The Worst Gifts for Cyclists

'Tis the season for "listicles" of gift ideas for cyclists from every publication from Bicycling Magazine to Good Housekeeping looking to sell you something or make a buck through affiliate links.

Steve and Kristin go through lists from several, discussing why some seemingly obvious choices actually make for terrible gifts (unless you KNOW it's what someone wants), as well as share some of their favorites as well as those from the STBG Cycling Team.

We also discuss feedback received on a recent clip about ebikes ruining mountain biking, and share news from the Shop including new waterbottles and the new Spider from Intense.

Transcript

Kristin: 0:04

This is Kristin.

Steve: 0:06

And I'm Steve, and you are listening to Cycling Together, a show all about things, bikes, riding, and riding together.

Kristin: 0:12

This week.

Steve: 0:13

We're turning things on its head and we're talking about what not to give cyclists for gifts.

Kristin: 0:18

We'll give you a couple of ideas for what you could give them. But yes, we're gonna talk about bad gifts for cyclists. But first, let's talk about the Turkey Afterburner.

Steve: 0:29

The Turkey Afterburner is a local event held by the Southeast region of the New England Mountain Bike Association, NEMBA.

Kristin: 0:37

It's their tenth year.

Steve: 0:38

And it's sort of the end of the year, I guess the probably the last NEMBA chapter group ride event.

Kristin: 0:46

Yeah, it's the end of the NEBA adventure series. So they have one throughout the season that this was the last one.

Steve: 0:53

And it's always the uh Sunday after Thanksgiving.

Kristin: 0:57

Yes.

Steve: 0:58

So uh turkey afterburner.

Kristin: 1:00

Yeah, and it was great. It was great, it was a great day. It was cold, but actually not quite as cold as I expected.

Steve: 1:07

Well, we've had other we've had better afterburners, let's face it. Weatherwise? Weatherwise. This one was pretty good morning. Not as cold as I think we were expecting, but then we had a couple of quick rain showers early afternoon, and then the rain kind of came in by what 2 30-ish or so, I'd say. Yeah.

Kristin: 1:28

But my understanding is the um mountain bikers hung on and hung out for quite a bit.

Steve: 1:33

Well, they did because everybody had their raffle tickets, so everybody's waiting for that raffle, and then the MC on the microphone was really sort of um uh pushing the times back and back and back making everybody waiting.

Kristin: 1:48

It started to rain, and it was like the it's gonna be the raffle's gonna be an hour, and then it was like 10 minutes later, the raffle's gonna be in half an hour. We're like, okay, we're moving that fast. And then like 20 minutes later, it's gonna be an hour. It's gonna be in after we are so confused. Um, but I think I heard afterwards from the people that were cleaning up from the chaos and fun that there were many still hanging out, despite oh, good.

Steve: 2:14

Well, the fires were raging, so they had some excellent uh fires going to keep everybody warm. So and the beer.

Kristin: 2:22

Shout out to Southeast chapter of Nemba. It was an amazing event. Um, also, one thing I want to talk about before we get to our main topic is last show we talked about, or I shared my question of whether or not e-mountain bikes were ruining mountain biking or if we were letting them. Yep. Right. And then I shared that as a clip to all our social medias. And um, apparently I hit a nerve.

Steve: 2:51

Well, that's those are some fighting words for people. So yeah.

Kristin: 2:55

I was told both that it was the best take they had ever heard on the situation.

Steve: 3:01

Okay.

Kristin: 3:01

And it was the worst take that they had ever heard on the situation. Yeah. Um, you should I should also say we're really bad at responding to things on the social media. We're really good about putting stuff up on the social media, and then we kind of move on with our lives and forget that people might be responding to it. Um, but there were two in particular that I wanted to address. You it you answered this one, but I thought it'd be fun for the the show. The comment was lycra has ruined mountain biking, it brings the road attitude to the mountain. And you said what?

Steve: 3:39

Well, I said that we like when we started, I I got my first mountain bike in 1990.

Kristin: 3:45

Yes.

Steve: 3:46

So we're now at 35 years ago. Breakfast what there were there were no there were no baggy shorts, there was no there were no mountain bike clothing. You wore you wore your lycra. And so I would wear my my some normal lycra cycling shorts and a tight lycra top. Right. And and I we would, I, in that outfit, no pads, no, like bombing down Killington, Mount Snow, um, and then that in the east, and like particularly, and then I had gone out west after college, right, and I rode up to Eagle's Nest Avail and rode down from there. Then I went then with some friends, we went to Steamboat, rode up there, bombed down Steamboat there. In bare lycra, no pads, 26-inch wheels, hard tail with only 60 millimeters of travel and 1.9 inch tires.

Kristin: 4:38

You know, it's a funny thing about lycra, because I feel like when some people, either non-cyclists or new cyclists or or anticyclists, want to crap on cycling, it's lycra that comes up that they use, you know, what are you doing on the rec path in lycra?

Steve: 4:55

Lycra is purpose-built for cycling. It it does not move against your skin as you're riding. There's a reason you wear lycra. And and and there's a reason why, even as a mountain biker wearing baggy shorts, underneath that is a pair of lycra bib shorts, because that keeps the chamois pad against your skin tight. That you know, you're not having the the baggies are not rubbing against and chafing against your skin.

Kristin: 5:24

And yeah, but it's always the thing. And my response usually is it's the right clothing for the job. Yeah, what are you wearing swimming?

Steve: 5:33

Right.

Kristin: 5:34

Like, are you gonna wear out oh, you know, because I've seen cut off jean shorts. Yeah, cut off jean, right? I'm sorry, you're not, you know, what are you wearing jogging? Yeah, what are you wearing? But somehow lycra is always the thing that gets pulled up. Like these these people in lycra.

Steve: 5:48

In downhill mountain biking in the day, they would wear tight clothing. And downhill racing was a completely different discipline. It was it was about speed, not about just unbelievable technical challenges.

Kristin: 6:01

Right.

Steve: 6:02

Um, and then there was this like it got into like these really, really baggy clothes at one point, and I kept saying to myself, what are they doing? Like, this is just this is a downhill race against the clock. Why are you not wearing lycra? Right. Why are you not wearing a a skin suit, basically? Right. And to be honest, they have started getting very very much more tight. Uh, because people will, I think, realized, wow, I'm giving up speed here.

Kristin: 6:30

Yeah, yeah. No, I mean it's just interesting. And as I said, lycra always gets that kind of you know, it's it's the argument, like you're being too serious, you're being too serious about cycling if you're wearing lycra. And and again, I use my bathing suit.

