Cycling Towards Community: The Story of Barry Near, T-Train, and the Bonds Forged on Two Wheels

Ever wondered how a cycling studio tucked inside a Trek store could spin into a full-fledged community hub? In our latest episode, we ride alongside Barry Near on an inspirational journey through the co-creation of the T Train community. From humble beginnings as a wintertime gym to a vibrant nucleus of activity, we uncover the magnetic pull of community spaces and the entrepreneurial spirit that keeps the wheels turning, even through economic headwinds like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Get ready to gear up with stories of resilience and adaptation in the cityscape of Toronto. Barry and I share the inside track on the hurdles and triumphs of keeping community fitness alive in pricey urban settings. Discover the creative ways to sustain passion-led projects, the heartwarming results of fitness communities crossing paths, and the unshakable support systems formed during the most testing of times. This episode is a testament to the power of partnerships and the enduring bond between people with shared passions.

As we coast to the end, we reflect on the broader impact cycling has on personal transformation and the unexpected journeys life presents—like transitioning from the ski industry into a fulfilling chapter with Trek. 

 This episode promises to leave you with a sense of gratitude for the ride and the people you meet along the way. Join us for a pedal-powered exploration that transcends the usual cycling narrative and delves into the heart of what moves us.

🧠 This episode and more are available now on all streaming platforms. Check it out on Spotify, iTunes or http://podcast.redleaf.fit/

'𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐝𝐋𝐞𝐚𝐟 𝐅𝐢𝐭𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐏𝐨𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐝𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐭𝐡𝐲, 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞.

⛏️💎#KEEPGOING

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:01

Welcome back to another edition of the Redleaf Fitness podcast. A show dedicated to bringing you stories interviews and conversations about living a healthy, resilient, and productive life. I'm your host, Sean Blinch, And I want to thank you for making time to listen to this episode today. And if you like, what we're putting down? We would love it. If you would follow, rate, and share this podcast. Alright. Now let's get down to business. Buckleback to the Redleaf Fitness podcast on Wednesday, May eight, and welcome to

Speaker 2: 0:40

a special edition. This is going

Speaker 1: 0:41

to be a ten minute podcast. With my latest guest, Barry Near. How are you doing today?

Speaker 3: 0:47

I'm good. Thanks. Now, really good.

Speaker 2: 0:51

So what do you wanna talk about for ten minutes?

Speaker 3: 0:53

I don't know. It's I don't even know if we can go ten, frankly.

Speaker 2: 0:57

It might be not.

Speaker 3: 0:58

Might be stretching it.

Speaker 2: 1:00

Well, we'll see what we get. So we've got lots to talk about and all sort of, you know, lead us through some and questions and stuff. But, you know, the first thing that I wanna jump out with is that feedback is super important. So if you're out there and you're part of the tea train community. If you're out there in the greater cycling community in Toronto and you hear this, let us know. By sending Barry a hard emoji.

Speaker 3: 1:34

So that the where this all started was, I had a flip phone that I loved. And I I lost it about a year ago. And now I've got this silly iPhone and people send me emojis and whatnot, just torture me, I think.

Speaker 2: 1:53

They're just silly aren't they?

Speaker 3: 1:54

Yeah. He's phones. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:57

But, you know, it's Barry. Barry is a big heart emoji guy. So if we hear this and you hear to if you listen to this today, send it to him today, he'll really appreciate it. So okay. So let's jump into it. So, you know, I think just before because I have some questions about your story. Right? Like, you've been in cycling, you you know, every time you talk to Barry, you learn something. Incredible. So there's so much about your background in cycling I wanna get into. But first, could we touch on the t train history and kinda how it led to here. It gets interesting with COVID and all that.

Speaker 3: 2:39

Yeah. Sure. So originally, when I was involved with the Trexhorn Young Street, just south of Eglinton. We the place the the store became a museum in the winter, no one was coming in because cyclists and whatnot. And I I thought, jeez, we should be doing something here to create community. So We started an indoor cycling gym, very rudimentary trainers, and I think we had maybe eight people at one point in time coming in. Multiple day basis over a week. And then it just expanded from there. We started saying, well, I think we can do a better job I've always been a big believer in continuous improvement, so we take a look at what we did and how can we improve it. And eventually, it led me through a whole bunch of great teachers over the time to Tara.

Speaker 2: 3:50

And then And and and sorry. Just to jump in, just so we know, like, timeline. Is this five years ago or is this ten years ago?

Speaker 3: 4:00

It'd be twelve. Twelve years ago, I started doing it.

Speaker 2: 4:04

Okay.

Speaker 3: 4:04

And then it really got more serious in the winters. The problem with the storm was, of course, once we hit mid March. It's up and going. We have to be ready to serve customers and move bikes and repair bikes and everything else. So So

Speaker 2: 4:23

big uptick in March.

Speaker 3: 4:24

Yeah. Big just generally when it starts. So, you know, we we'd allow them to cycle and run their run their cycling gyms in the in the store, and we'd run it for They do it three days a week, four days a week sometimes, and it was we didn't charge anything for the space. We just wanted something happening in the store. So we weren't terribly bored. It gave us something else to do and to build community. Have a chance to engage with, you know, people say mind and cycling.

