"There's Been No Slowdown": Bike Shop Business Surges During Coronavirus Pandemic
SACRAMENTO (CBS13) – With a lot more people peddling during the coronavirus pandemic, bike shops are seeing an unexpected rush, especially since bike paths are one of the few outdoor areas still open right now.
But this is a different kind of busy for Jesse Scatton's bike shops – he runs five of them in the Sacramento area. And between bike repairs and sales, he's operating by appointment only right now.
"There's been no slowdown at all," Scatton said.
Scatton said his shops are booked in advance, about a week to ten days out, and they're seeing some fresh new faces standing six feet apart coming in.
Some veteran bike riders said they get why so many new people are hopping on board.
"I see a lot of very brand new bikes out on the trail now and it's a lot of families," a veteran biker said, with another biker adding, "I think that's a great thing."
Well, it's great and not so great, according to some longtime trail spinners.
"The trails out there can be kind of interesting because some of the newbies out there don't fully understand the niceties of dealing with all of the people out there walking and biking," the veteran biker said.
It's a nice way of saying "heads up" for the rookies, but cut them some slack, too.
As we all look for different ways to safely fly out of our unplanned cocoon, maybe, especially now, this goes much deeper than a simple ride down an open road.