Steve: 6:46

But and for for mountain bike racing, for cross-country racing, let's say actually cross-country racing, yes, a standard lycra road kit is the best choice.

Kristin: 6:56

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. So no, all right, and then there was a comment, and this one actually made me sad, and I didn't respond to it because I don't know this person, but the person said, I haven't ridden with my lifelong riding buddy 20 years at least, since he got his e-bike two years ago, and I'm not slow on a regular bike. Yeah, that's sad. It is sad. Now, what I'm gonna say is this is not the e-bike's fault. No, your friend's an asshole. Yeah, I'm I I just I'm sorry.

Steve: 7:29

Like if it's not the e-bike's fault.

Kristin: 7:31

It's not the e-bike's fault. I ride with people regularly on e-bikes, and they maintain whatever speed we go at, and just the idea that your friend is like sucks to be you, man. I I just think that's really crappy. Yeah. So I think he needs to find new friends, and that's what I could not say, nor will I post as a clip because I'm those are fighting words. Anyway. All right. Well, shall we dive right into today's topic?

Steve: 8:00

Yes, what not to buy, right? Everybody has the what you know, the best gifts for cyclists. Well, that's yeah, we're gonna we're gonna talk about why those are not the best gifts for cyclists and all the other things that you shouldn't buy a cyclist.

Kristin: 8:11

I know, and it's I mean, tis the season, right? Tis the season of the list, what they call the listicle. That's the social media word for it, the listicle, um, which is you know, the best cycling gifts under 50, the great best gifts for gravel bikers, mountain bike gear for mountain bikers. Um, the two there were the two that cracked me up were the best gift ideas for women who love bikes. Okay. Not really a butt. I did go look at it and they had a bracelet on that that I guess you wouldn't have on a men's one. And then good housekeeping.

Steve: 8:50

Good housekeeping.

Kristin: 8:51

Good housekeeping came out with 25 gifts for cyclists for mountain bikers, triathletes, and casual riders. Okay, let's just talk about that. 26 gifts that are gonna cover everyone from a mountain biker to a triathlete to your casual rider.

Steve: 9:10

Yeah.

Kristin: 9:11

Uh by good housekeeping.

Steve: 9:13

The the the Venn diagram of those things overlapping is gonna be the like a sliver in the middle of you know, nothing.

Kristin: 9:23

So so let's acknowledge. Why do why are these why are these publications making these lists?

Steve: 9:28

Oh, because they all have links to these products because they get affiliate.

Kristin: 9:34

Yeah. Yeah.

Steve: 9:34

You're trying to sell shit. They're trying to sell stuff. Yeah. Yes.

Kristin: 9:38

Like one of them, competitive cyclists.com, like the stuff on their list, which we're gonna go into, was so ridiculous until you realize their whole job is to sell the stuff on their website. Right. So, and then everybody else is affiliates.

Steve: 9:51

It's all in and they're it's disclosed at the top, but it is, but in and I but I see this a lot in in both the bike categories, and I will say sort of the favorite of bikers is coffee. I see this in coffee stuff as well, where you'll find these best lists, and every single item has, let's say, a link to the Amazon.

Kristin: 10:14

Right.

Steve: 10:15

Right? It is not the best thing in that category, it is the best thing in that category that is on Amazon, right? Right, and and when it comes to coffee, a lot of the good stuff is not on Amazon. So, you know, I I'll see like, though, this is the best coffee maker for this type of coffee, and this is the best espresso maker, and that whatever. And I'm like, no, like no, no, it's not. You know, there's not one Italian machine on there which tells you no.

Kristin: 10:42

Right. And I mean, we could sign up for this too, and I've tried it in the past. I'm I'm just too lazy. I'm too lazy to do the affiliate links because you have to generate each one. Like, we have an affiliate account with Amazon. And I have done these in the past where I too have played this game, and first of all, we just don't get enough traffic to make it worth the amount of time that I have to do. So here's the good news you can trust us because we're not selling anything.

Steve: 11:09

Yeah. There we go.

Kristin: 11:11

All right. So what we're gonna focus on first is we looked at a bunch of lists and we're gonna we've picked some things that we are gonna call bad gifts. Now they're not necessarily bad gifts if you have specifically been asked for them.

Steve: 11:27

Yes, so this is this is a case, these are not the gifts, bike gifts for adults, not children.

Kristin: 11:32

Yes.

Steve: 11:33

And it's some stuff that you haven't been specifically asked for. Yes. Right, right.

Kristin: 11:38

I'm starting with the first one. Okay. I think a bike is a bad gift.

Steve: 11:42

Yeah, look at wow, you're just going right at the bike. Go right in there. Bull hog. Okay, a bike is a bad gift. And and I and as soon as you said that to me, I said, what? No. And then I go, oh, wait a minute, yeah.

Kristin: 11:54

Bikes under a Christmas tree for your kids. Awesome. Best gift. Like that is just the awesome gift. But I'm talking about a grown-up, and it's right up there with the like Lexus big red bow on a car thing, where you're like, Would you, if you ever went out and just bought a car and brought it home, I there's a there's an SNL skit about that.

Steve: 12:14

There is a great one.

Kristin: 12:16

Which I would kill you, right? And I've seen people, we've talked about it this on the show, you know, guys who bought their wife a bike and she can't get on the bloody thing. Now, I know you could probably return it or make sure you work with the bike shop that you can return it.

Steve: 12:33

Right. That's a big one.

Kristin: 12:34

But if you're gonna buy someone, quote unquote, a bike, like buy them money for a bike. Like, I have put X amount of money on deposit with our local bike shop so you can go pick a bike.

Steve: 12:47

Yeah, that's a and that's a great one, right?

Kristin: 12:49

That would be the way to do it.

Steve: 12:51

Um, yeah. So getting somebody a bike has a lot of asterisks up in the clip next to it.

Kristin: 12:56

Unless they specifically ask for or or they've been like saying to you, I've been riding my buddy's bike, I love it, it's great, I would love one just like it.

Steve: 13:07

Like I can see kind of very usually think of that.

Kristin: 13:11

What's another one that would be a bad thing if they didn't ask for it?

Steve: 13:17

So you think a trainer is a bad one? Again, if you didn't ask, a bike, so an indoor bike trainer you're saying is a bad one.

Kristin: 13:25

If I didn't ask for it, all it says is sweetie, you might need to lose a little weight. Does it though? You're not really moving enough.

Steve: 13:34

I I have to agree this is a this is an ask. The other thing about trainers is that there are a lot of different types now, and I think that is also a tough one to get somebody unless, again, unless you're super involved with what they do, they use and like what systems they want to do, what kind of riding they want to do.