Speaker 2: 5:00

It's super smart. Like, just to create there's just It's a lot of things are about energies, aren't they? Absolutely. And you just create this buzz and this energy and this community. It it's brilliant. And I've wonder. I or was that kind of ahead of its time? Were you guys the only ones doing that kind of thing?

Speaker 3: 5:20

Yeah. We were the only ones that took it onto this level. I think there was another bike store in the metro area who allowed a gym to come in and rent some of their space and do the same program, but they're only last a year or so. It it you know, it's a little bit of effort to do, but quite honestly, you know, you have to have managers in a retail store than in full time people in a in a retail store that are paid and trying to get keep them engaged in cycling and not drifting off through those long winter months that Canadians get used to. We you know, it was just something for us to do. Mhmm. And again, it's about building community. And that was that was a huge asset. I can remember pushing that West Trek when they're opening their concept stores. They didn't engage in that idea be probably because it does take a lot of time. But I felt it was hugely advantageous to us to to build that community and have people say, wow, that's a cool story and, you know, you get to know the people and you get trust them.

Speaker 2: 6:34

Yeah. Yeah. And then I could also see there is be there would be some downstream brand loyalty too. Right? If you're submerged in the place that you're associating hard work and excellence is, like, the the trek store.

Speaker 3: 6:47

Yeah. I did. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Our our sales definitely increased in higher end bikes.

Speaker 2: 6:54

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I could totally see that. Yep. From a logistics standpoint, so that class is running, you know, it's probably similar to a lot of fitness class where it has to kinda happen between when people are not at work, is that kind of how it was? Like a sort of a like a morning and evening or weekends? Or

Speaker 3: 7:13

Yeah. It was morning I you know, when we started, it was two mornings and then one evening we tried and then one day on the weekend. Maybe two days in the weekend at at nearing the very end of when the truck store was on that young straight strip.

Speaker 2: 7:31

That's neat. Yeah. Because I could also see it being really cool, being able to go in and shop where real recycling is happening. You know, I I think it would add a little bit of authenticity and grit.

Speaker 3: 7:49

I think so. Yeah. And people people seem to, you know, become more loyal to not necessarily the brand, yes, the brand. But I think they became more loyal to the, you know, our our fitter, our mechanics Mhmm. Myself and and whatnot. So as a business model, yes, I I truly believe it worked. It's it is work to do it, but it paid off in the end.

Speaker 2: 8:19

Yeah. So you meet Tara because you didn't know Tara at the at the outset of it.

Speaker 3: 8:24

No. No. I was very close with Asia and and Suzanne. And they were two of the they were the two that really coached the most. And then there was a couple of times where we needed someone to fill in or team in Tomica at that point in time needed someone to fill in. So they brought in Terra and We just started a really good relationship from there.

Speaker 2: 8:52

That's fantastic. And shout out to team atomic. I actually just came from the pool. Mhmm. Where I got some great advice from Asia.

Speaker 3: 8:58

Oh, that's good.

Speaker 2: 8:59

And coach Calvin. Good. So that's really interesting. That, like, later, there I have a I have a very small world micro story just about I think it was called absolute endurance Mhmm. On Mirtin. I'll I'll share that quick story later. But so okay. So how do things progress into your was it your first space that was in Lee's side? And and so what

Speaker 3: 9:32

Well, running a cycling studio is is they'd it'd be the type of thing you'd say, well, if you wanna make a million dollars out of it, start off with two million and you'll end up with a million at the end. So, yeah, it's it's not a money making venture. It is it is for passion, it is for health. Yeah. And I you know, I it drifting a little bit here. I I've I've met numerous people through my times that have had very well paid jobs, but felt the stress and the lifestyle wasn't really overly healthy and changed and did a complete bow faced and forgot about the money, forgot about the the business fame and went the root of more of a healthy lifestyle, whether it being in the fitness business or other things. So I firmly believe that tea train is based around us just having a fun community of people Yeah. It it's it's really never made money. It's not about making money. It's about getting people together in cycling. Yeah. Whatever we do just covers it. So circling back, where we'd always have an issue is Toronto is a very, very expensive place for real estate. Yeah. So trying to find real estate that you can afford to you know, not stress about money.

Speaker 2: 11:11

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 11:11

You have to have very inexpensive rent. Hence, we, you know, ended up at RedLife, which were very kind very generous in in in helping us out. So that was always a challenge. So we you know, the store was a no brainer because the store was empty. I said, you know, you're gonna have the space for free. Just run the classes out of it. Yeah. We then went to a friend's house and they had a huge call it a garage, I guess, but we ran out of there for one year. That wasn't particularly successful. And then we ended up in the lease side right after that. And that was because of a very nice lady who was involved in cycling, said, hey, I have some space left in my in my warehouse and, you know, it's about eight or nine hundred square feet and we jumped on it. And again, the rent was affordable so that we could run this community thing without having to charge too much or being stressed out about money. Mhmm. Mhmm.

Speaker 2: 12:24

And then where does it go from there? So is this like a COVID like, thing. Like, I think it's really serendipitous and interesting how this how we came how our two community came to merge. I think it's a really, really cool story. So so where what happened from that space?

