Transcription of Brandon Gillard for the show Wheels #39
Lisa: Today in the studio, with us today, we have Brandon Gillard of the Kennebunkport Bicycle Company. I first met Brandon on the 48 hours Kennebunkport which is currently available on the Maine Magazine issue for June. Brandon has a lot of interesting stories to tell, not just about Kennebunkport but about biking and how to get into biking. We felt we bring him in for our wheel show. Thanks for coming in.
Brandon: Great. Thanks for having me.
Lisa: Brandon, you took me on a ride along with Kevin Thomas from Maine Magazine out into the woods in Kennebunkport. I think it’s a relatively new development that you put into place because you’re passionate about land preservation. We’re going to talk more about that with our next guest, but just tell me why Kennebunkport? Why did you initially decide that this was an important place to be for you?
Brandon: Well I started working at the bike shop while in college, purchased it as I was graduating college and I’ve been in mountain biking for my whole life. It always bothered me that in such a beautiful area, there was a great network of woods in the area, but there were no trails. I came from western Mass where there are trails everywhere and young people and it was a really vibrant outdoor community.
I moved to Maine and you think Maine is the most wooded state in the nation and we didn’t have trails. Friends and I slowly started to build trails, some legal, some illegal and it ended up forming a partnership with the Kennebunkport Conservation Trust. It’s been a really valuable relationship for both of us ever since.
Genevieve: There are a lot of road bikes in our area.
Brandon: Yeah. There are. There are ton of road bikes, it’s great road biking , we live in a great area for that. Being a mountain biker, I always wanted to expand the mountain bike trails in the area.
Genevieve: Just describe the difference really quickly for our listeners. What is a mountain bike look like compared to a road bike?
Brandon: Even the term “mountain bike” is kind of a misnomer. A lot of mountain bikes never see a mountain, they have more bicycles built for off road so there’s all kinds of different designs that really run the gamut between bikes with kind of a medium size, higher with kind of a semi-aggressive thread to bikes with lots of suspension with really aggressive tires depending on the kind of terrain that you’re going to ride.
In our area, a lot of guys ride hard hill mountain bikes, there’s sub-suspension in the front, they’ve got 29 inch wheels and two and a half inch tires. I see people out in the woods on hybrid bikes, I see kids on kid’s bikes, so the trails have really been created to welcome everybody, not just of that hardcore mountain bike population.
Lisa: What was it about mountain biking specifically that caused you to become interested in that versus road biking?
Brandon: I don’t know. I think it’s maybe the personalities and the focus involved. It’s a very free-spirited bunch, but the guys and women, there’s a lot of women I ride with that are very, very fit, they’re very outdoor oriented. We like to go and have a beer after the ride and it’s really informal. The road biking seems to be a lot more of an aerobic exercise, it’s much more structured and they were really tight clothes, which we don’t wear
Lisa: You went towards the non-tight, clothes fitting guru which is …
Brandon: Yeah. Not that all the guys we ride with couldn’t go on road rides and some of them even do what I have in the past. It just attracts different crowd typically than the road bike group.
Lisa: There’s a different kind of thrill because the road bike is about speed, but the mountain bike is about terrain?
Brandon: Exactly.
Lisa: Because I used to mountain bike in California and then when I first came to Maine, I didn’t think there was mountain biking because there were no mountains, just to your point.
Brandon: Sure. Mountain biking, I kind of describe as a combination of trail running and dancing. It’s really difficult at times, it’s what you make of it because of you’re going down a single track trail, if you’re really fast, obviously it’s going to be very difficult. If you’re just poking along, it can be really recreational exercise that’s just nice to get out in the woods.
Lisa: When I was doing this, I found that I was about balance. There was a lot of balance, there was a lot of sort of agility and having to pay attention and not that road biking wasn’t. There’s rocks, there’s trees, there’s a little path, there’s a bi path. Is that hard for people to get use to?
Brandon: Not necessarily. Again, if you’re moving in a slower rate of speed typically those things aren’t very challenging for folks. The trails that we’ve built to the conservation trust, we’re doing it very strategically in that. We’re building basic, easier trails on the perimeter and off of that, we’re kind of spidering or making lollipop trails off of that that are much more difficult. We’re using those basic roads or double track for our maintenance roads and if somebody gets hurt, they can be extracted via ATV on the roads.
Off of that, there’s much more challenging single track trails. That’s really good too because it allows people to work their way up into the sport and still being in the same area, some of the more advanced folks.
Lisa: You have a very famous guest that you work with, also has a home in that area. Tell us about him and your experience which was profiled in Maine Magazine not too long ago.
Brandon: Several years ago, I was introduced to president George Bush while he was the president through the secret service. He was looking to mountain bike in Kennebunkport, so we …
Genevieve: This is George W. Bush?
Brandon: George W, the young one. Yeah, 43 as we call him. We started mountain biking out in Alfred, Maine because it’s a really large federal piece of land they could kind of curtain off for him to ride on but after he got out of office, he was much more flexible so we’ve traveled around a little bit to mountain bike. His favorite spot is actually in his backyard in Kennebunkport. While he’s here, which is typically four to five weeks a year, we’ll ride about five out of seven days of the week.
