Archive for September, 2008
Many thanks to lots of folks
Our first blog told you how we got started - with the support of many friends along the way. We would be remiss if we did not thank a few others that have been involved in the launch of Reverse Gear Inc.
Our first customer was in PA. We want to thank Rob Gentry and Alicia for organizing a great recumbent cycle event, and for allowing us to showcase Reverse Gear clothing for the very first time - at both the pub night and the RBR rally. Rob’s site has many great photos of the event. While the cycling was great - the evening get-togethers with the other riders and sharing stories was also a wonderful way to get us back into the NA cycling scene (after being in Australia for 8 years). And of course there is the infamous story of BentJay with a squirrel in his lap. It’s going to be a challenge for anyone to top that one.
Our first on-line customers found us because Bentrider Online featured the REVERSE GearTM launch - now relegated to the June 2008 archives. Len and I find it hard to believe that we’ve been around long enough to be “archived”. (Actually I meant REVERSE GearTM - not us!!!) Thanx to Bryan Ball for our first product review.
While the on-line orders were testing the REVERSE GearTM website, we were tearing across the USA landscape - state-by-state - on our way to CA. We cycled in a few wonderful places like Vail, CO which whetted our appetite for more. But we were rushing to get to the first Bent-up rally. So we were a first at a first, and Bent-up became the first dealer to carry REVERSE Gear. We want to thank Dana and Neal for their hospitality and for encouraging us to take the cross-country tour to ride along the beaches. I love beaches and found the route along the boardwalk from Will Rogers to Redonda Beach is outstanding. I hope they do a second annual Bent-up Rally and we can go again.
On the way home we stopped at several dozen recumbent shops to meet fellow ‘bents and cycled in many states. One of those memorable rides was in Chicago from the Amlings location to the Chicago Botanical Gardens. Even though it poured rain the entire time the ride along paved bike paths, which Joe and Julie at Amlings had recommended, was most enjoyable. Later that day, Amlings became dealer number two. Thanx Joe and Julie.
We then returned to Canada to manufacture the fall line. And in those following weeks, the folks at Neighbourhood Transportation Recumbent and Foldable Bikes found out about us and became our third dealer.
In August, we headed west again to WI and the 16th Midwest Recumbent Rally at the Hostel Shoppe. Again we participated in rides and displays of REVERSE GearTM . And before we headed home, Hostel Shoppe also decided to carry the REVERSE Gear line in their shop.
If you decide to do the ride next year make sure you have the coffee cake at the Morning Star coffee shop in Amherst. (Now you know why I cycle - so I can eat sweets.)
We would like to thank Rob, Dana, Joe, Bruce and Rolf for supporting our early endeavours in this new adventure. And thanks to all of our customers in Canada, USA, France. Sweden, Norway, Netherlands, Japan and Australia. We know we won’t always be able to “give thanks” to individuals but we wanted to acknowledge the ones that we can.
“Gratitude is the inward feeling of kindness received. Thankfulness is the natural impulse to express that feeling. Thanksgiving is the following of that impulse. ”
Henry Van Dyke
For ‘bents - by ‘bents
A creative start
If you’ve been to the Reverse Gear site, you have already met us as we cycled on screen. If you haven’t been there yet - check it out and let us know what you think. It’s not perfect - but it is “us” and it was fun producing the ‘site-greeter’. However if you ask our friend David he may tell you that we had more “fun” than he did. Most of the site-greeters he has produced are done with people walking on or sitting still. Ours on the other hand was a producer’s nightmare with two moving single trikes, a tandem as long as a car, and a metal table that glittered and shone. Nonetheless, he managed very well with all of the on-screen movement and post-production removal of shadows. And since we were riding onto the scene it was also difficult to use a prompter for the script. So as to be expected we messed up the words. It took may takes and re-takes to get video that could be used. We would like to thank our friends David and Will for their patience on shoot day and applaud David at netvideomaker for making us look as good as we do - on our Reverse Gear site.
We did the site-greeter ourselves because we wanted you to see that we are just a couple of ordinary cyclists - who wanted to “make a difference”. Len was complaining that cycling gear had not yet transformed to meet the unique needs of the growing recumbent cycling market. And I took that as a challenge!!! Anybody who knows us, knows that this is typical. I say “we can do that” and then Len is left “to do it”.
So in January over a bottle of wine, we scribbled some pictures of what cycling gear for recumbent riders could look like. In February we found Norm at Axis Gear - who agreed to help us manufacture. Several years earlier he had realized a similar dream of creating “adventure cycle clothing”. So he had already lived and learned from some of the challenges and has been extremely helpful. In April, we began manufacturing.
Simultaneously, Len was charged with creating a brand and a website so we could sell on-line. While we had built several websites in the past for Ashby Bachmann (our management consulting business) this one was more complex - with shopping cart and postage calculators and lots of photos. But Len and Pat at BlackCap Design were up for the challenges. Len came up with the name Reverse Gear, based on the fact that many of our items would be “back to front” or reverse of what traditional cyclists were wearing. And thanx to Krissy’s creativity at MouseInk we had a logo that we think says it all.
Phew - just in time guys. We went live just one day before we left for the USA to launch the Reverse Gear product line at several bike rallies.
Thank goodness for friends
In our research of the recumbent market, we discovered hundreds of cycle dealers in North America and many great events and rallies. We narrowed our choice to three this year - PA, CA and WI. And then we hit our next challenge. We are “car-less” - so how would we get there?
Will and Yvonne to the rescue! They graciously lent us their Dodge Caravan. We loaded the boxes of new Reverse Gear clothing in the van and off on the road-trip we went. And Reverse Gear was launched…
More to come
We’ve got more stories to tell about: our travels, our friends, our supporters and dealers, our customers, our love of cycling and our values - of “making a difference”. That’s why we’ve started this blog.
We hope you will come back from time to time and share your stories about cycling and your comments about: the blog, Reverse Gear products, our dealers, and anything else relevant to the cycling community.
For now - I’m Len and I’m Judi and we are reachable through the blog comments or at Reverse Gear.
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