Pedaling Community Bonds: Unveiling the Power of Bike Co-Ops with Luke Box, Kentucky's Cycling Crusader

Speaker 1: 1:13

Well, it's time for Road Adventures with Cycling Men of Leisure, the podcast for cyclists who understand that riding is not just about getting to the destination, but the experience along the way. Now here are the original Cycling Men of Leisure Adam and Michael.

Speaker 3: 1:53

Well, you've been on it or you've used it, because getting on it doesn't count it. Baby steps, baby steps.

Speaker 2: 2:01

Baby steps I got on it and I updated it and I'm ready to use it now, ready to use it.

Speaker 3: 2:07

Okay, We'll see. I'll talk to you back next December here We'll see how it goes. All right, fair enough.

Speaker 2: 2:13

So you've lined something up pretty cool today?

Speaker 3: 2:16

Well, I think so. You know, I remember an individual riding across Iowa in January or July and he had this squeaking crazy duck sound the whole way, never got it fixed.

Speaker 2: 2:32

500 miles of squeaking.

Speaker 3: 2:35

Oh yeah, I was there all 500 miles and we were recently in Kentucky and when I was doing some research and every time we go to these new places I do some research on cycling, that kind of thing and you know what I found? Exactly the thing you needed A bottom bracket.

Speaker 3: 2:52

Well, you don't need one. Now what I found is a community bike shop in Lexington, kentucky, and it is staffed by volunteer mechanics, and it just sounds like the coolest idea, because, god knows, I'm not a bicycle mechanic. And so what I've did is I've lined up gentlemen by the name of Luke Box, who is the manager there, and I thought we'd spend some time talking to him about this concept.

Speaker 2: 3:23

What do you think? I think that's great. Let's bring him on now. Luke, welcome to Cycling Men of Leisure and our little. The show is Road Adventures and this is Our Adventures on the Road, and I remember, not just two weeks ago, on the Legacy Trail, riding right by your shop. So tell us a little bit about yourself.

Speaker 4: 3:41

Yeah, yeah, thanks for having me. Yeah, I agree, I think this was a great idea. Yeah, so we are a nonprofit community, I guess, at this point, a volunteer based nonprofit community bike co-op, in that there are no owners. We are a government recognized 501C3 nonprofit organization and we've been, we've existed for 12 years. I'd say approximately 10 of those years we didn't have, we didn't pay anyone. So for 10 years we were able to grow and develop our organization, all completely volunteer based, which is, yeah, which is pretty phenomenal, it kind of like in hindsight.

Speaker 4: 4:31

And then we had some part-time employees kind of come and go, me being one of them, kind of through the pandemic and stuff, but we never, we never fully committed to having like a salary, full-time position and yeah and yeah, and that's me. So I guess, to give a summary statement, we provide better access to better bikes. We try to remove as many barriers as we can between people and using bicycles, not, you know, recreationally, but more so trying to normalize the use of bicycles as a means of transportation, because it is, and there are probably millions of people in the United States who ride bikes every day to get to where it is they need to go, like, secondarily, it's recreational primarily. You know they're riding to work, they're riding to school, they're, they're riding to the grocery store, they're, they're going to where it is. They need to go and Well, that's, that's.

Speaker 3: 5:38

That's awesome. Let me just interrupt you for a second because I've read your mission statement and I think this is a great mission statement. Your mission statement states empower adults with the tools, the space, skills and community needed for better access to better bikes. That's fantastic. Love it yeah.

Speaker 4: 5:56

Yeah, black and white, yeah, and we're certainly not the first ones to do it at all. Yeah, bike co-ops have existed, you know, all around the world, for you know probably 40, 50 years of. I bet it's probably 70, maybe 100 in the United States alone. That's cool, that. That all, yeah, we all kind of have. You know it's bicycle advocacy at the at the end of it. You know that's kind of what we're all we're all in it for, yeah, and we just happen to be in good old central Kentucky.

Speaker 2: 6:26

You're around a lot of bourbon as well, so that helps too.

Speaker 3: 6:30

We're big. We're big fans of boats. Yes, we did.

Speaker 2: 6:33

Yeah, we did. I have a question. When I rode by your shop, I rode just a little bit further, at about 100 yards on my right, and I saw something that I'm I've seen in magazines before but I've never seen in person, which was bike polo. Is is, is the broke spoke, help out with that, involve with that, or is that just happens to be close to you so if their bikes break, they come and say, hey, help us, yeah.

Speaker 4: 7:00

I guess there's. No, there's no formal relationship, but yeah, there's a there's. There's a bit of overlap and personally I wish there was more and it's my job to see to it that that becomes the case. But no, basically it's like they obviously know that we're here, we know that they're there.

Speaker 1: 7:15

That's cool.

