What kinds of water or sports drinks do you like?

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Anonymous's picture
Anonymous

Hello,
In the spring of 2006, I will be opening a bakery/sandwich/smoothie/ice cream shop on
Route 9W in Rockland County.

It is in the old 1939 gas station in Palisades across from the miniature golf place.

What kinds of water, sports drinks and power bars do you like? We would like to offer the cyclists along Rt 9W the selections that you like to drink and that hydrate you the best.

Any suggestions would be appreciated as we are beginning to choose our product line.
See you in the spring!
Carol Baxter

Anonymous's picture
ben (not verified)

Carol,

My suggestion would be to offer three things to cyclists: a bathroom, access to unlimited amounts of (free) tap water, and a rack for bikes.

But I won't make any money from those three suggestions, you might say. I submit that if you'd offer these amenities, you'd be surprised at how many goods you'd sell to people stopping in to use your bathroom and fill up on water. Few places know this better than the Runcible Spoon. Stop in sometime on the week-end and watch them in action.

Bananas, muffins, bagels, gatorade, juices, and deli sandwiches are pretty popular with cyclists.

Best of luck,
Ben

Anonymous's picture
Bob Shay (not verified)
The Spoon

I haven't been there, but here is an article:

http://www.thejournalnews.com/outdoors/0609spoon.html

9W is on my regular Saturday 120 mile route.

Bob

Anonymous's picture
Bob Mirell (not verified)

When I realized that Gatorade contains the same ingredients as a battery, I started drinking Vitamin Water. Comes in a multitude of flavors and it has a decent taste. Alacer makes something called Emer'gen-C that comes in individual packets. Handy for carrying in your jersey pocket to add to water. And I second Ben's comment about the bathroom (kept spotless). Oh yes..and muffins..enormous...spilling over the top, moist, melt in your mouth, price is no object muff...umm...err....sorry...I get carried away just by the thought.
Best of luck Carol...I'll stop by for a banana nut and say hi.

Bob

Anonymous's picture
Carol (not verified)

Bananas, muffins, V-8 juice (all the electrolites without the sugar), Luna Bars, sandwiches and, oh yes, ICE CREAM!

Anonymous's picture
aj (not verified)
bathroom, water & hospitality . . .

after that you are golden. you'll have lots of friends!

Anonymous's picture
Basil Ashmore (not verified)
Smoothie with (whey) protein powder

"From your point of view, the bathroom, water (and bike rack) will hopefully attract enough cyclists to bring some worthwhile business.
It would certainly be great to have a bike-friendly pit stop en route to Piermont, Nyack or wherever.
However, depending on the type of ride, this location is unlikely to be a ride destination but rather a pit stop along the way - in which case it may in many cases be too close to that ultimate destination (Piermont or Nyack are two popular weekend destinations) for people to make an additional stop. However, this will depend very much on the type (speed, frequency of stops etc.) of ride and no doubt you will pick up many passers-by.

In addition to the previous comments, I'm personally delighted to see ""smoothie"" on the list - just make sure you have (preferably whey) protein powder as an optional ingredient! (Runcible Spoon advertises it but doesn't always have it in practice).

Best of luck with your venture!"

Anonymous's picture
Anthony Poole (not verified)
Good location

I think this is a great location, especially for people riding further north to, say Bear Mountain, using 9W, and don't have enough water to make it non-stop from the city to, say Stony Point.

Even in cold weather, I easily get through my two large bottles by the time I reach Piermont from the Upper West Side of Manhattan, and have to run dry to Nyack before refilling - something I hate doing. Others may not have this problem. Am I the only one, or does everyone I see on the road not drink enough fluids on rides except me?

I've often thought that this would be a good spot for a watering hole. I think when I am doing rides to somewhere like Bear Mt, I'd be happy to stop at your new establishment and bypass Piermont and Nyack.

I look forward to your opening next year and to stopping to refuel.

In addition to the food and drink items mentioned by others, I recommend stocking inner tubes for road bikes and also having a couple of floor pumps in the store for people to top up their tyres. And maybe having fresh, homemade soups in cold weather would be good too.

All the best with your new venture!

Anonymous's picture
thirsty (not verified)
On a hot summer day

A pint of ice cold orange juice. Yum.

Anonymous's picture
Alfredo Garcia (not verified)
suggestions

"Hi Carol,

Congratulations on your new shop. Are you planning to have a website? I remember that locale, it's also a few miles from a Rt. 9W entrance ped/bike opening at Tallman State Park. Or not too far from the NJ/NY state border and the Columbia Univ. observatory.

Water & beverage suggestions: Deer Park, Poland Spring, gatorade (esp. orange), zico coconut water, ginger ale & root beer soda.

If you have a deli, stock it with rolls of honey turkey, regular turkey, pastrami & ham for sandwiches. For the veggie cyclist, maybe some rolls of meat analogies (fancy name for fake yet nutritious ""meats"" made of soy & wheat gluten). And a various of veggies for salads. Fruits like bananas would be great.