Kristin: 14:02

Maybe they really like I guess let me put it this way would you roll a Peloton into somebody's house without asking them? You might be like, I didn't really want a Peloton. I didn't want a Peloton, I wanted a bike trainer. I didn't want a bike trainer, I wanted a Peloton. Like, yeah, you know, I think it's just these expensive tech gifts, and they're on every list, right?

Steve: 14:24

Get a Garmin, get a get a light, get a Wahoo Kicker, get a they're just I just think they're so personal that unnell again, unless somebody specifically said if you're, and this is gonna come to play with a lot of things we say here, if you're a cyclist, if you are somebody, if you are an enthusiast who rides, yeah, okay, semi-enthusiast, weekend warrior, whatever, um then you're going to have opinions about the stuff that and the gear you like and you want. Yeah. And that's where this these gifts come into problem. Now, what about with a trainer? What about if you knew somebody had a trainer and they were just watching TV with it, maybe getting them, and I don't know if they do this, but what about if somebody you got somebody like a year to Zwift subscription?

Kristin: 15:15

Interesting idea, but then is their trainer a smart trainer?

Steve: 15:20

Yeah, you then you have to know these nuances of the gear they have.

Kristin: 15:23

And I mean, think about like our daughter, she has zero interest in Zwift. She likes to go downstairs and watch new girl while she's on her trainer, right? She has a trainer, she had would I'd give her a Swift, a Zwift, and she will always pick new girl. Right. So I guess the only question just would be if first of all, if you are on Zwift and it is your wife or your husband and they're on and they've expressed some interest in it, maybe you could buy a month or two. Maybe not a whole year. Um but yeah, I just think it gets all of these. I think all of these really for a good part of this are gonna come back to it's just so personal. Personal, right? Like my favorite, I'm gonna skip the one we had, is anytime any of these lists recommend shorts, not not like baggies, but the cycling shorts, the cycling shorts, because like nope, nope, no, don't get don't get a cyclist to pair cycling shorts. Yeah, it's so again, how uh how the pad is made, where the seam is, what works for you in your anatomy. I just don't think that you can really buy someone unless, again, they say specifically, I love the pearlazumi shorts with the drop trout and blah blah blah, like these, these links, which let's face it, a lot of people do. I mean, our family all the time. It's like, I need specific things that you want for Christmas. Great, this is what I want, but don't go rogue, right? Don't be like, well, I know that she said the perlazumi, but I really like the verge ones, they're so much better. So I'm gonna buy her those. Right. Right? Because like that's just messing with areas that you should not be messing with.

Steve: 17:07

You so you also put down saddlebags and handlebar bags, and uh, and I have to agree there as well because unless what does that person want to carry? Do they do they need a do they want a saddlebag or handlebar bag or or top two bag that carries their phone? Do they just need it for a few nutrition items?

Kristin: 17:22

Do you want to be waterproof? Do you somebody who like luggage?

Steve: 17:25

Yeah, what kind of mount and and so forth, what do they do they want? Does their top two bag can be bolted in with because they have got the the um the bolts for that, or does it have to strap down? It like you keep again, it's too personal. So in yeah, it's too personal.

Kristin: 17:41

Yeah, which again, next one, too personal. Helmets. It's a lot of recommendations for getting someone helmet or shoes. Or first of all, unless you know me, you cannot get me a helmet. My head is gigantic, and there are just not that many helmets that work well for me. I've tried them on at the shop. People are like, I love this helmet. I put it on. I'm like, ugh, it's not, it doesn't fit me right. Yeah, so yeah, this is where we're gonna come down to. Maybe a gift card is the best thing you can give to a cyclist. The give the gift to shopping.

Steve: 18:11

Right.

Kristin: 18:11

Um, shoes are the same way. Here's a good point.

Steve: 18:15

Here's a good one for shoes. Yeah, I have had some riders come in with their shoes. Yes, and and you go, Wow, you need a new pair of shoes. I mean, like, they're falling apart. Right. Right? Yes, they have run these shoes into the ground. If you're the spouse and you see that like you, your spouse is a cyclist and has ratty shoes, you can probably go ahead and get them the same, whether they're a road or a mountain, get them the same type.

Kristin: 18:43

Yes.

Steve: 18:44

And the same brand, because that's the only way you're gonna know what the same size, because it's the only way you're gonna know that size fits.

Kristin: 18:51

That's right, because even if we're it's the quote unquote same size, they may not fit the same thing. Every brand fits a little bit different.

Steve: 18:58

So if somebody's wearing No, and if they could take them back and exchange them, fine.

Kristin: 19:01

But uh Yeah, but that's what we're trying to avoid is the taking back and exchanging, or just feeling I I'll admit, I grew up in a family that we weren't. You just said thank you. Yeah, thank you very much. Like that was a big revelation when I joined your family. Because in my family, you got a present and you said thank you and you kept it. That was just what you did. We never talked about receipts. And the first Christmas I went to with your family, your mother, before I even like processed what was out of the box, was like, if you don't like it, you return it. I have the receipt. What do you you know? And I was like, no, no, no, no, I love it, I love it. And then afterwards I was like, Wait, I can return it. Like that just wasn't it it just wasn't we didn't do that in my family. You were just grateful. Um okay. Tire sealants. Oh, tire ceiling. So they went the this was on people's lists.

Steve: 19:52

Yes, in fact, uh somebody we know, Jeff, said it received muck off sealant once and That it was like what he was listing bad gifts.

Kristin: 20:02

Yeah, yeah. Oh, yes, yes, because and we're gonna get to that, but we asked our team for their best gifts and their worst gifts. We didn't get many worst gifts, but he did share one, which was somebody gave like a gallon of muck-off sealant.

Steve: 20:15

As much as I like muck-off products, this their tubeless sealant is one of the worst products ever made for bicycles. Right. It is horrendous stuff. And and so the thing, but the thing with tire sealant is that they a lot of them are not compatible with each other. I was gonna say they're and so if a rider is using a particular type of sealant and you want to get them more of that sealant because you know that's what they're using, go ahead. But but otherwise, don't get tire sealant.

Kristin: 20:42

Right. Even though and and so kind of the same with parts.

Steve: 20:45

Oh parts. So so really parts. You like I really don't see a person going out and getting drivetrain components and brakes and so forth, and tires, tires are very personal. Don't you even but don't get that stuff.

Kristin: 21:01

I saw I saw one recommendation was like a Garmin mount. Like, well, if you have a Garmin, you probably have a Garmin mount.

Steve: 21:08

You probably have a mount already, right? Yep.

