If you own a bike and live in anywhere close to the proximity of Columbus, Ohio chances are you have either participated in or have seen first hand the impact that Pelotonia has had on our community in its mission towards One Goal. Through our shops, roll: has been proud to support the event and it's many riders and pelotons since the beginning, provided opportunities to give back to the community of survivors and their families to further research through our roll: Model program.

As part of our commitment in 2017 we have collaborated with Doug Ulman and the team to make a signature Pelotonia17 roll: bike, which we will be raffling off this month, with all proceeds go directly to Pelotonia.

ENTER TO WIN HERE

The lucky winner will get to choose from any of our 3 bike models, design their bike online, and get a custom fit through our perfect fit process. We'll make sure their support for the cause is shown by putting it all together on a special edition Pelotonia17 branded frames. Anyone can participate, whether a Pelotonia rider, their friends and family or someone who saw this on Facebook and just wanted to win a new bike. 

We will be attending the opening ceremonies on Friday, August 4, where well be showing off the Pelotonia17 bikes, and selling tickets for the raffle in person. Come down to enjoy the festivities, and show your support for the riders and volunteers before we ride on Saturday.

Raffle tickets can also be purchased until the end of August at any of our stores as well as here on our website, and there is no limit on the number of entries per person.

Pelotonia is one of the biggest charity rides in the US and has raised over $130 million for cancer research and sees nearly 8,000 riders participate each year since the first time the event went on in 2009. Join us in our support of one goal, to end cancer. 

ENTER TO WIN HERE

I had the pleasure of making the trip from Salt Lake City to Columbus to ride (most of, I’ll get to that) the Great Ohio Bicycle Adventure, or GOBA, this year on a borrowed A:1 Adventure.  I joined 1499 others including my Ohio Friends, Marc, Scott, and Vargas, pseudo GOBA vets, as we rode around North West Ohio.  Being from the high desert out west, I was really excited to ride a flat route at sea level!  I am by no means a cycling addict.  GOBA was the first organized ride that I had ever done.  Many years ago I used to ride a lot of street to train for swim team and a couple of sprint triathlons.  The last few years I have been working on regaining my mountain bike skills from college, but this was new to me!

I was able to get the borrowed roll: A:1 from my colleague at Vertiv, Greg R. a couple days before the ride began.  My first impressions were great, I choose the A:1 over his Trek race bike.  At first I found myself looking for the front derailleur levers, but quickly figured out that I didn’t need anything but the ten gears on the rear.  I took the bike out for a test ride along the Alum Creek Trail in Columbus.  What a great bike!  I am used to more mountain biking than road biking, so the flat bars and upright riding style suited me just fine!  Being a little taller than Greg, I was able to move the handlebars up a couple inches with only few minutes of tweaking. Sitting a little more upright was just what I needed.  With the bike set up, I was able to strap on handlebar and seat bags, and I was ready to roll.

We started on Saturday in Findlay, OH at the fairgrounds.  We arrived, registered, and set up camp for the night.  Findlay has a really nice downtown!  We ate at Logan’s Irish Pub and stopped by a cool bike shop called Muddy River Bicycle, but the highlight of the night was the Fern Cafe.  Bright and early on Sunday morning we rolled out towards Tiffin.  The first ¾ of the 50ish miles for the day was with the wind, and was a great warm up.  We made great time and arrived at Hedges-Boyer Park to spend the night. 

Monday was the first rest day (or, for the more dedicated riders, a loop to Bellevue and back).  We spent the day walking around Tiffin, enjoying any microbrews we could locate, and playing Frisbee golf at the park.  The Clover Club and MST Pub and Grub were the hot spots in town.  Weather was decent except for a microburst that caused a handful of people to head to the store to replace their tents.

Tuesday we were back on the road after some coffee and Chris Cakes.  It was awesome to ride the back roads of Ohio, even riding against a pretty solid wind most of the day.  Our rest and lunch stops were in small towns along the way, all of which showed amazing hospitality!  From Tiffin, we headed south to Upper Sandusky where we spent the night at the fairgrounds.  The Rose Bud Tavern was the highlight of that night.

