Whether you're young or old, riding a bike is one thing that never goes out of style.
Daniel Trouse has worked at The Bike Shop for 20 years and has been the manager since 2001.
Trouse said his father opened the shop in 1971 and still owns the shop located in the heart of downtown Auburn.
Trouse said he grew up in Auburn and graduated from Auburn University in 1999 with a degree in anthropology. When he's not busy managing the shop, he and his wife, Shannon, are busy raising their son Darcy.
Trouse said working at the shop is generally good. He said he has one other full-time co-worker, Brian Henry, and one or two part-time workers depending on the season.
For the most part, he said, they do repairs and new bike sales. Henry usually takes care of the bike bills, and Trouse said he does a lot of the bike repairs.
"Mostly, we just try to help people find a bike that will suit their needs and get them around town," Trouse said. "It's a heck of a lot easier to ride a bike around town and around campus than it is trying to drive a car."
Henry, who graduated from Auburn in 1984 with a master's degree in consumer economics, has worked at the store for 23 years.
Henry said he started off as a college student who frequently hung out at the shop, and once he started working there, he chose to stay.
"It's good to work on bikes and things I enjoy as opposed to working somewhere else at a job I wouldn't really like," Henry said.
Henry said he has been working with Daniel since high school, and they have a great partnership.
"We get along fine," Henry said. "His family owns it, and they've treated me real well over the years. There's mutual respect, and it works out good."
Trouse said students make up most of the Shop's customer base and the busiest time of the year for them is the beginning of the semester from August to September.
"Usually you have the people that first get here and realize they're going to want a bike and the people that--after about two or three weeks of trying to find a parking place and walking across campus and being late to classes--decide that they need a bike," Trouse said.
Trouse has some words of wisdom for new students and cyclists in general this year.
As far as cycling goes, he said, be careful and ride defensively out there.
He said drivers won't always see cyclists, so it's important to make yourself visible and to be aware of traffic around you.
Also, he said, try to treat the cars as you would want to betreated, and they will hopefully treat you the same.
Trouse said it's great for him to see a lot of cyclists who obey the rules of the road, but he also sees a lot who don't. They need to be more aware sometimes of where they are because he sees a lot of drivers who don't treat cyclists the way they should.
When you have a car versus a cyclist, Trouse said, the cyclist always loses.
"I think the cyclists have just as much right to the road as the cars do, but with that in mind, I think everyone has to ride and drive considerate to each other," Trouse said. "We all belong out there. We're all sharing the same space."
Trouse said cyclists should try to enjoy what themselves; the best thing about a bike is it's both transportation and fun.
"You get people with different viewpoints, whether it's a luxury or a necessity, transportation or a toy, and in the best of worlds it's both," Trouse said. "It's something you can use to get from point A to point B when you have to, and you can use it to go out on a long ride when you don't have to be anywhere."
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