Speaker 3: 12:43

Well, she the the lady that owned a warehousing space or rented the warehousing space moving to a new space and it was farther east of where we felt we should be. And she said, listen, I can give you some space there too if you want. And we just felt while we're just not going to get our community coming to it because everybody's more centralized in in Toronto area. And so then we started looking for new space. And, you know, we went through real estate agents, we did everything. But, you know, most things are really out of whack. And if we were to rent, you know, a space as you well know, Sean, in in this neighborhood, it it it becomes practically impossible.

Speaker 2: 13:39

Super prohibitive.

Speaker 3: 13:40

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. That was the word I was looking for. Thanks, bud.

Speaker 2: 13:43

Yeah. And and it's interesting too, like, COVID's impact on warehouse real estate has totally inverted So typically, like, if you were a retail fitness business, you wanna be more central. You wanna be on the central roads like like Young Street and Eglinton. But you can't. You can't afford those kinds of things. Fitness is not something where people go and get rich. Right? You know, you said very elegantly, like, and that's our experience as well. But when we signed our lease here, it was a really great deal. And we were kind of ambitious with our we we took a new concept and a new approach on the CrossFit affiliate model. Nobody anticipated a global pandemic hitting the world. And then also nobody anticipated fitness spaces being treated under the most difficult rules. I don't I don't think anybody had a bet had a worse delt hand than the fitness space. It was it was crazy. So you had that going on and then you think about the economic everybody ordered things. Nobody wanted to go to grocery store. Remember when you used to, like, wash your groceries? How weird was that? Right? And so everyone was ordering things. So these So, you know, capitalism responds and buys up all this warehouse space and it turns everyone's warehouse rent like double. And so you just you can't you just couldn't seem to catch a break. Right? And that's where that's one of the great reasons, like, logistically, not just that, you know, I think you and Tara are wonderful when we really get along. We have a great energy. Our communities also get together, but logistically, you know, you really help us as well. We have a very dependable tenant who's super stoked to be here. So it helps us take the edge off the the the the downstream economic impacts that COVID left us in. So it's like it's really awesome for a lot of reasons.

Speaker 3: 15:57

Good. Good. This is a self admiration club we have here today, by the way. We're just gonna go back and forth and compliment each other.

Speaker 2: 16:06

You know what's wrong with that? Wait. Because you know what? Just to admire us. Again, we have nearly doubled the ten minute mark How awesome. Wow. Wow. We're awesome. Right? Yeah.

Speaker 3: 16:20

That's pretty good.

Speaker 2: 16:23

This chapter will be like, listen to how awesome we think we

Speaker 3: 16:26

are. Yeah. You can you can cut this back though to ten minutes no matter how much, why I pontificate

Speaker 2: 16:32

I wouldn't dare.

Speaker 3: 16:33

Yeah. Do you

Speaker 2: 16:35

the the fans, the berry fans out there? They love you.

Speaker 3: 16:39

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 16:40

I wouldn't I wouldn't, you know, I wouldn't hold this back from them. They've been waiting for this.

Speaker 3: 16:45

Okay. Next question. Okay.

Speaker 2: 16:47

Next question. So you have this space and what I think is really neat about the next, you know, I guess, chapter of of how we came together was it was actually Asia. Mhmm. And who I don't I think she may have mentioned to Tara. And said, hey, just a heads up. I know you're looking for a space. There's this guy, Sean. He mentioned to me off the cuff that he has a whole whack of space and he's underusing it. And then it was and then I I'm pretty sure that's how it went. And then and then I think you and Tara reached out.

Speaker 3: 17:30

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 17:32

And and then we had a quick meeting. And it was heart emojis right from the beginning. Wasn't it?

Speaker 3: 17:40

Love those. Love those.

Speaker 2: 17:42

Yeah. Love them. Yeah. Send them to Barry today. And it happened pretty fast. Right? Yeah. It was like, you guys are ready. We we were stoked to to convert because the the space where you guys are, this was a it's hard to it you know, it's funny for me to look back on it, but that cafe area was a super bustling coffee shop. There was always bodies in it all day long except for, like, maybe the dead hours that they midafternoon. But we were running smoothies and coffee, and we had a partnership with Impact Kitchen. It was a really different area, but the thing is is that it lost money. Mhmm. It generated a lot of money, but it cost more than it generated. Yeah. And so, you know, you think about it's great to have all this energy, but if you can't support that, what are you doing? Yeah. And so now we have this thing where it's a much smaller operation and and it's actually, like, really impacting our, you know, Redleaf's ability to to stay float.

Speaker 3: 18:41

Yeah. Good. Yeah. Good. Challenging times after COVID.

Speaker 2: 18:47

Exact yeah.

Speaker 3: 18:47

You know, it's a big wrench being thrown into your industry and and other ones too.

Speaker 2: 18:52

Yeah. Mhmm. Yeah. It's it was a challenging industry for everybody. I'm sure you have some more stories about, you know, what happened to the the cycling industry, right, which we could

Speaker 3: 19:02

Yeah. Mhmm.

Speaker 2: 19:03

You know?

Speaker 3: 19:03

Yeah. It's been through some ups and downs. Yeah. Right now, it's it's witnessing what we call COVID whiplash So

Speaker 2: 19:12

this COVID thing just won't go away. No. Right?