And as a courtesy, each time I visit the shop, I will buy something as well as use the rest facilities,if needed.

If you like, I'm willing to donate a good presta/schrader floor pump or two, plus patch kits for cyclists with flats coming your way. Just let us know the dedication date.

Thanks again,
Alfredo"

Anonymous's picture
Bil (not verified)
My Picks

"Good luck Carol-
The goodies that will make me stop are Power Bar ""Harvest bars"", Cliff bars, Amino Vital sports drink, Cyto Max Sports drink, Cliff Shot power gels- above all VERY GOOD MUFFINS!

An option to think about since lot of cyclists are particular about the powdered drinks they bring along on rides. It may be worth the small investment to get a 4 lb canister of each of the popular drinks (Accelerade, Cytomax, Revenge, the new Powerbar drink etc.). You could sell ""refills/scoops"" to the riders for, say, $1-$2. This is a win-win for everybody:
1- riders get to keep hydrated with their fav drink.
2-The shop would easily make the money back plus a handsome markup, even at $1 a scoop.
3- No extra bottles/litter
4- Less room in 'fridge used up by bottles, more room for yogurt.


bill"

Anonymous's picture
hey (not verified)

Urinade, the sports drink you can make yourself.

seriously, i will certainly stop by your place. i love that little place. best of luck!

Anonymous's picture
D (not verified)

For me (and many others) your location is a bit out of place for a destination, but is in a great spot as a pit stop.

As others have mentioned, bathrooms and a water jug will make your shop awfully attractive. Once inside, I like to see the 'normal' flavors of gatorade or powerade (red, orange, yellow, blue). For bars, I'm partial to Clif, but something non-chocolate and non-caffinated is always appreciated. Bananas are nice too.

Anonymous's picture
April (not verified)
Gatorade Ice

"I'm glad that more and more shops are finally carrying the Gatorade ICE drinks. I prefer them over the regular Gatorade because it's not quite so sweet. And I know I'm not alone.

I second bananas being a big hit with cyclist. And it's an item that people simply ""grab & go"" so it doesn't matter if people make the shop a ""destination"" or not."

Anonymous's picture
Robert Shay (not verified)
When is the grand opening... (nm)
Anonymous's picture
Linda Wintner (not verified)
a few additional thoughts

Hi Carol. I echo the good wishes. Perhaps you'll also attract some people from the golf facility across the street.

If you decide to serve sandwiches, it would be great if at least some of them could be made with whole wheat bread. Also, did anyone mention bananas? I like Clif bars. And, although I agree with Bob's funny comment about Gatorade having the same ingredients as a battery, I still like it and I think other many other cyclists do as well.

Hope to see you next year.

Regards,
Linda

Anonymous's picture
Evan Marks (not verified)
Mmmm, battery acid!

Battery acid = electrolytes.

Sports drinks = electrolytes.

Therefore, sports drinks = battery acid. So what's the problem?

Anonymous's picture
Judith Tripp (not verified)
COFFEE!!!!!

Did I read too fast or did no one mention coffee? GOOD coffee, and cinnamon raisin bagels. That's almost always what I get at the Runcible. Yes, the water outside is great too, to fill a bottle containing powdered battery acid. Bike racks, great. Bathroom(s) essential. Looking forward to it! (I guess I sort of misread the question which I now see is about water and sports drinks.)

Anonymous's picture
don montalvo (not verified)
yes!

coffee! calcium deficiency be damned! :)

don

curmudgeon at large

Anonymous's picture
Michael Y (not verified)
espresso, please!

In addition to water, sports drinks & smoothies, it'd be great if you had an espresso machine and used high-quality coffee. Thanks for asking.

Anonymous's picture
Cat (not verified)
Tovin's Clamland lives

I really hope you'll still serve fried clams!!

Cat

Anonymous's picture
Maggie Schwarz (not verified)
Peanut butter and jelly...

...on either bread or bagels.

Good luck to you.

Maybe you could brand the new shop with a cycling jersey that you could sell. I can't wait. Please post an announcement on this message board as soon as you open, so we'll be sure to stop in.

Anonymous's picture
John Z (not verified)
Maple Syrup, preferably from the Adirondacks (nm)
Anonymous's picture
Joe (not verified)
Odwalla Bars and Beverages

Please don't paint the roof.

Anonymous's picture
<a href="http://www.OhReallyOreilly.com">Peter O'Reilly</a> (not verified)
Yoohoo

Please be sure to stock plenty of Vegemite and saltines and Yoohoo to wash it down with. Best of luck with the new business and I'll see you in the spring!

Peter

P.S. Just kidding about the Vegemite.

Anonymous's picture
JP (not verified)
Delay!

I communicated with Carol, the hopeful opener of the Gas Station, and opening is delayed due to demands by the local authorities for certain improvements. Red tape!!

Mid-summer is the best estimate, but if the tape gets too long or too thick - the whole concept may fall off the back and bonk.

Wish her luck. I was hoping to drop by in the next few weeks. Too bad she'll miss the start of the season.

cycling trips