Kristin: 21:10

So and how how long is the Garmin? Like, not all Garmin mounts are compatible, like they're different lengths. So I have one that like doesn't fit it because my Garmin got bigger. So um God, we sound so ungrateful. I know. Don't get that either. That sucks and that no. All right. One that I know my friend wants me to tell say, my friend Leslie would say, water bottle. Don't don't give people water bottles. Really? Unless there's something good in it. Oh, you use that as the you use that as a wrapping for something else inside, like gift card or uh there is a risk to that, and we will use my friend Leslie as an example because her dear husband Dave gave her come in to see the bike guy to build your own custom gravel bike, right? So excited. So we wrapped it up, we put it in the gift in the water bottle, in part because I knew Leslie does not want any more water bottles. And the reality is, if you're a cyclist, you've been doing it for a while, you have a crap ton of water bottles, right? We have an entire drawer of water bottles. So she opened the present with a water bottle and she hucked it across the room. And at the end of Christmas, Dave was like, You're you're gonna want to look inside that. Like, so don't give just an empty water bottle. And just don't give a water bottle. Unless it's like really unique, I guess, or but like, I don't know, cyclists just have enough water bottles.

Steve: 22:32

Right.

Kristin: 22:33

You know?

Steve: 22:33

Right. Okay. Um I get that. Yeah, and and of course, with water bottle goes along with nutrition.

Kristin: 22:38

Oh my gosh, this was such a weird one.

Steve: 22:41

Your gels and your and your well it was on all the lists.

Kristin: 22:46

Scratch.

Steve: 22:49

No, I I take it back. This one could be a good one if you know the person already is is the cyclist is using nutrition. And you can't go wrong with a few things. Like you can't go really go wrong with like the stroop waffles. They're they're they're tasty even if they're just an ad-for-ride snack or whatever.

Kristin: 23:07

No, but these were like a gallon.

Steve: 23:08

I just had this vision of- Don't buy tubs of scratch or tubs of games. But they were. Yeah.

Kristin: 23:13

Could you imagine if your mother was like, hey, I was reading an article and I I decided to give you a tub of Gatorade. Right. You'd be like, I don't use Gatorade. Thank you very much. You know, again. But yeah, I think the little snacks, the little like, or if you're at a, I don't know, if you're at a craft fair and they have a cute nutrition and you get some little granola munchies, that's all cute little, that'd be fine.

Steve: 23:33

Yeah.

Kristin: 23:34

You know, but these recommendations in these articles were like a a a pound of scratch.

Steve: 23:41

Yeah.

Kristin: 23:41

Right?

Steve: 23:42

Or gels can actually also be tough because one, you might get a flavor they don't like. Or some flavors automatically come with like extra sodium and some come with extra caffeine, and that might be not what the person wants.

Kristin: 23:57

Yeah.

Steve: 23:57

Yeah.

Kristin: 23:58

You could get, there is a service called the feed, and you could give them a gift card to that.

Steve: 24:05

That's a great one.

Kristin: 24:06

Right. And that way they can pick their own nutrition. I always think of gift cards, and and they're gonna come up in the in the list of what we think is good as the I know they can seem impersonal, but I always said, like with the kids, it's the gift of shopping. You're giving the children like you can go shopping and not spending your own money, so you're giving them time. I think it's nice. I like gift cards. All right. Um other things that that pop up on the list a lot, books. Books. I know I'm a cyclist. Yeah. And I read a lot. I'm a big reader. I don't need to read about the history of female cyclists. I don't need a book on that.

Steve: 24:50

And I am not a big reader.

Kristin: 24:52

And you have received a butt ton of books.

Steve: 24:54

And I have received a lot of some interesting stuff.

Kristin: 24:58

And I may have given you some.

Steve: 25:00

You right, you may have, but I yeah, I I would prefer not.

Kristin: 25:05

Yeah, but they're just again, they're all on the list. Like just to be a cyclist does not mean that by nature we are all curious about the history of the bike. Right. Right? Mm-hmm. So, um, and then the other one that came up today. I was out at brunch today, and then I walked around to a couple little stationery stores. Are those little those little repair kits and little tin cans?

Steve: 25:28

Yes.

Kristin: 25:29

Yeah, it was so cute.

Steve: 25:31

It's like the bicycle little repair kit, but it comes from a Hallmark store. Yeah, don't get those. Yeah. Don't get those.

Kristin: 25:40

Like, I get it. It feels, you know, there reaches a point where people are of a certain age that, like, we don't actually need anything. We don't actually want anything. Right. But you want to buy gifts for people.

Steve: 25:54

And so you're like, I mean, it's nice that you were thinking about that person when you saw that and so forth. But yeah, it's it is unfortunately just adding more trash to the world.

Kristin: 26:04

Yes, that's what we're trying to avoid. Meaningful. All right. Any other bad gifts you can think of that you've gotten over the years?

Steve: 26:13

Ooh. I don't know.

Kristin: 26:15

Not bad gifts, but again.

Steve: 26:19

Non-useful gifts.

Kristin: 26:20

Non-use, non-useful gifts.

Steve: 26:22

Less useful gifts.

Kristin: 26:24

Well, let's talk about the good gifts. All right. Let's say, and I did find one one list that I really liked. It started strong. It ended problematic, which is in New York magazine, they had best gifts for cyclists, where they asked cyclists for gift ideas. So I think that's right off the start. You're off you're off to a better. Like they asked cyclists, and they started strong. We're gonna talk about a bunch of stuff, and then they ended, they ended badly. Because the problem is as you get more expensive with your list. That's when you get into the computers, the trainers, the the stuff that I don't think you should do.

Steve: 26:58

I will talk about if you want to buy somebody a computer, what what you should do.

Kristin: 27:02

Okay, all right. So we did ask our team for some of their favorite gifts over the years. Um, one of my favorite bike mechanic stand.

Steve: 27:14

Yeah, bike mechanic stand. So that is a great one if if your cyclist, friend, uh spouse, cousin, whatever, does not have one of these. It is always a it is always something everybody loves because you use it to adjust things, fix things, wash your bike.

Kristin: 27:31

Seriously, right there. Wash your bike. I like just from a non-mechanical, you don't have to be a mechanic to get good use out of a mechanic stand. I think the biggest thing is to make sure that it is sturdy enough to hold it.

Steve: 27:47

So I'm just gonna come right out and and and give everybody what they should get.

Kristin: 27:51

Do it.

Steve: 27:52

Okay. Get a feedback sport stand and then just get the best, get get whichever one fits your budget.

Kristin: 28:00

We will put a sh uh links in the show notes.