Speaker 3: 19:16

No. It really disrupted the whole chain line, which is just in time across the world for probably another year or two until things get back to what would be considered any kind of normality in in supply chain.

Speaker 2: 19:33

Right. It's yeah. It's amazing and frustrating at the same time. And so okay. So I wanted to first initially set the stage on on on how this whole thing came together and you guys, you know, plugged in to our space here. So Is there anything to add on there? Did we is there anymore compliments to

Speaker 3: 20:00

to shove back and forth? No, I can't think of any more confluence. Yeah. Certainly, you know, we've I think with with tea train and and cycling studio. We've over the years of, like, any business or anything you're doing. You you've we've learned over the years what works and what doesn't work and you know the people that are coming in and the new people coming in are certainly welcomed. But, yeah, it's it's it we've learned a lot through it. And I think we've got it dialed now until, you know, the next change in cycling comes and throws a wrench in what we're doing. But

Speaker 2: 20:46

Some sort of bizarre technology upgrade or

Speaker 3: 20:49

Well, exactly. Right. Exactly. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 20:52

And then so the last thing I'll park onto that which I thought was really neat is that when I was opening my first gym with my old business partner, Julian and Michelle Bassi Roy, we were looking for spaces in the young an Eglinton area, and we toured a space called Absolute Endurance. And we rolled in there this is so ridiculous. So I don't know what the story was there, but they were wrapping up. And I don't know if they were moving or what was going on. But they were wrapping up and we were considering taking over the space, which I think now is like a daycare or something. And the space looks attractive when we were considering it. And I remember thinking, like,

Speaker 1: 21:42

who gives us shit?

Speaker 2: 21:43

Okay. We're riding a bike. I was so at my own ass about crossfit and just thinking it was holier than that. Right? Only now, like, just ten years later to be so into cycling.

Speaker 3: 22:02

Yeah. Yeah. It has that ability to be able to to transform you. Yeah. And a lot of people, you know, a lot of people start off cycling, of course, when they learned to ride their first bike. And in my generation, we rode to school. We rode everywhere. We rode to the parks. Everything else. So it wasn't just a sport. It was motor transportation. It was a way of getting away from my overbearing mother. So I'm getting a little deep

Speaker 2: 22:31

No. No. No. That's great. Tell us more about your mother, Mary. Go on.

Speaker 3: 22:36

No. We won't go there. Need Michelle for this to to Yeah. Cycle analyze me Yeah. A little bit more.

Speaker 2: 22:45

Yeah. We'll call her

Speaker 3: 22:46

in. She can practice. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 22:47

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 22:49

Yeah. But yeah. Cycling, I I yeah. As you've as you caught on, cycling's a it's a life sport. And a lot of different things can't be, you know, for for a lot of people.

Speaker 2: 23:01

Yeah. Yeah. There's just so many things that have come with cycling like you know, as a as a cross fitter and an Olympic lifter before that, you there's so much to weight lifting that I love, but I've never experience something that just has the the calming effect and the energizing effect that cycling does.

Speaker 3: 23:21

Mhmm.

Speaker 2: 23:22

It's just, you know, I've never my joints have never felt better. I I feel better in my weight lifting sessions because of it. It's just it's it's my of all the things I do, it's my favorite things riding the bike.

Speaker 3: 23:34

Yeah. Yeah. So Yeah.

Speaker 2: 23:39

So we have this great idea of of how so we we know how the the the communities came together. We got a good idea of what you guys do. A tea train. Can you talk about Berry's story rate? From the beginning.

Speaker 3: 23:58

I'm rolling my ice right now.

Speaker 2: 24:02

The people wanna know.

Speaker 3: 24:04

Well, excuse me, there's really I mean, I I was very fortunate in having a great upbringing, great parents. Two older brothers that were fabulous to me, didn't abuse me, well, except for a little bit maybe. I grew up in North York area. So You grew up

Speaker 1: 24:28

in this area?

Speaker 3: 24:28

Yeah. I grew up around here. Yeah. I have them straight far. So, you know, I was very fortunate. There's no trauma in my family. There's no I mean, my parents were t toddlers and I think

Speaker 2: 24:42

What's that detail earlier?

Speaker 3: 24:44

Never drank alcohol. They weren't overly religious or anything, but had no vices.

Speaker 2: 24:50

So Oh.

Speaker 3: 24:50

I think you know, even though I might have had a few vices through high school like drinking and things like that. Yeah. Yeah. I I I don't drink now, so you know, I just yeah. I think that, you know, that had a lot to a lot a lot to do in influence with regards to, you know, how if you're brought up in a good strong household where, you know, it's a balancing act and, you know, of of making sure you're not neurotic about certain things and and, you know, that my parents just let it good wholesome fun life and I think that that that straight down to to me and my brothers, I mean,

Speaker 2: 25:33

So born and raised in Toronto?

Speaker 3: 25:35

Yeah. Yeah. Yep. So very, very enjoyable childhood.

Speaker 2: 25:41

Did you go to Northern or something or what?

Speaker 3: 25:43

No. I went to well, I went to a little public school called armor Heights, and then off to my parents moved to York Mills and Bayview area at that time. So I ended up going to junior high school called Saint Andrews and then went to high school at Yorkville's collegiate and where I was a terrible student. What happened there? Horrible. I just well, there might be some

Speaker 2: 26:14

Did you find the ladies, the oldsmoothie?

