Brad and Lindsay culminate 55+ years of experience in the cycling industry including all venues from retail, racing, pro tech support, marketing, management, we have chosen to come back to the retail level to share our knowledge and passion of this sport.
OUR SHOP!
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| Brad McKenzie ~ The Original Cog |
Welcome to our shop and thanks for taking the time to read a little about who we are and why we love what we do!
Growing up in Mill Valley California during the 70's and 80's, fueled my passion for the sport of cycling! It allowed me the unique opportunity to be involved with cycling and the birth of mountain biking from its infancy on the then legal trails and fire roads of Mount Tamalpais and Marin county. During this early time I worked through high school part time at the only bike shop in town, building and repairing bikes of all types from Schwinn Varsity's to early Trail Master mountain bikes
At the time my yellow Peugeot U08 served my road bike adventures around the back roads of Marin, even the occational forays onto dirt roads and trails. Eventually, I scraped enough cash to buy a new Schwinn King Sting mountian bike with all gold anodized components that were really BMX parts on a BMX cruiser style frame. Not long after I had local frame builder Steve Potts braze on cable guides, waterbottle boses and cantiever studs and finished with a Dupont Imron custom paint job. Local USCF road and criterium racing was also happening for me with my new Trek Renolds 531 lugged road bike.
For the next 10 years and through out my college years I continued to manage at local bike shops earning my USCF mechanic certification at the US Olymipic training center in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Then in late 1993 I was recurited by Team Volvo Cannondale to come work for them as a team mechanic. Over the next two years I traveled the globe working race venues with the new team menbers, Tinker Juarez, Missy Giove, Myles Rockwell, Alison Sydor, Mark Gullickson, Frank Roman, Sara Ellis and trials master Libor Karas. It was the culmination of all my cycling mechanic skills put into practice and getting paid too!
After my experience as a professional mechanic I settled in Park City Utah for short while planning my next adventure that would take me back to California where I worked for Bell Sports USA. Since 1998, I relocated to Wisconsin for two years and then to Indiana where I worked as technical support director for Sun/Ringle. It was during this time that I met my soon-to-be wife who, ironically, was the Bell Sports Canadian sales manager-eh! Soon I was packed-up and going back to California. Within 6 months we were married and relocated to Minneapolis, Minnesota where we both worked for a cycling parts distributor for over two years.
Having spent most of my life in west coast weather, we decided that we needed to be where the cycling was evolving and setting the standards for innovation and technology. We also wanted to put our combined years of experince to use and share it with you! This is our life long passion and not just a bandwagon that we recently jumped on; it is a lifestyle that is healty and sustainable that everyone can benefit from no matter what age. We hope you enjoy what we have to offer and feel free to contact us for any reason. We provide the best in customer support and the best in service period!
Thanks for reading!
Lindsay McKenzie ~ The Grease
Hi I'm Lindsay, the one who keeps it all together here! After 19 years in the cycling industry I'm excited to be undertaking this "adventure" of opening our own bike shop...never thought it would happen(ok I always said I'd never go back to retail!). But here we are, and wow is it...a dream come true.
A bit about me...born and raised in Ontario, Canada(please don't tease me about "eh" and "aboot"...I've heard it one too many times! I grew up in a small town with little to do but explore. While all my city friends were reading Tiger Beat and hanging out at the mall I was cruising around on my brother's oversized Sekine road bike(I'm sure most American cyclists have never heard of that Canadian Tire brand!). Pretty soon my parents realized this was more than a passing phase and forked out $300(Canadian) for a well sized Miele Alpha. It only went downhill from there. By age 14 I was the only gal I knew shopping for the $1200 bikes...Dad was a good sport and gave in to the purchase of my Concorde Astore.
In 1987 at the age of 17 I was working my first bike shop job to support my habit. Ironically enough it was only seasonal and in between it allowed me to go to University and get a degree that, well, looks good on the office wall! I worked retail until 1996 when I made the journey out to Calgary, Alberta to work for Cycletech, a rapidly growing Canadian distributor. My forte was in the Rock Shox tech center which allowed me to maintain and hone skills aside from sitting on the phones all day! Soonafter we became Bell Sports Canada and moved to Granby, Quebec. I too was moving up in the world as I soon became the Inside Sales Manager, overseeing 6 CS agents, 13 often cranky sales reps and reporting to some pretty demanding upper management. Yet another move was to follow as we were relocated to San Jose, California where I heard about this guy who had a LOT of bike parts! I had actually decided to marry Brad before I even met him as he sent me free bike parts from his workplace in Indiana.... His cycling resume was impressive(as you've read)and we shared common goals as far as life priorities and bikes! He quickly moved back to California, passed the final "table manners test" and the rest is history. We married 7 months later and moved to Bloomington, Minnesota to work for Quality Bicycle Products. 2 years and 1 child later the cry of the California trails could no longer be ignored and we had to come back. Unemployed and sunstruck, we endured a year of many trials getting new careers up and running and now here we are finally, excited to share our many years of knowledge, experience and passion for this sport with you so you may realize all the joys of cycling that we have over the years!
