About Athens Bicycle
Peter
Kotses and Meredith Erlewine own and operate Athens Bicycle. They opened the
shop in 1998 with the goals of offering a friendly atmosphere, providing
excellent service, and creating opportunities for community members to get involved
with cycling.
Peter is a
lifelong cyclist with more than 25 years of experience bicycle riding, racing,
touring and commuting. He has worked in the retail bicycle industry since 1991
and is an expert mechanic. Meredith has nearly 20 years of experience riding
and racing bikes. She regularly guides bicycle tours, leads group rides,
teaches skills clinics and organizes cycling events. Both Peter and Meredith
grew up in Athens and are graduates of Athens High School and Ohio University.
Together
with their knowledgeable staff, Pete and Meredith work hard in the shop and out
in the community to exceed customer expectations, to help people enjoy bicycling
and to give back to the community that they love. Following are some of the ways Athens Bicycle contributes to the local cycling community:
- Shop owners Pete and Meredith
are long-time members and past officers of the Athens Bicycle Club.
In the late 1990s, Pete
played an instrumental role in gaining approval from land managers
at Lake
Hope State Park for ABC to build trails at the park; since then ABC
has
built more than 20 miles of singletrack trail there. More recently,
Pete
participated in meetings that resulted in the club gaining access
to build
trails at Strouds Run State Park.
- Since 2001, Athens Bicycle has
been a lead sponsor of the Athens Bike Rodeo, a children's bicycle
safety event organized by the Ohio University College of Osteopathic
Medicine. The Bike Rodeo features safety checks, a bicycle skills course
and free
helmets for local kids. As of 2010, the Bike Rodeo had distributed
free
helmets to 2,000 local kids.
- In 2004, Pete spearheaded a
road-mapping project with the Cartography Center at Ohio
University's
Department of Geography. The result of that project is the
Southeast Ohio
Bicycle Map, which shows all of the cycling-friendly roads in
Southeast
Ohio, based on traffic level, road conditions and connectivity
between
towns.
- Kotses is a past member of the
Hockhocking Adena Bikeway Advisory Committee, the Athens Land
Conservation
Advisory Committee and the Moonville Rail Trail Association, and is
a past
board member of the Friends of Strouds Run. Erlewine is a past
board
member of the Friends of Lake Hope and is a current board member of
the
Friends of Strouds Run. As members of these local groups, Pete and
Meredith make sure that cyclists have a voice when decisions are
being
made about recreation opportunities in public spaces.
- Annually in March Athens
Bicycle sponsors the Gravel Rouser Classic, featuring four days of
racing
and fun rides.
- Each May Athens Bicycle hosts
an annual Bike to Work Day Reception, inviting local cyclists to
stop by
the shop for refreshments and conversation during their morning
bike
commute.
- Each August the shop sponsors
an Ohio Mountain Bike Championship Series mountain bike race at
Lake Hope
State Park.
- Each September, the shop
sponsors the Pawpaw Double Nickel Road Ride in conjunction with the
Ohio
Pawpaw Festival at Lake Snowden.
- In 2010, Athens Bicycle
launched a series of six road rides in conjunction with Pelotonia,
to help
people prepare to ride in the annual cancer fundraiser. The rides
are open to community members and Pelotonia participants.
- Throughout the year Athens
Bicycle offers repair workshops, cycling clinics, group rides and
special
events such as a cycling movie series and after-hours get-togethers
at the
shop. These initiatives offer opportunities for cyclists to meet
and
network with other individuals who share their interests.
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