Lisa: Does he stick to the core trails? Does he go off in a more challenging terrain?
Brandon: No, he definitely goes on kind of the most difficult trails we have. He’s a really, really advanced mountain biker, he’s extremely competitive and he’s extraordinarily fit. The first time I rode with him, I was blown away that a 60 plus year old man was kicking my butt on a mountain bike. We’re pretty evenly matched now but I really enjoy riding with him.
Lisa: For people who are going down at the Kennebunkport Festival or going down the Kennebunk and want to rent a bike, can they do that from you or …?
Brandon: Yup. They can do from our shop. We have hybrid bikes, road bikes, kid’s bikes, mountain bikes, everything under the sun involved with the mountain bike. I’d suggest them going out to Ocean Avenue in Cape Porpoise by the Bush’s place, really nice road riding out there. If you wanted to take a mountain bike, I can give them a map, a helmet and point them in the right direction which I’d suggest.
Lisa: What is the etiquette of mountain biking?
Brandon: Etiquette? I don’t know. Treat people the way you want to be treated just kind of like in life. There’s all kinds of rules of the trail and stuff but a lot of them are just common sense. You don’t want to fly up behind somebody hiking or somebody with a dog and spook them. You wan to stay out of environmentally sensitiveness areas like swamps or really muddy areas and just be polite and courteous and take any trash you have with you.
Lisa: I know that you move your business from one place to another and there’s … You’ve been expanding and things are going pretty well for you. Has this surprised you that people have embraced the biking type of world that you espouse?
Brandon: Absolutely. For several years, the business grew but it wasn’t by leaps and bounds by any means. I really feel like there’s a grounds swelling in our society, especially at Maine of outdoor oriented, fitness oriented people that just want to get out and have fun with their friends and family. It’s a really good time to be in the bike business and it’s really a good time to be in Kennebunkport as well with all the expansion and growth in development of outdoor activities.
Lisa: How young and how old do you have people coming in as customers?
Brandon: All ages really. I have a nine year old daughter who loves mountain biking. I mountain bike with the president, he’s 65. There’s a lot of guys that ride with us in their 50’s and I see people out there in their 70’s. That’s the great thing about mountain biking, is that you can really be any age pretty much any fitness level and you can make of it want you want it to be. It doesn’t have to be flying over roots and rocks and crashing, getting bloody.
Road bikers always give us a hard time, they tell you “You guys are crazy,” crazy I say, “I top other about ten miles an hour and you guys are going 30 and there’s cars and pavement and everything else. We tip over, we land in dirt into a tree.” It’s a really fun, family oriented activity that I encourage everybody to try.
Lisa: Aside from a helmet I assume that’s mandatory, right? Is there any other gear beside the bike and a helmet?
Brandon: Yeah. I’d suggest bike shorts, padded bike shorts to keep your bottom comfortable. Wicking clothing, some gloves and maybe cycling shoes and pedals if you get a little bit more advanced. Obviously, hydration is key. nutrition, so probably some hydration pack with some food and water in it as well. Ideally, people should be able to fix their own bikes if they’re in the woods but with this modern day cellphones, people don’t always have to do that so they can go just call somebody if they have to.
Lisa: Talk to us about equipment. I know there’s a broad range of prices on bikes. Do people have to buy very expensive bikes in order to go mountain biking?
Brandon: Absolutely not. I see people out in the woods, having a really good time on old $300 beat-up Marin’s by Stevie Hagar. There’s also really advanced like high-end mountain bikes just like anything else, just like skies or gold clubs. There’s people they get really into it, spend a lot of money. To comfortably enjoy mountain biking, I’d say an initial bicycle investment of about $500 or so and probably another 1 to $200 gear after that.
A lot of the more advanced guys have no problem spending two, three, four, $8,000 on bicycles. Again, that’s their formal recreation, their passion and that’s what they do.
Lisa: The thing I like about mountain biking is that sense of play that you get. I think that when you ride a road bike, it feels a little bit more lie you said like exercise or work or if you’re getting from one destination to another. I feel like when I’m on a mountain bike, it’s more like it was when I was a kid and I would pop up the curve or go across the grass. There’s a joy in it.
Brandon: Yeah. That’s really well said. I guess I don’t really think about that very often but that’s probably what I enjoy about mountain biking the most, being a kid riding around and have absolutely no destination. We often go in circles and have a great time and do a trail, a different direction or at a different speed or hit a different jump. I really enjoy that sense of adventure and the peacefulness you get in the woods and also the camaraderie you get with your friends out in the woods.
Lisa: I would agree with that, that sense of joy. There’s also … and also somewhat of a sense of terror at times, my experience was but it’s fun, it’s very interesting. It kind of pushes your edges especially if you’re a little bit older. How do you deal with people and their sense of terror?
