Takeaways from the Dirty Kanza Drama
Before I outline some lessons that we should take away from the social media aftermath of the 2016 Dirty Kanza, I want to lay some information out there.
BACKGROUND INFO
First, if you’re not aware of what’s happening, you might want to read up on it. My point of this post is not to take any sides and I don’t really want to rehash the details of the disqualification, because the rules have been tossed all over the internet and written about enough. I’ve seen enough and spent enough time on it. Have a read of the following and you make your own judgements:
– Boo Bicycles Blog Post in which Nick Frey discusses his disqualification
– Chad Ament’s direct response to Nick’s blog post
– Red Kite Prayer’s response titled “Old-Fashioned Cheating”
– Steve Tilford’s discussion of the situation
– Nick Frey’s Facebook page contains a lot of comments and discussion
– Nick Frey’s wife, Nadiya, also contains a lot of comments and discussion
Second, I’m pretty interested in this entire situation for two reasons. I’m half of RidingGravel.com (Guitar Ted is the other half) and I like to learn from different situations. Plus, at this point, it’s been hard to not follow along. It’s a runaway train wreck.
I feel that it’s also important to note that I’ve spent my 15 years post-college working life in all client relations type jobs. I’ve done everything from provide international tax advice and daily work to multi-million dollar clients to change flat tires on kids bikes in front of anxious customers to putting myself out there via Mountain Bike Radio. I’ve done several other client service type projects along the way as well. I’m also a parent of two young children – our girl is 2.5 years and our boy is 4 years old.
LESSONS
The continued discussion seems to mainly focus on the bottle hand ups and the rules. Let’s not get bogged down by the noise. I’m going to go into the weekend with some lessons that I’ve been reminded of by the situation. This definitely isn’t a complete list of all of my takeaways, but some things are best left to private discussions and in my own head to contemplate after a few beers.
1) People are treated differently. There are many instances in life that people are treated differently. A CEO carries the responsibility of the entire company on his/her back, while employees carry the responsibility of their day-to-day tasks. A CEO is required to live by a different set of standards and everything they do is going to be open to harsh criticism and analyzed under a microscope. Therefore, everyone from the person sweeping the floor to the vice president is watching.
Is it fair to be living a different set of standards for the CEO? Maybe not. But, remember, we all make sacrifices in our lives to be in our current position and we know what we’re getting in to. I can point to many other examples – presidents (minus the current political situation…that’s questionable whether either candidate can act with any sort of professionalism…), teachers, company owners, quarterbacks, cycling pros, parents, etc. Don’t you think the IRS has a closer eye on the billionaires in the country than they do the rest of us? In the case of the Dirty Kanza, if you’re a 6th place finisher who is the owner of a cycling business, you automatically are living under more scrutiny and are more likely to be singled out. Are you in 852nd place and an accountant at Joe & Joe Tax Firm (I can joke about accountants because I was one at one point and my wife is one)? You’re not likely to be singled out if that’s the case. It’s part of being a leader – whether you lead the pack, a company, your kids, or some other group. It’s not unfair, it’s part of being a leader.
2) Kids can teach you a lot. Having kids accelerates your learning of many life lessons. One of the most important is that you need to step away and learn how to think about other people first. It’s easy, with children or not, to be in our own heads and not realize that one of life’s greatest gifts is to give to others – give time, knowledge, trust, love, laughs, whatever you do and/or whatever your talent is. Give first. The rest should fall into place and be a satisfying and uplifting experience for everyone involved, past, present, and future. Mostly, kids just give you perspective on everything.
3) 95% of us don’t care about the winners. Why do companies, inside as well as outside of the cycling industry, feel like having an athlete at the front of any race or doing some wild, crazy adventure is the best way to sell their brand? One top finish only affects one person. Being a volunteer of a race can affect 1000’s of people in some small way. The 1000’s of people affected in some small way likely don’t result in likes, shares, trackable website stats, and product sales. However, the goodwill (and sales) that a business can gain from actually being involved and giving value in some way is the key to long-term success.
4) Know your customers. This one seems pretty obvious, huh? It’s hard to remember sometimes. It’s easy to get wrapped up in creating, producing, bookkeeping, marketing, invoicing, and all the other tasks that go into running any business. But at the end of the day, it’s essential to remember why you’re doing what you’re doing and how you can provide value to your current and future customers. With this situation, it appears that they were out there trying to promote the Boo brand (logo magnet on the car at the event, their Facebook page header picture is their gravel bike, and for about a day they had a pinned post on Facebook with a review to their gravel bike). But the follow up blog post and Facebook discussions made it publicly clear that they didn’t know their customer.