Speaker 2: 7:16

And we yeah, we help each other out as well as we need to see I I it may be here. I mean, I'm from the Metro Detroit area. It may bike polo may be in the area. I don't want to be dishonest, it is really.

Speaker 3: 7:31

Okay, I did not know that. That's cool, yeah. Well, what I think is also important is your and we were not out looking for your shop. It was Sunday morning and we just thought we'd take a quick ride before we started heading home to our respective places. And we got on the legacy trail and we're just riding and then all of a sudden I'm like hey, there's the place I've been telling you about, adam, which I also think is interesting because you're beautiful location. You've got on one side a brewery, on the other side of distillery.

Speaker 2: 8:04

I'm sorry about that. It's got to be rough to be you, Luke. I mean having all those choices.

Speaker 4: 8:12

So I'm in the shop right now. It's a hard life.

Speaker 3: 8:15

And I did notice on the bottle of bluegrass there it is bourbon that I bought. They put special labels on it for the bourbon country burn. But I also see broke spoke made the label too, so I thought that was pretty cool.

Speaker 4: 8:31

We did. I, yeah, I actually got to. I did a barrel tasting to help to choose that bourbon. That's cool, yeah, and a couple of the organizers from bourbon burn who you may have met, I don't know. Um, yeah, a couple of organizers and me and and my buddy slash, uh, board president Brad. Uh, yeah, we all met up a couple months ago and did a whole and did a whole bourbon tasting.

Speaker 4: 8:56

That's cool you didn't get to hand select that bourbon that you, that you have there in your hand. Yeah, I got to taste that and thought it was, and thought it represented the mission, I guess.

Speaker 3: 9:07

Well you, phil wasn't involved with that, was he? I don't think so, phil Collins. Okay, I'm just curious. Um, let me tell you, uh, if your job becomes available, I'll move down to Kentucky and take over, because that sounds horrible, horrible job you get to work on bikes. People want you to taste some whiskey, for you know barrel selection.

Speaker 2: 9:32

And you know what else is there? Michael, we're very, very close A coffee shop.

Speaker 3: 9:37

Oh yeah, uh, I don't care.

Speaker 2: 9:40

I don't care. I don't care. I'm a local guy who never, trusted me.

Speaker 3: 9:44

I don't care about the coffee.

Speaker 2: 9:46

Uh, michael doesn't drink coffee, so but that's okay, we still. We still appreciate him. Um, so let's talk about, if you don't mind. So you have volunteers that come in. So hypothetically, let's say my bike is broken and I follow your website and I go to the hours that you're open and we'll let you talk about that. Um, and then I come in and say I have zero knowledge. I mean cause I know you have bike stands, but if I have zero knowledge, can I still get help?

Speaker 4: 10:14

For sure. Yeah, that happens. Well, that's not happened today. We were actually open. Yeah, so you come in. You know your breaks don't work. You don't know how to fix them. Come in the door. I'll be sitting right here to greet you.

Speaker 2: 10:28

That's cool.

Speaker 4: 10:28

And usually, yeah, I'll explain to people. You know, if we have volunteer mechanics available, which we typically do, I'll go ahead and get you signed into our computer system, explain that it's $8 an hour for what we call a stand time and then you can get. The stand time allows you access to the whole shop basically. So you have all the tools, work stand, bike stand, all that kind of stuff, as well as the guidance of a certified, trained mechanic. All of our mechanics go through a Basically at the pass of quiz is what it is, and it's a pretty difficult quiz. So you know that the person helping you knows what they're doing. Yeah, you come in. If you have a certified mechanic available, then we'll explain the $8 an hour. You know, if you have it, that's great. If not, we can worry about that later. Like we're a nonprofit organization, we're not in the system to make a lot of money. It's more important that we get you back out there on your bike.

Speaker 2: 11:24

That's awesome.

Speaker 4: 11:26

Yeah, yeah, and it feels. Yeah, it's fun to say that. It feels really good to explain that to people because I guess, fortunately and unfortunately, a large part of our clientele are people who don't have $8 an hour or $1 an hour and we can come to say, hey, we can sort this out later. It's more important that you get on your bike and we can figure out how to pay for this stuff or whatever later on, which we also have a whole volunteer opportunity to do as well. But in the event that we don't have a mechanic, it's very much a do-it-yourself kind of space, which is something that we take pretty seriously, and we've got all kinds of manuals and books and you can hop on YouTube and that sort of stuff. But the idea is that we have all of the tools, we have all of the space that you could possibly need. That's awesome.

Speaker 4: 12:20

If you're willing to learn, you have the time, you can do it. We want you here. We want you to do it, but we're not going to do it for you.

Speaker 2: 12:28

We don't do it for your money, and I think that's actually better, because there was something like this when my father was in the Air Force, at Scott Air Force Base there was a co-op shop that you could take your car and do the same kind of thing learn to fix your own car, and things like that so I'm familiar with that concept. As far as I'm concerned, from the bikes aspect, there's so many times that I've been Michael and I enjoy doing these long statewide rides. There's like he made it. He's not lying In Iowa.