Steve: 28:02

The cheapest is a great stand. The most expensive is a phenomenal stand. Yep. So you can't go wrong there. They all fold up very compact, tuck away in the closet, tuck away on the wall, whatever whatever. Yep. Uh you just and the name in the in the world of bike stands is so well known that you're not buying them, you're gonna buy something that they're gonna like and be proud of, type of thing. Right.

Kristin: 28:29

So what you're saying, they're gonna don't go to Amazon and get a no-name stand. Get a quality stand. Because the reality is if you put your thing, if you put your bike on this stand and it tips over, you could do some serious damage to your bicycle.

Steve: 28:42

Correct. And a good stand will last years and years and years and pushing into decades.

Kristin: 28:49

I use ours all the time for cleaning the bikes. It just allows for so much easier access, you can get it really clean. So I thought that was great. And then, of course, with that, any bike cleaning stuff, right? We talked about muck-koff.

Steve: 29:02

Like muck off has bike cleaners, bike degreasers, all that kind of stuff. The cleaning, the cleaning equipment. Doesn't matter if they already use some other brand. Yes, you're always doing I don't care. You somebody gave me a bottle of whatever some cleaning stuff for bikes, great. I'm gonna use it. I'll use that. Yeah, yeah, yep. You can you right, it's you can't do much with cleaning stuff.

Kristin: 29:26

Plus, they have some cool cleaning kits that you can buy, like eight and one, six and one, whatever. Because honestly, I never have enough brushes, I never have enough um rags, whatever is gonna be in that thing. I will take it. And then even some tools. Like I saw torque wrench sets were were suggested a lot. I thought that was a great idea.

Steve: 29:47

Um so tools. So tools can be a little tricky. So I'll just give a couple of examples here of something that a lot of cyclists already have a few tools at home, and they might have that mini tool that they carry with them. Yep. So there are let's see, so Wera and Topek make these little mini ratchet tool kits. Okay. And so it's think about a sort of a socket ratchet um handle, but it's very, very small. It's only, I don't know, what is that, three, four inches or so?

Speaker 2: 30:23

Yes.

Steve: 30:23

And then lots of little uh bits that go in that.

Speaker 2: 30:26

Okay.

Steve: 30:27

These are not only could you carry it with you, so they're great on the bike, but they're also great at home working on the on the bike. And once you use one of those things, you're like, oh, this is a great tool.

Kristin: 30:42

Right.

Steve: 30:42

Um, so that's um that's a good way to go. A lasign also makes a little sort of mini T-handled one with a with a torque, with a with a preset five millimeter torque bit on it, and that's that works great too.

Kristin: 30:55

How about some of those? I mean, I know we have our like our toolkit that's got multiple Allen wrenches, but you know, you have the ones where it's single, like long Allen wrench with a handle.

Steve: 31:08

Yes. That's the that's the lasagne one.

Kristin: 31:10

I think those are great, just because it's hard to get into places sometimes with those little foldy ones. Exactly. And I do have my own toolkit, and I just have kind of a random collection, and and yes, I have a couple duplicate things, but I feel like we're never sad to have multiple, and we have plenty of tools around, and we're still like, oh, this is a great little tool. Yeah. So all right. Um, tech. We poo-pooed computers, not poo-pooed, you're gonna talk about what's I will talk about.

Steve: 31:40

I can talk about that.

Kristin: 31:41

Go for it.

Steve: 31:42

Okay. So if you're going to give somebody a computer, then because they don't have one, is typically the case. And they've been maybe talking about it or whatnot, but there are a lot of brands out there, but you cannot go wrong with just getting going with Garmin. And and and this is nothing against Garden.

Kristin: 32:02

I'm already here, Chris, and Jeff sending me figures.

Steve: 32:04

This is nothing against Wahoo, this is nothing against uh Hammerhead or all the others, but you're just basically getting the the industry standard of which it's hard to not like. Yeah. And then you go with uh one or two things. The the low budget you get the explore two. Yep. Right? And then the higher budget, you get the 850, and the no budget, you get the 1050. But that's yeah, that's basically um what what to look for.

Kristin: 32:36

All available at Steve the Bike. Um okay, but also other tech. I was thinking a GoPro. If you really want to get somebody some tech, a GoPro can be a really nice, a nice waterproof sports camera. Again, there are lots of other cameras, but that's kind of the standard. You can hang it off of your bike, you can get accessories to put it, you know, to carry it on your body, you can use it in your back pocket. Um, and then off also a battery bank. I know we talked about people using their phones and they for for navigation with a battery bank.

Steve: 33:13

Yep.

Kristin: 33:14

Um, but have you know, even if you like we did a long day of riding a Cuddy Hunk earlier this season, right? And people's computers and everything were just kind of dying after a long day, and everyone except for me had a battery bank with them that they just carried with them. And I was like, that's probably not a terrible thing to happen. People have a portable battery bank now, but it's another one that if somebody gave me another one, I wouldn't, I wouldn't be like, oh no, another battery bank. Because I mean we get kids around here stealing them, and this one like you have, this weighs a ton.

Steve: 33:49

This is a big one. This is a high capacity one that could charge an iPhone four times over.

Kristin: 33:53

Yeah, so it's just I I don't think it's a bad idea. I don't think it's one that, again, if I got another battery bank, I'd be like, oh, I'm never gonna use this. Right. Like I would definitely find. Um, and then our friend Doug had these um, he's shown them to me a couple of times, but he has these portable hand warmers. They're like little pods, and he sticks them in his pocket and he just brings them places. And like that way he can put his hands on pods. Yeah, they're not like in your gloves, they're just like they almost look like that battery thing. But um, on a cold day. What's nice about them is I feel like you could use them if you're walking the dog, you could use them if you're on a bike ride and they're in your pocket and you can just shove your hands into your pocket to get warm, you can use them after, like they're multi-purpose.

Steve: 34:37

Yes.

Kristin: 34:38

So yeah. All three of those things GoPro, battery bank with solar with charger, and electric hand warmers, like you could use them both on and off the bike. So that to me makes them better gifts.

Steve: 34:51

One more tech item when we were talking about the Garmin. If you're trying to buy for a road cyclist, then the the Varia rear radar, if they do not have one, it's probably a safe choice.

Kristin: 35:04

It is a it is a but they really need the computer ahead of time. If they don't have the computer, then the Varia is not that.

Steve: 35:10

And the Varia will work with other brands of computers, but but the rear radar for road cyclists is an utter, utter game changer. I don't have a single customer who has ever told me that once they started using it, that it hasn't just completely changed their their lives on the road, basically.

Kristin: 35:27

That's true, because the second time you've said that.

Steve: 35:29

Yeah.

