Shop Talk

Meet Owners of The Ride, Erik And Tara Leamon, as they share their incredible, decades long journey.

Story and Photography By Kai Caddy

When did The Ride open?
Erik: We opened in 2004. So, we’ll celebrate 21 years in March.

Why did you open a bike shop?
Erik: We love people, we like to help people, we like to serve. We like to infect people with the bug of cycling. The shop that was here had gone out of business, and there wasn’t a shop servicing Conway. And I was kind of looking for something to do.

How did the process of opening the shop go?
Erik: We actually planned it at Bob’s Grill. I surrounded myself with a core group of five to eight, maybe 10 men. But there were other men from other professions that would come in that had kind of a vested interest in having a bike shop in town, so it was kind of like a board. I met with them maybe at least once a month, if not once every other week. And I would write a business plan, and they would shoot holes in it, all summer in 2003. I also sought wise counsel from some other area leaders. I talked to Chainwheel, I visited with Ted Herget from Gearhead Outfitters, I visited with Richard Maycheck from Arkansas Cycling and Fitness. And when everybody couldn’t talk me out of it, finally, they were like, ‘OK, you need to do it if we can’t talk you out of it.’

In October, we were actually in church, and Rick Bezet was preaching on the story of Esther. And there’s a point where Mordecai tells Esther, ‘God’s going to deliver his people, but you’re probably the person to do it. But if not you, someone’s going to do it.’ And I just felt God was like, ‘Are you going to get in the pool or not? Because if you’re not, then someone else will open a shop.’ So, in my own head, I decided I’m gonna do it. And then after service, Jeff Courtway came up to me, he puts one hand on my shoulder and says, ‘Eric Leamon, you need to open a bike shop in Conway, Arkansas.’ And I looked back at him, I said, ‘Jeff Courtway, I am going to open a bike shop in Conway.’ That was October, we incorporated in December and opened by March 2004.

What’s the cycling community like in Conway?
Erik: I think Conway is one of the best places to ride, not just in the state. Literally, anywhere in town, you can get on your bike from your front door and go any direction. And there are probably 30 routes you could take and be fairly safe. You don’t have to load up your bike and drive somewhere and then unload it. I think it’s a magical place. I would put Conway up against just about anywhere for life, feelings of the community, the cycling community itself and then the broader community.

What services do you offer?
Erik: Service is really the make or break of the bike shop nowadays, in my opinion. We have your standard wrench service repairs. We’ll repair just about anything. There are some things that we’ll send off because it’s hard to keep all the tooling and service parts you need. Fitting is probably one of our biggest things that we do. I don’t see a whole lot of shops doing fitting.

Tara: People will travel far distances to get a good fit.

“I’ve got a steel road bike that has mechanical shifting and mechanical brakes … I’ve also got a fully electronic bike … the technology is nice, but it’s still really fun to go out on just a classic steel road bike with cable-driven, mechanical shifting.”

How have changes in bike technology affected the shop over the years?
Erik: You see fewer of the classic materials and functions of a bicycle, but they’re still there. You’ve got so much smart technology that’s eking into the bike world — not only with electronic shifting, you have electronic devices that manage tire pressure, that manage your shock compression, and that’s a little crazy, if you ask me. I tend to be a little more classic. I’ve got a steel road bike that has mechanical shifting and mechanical brakes. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve also got a fully electronic bike. So I don’t want to disparage that, the technology is nice, but it’s still really fun to go out on just a classic steel road bike with cable-driven, mechanical shifting.

So, not only has technology changed, but every year it’s a huge shift. It’s really big. You know, changes that it’s hard to know how much of it is driven by the industry trying to create perceived need and actually being improvements. It can be a little bit of a strain on the shops, because we’re always having to learn new technology. We’re having to buy new tooling. It’s a heavy burden to have to continue to learn new things. It’s a constant relearning of new things. It keeps you fresh and keeps your mind fresh. But it can be difficult when you’re talking about what all you have to stock and keep in stock to keep people serviced.

Talk about your moving to your new downtown location.
Erik: We were having difficulty negotiating our new lease. We had a new landlord. He felt like we needed to be at a place that we really couldn’t get to. And so I just started looking, started talking to people and visited with my old friend, Larry Rogers, who owns the building. I didn’t think he had space. I just asked him for his advice, and he’s like, ‘I think we could work something out for you to rent from me.’ And like, two and a half weeks later, we were here. We’re opening on Black Friday. In November we signed our new lease, we did the build-out, the move, everything in two and a half or three weeks. It was unbelievable. We had a lot of help from the community. A lot of folks came out. I think it’s going to be a really good spring. It’s a little smaller here, so it has its challenges. But the ambiance, the vibe here, is just hip and it’s fun to be here.

(To Tara) What’s it like to work with your husband?
Tara: I love it. The fact that we know each other so well, so you know when to approach, and you know when not to approach, and you know generally what he’s thinking. I think it works. All of our kids have worked here. It’s a rite of passage.

Erik: But we’re getting close to an empty nest. We only have one kid left at home. So, it’ll be interesting to see how that shift at home reflects here in our work life. If Tara has it her way, you’ll see less of us here because we’ll be traveling.

Tara: He doesn’t believe in retirement, but I told him, ‘I do,’ so I’ll just send him postcards on his account.

The Ride

911 Chestnut St., Conway, AR
therideonline.net
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