Speaker 2: 12:57

Like 20 miles in my bike started making this squeak and I kept taking it to different mechanics and everyone kept telling me it wasn't the bottom bracket, that it was the brakes, and we kept trying different things and luckily I made it to the river to river, held my bike above my head, and when I got in I took it into the shop and within like three minutes the guy's like I think your bottom bracket's broken. And so we had a little fun on the show where we said, hey, why don't we guess? And people were texting me behind the scenes going what's wrong with your bike, what's wrong with your bike? And my idea is that I want the bike fixed. I have to take it to a bike shop and have the mechanic then tear it apart, because I have no knowledge of how to do a bottom bracket.

Speaker 2: 13:34

The idea that you have a co-op shop, that I could come in and work with the mechanic and said, okay, well, this comes off, and I'm sure you have to torque at certain specifications and to learn all of that or what grease goes into a bottom bracket that would just be awesome to be able to say, okay, here's what I think is wrong. Now I want you to do it. I'll come back and check on you in a little bit. I'm sure they're not standing there the whole time. They're probably helping out different people at different stands, so but that to me, that is just an awesome idea. And do you have enough volunteer base where you have enough mechanics that you normally usually do have at least one mechanic there?

Speaker 4: 14:13

Yeah, so I was thinking peak season, which is probably about a month, maybe month and a half ago. Yeah, so Sundays are a busiest. I think at peak season it got to the point where you know, sunday two o'clock, we've got eight stands and we'll have 20, maybe 30 people in here, Wow, wow.

Speaker 4: 14:35

We'll have five or six volunteer mechanics who can only work on one bike at a time, you know. So it's not so much that we don't, it's not so much that we don't have enough volunteer mechanics. A lot of times it's like we just don't have the space, like we don't have. There is such a huge demand for what it is that we do that a lot of the bottleneck is just a matter of space a lot of the times because then we also have people in here volunteering at the same time, so it can get very busy. I think our volunteer base is pretty well covered, but again, it could be. You know it always needs to be more. You know we're open two days a week. My job is to see to it that we're open as much as we possibly can. But for the time being we can maintain at our current rate, but we need to increase the rate.

Speaker 2: 15:30

So on your website. I think it's important that I say this right now. If somebody is listening to this, they're living in the Lexington area or live close enough where they could help you out. You don't. You're not just looking for mechanics. I saw on your website. You're looking for greeters. You're looking for people who maybe can be carpenters, maybe fix something else, who maybe you know cleaning or whatever. You're looking for any kind of volunteers, not just a mechanic. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 4: 15:59

So Broke spoke. Yeah, the entire organization is all volunteer. I'm the only paid employee. The entire organization, down to the board members, are all volunteers. So, yeah, if you could imagine physically starting a bike shop and everything it entails, you're sync gets clogged up like who's gonna fix that sync a volunteer. Yeah, you need to paint a wall who's gonna paint that wall? A volunteer. Yeah, who's gonna fix your light fixtures? Volunteers yeah, so it's not just a. You know there's so much more to all of this than just fixing bicycles. And yeah, we need help from people with a wild range of skill sets. Yeah, graphic designers, you know IT. Yeah, construction, if you worked retail, if you can, if you have, you know, if you have retail skills, yeah, you can work in front desk, sell merchandise, that sort of stuff. Yeah, there's there's so much more to this than just fixing bicycles.

Speaker 2: 17:01

They're taking a retail Mm-hmm. I I understand that you also sell bikes. You don't just repair bikes, you sell bikes as well, absolutely.

Speaker 4: 17:12

Yeah, yeah. So all of yeah, so that is a that's a large part of our revenue is is bike sales. Yeah, so I'm looking around the shop here like pointing us up, but all of our are, all of the bicycles in our space I bet we probably have looking around, I bet we probably have 200, maybe 275 bikes in here right now. Yeah, all the bikes that we have ever it, basically anything we've ever received was given to us. Where there's bicycles, bicycle parts time was all Given to us. So, yeah, people will give us bicycles.

Speaker 4: 17:46

Our mechanics will repair these bikes, at the same time Teaching other people how to repair these bikes. So you give us, so you give Brooksville, a bicycle, we're gonna fix it. At the same time, we're going to teach someone. You know that's going to be a learning opportunity for someone as well. Yeah, so we refurbish these bicycles and do a pretty good job at it. I feel like that's. Another big part of my job is being sure that these bikes are are safe and and respectable and and Bicycles that we can fell affordably to people who need these bikes to live their life. We don't sell department store bikes. We very rarely even try to repair them because it's just not worth it. That's not a, that's not a tool, that's not something that I can give to someone and say like, hey, you can. You can literally bank your life on this bike right.

