All that glitters is not gold.

‘Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. ‘

Henry David Thoreau

We have been quiet for so long we have been asked to write up a story or two about the cycling industry perspective on pandemic and the issues that came with it.

The small proportion of the world (here: the UK) has changed overnight in March 2019. The world as we knew it has stopped and we do not believe it will be back anytime soon. We found ourselves in the middle of one of the biggest crises the world has seen since the World War. Our team had to adapt and amend their ways overnight to accommodate for that change; it is a very small team for what we do and the amount of projects we are involved with, however efficient and tight knitted it might have happened to be.

In the last 2 years we have learnt a lot about people and even more about ourselves. People, strangers and friends, have put our patience, our professionalism, our humanity, our understanding, our humbleness, our compassion and our ability to remain calm to an ultimate test. We have failed many of these tests and we learnt the hard way that we have much to improve upon.

But we also have learnt a vast number of very valuable lessons that we will remember forever. We learnt the true meaning of friendship and the true cost of supporting people who do not appreciate your help. We learnt the importance of patience, we learnt the gravity of broken promises and the joy of changing lives. We kept Leeds going; at times as the only bike shop open in Leeds, we kept NHS cycling, we kept the other essential workers moving… It is an extreme privilege to be able to say we have pulled through this together and we thank those who helped us in doing so; whether they stayed or the chose to go.

We witnessed the most iconic increase in popularity of cycling and we were a part of things that made history. The Bikes College grew to exponential size yet we still thrive to continue to do what we do best- keep you cycling and keep looking for new stars of cycling.

We worked hard to keep Leeds cycling and occasionally it did backfire. As some old saying goes ‘it is not always gold if it glitters’ we also understand the price this growth comes at. The endless days, long shifts, numerous problems and issues, supply chain delays, staffing shortages, parts shortages, worries and fears, additional stress, additional workload… We feel like the last few months put as to some ultimate test. Despite the hick ups and a few teething problems we believe we came out of it stronger, smarter and significantly more mature as an enterprise.

We continued to be not for profit, we continued a number of grass root level programmes, we preserved the low prices and continued with the highest possible quality. We also maintained our sense of humour and an overall can-do attitude.

Whatever the price was- you guys made it worth it. and for this please accept many thanks.

Here’s to another few few years!!

#smilingchainlink #tbcleeds #builtnotbought #whobuildsyourwheels #tbcjasper #tbcstemcap #tbcmudguard