Brandon: That’s a good question. I don’t know. If I take a beginner out mountain biking which I often do as part of our guided tours through the bike shop, I just try to go slow, I try to talk to them, I try help them relax and I would by no means, take them on some of the more difficult terrain or kind of the expert trails. I try to tell them that they need to make of it what they wanted to be, they don’t have to be flying, there’s no expectations and let’s just go out and have fun and ride bikes.
Lisa: I can attest to that because I know I have … I think that I have been out mountain biking, well, exactly zero times before I …
Brandon: You did great though. You did great.
Lisa: Okay. Thank you, but you brought us on a very appropriate trail, it was just challenging enough, so it didn’t feel like you were babying me but it wasn’t so hard that I felt like I was going to die and you stop often. I think that sort of guidance that you have available to your customers is very useful as well as it’s a beautiful trail system, it really is.
Brandon: Thanks.
Lisa: You spent a lot of time working with volunteers on that?
Brandon: Yup. There’s a core group of us of about four or five that get the majority of the work done. We also have trail weekends where we’ll reach out to people via text or e-mail or phone as we need help on bigger projects. To date, there’s about 15 miles of trails out there and about four years ago, there was about two miles of trails and that’s really four or five people doing all that.
Genevieve: One of the things that keeps people from exercising is being overweight. Is that a consideration with the beginner who wants to bike? Because for instance, they might not be able to run because it’s painful in their knees but they might bike which can be a great gateway to physical fitness.
Brandon: Yeah. There’s a tremendous amount of our customers that come in to try either mountain biking or road biking or just around town kind of biking. They’re sent to us by physicians because cycling is such a low impact activity. I had wouldn’t be overly concerned about somebody being over weight in mountain biking. Again, it’s so low impact, it’s easy to do and it doesn’t leave joint pains or anything else.
Genevieve: And you’re not going to break the bike?
Brandon: You’re not going to break the bike. These bikes are rated to handle a lot of pressure, a lot of weight, jumps, etcetera. Obviously, if you go out and buy a $100 big buck store bicycle, it’s probably not going to be the best thing for you, you’re not going to enjoy yourself but I’d go into a local bike shop, establish a relationship with somebody that works there and they’ll pick a bike that is strong enough for your size and is capable of handling what you want to do with that.
Lisa: We talked about the trails in the Kennebunkport, Kennebunk area. What are some of your other favorite trails in Maine or elsewhere?
Brandon: My Stomping Grounds in western Mass are a lot of fun, there’s a lot of places out west that are really nice. Moav, Utah and actually in the Las Vegas area, there’s some great trails as well. They’re very different in New England mountain biking. Mount Agamenticus in York is really nice. Bradbury Mountain in Pownal is really nice, a little crowded but it’s nice. I really don’t leave my backyard all that much, it’s had to when you have such phenomenal trails, two miles from your house and don’t even have to get a car. Those are really my favorite trails.
Lisa: You don’t find … Well, let me rephrase this, so you find enough variety in the trails in your own backyard as seasons change so that you … It’s constantly new for you?
Brandon: Yeah. Also, there’s a sense of pride about riding your own trails and seeing people out there, families, everybody from different walks of life, when they recognize you, they’ll say “Thank you” or just to see them enjoying it. There’s a whole other side of the joy of mountain biking that I get by riding my trails and seeing other people enjoying them.
Lisa: Has your experience with the store, integrated into your personal life? Do you use bikes more to commute?
Brandon: Yeah. Like a lot of small business people, I got into my business because it was my passion, not because I had an MBA or I wanted to make millions of dollars. I like people, I like bicycles and I’m a very family oriented person. My kids and my family help me a lot in my business. Yeah, it’s definitely, I’m like the bike guy in Kennebunkport which is a little hard when you’re trying to go grocery shopping sometimes on a Sunday, but I really enjoy it.
I love our community, it’s very small, it’s very tight-knit , we don’t lock our doors, we don’t lock our cars, it’s a great place to live and to share our love and passion of cycling with the community.
Lisa: It’s a fun contrast because a lot of people think of Kennebunkport as beaches, as water, as ocean and you’re bringing them sort of back into the woods.
Brandon: Absolutely. Yeah. A lot of times we do a ride, Wednesday night so we hit a bunch of different trails. We’ll start at the ramp for a beer or two, take a look a the ocean and head back on the woods again. That variance of having the variety of the terrain in our landscape is what makes our area so special, and I think again the access to outdoors, to be able to go on a mountain bike ride and then in two miles, take a deep in the ocean. It’s a lot of fun too.
Lisa: Any last thoughts for our listeners who might be thinking about taking up whether it’s mountain biking or road biking or …?
Brandon: Yeah. I wouldn’t be intimidated, I wouldn’t be afraid to try it. I’d encourage you to go your local bike shop and support them and ask them where the local trails are and also encourage them if you’re in a mountain biking, to support your local trail or conservation group because they do a lot for outdoor recreation.
Lisa: Thanks for coming in and talking to us. We’ve been speaking with Brandon Gillard of Kennebunkport bicycle company. Where can people learn more about your store?
Brandon: Check us out in Facebook or you can go to kennebunkportbicycle.com. All right guys, thanks for having me.