5) If everything around you is dumb… You are the common denominator. I’ve seen some negative comments being tossed around by people following along – the racers are lame for telling, racing is dumb, promoting races is dumb, the rules are dumb, people commenting are dumb. If you look around and see everything as dumb, well, you’re in the middle. I’ve also had conversations with some incredibly positive people and I’m thankful there are so many out there.
It’s been an interesting couple days in the gravel cycling world. I’ve been reminded of some important lessons and I hope we can all get something from this. I’m not sure how Nick, his wife, and Boo will fare in the short term, but I’m sure they’ve learned many things and it’ll all be fine in the long term. It seems that we’re all pretty forgiving for the most part and there is always a good solution for everyone. As far as the Dirty Kanza, it’s in the hands of some great people who are keenly aware of their customers and do whatever they can to provide the experience they think people deserve.
Have a great weekend!
If you have any questions about this post or anything about Mountain Bike Radio, please feel free to contact me anytime at [email protected].
Thanks for reading and listening to Mountain Bike Radio,
Ben
The post Dirty Lessons appeared first on MBR.
]]>Matt is Back
This post is written by Matt from Just Riding Along. While you’ve been hearing him for years on Just Riding Along, this is his second written post on the Mountain Bike Radio blog. You can contact Matt at [email protected] for any questions, comments, or ideas for future posts.
————————————–
The Evolution of the Bike Shop
Where is the Bike Shop Going?
The bicycle has rapidly evolved since the turn of this millennium. We have properly damped and valved suspension, nearly any part of the bike can be made from carbon fiber, and bicycle geometry is only more accommodating than ever before. The one thing in the bicycle industry that has remained fairly consistent is the model of the bike shop.
There is a large amount of retail space dedicated to sales and a relatively speaking small footprint for the parts and service portion of that business. A portion of service is even dedicated to supporting sales: all of those new bikes on the sales floor had to be assembled.
Consumer Facing?
Over the last few years the shopping culture for parts and accessories has been rapidly shifting towards an online model, but recently some big name players in the industry have shifted towards a consumer facing sales model. I avoid saying consumer direct at this point because Trek is going to have the bike shipped to the bike shop of your choosing for assembly. I believe more companies will adopt similar models and that the landscape of the current bike shop will only evolve as time continues to march forward.
Trek
I am most familiar with Trek as I am currently working for a Trek dealer and moving forward will base my example around that single brand. I understand not all brands will follow this model but the Trek model is what started this whole idea. Trek has rolled out their consumer facing sales model. This model gives the consumer the ability to shop online and any Trek or Bontrager product is shipped to the Trek store of their choosing.
Trek has also started a certification process to train service employees. This certification is to ensure all Trek bicycles are properly assembled, diagnosed, and routinely serviced in order to give Trek customers the best user experience.
Location, Location, Location
The parts and accessories sales do not really concern me, those items will be bought and shipped to any store. The location a customer picks up their new shoes will be a convenience factor. I want to illustrate my point solely on bicycles – something that the local bike shop is currently dedicating a majority of retail space and staff towards, and how the bike shop has to evolve to match that.
When Trek revealed their plans for a certification process, I felt the communal groan throughout the industry. We have been assembling their bikes for 15 years, why do I need to pay them to tell me my mechanics are good? The catch is, you don’t. A shop does not have to spend money in order to be told their seasoned mechanics are qualified, competent, and valued employees. You have to pay Trek to advertise that you have mechanics Trek knows are good.
Ninjas
What a shop must do is make the investment in order to have Trek display on their website that your shop has 12 Ninja Level Service Wizards* and that the competitor shop has fewer. As a shop I need Trek to be my biggest proponent in this rapidly evolving bike shop landscape. The situation where this is the most beneficial is for the 20 year old first time bike buyer.
The age of this buyer is important: they are just young enough that they have always purchased through the internet. When this buyer, who has never been into any bike shop, goes to Trek’s website and is deciding to ship their bike to Joe’s Bikes or Jim’s Bikes they will be influenced by how many Ninja Level Service Wizards the shop has on staff. If the shop has made the investment to send the employees to be Trek certified, they will get the new customer. When this customer, who purchased directly from Trek, comes to pick their bike up from the shop, they will then become your customer. If the bike is dialed and perfect, the staff is friendly, and the shop is clean, then you will be able to convert that first time internet buyer into a lifelong brick and mortar customer.
Matt’s Final Thought
I believe that bike companies are making this shift towards consumer facing sales today because they accept that, at both the Trek and the shop level, there is a need for adjustment and growth with this type of program. My prediction is the success of this program will really take off by 2020 – when the online shopper is old enough and mature enough to drop $3000 on a bike through their smartphone.
