University of Virginia Library

Diverse Backgrounds

These young businessmen
have arrived in Charlottesville
fresh from diverse
backgrounds. For instance,
Charley originally comes from
Wilmington, Delaware, and
knows little about this area.
However, his partner graduated
from the University English
Department, and was familiar
with Charlottesville's former
lack of bicycle repair facilities.
"I came down here because the
town needed a bicycle shop.
And now it has one," Charley
said with a self-righteous smirk.

Like Charley, Becky and
her husband had friends living
here who painted a picture of a
town desperately needing a
bicycle shop. In fact, Rick is
the area's only representative.
After graduating from college,
he was offered the Spokesman
job, commuting from his farm
in the country.

The Blue Wheel's Bill Gray
has the most interesting
background, because he
abandoned a job as a teacher
in Atlanta to work with
bicycles. But he took a
roundabout way to
Charlottesville, first bicycling
around New Zealand for a
year, and then working in
Denver, Colo. bike shop for
$1.75 an hour.

"I find this to be the most
satisfying work I can get," Bill
said. "I love bicycles and I love
working with my hands. If I
was not running a shop, I
would be working in one."

All of the new proprietors
asserted that Charlottesville
was a little behind the rest of
the country in adopting the
"bike boom." "In Ohio it's
already happened, and it's just
starting here," Becky said. "I'd
like to see the city get into
bike paths. It would really be
nice because the scenery is
beautiful around here. Ohio
doesn't even compare."

Charley has found an
encouraging trend for
environmentalists. "About one

third of all the people who
walk through the door are
happy to see the shop first of
all because of the ecology
movement," he said. "And you
know, that's a pretty good
chunk of people."

Concern for the
environment is only one of the
factors persuading people to
ride bicycles. Both students
and townspeople are turning to
"velocycles" because they are
quiet, and invigorating. They
also avoid gas and oil bills, but
perhaps the greatest argument
in favor of bicycles is the sheer
feeling of joy that a rider gets
when he whizzes past stalled
cars in Charlottesville's eternal
traffic tie-ups.

"In this town especially,
people are using bikes for
transportation," Rick said. He
attributed much of this to the
fact that this is a college town,
full of students who are more
likely to ride bicycles.

Owners of bicycle shops are
often not primarily motivated
by money. The pay usually
isn't outstanding, but the
people are. "I've really enjoyed
being here," Becky said. "The
people that come in here really
respond to you. We always get
a kick out of showing people
bikes and just talking to them
about their bikes."