Sidney McKenzie ~ the Fearless Flyer!
A bit about me...born and raised in Ontario, Canada(please don't tease me about "eh" and "aboot"...I've heard it one too many times! I grew up in a small town with little to do but explore. While all my city friends were reading Tiger Beat and hanging out at the mall I was cruising around on my brother's oversized Sekine road bike(I'm sure most American cyclists have never heard of that Canadian Tire brand!). Pretty soon my parents realized this was more than a passing phase and forked out $300(Canadian) for a well sized Miele Alpha. It only went downhill from there. By age 14 I was the only gal I knew shopping for the $1200 bikes...Dad was a good sport and gave in to the purchase of my Concorde Astore.
In 1987 at the age of 17 I was working my first bike shop job to support my habit. Ironically enough it was only seasonal and in between it allowed me to go to University and get a degree that, well, looks good on the office wall! I worked retail until 1996 when I made the journey out to Calgary, Alberta to work for Cycletech, a rapidly growing Canadian distributor. My forte was in the Rock Shox tech center which allowed me to maintain and hone skills aside from sitting on the phones all day! Soonafter we became Bell Sports Canada and moved to Granby, Quebec. I too was moving up in the world as I soon became the Inside Sales Manager, overseeing 6 CS agents, 13 often cranky sales reps and reporting to some pretty demanding upper management. Yet another move was to follow as we were relocated to San Jose, California where I heard about this guy who had a LOT of bike parts! I had actually decided to marry Brad before I even met him as he sent me free bike parts from his workplace in Indiana.... His cycling resume was impressive(as you've read)and we shared common goals as far as life priorities and bikes! He quickly moved back to California, passed the final "table manners test" and the rest is history. We married 7 months later and moved to Bloomington, Minnesota to work for Quality Bicycle Products. 2 years and 1 child later the cry of the California trails could no longer be ignored and we had to come back. Unemployed and sunstruck, we endured a year of many trials getting new careers up and running and now here we are finally, excited to share our many years of knowledge, experience and passion for this sport with you so you may realize all the joys of cycling that we have over the years!
Sidney McKenzie ~ the Fearless Flyer!
Hi I'm Sidney, the big sister, the firstborn, the speed freak. I'm 8 years old and can hang with the best of them on the bike. I had my first real "dh" experience a short while ago as I sped furiously out of control down the steep section of local fireroad. My parents stood frozen and dumbfounded as I careened left and right on the descent, finally coming to a teetering halt only as a result of grinding my feet hard into the rocks. I was about to cry(simply out of habit)but the reality took hold and I let out a "yeehaw" worthy of the adventure! We went to the local racetrack shortly thereafter and I couldn't keep my eyes off the fast cars...this is just a sign of things to come to be sure. I've already had 4 stitches in my lip and handled it like a pro. Pain is not an issue for me!
My first bike was a Kettler Jumbo trike(only the best for me!), but my Uncle Joe bought me a cool Norco with training wheels so it's kinda hard to decide which to ride first! I'm now riding my own cruiser and have already done some bike racing. I raced against boys on 20" wheels and came 4th(placed 1st for girls). I also love karate and am moving up quickly in belts!
Grayson McKenzie ~ The Rookie!
Born July 14, 2004, I take after the rest of my family on wheels. I love to ride fast. I love downhill(especially when no brakes are involved). I've had some nasty falls but always get back on my bike. Usually I'm cruising around behind Mom on her Surly 1*1 Xtracycle...but that's not going to last long. I'm currently riding a Stolen Nipper 16" bmx.
UPDATE to the BIO'S ~ 07/06:
When we first sat down to write our histories we did it more for affirmation to ourselves that we had what it took to make it in this industry on our own. Little did we know how many folks out there get a kick out of reading it so we'll try to keep them updated and entertaining!
Most recently we have achieved an INCREDIBLE goal/dream of relocating to Marin, California where we are in the process of getting our new 1200 sq ft location set up. Brad's settled nicely back into his old stomping grounds and Lindsay can't get over the "wow" factor of it all having come from small farm town Ontario!! It seems our hard work has paid off and we are finally "home". We still have a tonne of work to do but our commitment to service is more important to us than having a "pretty" shop. It will happen though! Our move happened incredibly quickly(I think some neighbors still don't know we're gone!). We spontaneously threw up a For Sale sign on the front lawn and within a few weeks were in contract. With 20 days to get out we diligently monitered the listings in Marin. Finally with only 15 days to spare we found "the one". The weekend we were moving in was also spent searching for retail space which we finally secured that quickly as well!
We have lots of plans for the shop in the coming years and are excited to have made it to this point where we can start really making things happen.
So here we sit, thanks to the loyal patronage of so many incredible people. The best part of our job is truly the customers we have have had the pleasure of meeting and sharing our passion, all through the power of the bike!
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