21 June - Need new location, and LOTS of moving help

Since last week when I first posted that we are losing our present location, we haven't found a new place and have decided to put everything in storage until we do.  We intend to move everything to the warehouse by 5pm Saturday and so we'll need help with the following tasks:
- Repair remaining customer bikes
- Clear out warehouse to make room
- Clear shop space of all unnecessary items
- Have a closeout sale to sell unneeded items.
- Pack up shop items - bikes, parts,tools
- Move everything from shop to warehouse
- Other tasks as needed (sweeping, cleaning, carpentry)
We will be open from 1-5pm Tuesday and Wednesday, 1-7pm from Thursday til Saturday or until everything is done.  Please call if you can help and we'll schedule you for a time.


At the end of July, if we have a new location and are able to re-open we will still need much more volunteer help - particularly long-term volunteers who are willing to serve as volunteer coordinators, instructors and board members.  This has been way too much work for one person and if it is to continue the rest of the community will have to step up and pitch in.

Thank you for any help you can provide.
Nick Hein

16 June - We're Losing Our location

URGENT!

Positive Spin's location is up for auction and we will not have a home after June 30.  Effective immediately we are suspending showroom operations until further notice and liquidating all non-essential items so we can put everything in storage until we find a new location.  Please volunteer if you can help to finish repairs, sort stock, move and look for a new home. Call 304-276-0213

Our tentative plan is to be closed through July and reopen in a new location, but so far we don't have one.  Even If the new owners permit us to stay we have building structural issues that will probably force us to relocate.  We appreciate any help anyone can offer in finding a new home.

If we don't get assistance Positive Spin is doomed.  Thank you.

14 June - Green Riders are coming

Good evening,
Oliver Bock and his sister Catherine have been riding electric-assisted recumbent bikes across the United States since April 22 and will be passing through Morgantown this Thursday and Friday.  They will be at the library at 5:30PM for the Green Nite presentation (along with Positive Spin) and on Friday we will be presenting a bike clinic for kids at the waterfront parking garage.  Time and other details to follow.
See you there!

UPDATE June 17.
The Greenriders are here.  They spent last nite in Wadestown as my guests at the farm and will be running around town today before tonite's Library presentation.  They were here at the shop at 2pm today to take the tour and give testrides.  Here's the Channel 12 news story from their visit.

12 June - When the bottom falls out....

Good evening,
This is earthshaking news.  Today while I was in the office showing a bike to a customer the floor dropped suddenly about 12 inches.  It appears that the concrete slab wasn't adequately supported, it had been a few inches low since we moved in but this was the first time I'd felt it move.  John Dorsey and John Lozier gamely came to the rescue to move everything out (we left a few items that we felt wouldn't be missed if the earth swallows them up) and the office furniture is now set up in the shop.  This is a temporary arrangment, the more temporary the better in fact.  We need to find a new location NOW, where we can have office, shop and warehouse all in one location.  If anyone out there knows of such a place and can connect us with people who can make it affordable please call me at the shop phone number.  When we find a new home we'll need help moving there too, and will try to recruit volunteers for that as well.
Thank you,
Nick

9 June - Almost over already?

Good evening from Apex, NC.
Andrew DaSilva (pictured above) and I have been giving classes here since Monday to the 1070 elementary students at Olive Chapel School.  We've gotten through 750 students, with the rest scheduled tomorrow before we return home.  We started early on Monday with 6 classes in a row of all grades (K-5).  Katy Caggia, PE teacher and Reed Huegerich, city planner and grant coordinator - met us and we got the gym setup and the course marked with pylons and tape.  A full day of elementary kids is grueling in a joyful way.  These kids are beautiful, even the squirrely ones.  The days have ended well, though usually we take a nap and an evening ride to restore our balance and get ready for the next day.  Hard to believe we've seen every one of 750 kids, and that they've learned things that they'll be able to use for the rest of their lives.  Teaching's cool that way.
Tonite we left the van at the school and rode our bikes home the 4 miles from school.  Since tomorrow's our last day we'll check out in the morning to leave for Martinsville.  There we're visiting a raw food friend of mine for an evening, before returning to Morgantown.  I'll back to open the shop on Saturday at 10am for volunteers and 1pm for customers.  See you then.

Side story:
Why I'm here - Last July Bruce Rosar was tragically struck and killed at an intersection near here.  Bruce had been a lifetime advocate for cycling to all ages.  He was an instructor, Bike League board member and on every advocacy and riding group he could find.  I met him about a month before at an instructors' conference in San Jose, CA.  At the location of his death there is a ghost bike (above) that I ride past every day on the way to school, you can read about Bruce at this link and this link.  Bruce would have been the instructor at this school, I'm grateful for the chance to take his place while deeply saddened by his loss.  It's been a sober reminder that we all need to look out for each other on the roads, whatever vehicle we're in.  Mostly I hope it will remind us to always appreciate the vitality and joy we give each other by our living presence, friendship and inspiration.
Nick
Article on Bike Commuting in today's Chicago Sun-Times.

4 June - Work Party this Saturday

Just a reminder that the shop will be closed next week while I'm teaching bike clinics at Olive Chapel Elementary School in Apex, NC.  I leave on Sunday, before then there's plenty we can use help with.
Come to the shop this Saturday if you have some time to help out.  Here's what we'll be doing:
9am:  Info Table at Hazel-Ruby park for the Decker's Creek Half-Marathon (til 1pm)
10am:  Completing the 10 customer bikes that are awaiting repairs
           Prepping 20 training bikes for classes in NC next week
           Catching up on housekeeping and organizing

Coming Events:
June 16:  Green Nite at the Library - We'll be presenting things every citizen can do to reduce their vehicle miles
June 25:  Fishing Derby Bike Clinic
July 24: Cheat Lake Cub Scout Bike Clinic

Volunteers are needed to help plan and conduct these events; please call the shop if you can help.
Thank you,
Nick

1 June - Thought for Today

Happy June, I'm passing on this quote from one of the other blogs I read.  I'll post some real news later today.
Patriotism is proud of a country's virtues and eager to correct its deficiencies; it also acknowledges the legitimate patriotism of other countries, with their own specific virtues. The pride of nationalism, however, trumpets its country's virtues and denies its deficiencies, while it is contemptuous toward the virtues of other countries. It wants to be, and proclaims itself to be, "the greatest", but greatness is not required of a country; only goodness is. -Sydney J. Harris, journalist and author (1917-1986)