Kristin: 35:30

You're right, it is a full description of game changer. No, but I mean the thing is it's cool, but they do need a computer. Yes. So computer first and then Varia. All right. Asking the people, asking the team, I'm gonna say I was surprised by the next category that several people said were good gifts, and that was art.

Steve: 35:51

Art. They like art.

Kristin: 35:53

Like bicycle art. Okay. There were a couple of um artists that were called out Doug Dale and Greg Leach, not our friend Greg. Um do different kinds of art. I I wanted to talk about this because I feel like art's kind of a again, it's a personal choice, right? Like, do you need to know they like that art or do you think it's a good gift?

Steve: 36:16

I think it can be a good gift.

Kristin: 36:17

Yeah.

Steve: 36:18

Yeah. Yeah. No, I think it can be a good gift. I like it. Um especially if it's if it's if it's not too generic. Yes. If it if it came we use this as a bike watercolor, like that person is actually painting that particular okay. Well that's a interesting gift, right?

Kristin: 36:36

It kind of goes into the next category, which is like home good, like um stained glass, anything bike-oriented decor. It's like I'm like um, who is it from Beauty and the Beast Gaston? I use bikes in all of my decorating.

Steve: 36:52

Right. Right. And somebody had posted the coasters, the wood coasters with the chain around them, and I forget who they're from. There that's from We had gotten those ourselves.

Kristin: 37:03

Uh there's one and restaurant.

Steve: 37:06

I mean, honestly, we've received coasters in the past. And here it is. We do use coasters every now and then. Oh, yeah, there is one right there.

Kristin: 37:12

It's from oh, it's from Uncommon Goods.

Steve: 37:14

Yes.

Kristin: 37:14

And I have to say, these like this is the best.

Steve: 37:17

Like, these are the best.

Kristin: 37:18

It's really simple and cute. Etsy is full of this kind of stuff. And I do, I do think, I will say, I think art, home goods, anything with a bike on it. And I'm probably safe. It's probably I'm a sucker for all of it. Right? I'm a sucker for downstairs. We have this really cute um stained glass somebody put in a in a cassette into one of the cogs, right? So it's a stained glass within that. Our friend sh sent us one. Apparently, he got like a custom stained glass of his Captain America bike, which is red and blue. Oh. And so um somebody else sent us a clock that was made out of bike parts. So yeah, apparently I'm not that confused by art. I guess the hanging art was just like there's only so many walls that I have to hang things on, but I could also see if somebody gave us a piece of art of somewhere we had visited or of a race or something like that.

Steve: 38:15

I can definitely see art being really I think that one of the biggest maybe uh art type of things that might not be all that great is something too generic. So let's just say uh uh a Christmas tree ornament made out of bike chain. Right. I mean it's cute. Now, if it was made out of the chain that you that rider used to ride, you know, in the Panmash Challenge Challenge or Unbound or something like that. Well, now see that's something different. Right. Right? And in fact, years and years and years ago when we were doing Christmas ornaments out of chain and so forth, one of the things was we would tell people, just give me your chain and we'll make it a chance to make it. Yeah, yep.

Kristin: 38:58

Yeah, I think I mean, as I said, I'm a sucker for anything with a bike on it, which kind of brings us to the next topic, which is um category, which is clothing. And it's funny, one of our friends sent us a t-shirt that said, like, if you know, if it was not Strava, it didn't happen.

Steve: 39:15

Yep.

Kristin: 39:16

T-shirts, I think, are tough.

Steve: 39:18

We just we were just talking about how clothing is cycling clothing is not a great gift.

Kristin: 39:23

I'm gonna call this street cycling clothes. Street cycling clothing, right? Like, I think, although it's funny, years ago, my brother gave me a bike jersey. Like, I would always say, Don't give somebody a bike jersey unless you really know, but I love it. It says um uh we can do it with Rosie the Riveter on it. Um I think he got it on Amazon. I think it was like $12.

Steve: 39:44

And it's one of my favorite jerseys.

Kristin: 39:46

So I'm not saying it can't happen, but I'm talking more like street clothes. So funny t shirts to a point. Yeah, like I think you can have too many t shirts, but if you know your audience, right? But like Stuff like this, this is one of the money many scarves I have. Does it have bicycles on it? I I mean, again, I'm a sucker.

Steve: 40:09

That is not a winter type scarf. That is a decorative women's scarf. Yep.

Kristin: 40:14

Yep. I have two of them. Um so that kind of thing, I think, is is almost always safe. Socks.

Steve: 40:22

Yeah. Socks are usually fairly safe.

Kristin: 40:25

How do you mess up a pair of socks? Um bike, bike themed jewelry. I really like the mom and dad. My parents gave us some, gave me a bracelet years ago that was shaped like a butterfly. And it was gotten in Iceland. But it was made out of recycled inner tubes.

Steve: 40:45

Yep.

Kristin: 40:45

And you can also find them where they've been laser cut.

Steve: 40:49

Um, like she gave me a wallet made out of recycled inner tubes. She also gave you a couple of things. And it's actually very cool, and it still sits in my drawer, but it has never been used because it's, you know, again, that's kind of a thing that you like Yeah, so there's the line, right?

Kristin: 41:06

Like a piece of jewelry, like a bracelet I can use on occasion. Yeah, good. A wallet, tough. Because wallets are really personal on like w what you put in them, how you want them to lie, how you she did also if I remember correctly, she also gave you a bow tie, which I don't think you've ever worn. Yes. But we don't have that too. We're not bow tie going events people, unfortunately.

Steve: 41:31

I think I used that at like a Halloween event one time.

Kristin: 41:34

You should wear it to um we're going to a party for Christmas with all our bike people. There we go. If we see that just be like our buddy Doug. Um all right, what else? What's another category of stuff?

Steve: 41:48

Oh, self-care.

Kristin: 41:49

Yeah.

Steve: 41:49

Yeah. Oh, chamois cream. So I think that chamois cream is a great gift. You know, it's it's maybe just a stocking stuffer type thing or whatever.

Kristin: 41:58

Maybe not get a tub of it because it is personal. They have to try it and they may hate it.

Steve: 42:02

They they come in tubs and tubes. I mean, you're only getting a certain size. Here's the thing about chamois cream. Either the rider does not use it and they're like, ooh, and they've always kind of been chamois cream curious. Right? Let me try some of this. So that way, you're giving them that reason to try it. Yes. And if they already use chamois cream, I mean, honestly, if somebody gave that to me, I didn't wouldn't really care what brand it is. I would be like, I'm gonna use it. Uh so I guess I'll name what three brands though that I do like. Okay. That would be Euro cream. What do we Euro style?

