2k9_last

INGLEWOOD, CA – I have been meaning to write this article for awhile, ever since the closing of Inglewood’s only Bicycle shop and perhaps the only African American owned bicycle shop in the Centinela Valley area.

The Kingdom had a long history in the community and was a hub for black cyclists who gathered and met each other. The camaraderie was so strong that even after the store closed the regulars still are still riding together and keeping in touch with each other at other locations in the city. After all we like riding with one another. One day came the rumors, then came the announcement of the stores closing, then came the eviction notice. “After this week, we will no longer meet at the shop” AW Man!! I drove by there one day to meet a fellow rider and saw the FOR LEASE sign in the window. That was IT! I felt like I was standing at a grave site. Another black business goes under.

As I stood on the corner, waiting for my cycling buddy. I recalled the days of the shop bustling with riders and hyped up chatter about where we’re gonna ride today, What’s for sale today in the shop, The next big ride, the last big crash, who won the latest race, etc. Watching green cyclists walk in hang out with the group and transform into a bonafide cyclist. In the 3 years I was with COB as a ride leader, I saw the store raise the level of health conscious of people in the community and I saw the results. I was proud to say I was supporting a local community business that sought to make a healthy lifestyle a way of life. It became a part of my Saturday ritual. It was a social club, a gym and nightclub all in one. The fit seemed good; it was interactive, local and stimulating.

It wasn’t perfect set up, but it was my social club. I admit it I MISS the village, I miss the objective. Life was good… for about 30 seconds of infinity.

WHAT HAPPENED? What led to the fall of the Great King of Inglewood? If you listen to the king himself, he will flat out say that he simply did not get enough support from the community. They (cyclists) preferred to shop at the other stores, 5 and 10 miles away. WHY? Let the customers tell you it was due to the price of the king’s products and paltry selection of goods, attitude toward customers, not necessarily in that order. The king must keep his people happy or they will find another place to call home, straight up. They will spend their money elsewhere.

I had a baby cat that I found one night. I had come home late from a party and I was putting my key in the door when I heard this “meow, meow” looked around and there was a little black kitten. I shared a can of tuna with him and was talking to him like he was a person (LOL), the next night at the same time and a couple days that cat was right there on my porch licking/cleaning himself, waiting for the next can of tuna! Then I got comfortable gave him a old can of CAT FOOD, the cat stayed a while then SPLIT! I guess as long as he was getting something like tuna he was like COOL! But he could get cat food anywhere. So why wait till 12 midnight to get it? Quite a few of the king’s followers felt the king was giving too much old cat food and not enough tuna.

In defense of The Great King his kingdom cannot make a profit if he GIVES EVERYTHING AWAY. Let’s be real here…SHIT COST MONEY!!! A Business is in existence to make MONEY…It’s unreasonable to sell a product /services and NOT expect a profit?

Folks expect stuff for free (I don’t know WHY), but it’s not a fair expectation. The store customer relationship was supposed to be mutually beneficial. Apparently it wasn’t.

NOW, there are other things to keep in mind when selling something, First other people may be selling the same thing, so if you charge $30 for a 8 oz. water bottle when your competition is selling a 16 oz water bottle for $15 it’s fair to assume that you will not sell very many water bottles. AND BEHEADING THEM when you see them with another water bottle doesn’t encourage them to give you the next purchase either. After all we ALL are watching our wallets these days.

I’m sure many of you will agree as well as disagree, that we all as a community contributed in some small way to the demise of the great king and his kingdom. We also know that villagers were trying to advise the king of his antics only to be ignored and in some cases looked at as the enemy!

I was hoping that it could be worked out, the kingdom would get what it needed to stay healthy, villagers would get what they needed to stabilize a community center that made a difference in people’s lives.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE KINGDOM! For me the first noticeable crack came when there was a breakaway of the advanced aka racer warrior elite from the Saturday group rides. While they were a little unforgiving on the rides you knew what you had to do the next week in order to get your act together. It was a good thing to see riders move to the front of the pack and then like a village, the elders take that rider/warrior away for a month or so and when they returned they would be aggressive, leaner, meaner and FAST…….. REAL FAST.

Eventually, the warrior would get too fast and would have to move to another club, but that’s the natural process of club cycling.

Once the village elite (racers) demanded certain arrangements the king balked at the idea, they left. It doesn’t matter what the details were in the scope of this discussion, bottom line the kingdom lost his top warriors. It developed a crack in its fortress that became a sore that just wouldn’t heal.

The next thing I observed was one of the village elders walked away from the kingdom or was exiled, fired or quit (WHATEVER), He was responsible for the incoming riders new villagers who knew NOTHING about cycling, The elder had his ways, that many would outgrow, but that elder made it possible to attract entry level riders, and build a foundation for the kingdom itself. He would teach them the basics, like what is a tire? Where are the brakes? What are clipless pedals? One day rode with a new villager, who was FLYING on his horse, I caught up to him and said “Slow Down to give yourself some braking room in the pack, he said “WHERE ARE THE BRAKES?......OSHT!

I had to grab him by the shirt to slow him down. Turns out he had a mountain bike, but upgraded to a roadbike and the positioning of the brakes made him dyslexic, he kept tapping his handlebars like the brakes were underneath the bar.

The speed and the technology was too much..He never came back.

People were just showing up with all kind of horses, buggies, apple carts thinking they could just NIKE! (DO IT) not thinking about speed, judgment, they were just excited about riding with a pack of villagers. The elder had his hands full. But he did it. He did it every week religiously.

When elders make up their mind to absolve themselves from something or a commitment, it’s DONE and it’s usually irreversible. THAT HURT… Elders can see things way down the line. It’s called wisdom.

The other villagers stepped up to the plate to fill the void. But it required other villagers to commit themselves to supporting the kingdom by doing time with entry level riders.

This became a stag point in growth.

The next point came when a regular villager was unable to reach an agreement on an item. The villager showed up with the item from someplace else, the villager was given a public lashing on supporting another kingdom. The villager and his followers left never to be seen again.

WHAT HAPPENED NEXT? Stay Tuned!!:)

The Last King of Scotland….Ehhh… Inglewood
The Rise and fall of the Great King of Inglewood
Written by One of the King’s Men