Speaker 4: 18:32

The the people we're selling these bicycles to, and the types of bikes that we're selling are Are tools that people need. You know it's like a car. They're that. Primarily. They are a tool to For you to live your life. Secondarily, recreational Is how. That's how I have to kind of like frame it in my mind.

Speaker 3: 18:51

So, yeah, you can come in here and and I use bike for anywhere from 75 to 200, 300, 400, $500, wow now, if I was in Lexington and I Needed to take Adam's bike to get the bottom bracket fixed, which he was very slow in doing, do I can? Can you make like a reservation, or is it just what first come, first serve type situation?

Speaker 4: 19:16

Yeah, so for now it's first come, first serve. There are some other co-ops who have done like the reservation stuff, but we've I don't know, I guess we just haven't had a need to really do that yet. So, yeah, it's basically just show up and I tell people all the time Get here as early as possible, because Sunday at one o'clock, when we open fill up, there can be six people standing right outside the door backed up.

Speaker 1: 19:37

Yeah, yeah and then another thing.

Speaker 3: 19:40

Another thing I noticed is you also have Ladies night, mm-hmm.

Speaker 4: 19:45

That's not so much. Yeah. Our women fem night, yeah for sure, and that was four or five months ago. Yeah, and that's in that. That's a huge part of our mission is to Is to not only remove financial barriers for people but social barriers, and the irony of being on on the cycle men of leisure podcast is is that it's it's kind of good, it sort of frames the bicycle culture is is predominantly it is it is male, it's male dominated and it's it's not always a Real comfortable space for for women or for anyone in the LGBT community or or or any marginalized Minority communities. A lot of times it's hard for them to feel welcome in spaces where there's not a lot of people like them there.

Speaker 2: 20:39

I'd be remiss if I didn't tell you that we also do Participate, and we also have cycling, women of leisure, and it's been, and believe it or not, our Facebook page for the ladies has a heck of a lot more followers than the men. So and so, I love it.

Speaker 2: 20:55

We, and how that happened was is we rode our bikes across Georgia with a ride called brag bicycle ride across Georgia and there are sales gimmick, as if you get 10 people on your team, if you will, that they'll provide a free jersey for you. And so we had some ladies. We ended up having 26 people and two of them were ladies and they're like listen, we love what you stand for, we love your show, we love what you're doing. Is there any way we can do anything for the women? And so Michael and I reached out to our Logo design guy and we said we need something for ladies and I need it, like yesterday. And so he got us a thing. It's a cycling women of leisure and use the same style of character and and, and so it's a lady and she's there, and so we were able to actually provide jerseys for the ladies. It's that cycling women of leisure. So anyone who's picking up on this for the first time, just to be clear, we're not like male chauvinist pigs.

Speaker 3: 21:48

We, we're both married men, and we welcome everybody absolutely.

Speaker 4: 21:53

And I didn't mean to like frame it in such a way.

Speaker 3: 21:55

No, no, no and that's kind of what we saw is you know, we did this and it wasn't intended to to slide anybody, but then we had a lot of women coming up and say, you know, like Adam said, we really like what you're doing, but Yep. So that's, why we started the the women's side of things too, so yeah, yeah, cuz yeah, they showed up there.

Speaker 4: 22:16

Out there, 24 men or two women. Yeah yeah, this is a little. This is a little weird. And the same thing for us. You know, 98% of our volunteer base are all men. You know, oliver, I wouldn't say all of our mechanics. We have wonderful women mechanics, but a majority of them are our men. The cycling community At large, the United States is, is predominantly men.

Speaker 2: 22:37

Um sure, I mean just like, let's talk about how we found you, which was bourbon country burn, I mean it one night in camp. I mean, if you looked at camp and people standing around the fires and tasting the bourbon, there was more men there than there was women. I mean, you don't have to be blind to that fact. So that's. I think it's great that you allow one night where women can feel comfortable, or the femme community can feel comfortable, by coming in and feeling that they don't have to be like, oh, I have to compete, you know, I can just ask my question, so that's great yeah.

Speaker 4: 23:08

Yeah, thank you. Yeah, and it has been a phenomenal success. Like I said, three, maybe four months and and yeah, it's just been a we've had said a lot, of, a lot of Support from from the community at large and the people that show up, or this has been something that we've needed to have done. You know, 10 years ago, when we started, we tried a couple times and I think this is the longest we've we've been able to kind of like keep it going, um, but yeah, there's definitely a huge, a huge support for it. Yeah, like the first night we opened the door, like 20 people showed up and it's like, oh, wow, okay, there's a vacuum here.

Speaker 3: 23:41

Yeah, Well, you know, we have heard on rides Adam more than once from the ladies that have said you know what I wish I knew more about bicycle maintenance and bicycle mechanics. So I Think that's great that you're offering that for you know, and kind of that safe space, so that's awesome. Yeah, yeah, yeah and and.