Speaker 3: 26:18

No. No. My wife's the only one I've ever had to gas and with. Yeah. Yeah. So yeah. No. I just I was just I was an awful student. Probably some learning disabilities there, you know. Reading, things like that.

Speaker 2: 26:38

Interesting.

Speaker 3: 26:38

Yeah. K? Yeah. K. And then I made it through thirteen I did a lot of sports. I did any sport I could so I could get in a class, I think. May at three thirteen, and then I opened my first store, when I was nineteen,

Speaker 2: 26:58

you opened a store at nineteen years old.

Speaker 3: 27:00

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I that was that was partially because of my wanting to do something. And I'd always I had a lawn cutting business. I had a whole bunch of different things I did all through periods of time and I'd worked all through high school and you know, through the summers and things like that. So but, yeah, I got to, you know, got to the point that I had to do something and make some money so I could live and so I wanted to open a store, but my oldest brother, Ron, who has my mentor and best friend. He jumped in and and helped me out. And the two of us opened a store called Sportswap. Back in nineteen seventy four. Cool. Mhmm. So Yeah.

Speaker 2: 27:53

What did you do? What was sports waffle?

Speaker 3: 27:54

Well, originally, it was a ski store. Okay. I was I was really heavily in the downhill Alpine skiing at that point in time. So That was a natural love. So we people would bring to us their used ski equipment, and we tell it for them. Now, and it wasn't original concept. I copied a a store from Calgary who is doing that and called the same name as a Matterfax Sportsman. So and then, yeah, the store did really, really well. First year out of the gate, and then trying to find something to do in the summer. You know, I came back to cycling, which was my second love. I had done a lot of cycling when I was fourteen to sixteen, fourteen to seventeen around that age competitively. Is that right? A little bit. Yeah. I I would never say, let's not get too crazy on the competitive thing. I'm a good athlete. I've never been a great athlete. Fleet did anything I've done, but I've been good at whatever I've done. You know, I've tried my hardest. So I was a good cyclist, but I was never at at what would be considered good, really good in cycling. No. No. But I loved it. Yeah. Yeah. So I so sportswap got into bicycles, and that ended up being the two sports that we always did. So and I owed's own sportswap for it was forty years. Wow. It's still going. I sold it off to one of my employees. And when I when I was a little little tired of doing it and I I was tired of the ski business quite honestly and wanted to go strictly into bicycles and and we had such a great relationship with Trek bicycle corp that which which was nice. It was a family owned business. So

Speaker 2: 29:58

American companies Yeah.

Speaker 3: 29:59

Yeah. Out of Madison, Wisconsin. Cool. Yeah. Really great family, great people, served by got by the name of Dick Birken seventy six. And then his son John took over the company and still runs it to this day.

Speaker 2: 30:18

You know them?

Speaker 3: 30:19

Yep? Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. We're not. You know, close, close, close, but yes.

Speaker 2: 30:25

Yeah. Well, if you've been working on them for that long, like, it's So that's interesting. So I got a couple of questions popping up. So is sports wop on Bayview?

Speaker 3: 30:37

Yeah. It was. That was that was that's where we had moved to. So sportswap originally started on Mount Pleasant Road, five seven nine Mount Pleasant. Was there for ten years. It was a little tiny six hundred square foot store, and then we did a big jump to twelve hundred square feet, I think it was, on five nine three Mount Pleasant, where we were there for seven years And then we moved over to Young Street on just south of Eglinton into the old sporting life building where sporting life originally started. So that went from, in other words, twelve hundred square feet to a property that was twenty four thousand square feet. And we were there for ten years, and then we moved to another location just up the street. And then finally, when I sold the business, sportswap. Sportswap moved back over to Bayview area, and we transformed the Sportswap store into the Trex store.

Speaker 2: 31:39

Interesting. Yeah. Because I can it's not there now. Right? Or is it?

Speaker 3: 31:43

What's that? Sports no. It's moved over. It was sold again and it's owned by a company called Ward Sports, I believe, over in Wicki seed near the Home Depot.

Speaker 2: 31:56

Oh, I know where it is. Yeah. I know exactly where that is.

Speaker 3: 31:59

Yeah. Gears was there.

Speaker 2: 32:01

Gears is there.

Speaker 3: 32:01

That's right.

Speaker 2: 32:02

Yeah. I know exactly.

Speaker 3: 32:03

So they've incorporated the sportswap into that.

Speaker 2: 32:07

Wow. It's so interesting. I I can think of the low the sportswap logo on Bayview Mhmm. Because it it must it was there not that long ago.

Speaker 3: 32:15

No. That's right. That was Alan Chow. He was and a great guy and employee of ours for many years, and he bought the company from me and moved it to Bayview.

Speaker 2: 32:27

It's interesting how many people you've you've interacted with over forty years. Right? You know Yeah.

Speaker 3: 32:38

This is fifty, actually. Right?

Speaker 2: 32:40

No. You know, you have you've been, like, a a a key person in, like, you know, I'm sure. Yeah. Because if they're coming in, as their kids are growing up, they're swapping out their skis every year. So, I mean, you've that must have been a cool aspect Oh, job.

