The Weekly - June 16, 2020 - 12

Ezz-Eldin Hassan
works on a customer's bike at The
Spindle in Atlanta
pre-pandemic.

"Now, we're exploring every possible variation or alteration we
can to put on events. We want to
create memorable, fantastic experiences for our athletes, and we're
not sure how great an experience
it will be to ride for 12 hours at
10,000 feet with a mask on."
Colorado didn't tell McCormack
he had to cancel his race. He did it
because he believes it was the safe
thing to do for riders, volunteers,
staff, and the community. Instead,
this summer, McCormack is running Epic in Place, a challenge
to pedal 549 miles, the length of
the Colorado Trail, anywhere by
September. So far, the event has
550 participants, and it's raised
$7,500 for charities, including the
Colorado Trail Foundation and
First Descents.
Euan Wilson, co-owner of H&I
Adventures, which runs mountain
bike tours worldwide, says his company was lucky. When restrictions
went into place, it was days before
the start of a busy season, but they
didn't have anyone out on tour.
"Most guests were good about

"GETTING CONNECTED AND GETTING OUT OF THE
MENTAL MALAISE MATTERS. KIDS ARE COMMITTING
SUICIDE. PEOPLE ARE SAD. MOVING YOUR BODY
HELPS, AND THAT'S WHY BIKING IS BOOMING."
-Mike McCormack, The Breck Epic

moving bookings to another
date," says Wilson, who has
rescheduled travelers starting
this July. Many of H&I's guests
chose to postpone travel until
2021. Wilson and his staff got
on the phone with their customers, which allowed them to shift
98% of their upcoming bookings
to another date or place or both
instead of issuing refunds. "When
you talk to people, they realize
there are humans behind a company," says Wilson. "By talking,
we've been able to come up with a
resolution that suits everybody."

WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS
As restrictions loosen and time
pressures return to American life,
PeopleForBikes' Hogan says shops

12 THE WEEKLY / OUTDOOR RETAILER SUMMER 2020

and manufacturers should expect
to see sales and participation drop
off, even with explicit efforts to
support new riders.
Gootee agrees that the spike in
bike sales this spring was an anomaly, but thinks next year could be
up 25% over 2019. "No one is going
to hot yoga or to the gym any time
soon," he says. "A massive COVID
spike is predicted for fall. People
aren't going back to their old ways.
Come spring, we'll all be bitching
to get outside again, and people are
going to buy bikes."
Meanwhile, retailers are bracing for the next shutdown and
putting practices in place so they
won't be taken by surprise. "Before
the shutdown, we had a strong
set of protocols to meet or exceed

CDC and other health department
standards," says Outdoor Gear
Exchange's Donohue. "Since then,
we've ratcheted up, following VOSHA requirements, wearing masks,
taking temperatures, reporting
daily on health conditions, and
updating best practices constantly.
We've sourced PPE, cleaning supplies, and we know that when the
next wave of COVID comes, we'll
be set up to operate in a safe and
physically distanced way so that we
can continue to serve our customers, even if we're limited to curbside
delivery and service.
According to Bicycle Retailer &
Industry News, the draft transportation reauthorization bill with the
U.S. House Committee on Transportation contains $6.3 billion for
biking and walking infrastructure,
as well as safety and accessibility
measures. The U.K. and France
have both announced a significant
investment in cycling infrastructure. Pacific Cycle's Birkicht, who
is also a board member at PeopleForBikes, says: "Hopefully new
riders will stay recreational riders
beyond quarantine." Life Time's
Seymour feels similarly: "A piece of
me thinks that as shitty as COVID
is for the event industry, it could
provide new event participants."
And H&I's Wilson thinks he'll start
seeing COVID-era cyclists on his
company's tours in the medium to
long term.
What makes Seymour nervous
is what the economy will look like
down the road. "The part I can't
predict is what spending power will
be in a year or two," he says.
For Breck Epic's McCormack,
the bigger concern is America's
mental health now. "We're in a
crisis that was building before
this started," he says. "Getting
connected and getting out of the
mental malaise matters. Kids are
committing suicide. People are sad.
Moving your body helps, and that's
why biking is booming."

A N D R E W KO R N Y L A K

FEATURE
The Weekly - June 16, 2020

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