Wednesday we were back at it, heading to Bellefountaine.  We rode through some beautiful Amish country and arrived at the Bellefountaine High School.  I got a flat, and quickly threw on a new tube and continued.  I grabbed a spare tube from Dan at Breakaway Cycles who was in the middle of rebuilding the crank of an old Schwinn for a teen age girl.  He is great guy!  Thursday was another rest day (or the century loop if your butt was up for it.  Mine was not).  I highly recommend having a flight at Brewfountaine downtown.  We got back from town and learned that it was supposed to be a really bad night of weather that was going to carry into Friday.  We were given the option of taking down camp and moving inside the school or sending one of us back to Findlay on a bus to pick up the car and end our ride.  We had to make a quick decision, so we ended up ending our trip that night.  Thursday night would have been alright, but Friday would have been a full day of riding in the rain followed by setting up camp in the rain.  It was still disappointing, and I am sorry that I didn’t finish.  I still had legs and butt left to give, but I don’t have any regrets.  I was able to ride 150 miles of our planned 250 (the hardcore folks did 400 miles that week).  We sat out on Friday, but took a ride on the Ohio to Erie trial to get in 40 more miles on Saturday before I headed back home on Sunday.

I had a really great week of riding with old friends.  The bike performed admirably, super smooth, solid, quiet, and easy to cruise on, along with being fun for some easy off road excursions.  Top gear, at an easy pace, was around 18MPH, and I never got close to low gear on the small hills we encountered.  Now all that is left is to figure out how to get one of my own…. Or maybe the S:1 Sport model.

Chad Eiring

SEE CHAD'S BIKE

Opposites attract. That saying that may ring true for some successful relationships but not in the case of Stuart Hunter and Clark Butcher. Hunter, the founder of roll: Bicycle Company and Butcher, the founder of Victory Bicycle Studio are committed to the same idea of what it means to be a bicycle rider. Both have had life changing experiences through riding bikes that they have dedicated much of their professional lives to bringing those life changing experiences to others. Both are entirely committed to finding the perfect bike for each of their customers and perfectly fitting the bike individually to each customer. Both are innovators in the bicycle retail industry and setting the bar for other bicycle retailers. The partnership between Victory and roll: is just beginning, Victory started selling roll:’s bike at the beginning of June. Following is a conversation between Stuart and Clark on the partnership so far.

Stuart: Tell us a little bit about Victory Bicycle Studio, and your vision?

Clark: Since we opened in 2010, Victory Bicycle Studio has grown from a part-time project for its me, to being recognized as a national leader in bicycle retail. We talk about an uncompromising commitment to service and attention to detail that have become the Victory standard. Our success has been achieved in my mind, through assembling a team of individuals that uniquely combine experience and passion for all things cycling.

Stuart: If you had to describe Victory Bicycle Studio and its mission to someone who’d never visited the store and met you, what would you say?

Clark: I want to get you hooked. I want you to have the same addiction to this sport as me. By slowing the process down and ensuring proper fit and comfort on the bike, I can remove most all discrepancies on the front-end. We are 100% committed to finding the right bike for each individual person that walks through our door. 

Stuart: Victory Bicycle Studio jumped on board as our very first Partner, tell us why?

Clark: I saw the bikes live and instantly became connected. The simplicity, the style, and the quality. SRAM 1X components are easy to service, reliable, and easy for the rider to use and understand. The upright fit and focus on comfort is spot-on. You combine that practicality, and give it a retro Porsche paint job, and it’s simply awesome. When it’s something you personally dig, it's easy to sell.

Stuart: What’s the reaction been from customers to the roll: bikes?

Clark: Customers absolutely love the look. It’s not a geriatric looking hybrid, and it's not a "cool kid" fixie. It's somewhere in between. Its hip, it’s modern, and it’s current. What we also see is great communication, bikes that are easy to build, and ship fast. This combination makes for such a great experience for people. 

 Stuart: Describe the biking community and facilities of Memphis?

Clark: The community has really grown. When I began cycling at the age of 9 years old, a big group ride had 25-30 riders, and that was on a perfect weather spring day. Now, there are likely 3-4 group rides each day throughout the week with as many as 50 riders. The city is constantly adding bike lanes, implementing bike share programs, better signage, etc. Memphis is definitely not leading the way, but is absolutely doing a great job to keep up and improve its "bicycle friendliness." I am personally proud to say I am a Memphis cyclist.

 Stuart: What’s your own connection to riding bikes?

Clark: I have always loved endurance sports, from my first half marathon when I was 11 to my first triathlon at 14. Through triathlons I found cycling was my forte and began road racing. After high school I was racing full time and fell in love with the world of elite bicycle racing. I went on to study exercise science at Fort Lewis College and then back to racing. I still race professionally today. I love working with all types of people who share a love of bicycling with me.

You can see the complete line of roll: Bikes at Victory. Note that customers that live in TN now also have the option to shop online at rollbicycles.com and select Victory as a pick up location in the checkout, and pick up their bikes at the Victory Studio, fully assembled and ready to go.

  See our Complete Line of Bikes

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