Speaker 3: 32:55

Fun. Oh, yeah. And a lot of kids that were coming in at three, four were future employees working for us.

Speaker 2: 33:03

That's funny.

Speaker 3: 33:04

Yeah. Park time basis. Yeah. We saw a lot of you know, when sportswap was at its height, it had a hundred and forty employees out of the one location. So

Speaker 2: 33:15

Wow.

Speaker 3: 33:15

Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 33:17

So did you do anything else? Or was the main like, the main thing the what you did was you ran you ran a store?

Speaker 3: 33:25

Yeah. Work wise, that's the main thing.

Speaker 2: 33:28

It sounds like you since the early days were a serial entrepreneur even as a kid.

Speaker 3: 33:34

Yeah. A little bit. I I think the only strengths I have, it's not it's not intelligence. I'm dumb as a doornail, but I I I've got incredibly good focus and good common sense. And I think that's my two attributes. The rest of it and I have imagination. I've never thought up the original idea in my life. I've always copied good ideas. You know, sportswap was a great idea and I copied it. Legal legally. I wanna get that across right now. It was legal. Yeah. I did nothing illegal.

Speaker 1: 34:10

Yeah. There. We've got

Speaker 2: 34:12

our legal team on Speed dials. We wanna mess around. Yeah. Calgary sportswap. Yeah. You listen to this. Send bury your heart emoji.

Speaker 3: 34:21

Oh, please.

Speaker 2: 34:22

I can't let that one go. Okay. So that's that's super interesting. So with the when it comes to the track store, What what drew you into? Like, why would you go, okay, I'm kind of tired of skis and stuff, and what brought you into the cycling aspect of things?

Speaker 3: 34:47

Well, what really tired me of the whole ski business. So there was two things. First of all, it was it was taxing. You you were I was always working six months ahead. I was never enjoying the season I was in. I was worried about getting prepared for the summer.

Speaker 2: 35:05

That's it.

Speaker 3: 35:05

You know what? A a good retailer down the states once said, I make all my money in the winter. That's because no one's coming in, but if you're getting prepared for the spring summer, you're making your virtually you're making all your money when it's down season. So I was constantly out of sync. I was thinking of summer when it was winter, and I was thinking of winter when it was summer. So I was really never enjoying it.

Speaker 2: 35:35

That's hard on on anybody.

Speaker 3: 35:36

Yeah. Yeah. It it it really had to be way ahead of the game. So that was one thing. The the second thing, I didn't like the way the ski industry was going. When I was originally into the ski industry, it was all owned by families. Like the Solomon or Solomon family, and Rosnelo is owned by a family, and Atomic was owned by a really interesting Austrian guy. I mean, they were just characters and they were building creating new products and, you know, new new things constantly and it was It was really a fun time. And there was I think in family run business a a lot of times you know, there's a better code of ethics in business. When it became corporations buying out all these companies and amalgamating them, then the the industry really, really changed, and then it was being run more by accountants than and entrepreneurs. And it was just didn't sit well with me. It didn't you know, it wasn't my my mojo, I guess. So I I moved on. And hence, that's why I really enjoyed working with Trek. It was family owned business, a great great family and they had a fabulous, you know, vision of where they wanted to be five ten, fifteen years down the road. And Yeah. They they they had ethics. They would run the business as a business, but they would listen to people and not push you away, you know, or or shut you out.

Speaker 2: 37:16

Yeah. Mhmm. It's, you know, it's interesting as as I began to learn lots more about cycling, There's a lot to it. You know, you think it's just this bicycle and it's super simple, but there's a tremendous amount of layers when you think about components and you think about performance and comfort and stuff. And one of the things that I I could tell right away when I met you and Tara was just how I don't think passionate is the right word about the Trek brand. It was more just sort of it was more a you it was like a trust. It was it felt to me like Trek was the only brand you really trusted although you respected other brands. Can you talk a little bit about, you know, track in its and and how it's a bit different than the other companies?

Speaker 3: 38:14

Well, I I I gain it's a because it's a family run business and they do things with a a long range idea. So in the original founding of the company, They they came out with a lifetime guarantee on the frame of every bicycle sold. So if you're the original owner, you could own that bike for forty eight years. They've been around for forty eight years. And if you had a warranty issue on that bike, they'd replace it.

Speaker 2: 38:49

Still to this day? Yeah. Even on carbon frames?

Speaker 3: 38:53

Yep. Wow. If there's a manufacturing warranty issue, they will replace it and they do it. Incredibly quickly. Wow. They say they're they're trying to be and I think they they truly mean it. They're trying to be more of a hospitality company than a bike manufacturer. They're trying to just do the right thing.

Speaker 2: 39:21

Wow.

Speaker 3: 39:22

So, yes, they're they're very, very proactive on on settling issues with customers and retailers and doing the right thing wherever they can. No. I'm you know, I'm not I we all have our issues, whether it was sportswap, the trek store or trek corporation, you know, we'll all have disgruntled employees, we'll all have, you know, conflict in some areas. Sure. But overall, I would say Trek is definitely the the best bike store, a vice best bike company out there right now.

Speaker 2: 40:03

I was always impressed about how you would describe to people the difference in the focal point on comfort?

