From my last post Sean asked what the shop was like. I wanted to do a post about it but I felt like such a star struck tourist homer while at the shop I was too shy to take pics. So today I found a person who goes by ravenmore and will be using his pics and a few others. The shop is great. By far the best shop I have been in. You can feel Lance's passion for professional excellence everywhere. It is a bike shop, a coffee cafe (Jaun Pelota), a training center, a social hub, a commuting center with showers and lockers and a museum of current and past pro racing goodies. I was in Austin for three days and went to the shop twice. Lance loves good coffee and I have not had a better iced americano. I almost bought a Chris King espresso tamper to help with the minor coffee surface imperfections.
The staff in the shop are very professional welcoming and not pretentious at all. They seemed to truly be able and willing to cater to all types of cyclists. You would feel comfortable getting help for any bike from a low rider, commuter, TT or any other kind of bike. Bike racers, bike enthusiasts, bike commuters and coffee and breakfast taco lovers all mingling in a social setting with bikes as the theme. It was great to be able to see all the jerseys and many bikes he used in the tour both early in his career and as recent as last year. In the team radio shack room they had a bunch of the pros bikes just back from the Tour of California. Although some bikes were hung up many were just sitting there to be picked up and inspected up close and personal. His tour bike from last year has all kinds of battle scars. The livestrong art bikes were also very fun to see up close. The Berry McGee Trek Madone 6.9 was incredible in person. It is a full carbon bike painted to look like it is rusting. More great pics of it where I got the pic.
So like I said at the start it is a great shop with a lot to offer any cyclist. It has a good feeling inviting you to just hang out drink good coffee and talk bikes.
The bike above is one of the sweetest bikes in the shop. A pic can't do it justice but click it for a much bigger look. I unfortunately can't remember who made it. It has a great mix of early bike and modern. Note the wood rim's mixed with disc brake.
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4 comments:
That looks pretty damn cool. Were you aware that Juan Pelota is a play on words similar to Mellow Johnny?
With a name like that you are sure to have a ball.
So that's a shop Lance goes to eh? I only knew of it from "Snobby's" blog, and I'm not sure I actually read the article.
What are the word-plays? I like word plays.
Q, Lance created and owns the shop. Mellow Johnny was his pro nickname and is a play on maillot jaune which kind of sounds like Mellow Johnny. I have to think Bob Roll played a role in that nick name but have no facts to back it up. Juan Pelota is play on what he has left after getting cancer. Pelota means ball. Now say Juan ball.
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