Speaker 2: 24:02

I think exactly the words that we heard was you know, my husband usually takes care of this, but he didn't. He couldn't come on this ride with me. And then they would say do you guys know how to do it? And I don't meant to be rude, by any means I'm like you don't want me adjusting anything, that the railers not gonna work and and you're gonna need to find a mechanic, and that's just one thing I don't know. I would love to come to your shop and and learn, because one time I did try. I'm like it's just a little Allen set screw. I'm sure I can just adjust it for a little bit. Yeah, nothing would shift anymore. And and so I wound up going down to the shop. And then, of course, I'm like did who adjusted this? I'm like I don't know someone on the trail.

Speaker 4: 24:43

Yeah, I'm little elf in the garage my buddy.

Speaker 3: 24:46

Michael said he could fix it and obviously that's right, yeah, you didn't know.

Speaker 2: 24:53

So let me, let me ask you a question, and if I, if I cross the line here, I'm so sorry, but when we were, when we were on your way to your shop and heading down the legacy trail, we passed the YMCA. I passed a community that to me was a homeless community, or or maybe Not a fluent community. Is that any way affiliated with that area or not? Being from Kentucky, forgive me, I'm just curious.

Speaker 4: 25:20

So yeah, yeah, so you passed the regionally renowned Hope Center, which is a, which is a immense recovery center. Is a campus such a? Okay, yeah, so. So, yeah, that is a substance abuse recovery program, one of the most I Don't know, I guess I'll make this up one of the most successful in the country. I know in this state it is. It is one of the most successful. Also, one of the most well-funded. Um, yeah, so we don't have.

Speaker 4: 25:51

When we built our shop here, like you said, that place that you passed is less than a thousand feet from the shop. When we chose this spot, that was one of the reasons we set up here is because we knew that that was the community that needed our help. We could be close to them. There was a bike trail that we knew was going to be built nearby. That bike trail connects to the recovery center. Yeah, I would say, shoot, I'd estimate 50 percent of the people that utilize our shop are from that recovery center. Okay, those are people who don't have cars, who don't have driver's license, who don't have money, who don't have houses, who don't have anything. They're trying to get their life together and then you have a bike. They need to get across town or whatever. Yeah, a huge part of our clientele, our folks in the Hope Center. Yeah, a lot of really good friends of mine. Yeah, I've met here at Broke's Boat from the Hope Center.

Speaker 2: 26:53

Yeah. So let me just so the question is not as uncomfortable, let me just give you a little bit about my background real quick. I am a deputy director for transportation. There are people who change my life. The job that I work for literally I'm not kidding you literally changed my life. I used to get in my little happy car, not think about anything, go to the store, do my life, live my life, do exactly what I wanted to do.

Speaker 2: 27:18

It wasn't until I'm working for the company that I'm working for now that the people that you transport on the bus and taking to places literally have no other way of transportation, no way of getting their groceries, no way of getting their things. It was an eye-opening shocker the first Memorial Day, labor Day, that here I'm thinking, hey, it's a holiday and I get to go spend time with my family. Then the next day, when you go back and those people have no groceries and they're trying to get places, I completely understand and respect what you're doing. I just wanted to give you a little background of when you talk about the bike as a tool. Trust me, I completely understand. With the transportation, especially in Michigan December through February it's hard to use a bike as a regular commuter transportation tool. I just wanted to give you a little background. I was just curious because when we came through that area yeah, you get it.

Speaker 4: 28:09

Transportation, from a government standpoint, is not a human right, but people have to get where they need to get to. They live in these cities and they live in these places and they've got. They got to get to the grocery store, they got to get to work too. There are social barriers that are built and it makes it difficult to do those things Absolutely. Cities aren't necessarily built with access to transportation demand at all. Yeah, I completely agree. Yeah, and people fall through the cracks all day long.

Speaker 3: 28:47

Yeah and you get it.

Speaker 4: 28:48

Yeah, it's your job.

Speaker 2: 28:50

I do, and that's my Money Through Friday. This podcast is just something I enjoy to do with Michael. But what about Lexington's weather? Forgive me, I've been there a couple of times, but what about during the winter? Can you commute on a bike more into the winter?

Speaker 4: 29:09

Yeah, so we've got it's pretty. Kentucky in general is kind of known for it's pretty predictable. But there will be points in times when you have like a winter vortex and it's negative 10 degrees for like a weekend or something like that. But other than that it doesn't get real extreme. You can absolutely commute on a bicycle in the winter time, especially if you have no choice. But but yeah, it's certainly, it's certainly possible, but it takes a lot. It takes a lot of extra effort and a lot of extra money and time and things like that. But it certainly could be. I'm sure it's of no comparison to Detroit or anything.

