The Tandem Connection

Seth, what made you want to start this business when you had a good day job? Well, out of the 47 mile stretch of trail, this piece of property kind of sat on an island. There was no bridge there, and there was no bridge about an eighth of a mile there. So when those two bridges went in, my business partner Dave and I were having a conversation, and thought, It's proximity to the trail, right literally on the trail. So we got this building and stocked it up with bicycles and ice cream and snacks and cold drinks. And with about one year under our belts, we're having a good time with it. What about winter time? Do you have very many visitors? Well, we only have one winter under our belts so far. Were so new at that point, it was hard to, I don't know how many people knew about us, but we plan on embracing the cross country ski community. No matter what the weather, it seems But There are some cross country skiers? Oh, absolutely, there'skiers. It's a cross country ski community. They zip by here folks with snow shoes, and people even strap little rubber things on their sneakers, and they run, even if it's icy or snowy. Tell me about that. Absolutely, that's maybe one of the most fun parts about this job is there are folks that come in that haven't been on a bicycle in maybe 20, 30 years, and they come back after spending an afternoon out there, And we rent to families, older folks, younger folks, folks from out of town, and then everything related to it, like little trailers, little kids can ride behind them, tag alongs, baby carriers, trailers, and of course the tantr It's a little something for everybody if they want to get for a ride on the trail. And we also sell bikes, and we repair them, and we offer bicycle storage too. A lot of folks store their bikes here. You have quite a history in this building, don't you, of, I don't mean you individually, but it has a lot of history in the coal era. Could you tell me about that? Oh, absolutely. It's a 100 year old building this year, the old company store for the mine. And it's a building with solid bones, In fact, on the third floor is a giant wheel that's connected to an elevator shaft, and it was powered by mule. Behind you is a, they used to have a pulley and a mule, and they would raise and lower the elevator. Oh, yeah. A lot of things have come and gone from this building in the last 100 years, and hopefully we'll be here for a while. So you've been here a little over a year, you said? Right, yeah, one year last month. What do you look forward to in coming years? Basically just continuing to do what we do and grow it slowly and grow it organically. People, it's a fun line of work because the folks that come here, they're here because they want to be here. They're spending time with their family on the trail, they got to hanker it for an ice cream or a locally made biscotti, and they're having a good time with it, which makes this not feel So the plan is just to keep that going. I saw a sign outside that said yoga classes. Do you also do things We are just starting to dabble with that. There's a young lady named Anita that currently teaches yoga at a few different studios, and she's taught yoga classes right out in our courtyard for outdoor yoga when the weather was nice. And when it's not so nice, she teaches yoga right up in the front of the store up there. So we block it off, dim the lights, light some candles, and you have yoga up in the front, and literally bells and whistles over on this side. No, you think that there is a connection between and among people who have a desire to be fit and healthy, that diet goes along with that and mental calmness that it all seems to fit together. Absolutely. Life's out change. Exactly, exactly. And that's another thing that makes this, I hate to call it work, but this line of work so much fun is it is. It's people that are bettering themselves. They're becoming physically active, and they're spending time together, and it's fun to see people better themselves. There's nothing wrong with a little ice cream either. Thank you very much. Thanks, Gordon.