Speaker 3: 40:13

Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So you know, a lot of a lot of bike fitters. I call them bike whisperers a lot of times like a horse whisperer. Don't necessarily know what they're doing, but they have the the the

Speaker 2: 40:38

certain Genesis Quiet.

Speaker 3: 40:40

Exactly. That's that's the word I was looking. Yeah. To be able to come across like that, they they fit on performance. And the reality is performance is only part of the solution to riding a bicycle Yeah. Fit and comfort is a huge portion which is not looked at in by a lot of bike fitters or stores for that matter. So I've always been a big proponent of let's get you comfortable first on a bicycle. And next, we'll work on speed factors because there's certain things you can do that will will add watts onto your power or speed onto your speedometer.

Speaker 2: 41:26

Mhmm.

Speaker 3: 41:26

Mhmm.

Speaker 2: 41:27

So for we're gonna push this podcast to all of our members for sure. And we're gonna list your cell phone number just so you can you can use your text to you. Right? Just

Speaker 3: 41:41

I'm going back to my flip phone.

Speaker 2: 41:44

But so if if some of the folks that are listening to this and they are borrowing a bike or considering buying a bike, and let's say let's say they were like, I really like where Barry's going with this stuff, and I wanna kinda work in his ecosystem, where could they go to find a good truck bike?

Speaker 3: 42:07

Well, any of the truck corporate stores I mean, they'll do the right thing, and they generally won't upsell you. I would question whether they're they're good fitters. Whether they're exceptional fitters, I would I think most of the corporate stores have have drifted away from that, the fitting the fitting issue. And it is very problematic because You can have one fitter that is taking a performance bicycle that you've just purchased and telling you, well, I can make you a lot faster on this by changing in the position, not necessarily more comfortable, but I can make you a lot more faster. And that's, you know, that's exciting to a lot of cyclists. They go, I can go faster.

Speaker 2: 42:56

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 42:56

But they don't realize that you can only go maybe forty, sixty, eighty k's without having a backspasm or sore legs or whatever. So I I The other fitters are a true a true great fitter, I think. Takes a look at the person, takes a look at what they want to achieve in their cycling and says, okay, let's work on that and let's get you to that goal instead of focusing on, first of all, comfort or second of all, just sheer performance.

Speaker 2: 43:35

Yeah. So for folks who who are who you know, because on the surface, the idea of like, okay, the bike fit, sure that makes sense. Like, the way a shoe needs to fit or something needs to fit. But, like, what is that? What are you actually talking about when you have to be fitted to a bike?

Speaker 3: 43:53

Well, first of all, there's frame size. So I I think there's a tendency with performance fitters that they they size down too far. They look at, you know, what, twenty something year olds who are riding in the tour of France or the giro to tell you, which is on right now. You should be watching it.

Speaker 2: 44:13

But you're wasting your time talking

Speaker 3: 44:15

to me. That's right.

Speaker 2: 44:16

Too bad for you.

Speaker 3: 44:17

That's right. You know what? They're they're they're they're generally sized down on frames. They're they're writing a very small frame size. With very long stems and their seats are generally in totally different positions because they're they're young and they're totally flexible. And, you know, they don't you know, they're not looking for comfort as much as they're looking for speed and and putting out maximum wattage on the bicycle. Once you get past that area and you hit the right page of what are you, Sean? Thirty nine? Yes. This is

Speaker 1: 44:59

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 44:59

Right page. Yeah. Then all of sudden, you start falling into the category. Well, I need a little bit more than just working on speed. I've got, you know, aches. I've got you know, knee issues. I've got, you know, hip issues, neck issues. All these different things start rolling around as you get a little bit older and you you've done some physical abuse to yourself either, you know, working out or doing doing a whole bunch of other things. You know, even being a random car accident can throw your body off completely. So at that point in time, you you know, I think from that twenty eight year olds on, you wanna start working on more comfort, and then looking at performance as a secondary thing.

Speaker 2: 45:52

What makes a bike comfortable. What how does the body look in its most comfortable form on the bike?

Speaker 3: 46:01

Well, on a typical road bike, you know, there's different categories of bicycles. So on a on a road bike with the with the main style of handlebars. You're you wanna be relaxed in the upper body. You wanna be able to not ride with stiff arms. You wanna ride with what what a lot of good fitters and good cyclists would call soft hands. So there's very little pressure on the handlebar. Whatsoever. Your hands are just sitting on it. You're not you're not gripping or doing anything like that. That activates the core which solidifies the upper body and relaxes the upper body for performance reasons, performance reasons would be if you're more relaxed up top, you can breathe better, opens up the oxygen. It also doesn't stress the neck muscles, the back, the lower back, the hip flexors, all these different things. So riding with a soft, upper body or soft hands is very important activating the core. Second of all is seat positioning for aft. So whether the seat slides back farther, a lot of people like to activate their glutes when they're cycling, pushing more with their with their glutes and their hamstrings. Some people like to activate their quads more. And hence, when that happens in most cases, people's seat slides a little bit more forward when they like to activate their quads. And the seat generally, once you slide a little bit more forward. The seat also has to come up. The seatpost has to be raised to a certain degree. It It, yeah, it it is a little, you know, when I go back to that analogy, I said of the bike whisperer, there is a little bit of that. Just knowing what happens to people when they when they cycle and how how can you get the most comfort and performance out of the same thing. So that's in a road bike. Mountain bike is totally different. Mhmm. Tri bike is totally different. Yeah. So and and, of course, you know, riding around on a recreational bike as a hybrid around the city is totally different again too. They're all different fits.

