Happy New Year

I am back in the valley after a nice well needed vacation to South Carolina for a week. I always am scared to close the shop for a week do do trips like that because I know it only takes one bad experience for a customer to decide he or she doesn't like a store or business. I am sometimes afraid that that one bad expierience will be when someone drives to see the shop and I am out of town and have the shop closed. I always put a sign up weeks in advance to let people know I will be closed for awhile, but it never fails that there are rude and patrinising messages on my aswering machine that someone is calling during the regular business hours and I haven't awsered in three days! I understand some poeples frustrations but being most of the time a one man operation here at Black Dog Bikes, I have to get away to see family and to relax for a few weeks out of the year. I was able to visit with the folks and my Sister and Nephew down in SC, and enjoyed riding at Paris Mountain State Park on the days it wasn't raining.

I got a years membership to the YMCA here in Staunton for X-mas so the membership to Golds will have to disappear as the YMCA has loads of extra stuff that Golds does not offer. I saw on their schedule that they do a race day spin class. This sounds cool. Maybe a distance or wattage measureing computer tells the instructors who has gone further and harder during the class. I will to ask around about this and maybe get my race on this winter. I also know Mr Russell has a membership to the YMCA so we will have to get our race on if this is a cool class.

Happy New Year