Speaker 2: 29:50

Sure, sure, but I'm the idiot who lives here. That's my own fault.

Speaker 4: 29:55

We probably average I don't know, maybe eight inches of snow, like in a year, oh wow.

Speaker 1: 30:00

Okay.

Speaker 4: 30:01

So so yeah, it's not. It's not too bad. There'll be times in a season where, like, we're going to ice storm for a week or, like I said, or a vortex or something like that, but for the most part it's pretty, it's pretty predictable.

Speaker 2: 30:14

I guess you could say so you mentioned them during COVID and stuff. I know that everyone's probably sick of talking about COVID, but I am curious about something All the part bike shops around here. They just clammed up during COVID. They said you know, we can't get parts, we can't get this, we can't get that, and I understand that you have a donation and things of that nature. Did COVID affect your mission due to the fact of parts and things like that?

Speaker 4: 30:42

Right, so I wish I would have, I wish I would have. I wish I had the person here that worked here during COVID to answer some of these questions. So I actually wasn't hired on until, I think, november of last year it's almost been a year. So my understanding of how Brooks Book operated during COVID was that we were taking in donations, bicycle donations. We didn't have open shop hours to the public, but we still had to sell these bikes. So once a week they would have mechanics nights where they would open up and our trained mechanics would come in.

Speaker 4: 31:22

Or if you were a mechanic and like you knew somebody who knew you could fix bikes, like you bring your friend in and they would pick these bikes and then, once every month or two, we would have a yard sale where, you know, saturday, you know, we'd take our 30 bikes that we fixed that month or whatever, and take them out and sell them. And it was, as you probably remember, during COVID. There was a whole. There was a bike rage where, like they were gone, they were gone everywhere. So, yeah, we would I keep saying we, but like I wasn't really involved at all. My understanding is that is that, yeah, they would set up 20, 30 bikes Outside the shop on a Saturday morning and 8 am, there'd be 20 people lined up outside the shop and those bikes will be gone. Wow, in a snap.

Speaker 2: 32:06

And I know you said that you weren't working there, but since you're the the best and least, best and only paid employee now you're representing, so Right, yeah.

Speaker 4: 32:17

Speaking on behalf of yeah all of our volunteers and stuff. Yeah, this is always a weird thing for me. Yeah, because it's. I guess I don't know I'm now the face of Brooks book, but like it's, it's not. Brooks book doesn't have a face, gotcha, it doesn't have owners. You know there are. There are 60 other people behind the scenes that that fix all these bikes and stuff. That's cool. I'm just. I'm just living the dream man.

Speaker 2: 32:44

No, and I noticed go ahead.

Speaker 3: 32:47

That brings up another question, Luke. How did you get involved with this?

Speaker 4: 32:51

Right, I got involved at Brooks book 12 years ago, basically as a client you could say a customer. I was, I don't know, 22 years old, moved to Lexington, was going to community college, had very little money, decided I'm going to sell my car, I'm going to move downtown, I'm going to do the whole live downtown thing. No-transcript At my house where I lived before I moved to Lexington. Got to Lexington, found out no idea what I was doing, heard about Brookspoke, walked in, you know, with a bike frame on my shoulder and like and and and like a Kroger bag full of bike parts, and was like hey, like I don't, I don't know, I took it apart somehow. I have no idea how this stuff goes back together which is, you know exactly our Brookspoke was there for yeah, so that was Wow. I don't know what year that was, but yeah, basically showed up as as that demographic of people that Brookspoke was there to serve and and got really into it. Yeah, and that's really cool.

Speaker 4: 34:00

And it was awesome yeah.

Speaker 3: 34:02

Well, adam and I always have the philosophy because we a lot of the cycling events we do are too far away for us to drive, or we're not. We could drive there, we're just too lazy to put in the road trip. So, like going out to Georgia will fly out there. So, needless to say, we take our bikes apart, we put them back together in the hotel room or in the lobby or wherever we can find enough space to do so, and Kind of our motto is as long as there's not more than a couple of extra pieces left when you're done putting together Okay so we figure there's got to be.

Speaker 3: 34:31

You know they. They have some extra pieces on there that aren't important Is how we look at it, but I Do got to share a story with you.

Speaker 2: 34:41

So on one of our podcasts we talked about traveling with your bike and we did this whole show. And I'm not saying that our way was the only way, it was just our way of breaking down the bike to get it ready for flight. And we had mentioned in that show that you should get an extra derailleur hanger, because when you're in a location that you are Not familiar with, don't know where the bike shops are, that this could be one piece that could be a problem. And we do know somebody who listened to the show and said, oh, that's great, I really appreciate what she did. And, wouldn't you know it? That person we were with had their derailleur hanger. I mean, they had more than that issue, but that was the last piece that they were trying to find and they were having a hard time finding one. So it's, it's interesting, the parts and pieces and everything else.