*I have no idea what Trek is going to call these certified mechanics, but that name would make on helluva hat pin.
Thanks again for reading. If you’re interested in my first post about , please check it out HERE.
– Matt
The post Bike Shop Landscape appeared first on MBR.
]]>Matt is New Here
This post is written by Matt from Just Riding Along. While you’ve been hearing him for years on Just Riding Along, this is his first written post on the Mountain Bike Radio blog. You can contact Matt at [email protected] for any questions, comments, or ideas for future posts.
————————————–
What Would You Do?
What is your bike mechanic worth?
Picture this: It’s 5:53pm on a Friday. You roll into the shop with bike parts in both hands and a distraught look on your face. The mechanic pushes up their sleeves, stays late, and gets you sorted. Why? Because you explained that tomorrow is the ride you have been planning for two months with your friends who are in town. Who can you count on? Can you put a price on that type of service?
Or…how about this scenario: You finally decide to dust off that 12-year old bike in the basement and get it fixed up so your nephew, who is staying with you for the summer, can actually ride it. But, you realize quickly that several small parts have vanished. Who do you go to?
Have you ever try googling “that piece that goes in the brake handle the black piece snaps into” to find that part that you later learn is called a brake barrel adjuster? Amazon.com can’t sell you something you don’t know what it is called. Where do you go and who do you ask?
Good luck googling for bike parts you don’t know.
Payday?
What is your bike mechanic worth when payday comes? Well, according to Salary.com, about $22,000 a year. That is roughly the same as a line cook. Do you think the person whipping up gravies from a pre-planned recipe at the local diner is worth the same as the person who is problem solving and fixing your cutting edge bicycle?
Dale Earnhardt Jr’s Car
Let me give a little more backstory on bicycles so we are all on the same page: If you were to drive to the local Chevrolet dealership with a dump truck full of $100 bills and an AmEx Black Card and asked to buy a replica of Dale Jr’s Sprint Car the salesperson would look at you and laugh. They would want to sell you a commemorative edition Camaro.
Dale Jr doesn’t win races in a Camaro you can buy. If you go to the local bike shop you can buy a replica of what the professionals are racing. There is a rule in the governing body of professional road racing that all equipment must be offered to the general public.
Try buying this at your local car dealership
If you wanted to get an exact replica of Taylor Phinney’s BMC race bike, you simple go to your local BMC dealer with roughly $12,000 and it is a done deal. You would likely tweak a few things depending on your preferences and riding style, but you can ride what the professionals ride. To put this into perspective, a NASCAR car is around $125,000 and MotoGP motorcycles are around $2 million. I get it, bikes aren’t the same, but in our industry you can buy the best.
So as a bike mechanic, I am expected to know the ins and outs of the cutting edge of bicycle technology, while simultaneously being an expert about everything made in the last 40 years. I need to be be knowledgeable about how hydraulic braking systems function, the firmware updates needed for electronic drivetrains and power measuring devices, and suspension setup and service intervals while still knowing that Schwinn used their own version of a 26 x 1 ⅜’’ tire.
I Know What I Know
I know what I know and know what I don’t. I play my strong hand and do my homework when I have to. In the bike industry, we question what came first: the dirtbag bike shop guy or despicable pay in the bike industry. I no longer care which came first. My focus is on the present and what I can do to positively impact the shop I work for.
I can have a positive impact in many ways, but my main goal is to contribute to becoming a better team with my colleagues by organizing and teaching. If I can share some knowledge with my colleagues and they reciprocate, we all become experts at something and can learn when we don’t know something. The result is that we collectively become more valuable.
Become more valuable to customers will force the industry to shift towards a more sustainable reciprocation for its employees. I am not asking for income that lets me have E-tap and Di2 on all of my bikes, but I do want to be able to buy a nice used car and ride newish Ultegra. If we continue down the current path of low wages, customers and the industry may end up at a time when no one can tell you the difference between Schwinn and non-Schwinn 26 x 1 ⅜’’ tires and can’t work on your new electronic shifting 12 speed superbike.
If I am expected to be an expert and a professional and follow through on those expectations, I want to be reimbursed for those expectations and follow through. Don’t you feel that in your own work? While I understand that a bike mechanic isn’t the equivalent of a NASCAR head mechanic or a mechanic of race development for MotoGP, someone working on your special ride should be worth a little more than what a line cooks earns making gravy.
Thanks for reading,
Matt
The post What is Your Bike Mechanic Worth appeared first on MBR.
]]>