It all started back in 1996... the wife & I were watching a movie at home, I think it was Braveheart, anyways it hit me and I pressed the Pause button...  "What now?" she says. 

"I want to open a Bike Shop!" 

"A Bike Shop, Why?" 

"I Love Bikes!" 

"You're serious aren't you?" 

"Yeah!" 

"Are you crazy?" 

Most of you know the answer.
 
After I broke open our Piggy Bank and the loan against our house was approved, and many sleepless nights (me not her) Xtreme Cycles was born.  We almost went with the name Hot Wheels but thought Mattel would come after us, if we actually made it through our first year.
 
The first location was a 1500 SF building, more than enough space for the initial 50 bike order, but as we grew we ran out of space.  Around the year 2000 we worked a deal with the landlord to rent the upstairs, an additional 1000 SF.  We decided to make it a BMX specific area, the kids loved it!  It was like a tree fort for them, the whole upstairs just for them with no adults.

It was around 2004 I realized we have outgrown this building.  It was so cramped that I was surprised customers were still coming in, especially when there was a brand new huge Bike Shop right around the corner that just opened.  We had no room to walk, no dressing room, no room to work, it was just getting crazy.  I started searching like a madman for a new location, but real estate was at an all time high.
 
One day in March 2006 I was coming back from looking at a building in Holly Hill, most of you know the building, Spikes Running Shoes beat me to it by a few days.  I was on the way back to Xtreme Cycles feeling like I was fighting a losing battle, I was stuck in rush hour traffic on US1, right in front of my competition's location.  I looked to my right and there it was... The Bike Shop, BAMM#!!%+! You know like in the Batman movies, my head snapped back, I pulled into The Bike Shop parking lot, and so did the guy who just rear ended me.  He was one of my customers from Xtreme, and he was very sorry & said he just looked down for a second, and that it was the 1st accident in his life.  I told him don't worry about it, shit happens... I didn't know I got a herniated disc at the moment because I felt fine.  The owner of The Bike Shop, Dan, came out to see what was going on.  We started talking about the possibility of me purchasing The Bike Shop.  He was leaving for his Honeymoon so we were going to get together when he returned.
 
When Dan returned he said "lets go talk about this somewhere where no one will know us"... I thought that was pretty funny!  We went to TGI Fridays for our 1st meeting.  We were spotted by Joe Miller in minutes, and a couple of hours later we agreed on a price.
 
Then came the big question, where do I get the money to actually make this happen?  The banks lined up, they were coming into Xtreme with their best offers.  Flashback a few years, a long haired guy rolls into Xtreme on a Waterford, we hit it off, and end up having a great friendship.  Mark makes the greatest slow smoked pulled pork sandwich this side of the Mississippi, and he is the smartest guy I know.  So I asked him if he would meet me at Starbucks one day because I needed to talk to him.  We sat down with a couple of coffees and I told him I haven't been able to sleep because I'm thinking about buying the Bike Shop. So I show him the business plan, & he says "I think it will work, how much do you need?"...

 That's our story!

- Jack