Kristin: 42:38

Okay.

Steve: 42:39

Um ASOS, which comes in a white plastic uh sort of tub.

Kristin: 42:44

Is that the one with the menthol in it?

Steve: 42:47

That's the one with the yes, that's the stuff that the cooling agent. You put that on, and then about 30 seconds later you're like, woo. And then um and then the muck off.

Kristin: 42:55

No, no, we can't go past that one too fast.

Steve: 42:58

Okay.

Kristin: 42:58

I love that stuff.

Steve: 42:59

You like that stuff.

Kristin: 43:00

And only though, I don't like it all the time.

Steve: 43:03

Yep. In the in the summer when it's hot.

Kristin: 43:05

I like it in the summer. When it's hot, I actually like to put it in a little baggie to bring, like, say, on a very long ride. So at the beginning of the ride, I don't need it, but halfway through the ride, when you stop for a break, that stuff is fantastic.

Steve: 43:18

Okay, and then the other one was the muck off um stuff, which is actually they just rebrand um athlete performance, I believe, makes it. It's it's a it's a British company that makes it. Yes, that's right. Right. Um, and and muck off basically is the one who markets it. Um I love that stuff.

Kristin: 43:34

And they have a female versus male ver they have a female and a male version, which at first I was like, but I've I have checked them both out, and the female version is different. It's thicker. It's way thicker, it's way thicker, and I do really like that for day to for day-to-day, you know, my day-to-day chamois use. Um, I like the muck off, and then I like the other stuff for the really hot when you know things need to be cooled down there. Yeah. Also, um, anything that I can massage myself with, like foam rollers or or like I'd be okay with that. If anybody gave me something to help me with like my sore muscles, okay, yes, bring it.

Steve: 44:18

Yeah. Uh impact, like impact massagers, if they if you don't already own one, those are great. Yeah. For cyclist legs. Yeah. Yeah.

Kristin: 44:26

I mean, again, somebody's gonna be like, no, I don't want if I if uh this is another one. Like if they have an impact massage, you don't want to get them another one. But I feel like there's 12,000 different types of foam roller thingies, and that you could probably never go wrong giving me a different one I could try to see if this one works a little better than something else. Um, or just give them a gift card to go get a massage.

Steve: 44:52

Oh, a gift card for massage. That's a great one.

Kristin: 44:54

Yes, take notes, honey.

Steve: 44:55

Yeah.

Kristin: 44:57

Which I guess brings up that just gift cards. Like gift cards are just not gift cards to their local bike shop, gift cards for services that they may enjoy, gift cards for you know.

Steve: 45:09

Yep.

Kristin: 45:10

It's not a bad idea. No, it's not again. I know it can seem impersonal, but right anyway.

Steve: 45:15

Those are that's why you have those two, those two levels of gift cards. You have a gift card with a certain monetary amount, and they can go in and maybe they'll spend more than that or whatnot. But then like the gift card for massage, you're basically handing over the thing for a full item, a full service back.

Kristin: 45:32

Yes.

Steve: 45:33

And in the I think in many cases, those are great gift cards.

Kristin: 45:36

And it just might not be something they would normally do for themselves. I know I wouldn't. Like I talk a good game about going for a massage. When was the last time I went for a channel?

Steve: 45:44

Or maybe a pedicure or something like that.

Kristin: 45:45

Right, right. Exactly. Which, yeah, my feet in those shoes all the time. Anyway, so those are our ideas. If you have any others, feel free to share with us. Okay. Okay. Why don't we take a break? Yes. We'll come back. All right, we're back. You've reviewed, we you think we've got it all covered. Nothing else to add to our no gifts, bad gifts.

Steve: 46:12

Oh, there's plenty, there's plenty of bad gifts, but I think we talked about the categories that catch all. Yeah.

Kristin: 46:17

So I liked the idea you said with the shoe, with the shoes, and then when we were offline just now, you were also mentioning like grips. Like, I just like the idea that if you notice your rider has something that is just worn to death, yes, replace it.

Steve: 46:34

Replace it.

Kristin: 46:34

Don't try to upgrade it.

Steve: 46:36

Yeah.

Kristin: 46:36

Don't try to um don't go to the bike shop and have them be like, oh, well, it's just because he liked these grips, he should try these other grips. Right. And the other thing that makes me think of is the same could be said for clothing. Like, say he ha he or she has a piece of clothing that they just adore and they've worn it to death and it's out of rotation now. Go to Poshmark. Oh, go to Poshmark and try to find it. This is my new thing. It could even be other clothing. Like I'm wearing a pair of jeans right now. These are old Navy jeans. It's a it's a style that I loved. I had a pair of them. I wore them to death.

Steve: 47:17

Yep. They no longer have.

Kristin: 47:18

They no longer make them. I went on Poshmark and I found them for $12. Right. And I have bought other gear, Fox um, Fox riding pants, um, I uh wool pearlazumi sweater. So yeah, if there's something they really, really like.

Steve: 47:37

Yeah, if there's something really like that and and maybe this is us, but I think if you're finding a certain item that you've sort of you sought out and you found for them, yeah that is something that's no longer made, and you found it for them on Poshmark, I think maybe the stigma of giving lightly used clothing is gone, right? It's kind of the rage now to have a lot of things.

Kristin: 47:57

Oh, it's totally rage. And I bought you a long sleeve orange jersey uh from Greg Lamont's brand.

Steve: 48:05

Yes. And a vintage type thing.

Kristin: 48:07

Yeah, so there's like a there's it's it was definitely vintage. Oh, it was way vintage, not made anymore. You love to collect Lamont themed things.

Steve: 48:16

Right.

Kristin: 48:16

So yeah, don't underestimate. Plus, if you can sell some stuff, then it's like free.

Steve: 48:21

Right. It comes out of your account.

Kristin: 48:23

It comes out of your selling account, it's just it's its own little bank. So anyway, it's holiday shopping is hard. It feels just so forced. Sometimes it can feel a little forced and contrived that you have to be shopping for things, and and that can make me cranky.

Steve: 48:41

A lot of bike brands at some point had made cycling jerseys, and so finding a vintage of the their bike brand that they ride can be really cool. Yeah.

Kristin: 48:54

Yeah, oh, absolutely. Um, and again, that stuff's out there.

Steve: 48:58

Yes.

Kristin: 48:58

So I use Poshmark a lot. I look for things like, oh, UMass Amherst. I've found UMass Amherst sweatshirts, I've found again Lamond, I've gotten Shredley shorts. It's great. All right, we're gonna wrap up with some news from the bike shop. What do you want to talk about?