Speaker 3: 35:29

So luckily for us, we've only had a couple extra screws and not just kidding but you know what, if, if he had not have been riding at rag brie, it would have been it like some other ride, and there, you know, there's dozens of mechanics at rag brie he had to hit all of yeah, another ride. He would have been out for the rest of week because he wouldn't have found that derailleur.

Speaker 4: 35:50

Yeah, so derailleur hangers yeah, that's. That's like in Steve. Yeah, you're gonna want to yeah you probably got two in your pocket right now.

Speaker 2: 35:59

Well, there's one in our travel box, I promise you there. I don't, whatever we get we're going, we put in our tool bag.

Speaker 4: 36:05

So yeah, now you know.

Speaker 2: 36:07

So, okay, so we've established that broke spoke was started a little bit before you, kind of with you, along with you, and now you're back in this paid position. You are a volunteer base bike community. You welcome everybody and you do offer Certain nights, like such as the ladies night or fem night, on the every third Tuesday of the month from 6 pm To 9 pm. Is that correct? That's correct, okay, and according to your website, your current hours. And if it doesn't, if it's not the same, please stop me. But Sunday through Thursday or Sunday and Thursday, right?

Speaker 4: 36:48

Correct.

Speaker 2: 36:48

Yes, sunday and Thursday, 1 pm To 5 pm. Stand time is eight dollars an hour. If someone comes in they check in with you through a computer system. They kind of know they're there and and if they can't pay that eight dollars, you do have other Volunteer based items that they could provide for the shop to also help pay for their stand time if they've earned that particular.

Speaker 4: 37:14

Yeah, yeah, so you can. Yes, all of that is correct, and I'll take just a sec to kind of focus on the volunteer stuff. Yeah, so you can come into the shop during those times Sundays and Thursdays, 1 to 5 and and you can volunteer and you earn $10 an hour in what we call sweat equity, which is the shop credit, and then you can use that $10 an hour, or however much you earn, to To pay for, you know, your inner tube or whatever, to pay for your derailleur hanger or to to buy a bike. You can use up to $100 of your own credit towards the purchase of a bicycle. Oh, wow, that's really cool, yeah, so, so, so, yeah, that's, and the volunteer stuff is, it's pretty simple, it's this you, just at this juncture at least, you just show up and and I'll find stuff for you to do.

Speaker 4: 38:00

There's, it's a big place. There's a billion parts and pieces laying around this place. There's always, there's always five or ten things to do to kind of help us out around here. Yeah, and it's, and it's sort of, you know, it's the ethos of if you're willing to, if you're willing to help yourself, like you know, we're willing to match you, and if you're willing to do a little bit of work, like we're. We're gonna be right there with you and, and and be sure that you know your time is. Your time is worth something. If you're willing to yeah, if you're willing to put in the effort, you know we'll help you out.

Speaker 2: 38:31

Well, I I am. I'm so excited that that, michael, that you lined this up, and, luke, you were able to spend some time with us. Thank you If, if you are camping and you find yourself at the Kentucky Horticultural Center Camping and you find yourself at the Kentucky Horse Park campground right from the first you find yourself in. Lexington in Lexington.

Speaker 2: 38:47

Anyway the trail itself will come from the Kentucky Horse Park Campground, called a legacy trail. It goes right by the broke spoke of the community bike shop and If you're there on Thursday or Sunday we recommend that you check you out, and I wish I actually we were there on Sunday.

Speaker 2: 39:07

I don't want to lie to you but it was like 11 o'clock and then we both hit the road to drive home and, um, I wish it would have been later. Now I'm really disappointed, but I'm also, when we do things like this, that makes me do a deeper dive into things. And now I'm now I'm challenged to go back and I would love to meet you in person and and Definitely I'm sure we did meet actually, but but more now that we've talked to you here, I have a better connection.

Speaker 3: 39:31

So no, I did want to say one other thing. Um, that legacy trail Is beautiful because the first. The first three quarters of it you're going through, you know, some nice little rolling hills, it's kind of tree foresty uh areas. So it's, it's um, not only could you get to the broke spoke uh in a distillery and a uh brewery, but I mean it's very pretty, very scenic throughout and a coffee shop.

Speaker 2: 39:58

Don't blow it. I know you don't drink coffee, but whatever.

Speaker 4: 40:02

It's a legacy.

Speaker 2: 40:03

You could say so we love to try to. Um, you've given us some of your time, um, we love to give back. So I just would like to um, kind of Be thought provoking for a second, and if anyone um in lexington, near or around the area, is thinking to themselves you know, I got a little extra time on sunday, I got a little extra time on thursday, um, or maybe you're a lady and you think to yourself I really wish I knew more about my bike we would love to just kind of put out the challenge of anyone to come Please donate your time at the broke spoke if you're in the area, and that's something that you could do.

