat-we can't blame Jeff for wanting a bit of a change.

So the question is...who will fill Greg's shoes as sales manager? The answer is none other than Geoff Smith. Despite this picture where I can't determine what he's looking at, Geoff is stoked about the new position and can't wait to start implementing new ideas and new programs here at the Trek store.

So when you come by the Trek Store next time don't be surprised to see new things on the horizon if not already in the store. Also be sure to congratulate these two on a job well done.

Follow-up on our Go By Bike winners!

We asked one of our Go By Bike winners to tell us what she's been up to. Karen LeClerc wrote us back promptly exclaiming, " I went on my first trial run with the bike yesterday - in between the raindrops. The bike rode great and it was fun to be out on the trail."





Karen and her her husband recently moved to a new home and are looking forward to the break in the weather: "We (my husband and I) can't wait to ride off to the local restaurants and shops. That's the other reason we wanted to move to the trail-so that we could ride our bikes to help save gas on our vehicle and help the environment." And with gas prices on the rise we feel her sentiment and thank her for her contribution!


And finally to end her letter to us she added, "One of my friends is so excited about this that she wants to help me write up something for the local paper and let everyone in our town know about this and perhaps spur some more interest in our community so that others will GO BY BIKE"

From all of us at the Trek Store in St. Louis, we thank and congratulate Karen on her new bike and hope she finds it as invaluable as we do here on the staff.

Come for our new Thursday Hills Ride!

We're crossing our fingers and hoping that the rain will hold out for our first weekday ride! Our first weekly ride will be packed with climbs of all sorts so be prepared to push the limits of your early-season fitness. "The Thursday Hills Ride" will be lead by our sales manager Geoff and will leave at 5 p.m. from the shop. Bear in mind that this isn't like our no-drop sunday rides and will be a hard-paced climbing ride. Come not wanting to be dropped but mindful that you might be.



Check out the ride and the profile here.