My friendly neighborhood bike shop has closed its doors. Bike Line of Garner, a sponsor of many area bike events, gave up the ghost sometime recently. I discovered the empty store as I drove through the Garner Towne Square shopping center on my way home from work.
To a young couple who had just moved to Garner, Bike Line seemed a bit out of place in the rural (or somewhat ass-backwards) corner of the Triangle that is Garner. Bike shops are what I associate with much cooler cities like Portland or Seattle. Certainly not Hicksville, NC. Nevertheless, they were always friendly when we’d go in to get our bicycles repaired or to inquire about local rides.
Right after we moved to Garner, Kelly and I discovered what was the coolest mountain bike trail we’d ridden in the area. Like some of the best trails, it was on semi-private property but stretched out from the elementary school near our house. You could ride for two hours on that trail and never cross the same point twice. It seemed too good to be true, and it was. Two weeks after we discovered it, its private section got bulldozed to make way for yet another subdivision. The remaining trail was but a shadow of the former’s greatness.
Maybe the demise of that trail was the beginning of the end for Bike Line. We certainly didn’t ride much after that (though for various other reasons). Still, living near a store so cool (or at least selling cool thiings) gave us hope that Garner had a chance of one day becoming cool, too. Or a small chance, anyway. Looks like we were wrong.
Goodbye, Bike Line. Thanks for your support of one of my favorite forms of transportation and recreation.