Steve: 49:19

I guess uh well, I did so we we are going to be starting to start to carry Intense. Yes. Intense bikes, and they are undergoing a revamp of the brand, basically.

Kristin: 49:31

Yeah.

Steve: 49:32

A lot of new product uh and a new way of doing business where they're not going to be selling full bikes necessarily. What they're doing is this program where you get the frame, they're calling it frame first, right, and then you pick your parts, your parts package and so forth that you want. So you're not pigeonholed into what you are just getting pre pre-done by the by the company. Right. Um, and you can even go online, you can put it all together online, and then you basically say send to my dealer, and then the dealer, you know, the dealer's the one that gets all the stuff in and puts it together for you.

Kristin: 50:09

You are one.

Steve: 50:09

So of which I am one. And so the the one I've been really excited for and waiting for is the Intense Spider.

Kristin: 50:16

There you go.

Steve: 50:17

And the spider is a 130, 130 travel full suspension frame. Comes in three different colors, and I think this is a real nice sweet spot bike for this area. Yep. So I got that first frame in. I am hopefully gonna build it this week. I'm waiting for a few items, but just first impressions are what a gorgeously made and designed frame. I mean, like stylistic-wise, um and just the way you just the way all of the the the swing arm is attached and so forth, it's just view, very, very beautifully made. And but, you know, of course, this is a brand new bike, and there's nobody has really ridden this quite yet, all very much.

Kristin: 51:04

Okay.

Steve: 51:04

And because it's been just trickling out. So as of recently, Pink Bike has their hands on it with in a trail bike showdown.

Kristin: 51:14

Hold on a second. What is Pink Bike? Just so that for for people like me.

Steve: 51:18

Pink bike was a very popular mountain biking website of reviews and was.

Kristin: 51:26

Is okay.

Steve: 51:27

Is well, okay, so it is a popular website of reviews and customer or or or just rider forums and buy-sell uh listings and so forth like that. Okay. They were an independent thing, but they are now part of the whole outside magazine conglomerate situation.

Kristin: 51:46

Outside owns everything. So that's not surprising.

Steve: 51:49

And so and so they do a lot of popular YouTube videos. And so they're doing a trail bike showdown right now with six bikes. Okay. So they've they just came out with the first, they have the two first episodes out. Um, one was the first one was a little short climbing challenge, a little short descent challenge, and a no-pedal flow trail challenge. And so and fortunately, and like this, the thing is it's and the spider was part of this. The spider was part of this. And doesn't these tests are very subjective, right? Yes. It is two test riders, okay, right? And in a particular area, they're in Bentonville with for this test, and you just you also don't know when you're talking about a thing like that's owned by outside, you rarely never really know who's like the biggest advertiser and so forth like that. So you but you never know. Speaking of the other thing. And I will say that there's no way that Intense is a big advertiser, right? They're not uh they're not trick levels of budget. Um, and there was a truck in there. But the Intense tied for first on the climbing challenge, tied for first on the descent challenge, and was first outright in the flow trail section. Um and so it is uh so far doing very, very well.

Kristin: 53:11

So it's totally subjective, but we like the results.

Steve: 53:13

We like the results.

Kristin: 53:14

All right, that's awesome. And I mean you'll you're gonna get that put together.

Steve: 53:19

And I'll so I'll have this to test ride.

Kristin: 53:22

Yeah, and so you can try it, so you can see what you think.

Steve: 53:26

Yeah, that's the funny thing, is that I haven't ridden this yet. And that's why I miss the days of interbike because we used to get to ride a lot of bikes before you know you bought them. Before you commit. Before you commit. And yeah, those um, those days are gone. But I am really looking forward to get down getting higher.

Kristin: 53:47

Well, we have other very small news at the um I at the shop. The irony, of course, I just said don't buy water bottles is we have new water bottles. We do, yep. Um, we do these, you know, our water bottles. I feel like our water bottles are as much tell the story of the bike shop. Like I think of them as this is the gen for. So over the past 10, 12 years, yeah, 12 years, yeah. We've done four water bottles because we buy like 200 and you hang on to them for it takes us about two, two, three years. It takes two or three years to sell through to get through these. So these are our new water bottle. I'm mostly excited about these. I like the design. I like how the design came out, but I'm mostly excited about these because they are made out of bioplastic.

Steve: 54:35

Yes, from sugarcane. Right? So these are from Mountain Flow. Yep. And what is it, 95% sugarcane?

Kristin: 54:44

Something like that.

Steve: 54:45

And it's like it's the leftover um waste product, I believe, from processing sugarcane.

Kristin: 54:50

Yeah. Now let me just say I hate plastic. I hate I'm so anti-plastic. So these are hard for me to wrap my head around them. But people buy them, people want them, and this was at least a step towards making them a little more environmentally friendly because they are so they're not made with fossil fuels, they are not biodegradable, they are still a plastic, so they can go into plastic recycling, which I think we can acknowledge most people are not doing. Um, and you hold on to them for years. I mean, years and years and years. So, but I'm really excited to at least, I think they are the nice next step in our water bottle, our water bottle journey. It's hard to design things for the shop.

Steve: 55:37

It is.

Kristin: 55:38

It's funny because you do a great job. Oh, thanks. One of our one of our friends and customers, I said, Oh, these were tough. And he's like, Why tough? And I said, Well, it's gotta be a design I like and that I can live with for the next three years because these water bottles are gonna be everywhere. Anyway, so even though I said don't buy water bottles, if you want to buy a water bottle, you can come to Stephen.

Steve: 55:58

Buy them for yourself when you need them.

Kristin: 55:59

Yes, buy them for yourself when you need them. Do not put water bottles on other people. Anyway, all right. Well, I think that's gonna do it for this episode. Okay. You realize we're quickly approaching one year of podcasting.

Steve: 56:13

Wow.

Kristin: 56:14

I know.

Steve: 56:16

We have to look at the episode count.

Kristin: 56:18

We will. All right. Well, cycling together with Kristen and Steve is a production of Steve the Bike Guy, an independent bicycle shop in eastern Massachusetts and Sunday Marketing.

Steve: 56:28

If you like the show, please leave a review or share with a friend. And for show notes, links, or to leave a comment, question, or topic suggestion, visit cycling together.bike.

Kristin: 56:36

You can follow the shop on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok at Steve the Bike Guy. And soon we will actually have a new website over at steve the bike guy.gov.

Steve: 56:46

You have been slaving away on this, so it is time. Mm-hmm.

Kristin: 56:50

Time for a a rearrange and a cleaning.

Steve: 56:53

Alright. We'll see you next time. Thanks.

Kristin: 56:55

Bye.