Shops We Like: Pedals and Petals
(2022) With the ever-encroaching internet sales approach, bike shops in particular have had to get creative in attracting customers. Some shops we have visited are more than bike sales; they are a unique blend of cycling and local color. One shop in Troy, NY, slung ice cream on the side. Many shops consider themselves boutique coffee stands. In Inlet, NY, the start of the Black Fly Challenge in the even years, they have taken secondary sales in a unique direction- also selling flowers.
Visit bike shops long enough and it’s a great pulse on the local cycling scene. I am a fan of every type of shop: road bike dominated, mountain bike focused, and the Atlantic seaboard beach bike shops. They all offer a glimpse into what goes on nearby with bikes. For instance, good luck finding a downhill mountain bike at the beach. The Bucks County topography and infrastructure doesn’t lend itself too much to fixed gear commuter bikes. Searching for beach cruisers in a mountain town isn’t a wise business model. But Pedals and Petals in Inlet, NY, the Heart of the Adirondack mountains, is a mountain town. Here one can find nearly every type of cyclist, and that can be tough to prep for.
Pedals and Petals offers a broad range of bikes and apparel in a town that could see a mountain biker or road cyclist looking for a forgotten item from home.
Coming into Inlet for the Black Fly Challenge, it was easy to spot participants for the event. Mountain bikes hung off pick up tailgates. Gravel bikes occupied hitch racks. Cyclocross bikes were likely thrown into the cargo space of an old Volvo. Whatever the rig, it was in Inlet for one reason or another. Meanwhile the racks of Trek bikes hung on the back wall of Pedals and Petals, a shop recognized as one of America’s best bike shops in 2014 and 2016. Located on the opposite wall were Saris car racks while soft goods were neatly displayed. This was all soaked in while waiting to register for the Black Fly Challenge. Here waiting in line I admired the typical Adirondack stained wood interior and thought how charming the space was.
Some of the flowers - and other non-cycling items - available for purchase at Pedals and Petals in Inlet, NY.
While waiting, a peer off to the right showed Adirondack gifts. There were shelves of items that declared one had visited Inlet, NY, or even more broadly the Adirondacks. There were insulated coffee mugs, shirts, and other items. Believe it or not, though, I came to visit a bike shop that also sold flowers. As quickly as I located the bikes, I spun back toward the entrance and realized I had walked right past the small bank of assorted bouquets. A bike shop and flower shop in one doesn’t get any more unique than that. In the line ahead of me, two people were hugging, likely separated over the past two years from Covid. This summed up visiting the bike shop perfectly- it’s where people meet up, even if they haven’t seen each other in years. And perhaps a bouquet would help.
After receiving my participant Swag bag, I made my way over to the nutrition in anticipation for the next day’s race. A woman next to me was narrowing down her Garmin purchases. More people continued to file in for their race numbers. As I made my purchase and moved toward the exit, more secrets were revealed. Tiny plush birds occupied the storage door. They were for sale. The staircase that headed below street level was a curious usage. The flowers were inspected before snapping a few pictures and leaving. This shop’s presence is mandatory in the community. Where else could one make an emergency purchase on a Garmin other than a bike shop for immediate use? In the case of Pedals and Petals, where else could one pick up a bike repair and a bouquet of flowers? Certainly not the internet, and certainly not anywhere else we know of other than Inlet’s Pedals and Petals.