Speaker 2: 48:39

Yeah. Mhmm. You know, and that and that's kinda one of the layers that I was thinking about, like, it's just you get into the cycling thing and there's just so much to start to learn and it's it's very overwhelming. And it doesn't have to be, but it can be. And so that's why it's it's great that people can have sort of sidebar conversations with you. Right? I see it happen with my clients as a role in it for class and, like, you know, someone ask you about a saddle and you'll have good answer. And so it's it's it's a there's a lot there. And I hope that the folks that are listening to this. I hope you're getting a lot out of it.

Speaker 3: 49:23

All two of you.

Speaker 2: 49:25

There might be three. Okay, all three of them. Mhmm. And just what did and so I I'm kinda getting it end of my questions. What advice would you give to somebody for a lot of say our members, for example, who are just getting into this stuff? Generally speaking and with cycling.

Speaker 3: 49:48

Well, if you've get get a good bike store, first of all, and make it so it's accessible to close to where you live. Yeah. You know, you can always if you're looking for a fitter you can always go to someone else to do get fitting done. Yeah. And I know in in one of our stores in the the truck store, Barry. Jeremy is just an incredible fitter up there. He understands the dynamics of cycling, whether you're a, you know, a professional or or a recreational rider or a wannabe, you know, you know, we can warrior. He can fit you to those different categories. And that's where I really feel most people should be going for fit. But again, getting a getting a bike story to trust close to you in a in a major bike brand I would suggest. Obviously, you know, I'm I'm I'm I'm a big believer in trek. But they're specialized. There's giant Survelo Cannondale. There's a lot of good companies out there. Try to find one of the bigger companies. So quite honestly, if you're getting into cycling you don't have to buy one of the fancy Italian brands or anything like that because quite honestly, those bikes are coming out of the same factories or less factories, less quality factories, that track and specialized and giant are manufactured out of. So that's a good point. Yeah. I mean, they're all coming out of Asia right now, you know.

Speaker 2: 51:35

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 51:35

Yeah. All the frames are. So I mean, there's a few, I shouldn't say, all of them, colonnago. I They still make some of those paleo, still make some of theirs. But it's a very hefty price to pay for

Speaker 2: 51:48

Yeah.

Speaker 3: 51:48

Generally older technology too because the factories in Asia are so up to date with carbon manufacturing in there. They're safeguarded by, you know, it's, for instance, Tract basically lives in the factory in Taiwan. Having their higher end frames made. So I mean, they've got representatives there watching, you know, the quality control constantly and and making sure, you know, a very, you know, mistakes cost a huge amount of money to a bicycle. Manufacturers, so they don't like making them. You know, they wanna make sure you're on something's very, very safe and put together properly.

Speaker 2: 52:30

Yeah. I've I've, you know, even before this conversation, I'm really looking forward to when I grade. So right now at my entry level try bike, I, you know, I I did it like anybody should. You don't you shouldn't break the bank. You should see if you like the sport. Right? The the this sort of offshoot of of the cycling sport. And then so I'll be looking forward in, you know, you'll be very happy to know. I'll be getting myself a nice track to go out there. Now, okay. So as we wrap this up, the last thing I wanted to chat about was just a little bit more spotlight on Tara in particular. Mhmm. She's and I don't know.

Speaker 3: 53:19

It's a pain in the ass.

Speaker 2: 53:22

Could you talk about How much of a pain in the

Speaker 3: 53:25

ass? There's a pain in the ass. Absolutely. No. She's a fabulous girl. Great. Great coach, great motivator, great athlete, obviously, we've seen that. But and just loves the community of of people. I mean Yeah. I think if she was to lose both her legs in a car accident. She'd be out there in a wheelchair, you know, cheering on people and telling them how they could perform better and motivating them? I mean, she's just that type of person. She just loves it, eats it up.

Speaker 2: 54:00

Yeah. And if you're listening to this and you're excited and you wanna check them out, the website you could just Google t train. Do do you know the website side up by hand.

Speaker 3: 54:12

No. People

Speaker 2: 54:16

See, I don't even know mine.

Speaker 3: 54:17

I don't know.

Speaker 2: 54:18

Yeah. A quick Google will get you there.

Speaker 3: 54:20

Yeah. Tea Train?

Speaker 2: 54:21

Yeah. Checkout Tea Train. Oh, wow. So you thought you were gonna go nine minutes. And it's fifty four.

Speaker 3: 54:31

Wow. That's wild.

Speaker 2: 54:32

Yeah. Wow. Did we miss anything?

Speaker 3: 54:35

Yeah. A lot, but it's not nothing nothing worthwhile. So We're

Speaker 2: 54:40

not going back for it. No. Alright. No. Well, look, I know you gave up your time for the gyro on watching the gyro to sit in here and bullshit with me on the mic. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1: 54:53

I appreciate it. I appreciate you very much, Barry. So thanks for joining us.

Speaker 3: 54:56

Okay. Well, thanks, Sean. Enjoyable.