Speaker 4: 40:42

so, yeah, yeah, yeah, I appreciate that. Um, yeah, yeah, stop in if you're in the area. Uh, you know, poke around on their facebook or website or whatever. If you're not in the area, you know, just check it out, read up about a little bit, Um, you know, and, and make yourself aware that there are, like I said, we're not the only bike co-op in the country. There are. This is the whole. This is a I wouldn't call it an industry. This is the whole thing. You know, there are, there are clothing, there are clothing shelters and there are, and there are food banks and things like that. There are. There are bicycle banks, there are. There are non-profit organizations that exist to provide people with the means for car Alternative transportation. Um, and they're in every big city, you know, in in the country. Um, are you guys in Kansas City? We didn't clarify earlier Missouri, are you guys?

Speaker 3: 41:31

in Kansas City, missouri. I'm in Kansas, he's in michigan, I'm in. I'm right outside of Kansas City, kansas, oh okay, dang it Okay. Uh, is there one in Missouri? Because you asked me before and I go no, I don't think so. I haven't heard, but the longer we talk I'm like I really want to see. Is there one in the Kansas City Missouri? Kansas City Missouri, All right, For sure.

Speaker 4: 41:47

Yeah, I'm looking them up. Yeah, shout out to the 816 bicycle. Is the bicycle co-op in Kansas City, missouri? I bet there.

Speaker 2: 41:56

If you give me one second, let's see if there Is a co-op in Kansas City while he's looking at that, I'm gonna give your website out, which is, yeah, the broke spoke org, and so definitely check these guys out. Just a pretty cool thing, and I had to. I hate to admit this. I mean, I know you're saying that there are, you know, 70 to 100 or whatever in the country, and I think that just maybe it has to do with your general area.

Speaker 2: 42:27

I got into cycling as an adult again at 2012 meaning me as a kid and then Someone said oh, you should ride a bike. I'm not ride a bike. I haven't ridden a bike since high school, and so I got back in, I got back into it and since then, my my mindset has been the bike is broke, I take it to a bike shop, I pay to get it fixed and I come back, and so I just being 100% truthful with you, this idea is just awesome. I would love to learn. I would wish I knew some of the. I mean, I'm just smart enough to turn a screw on something that's never gonna work again.

Speaker 4: 43:02

So yeah, Fire it up, man. Yeah, you're, you're in the, you're in the industry where, where you know you probably have people, you probably know people that would be interested. Yeah, start like this. You know it's yeah and and they do, man, they start from. They start from chaos, you know, and and all of the bike co-ops that I've interacted with and stuff, yeah, they all seem to kind of start from like, yeah, man, like it's kind of it's kind of gritty at first. You know it's, I guarantee there's enough people, enough people wherever you're at that that you could probably get something up off the ground.

Speaker 2: 43:37

I guarantee you're right, mm-hmm, yeah, that's probably people that would give you bikes.

Speaker 4: 43:42

You know there's probably people who've got. You know it's probably a hundred people in the city alone that have bikes sitting in the garage that they just don't know what to do with it, you know yeah, seem like a good idea at the time when I bought it, but oh, yeah, yeah, man, that's how yeah.

Speaker 2: 43:57

One of these days I'm gonna fix that, or one of these days I'm gonna put on the back of the car and find a place like the broke spoke.

Speaker 4: 44:04

Yeah, hop on the internet, man. I yeah, there's probably something within a hundred miles of you. I don't see.

Speaker 3: 44:10

I'm only four miles from from Missouri, so it's yeah, it wouldn't be that big a deal.

Speaker 4: 44:15

Okay. I got you you're over there, the Katie trail, I guess, and you heard of the Katie trail.

Speaker 3: 44:19

Oh yeah, oh yeah.

Speaker 4: 44:21

Yeah, yeah, good buddy, I volunteered on here. Good friend of mine just got off the Katie trail a couple days ago. It was phenomenal beautiful out there.

Speaker 2: 44:32

Well, I am. I am so thankful, luke, again we've been speaking with Luke box and we appreciate your time and and coming on and telling us a little bit about your organization that you're you're helping out with and the surrounding area and everything and how it got started, and and Just honestly just appreciate your time tonight, definitely.

Speaker 4: 44:52

Definitely. Yeah, thanks man, yeah likewise I.

Speaker 3: 44:56

Think. The only other thing I have to say is Luke.

Speaker 4: 44:59

What is today? It's a great day for a bike ride, y'all Absolutely awesome.

Speaker 3: 45:05

Appreciate your time, luke.

Speaker 2: 45:07

Thank you so much. Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure. Thank you, bye, bye, see ya.

Speaker 1: 45:12

Thank you for coming along with Adam and Michael on road adventures with cycling men of leisure. If you have enjoyed this, please subscribe to the show on the podcast app of your choice. You.