B-LINE Indoor Bike Park – Summer 2015 to April 30^th, 2024

• Creator / Owner/ Operator/ Manager/ Website designer/ Writer of Newsletters/ Coach/ Janitor/etc…

I created, and built, B-LINE Indoor Bike Park which was a 60,000 square foot facility filled with ramps, and designed for riding bikes. We closed the doors in April 2024. You’ll need to check out www.blinebikepark.com or @blinebikepark, to get the full scoop.

The idea spawned in the summer of 2015 and was fueled by the fact that other bike parks existed. I spent the next two years researching the active bike parks, exploring leasing options in Calgary, and building a business plan. In January 2017 we found an ideal location at 401 33^rd Street NE, and started negotiating the lease terms. By mid April, we had a deal.

We got the keys May 1^st, 2017, and started cleaning and construction right away. The design of the park was from Joyride150 in Markham, ON, and we hired a Red Seal carpenter, who happened to be a pro freestyle BMX rider, as the foreman. I guess I was the GC. We built, and tested ramps with a crew of paid employees, and volunteer riders, over the next 6 months, and we were able to open the doors on October 24^th, 2017, after navigating building permits, business licencing, and fire code regulations.

What was supposed to be a side hustle, turned into a passion, and our strong start allowed me to quit my job at ATB Financial in December of 2017, and focus 100% on growing B-LINE.

Greeting people, and coaching, were extremely high up on my list of favorite things, but the ability to be creative in so many different aspects, is what kept me going. Here is where I think I excelled:

• Website: Every picture, every word, and every link was published by me. We kept it fluid and knew that it was doing its job by the fact that we had strong bookings for our offerings, and minimal phone calls about info that was on the website.
• Instagram: I had fun doing the Social Media and could gauge success by seeing immediate financial results from certain posts, or lots of likes and shares of humorous content. Check out @blinebikepark
• Manuals: The training and policy manuals developed quickly when I realized that it was in our best to have our policies, and best practices, in writing. They were an integral part of our training, and development.
• Programs: Modelling other bike parks, and reacting to the local demand, we created many successful and long running coached programs for kids and adults.
• The Wintersucks Rodeo: I created an original, unique, friendly competition, that was suitable for pretty much any level of rider. It ran for 4 years, and attracted many athletes and sponsors.
• The Newsletters: 15,000 subscribers, 50% open rate, and feed back from 1000’s of readers, suggest that I can write emails that people will read. Risque, and informative is what I was always striving for. Archive
• Marketing: It’s not enough to create the programs or events…. they need to be seen. Our marketing matured over the years as we figured out the nuances of having so many available channels, and a very limited budget. We focused on catchy ads with easy links to informative landing pages, and could gauge success by events that hit capacity, or $$ from sales.

Personal Development:

The B-LINE Adventure was a steep learning experience at every turn, and I loved every minute. From creating an incorporated company, to managing a team of twenty people, I started with zero experience, and established myself as a local businessman, and a decent employer. (Just ask some of my staff!)

We shuttered B-LINE in April of 2024 as we were unable to keep up with our lease obligations, and the possibility of profit seemed impossible. Being slightly narcissistic, we don’t feel the failure was due to operator error. There were roughly 12 bike parks in North America when we started our venture, and we we’re one of five when we closed our doors. There were many factors that lead to our demise, but Covid, and op costs rising at a ridiculous rate, were the main causes.

I started my banking career as a sales rep at the Scotiabank Call Centre in Calgary (Sept 1999-Sept 2000), where I became the top sales person almost immediately after training. I never relinquished that title, and after one year that helped land me the job of Sales Rep at the Scotiabank Dealer Finance Centre (Sept 2000-June 2004); that’s where I was introduced to the worlds of retail and commercial automotive financing. I was trained in retail lending and also worked with the commercial team doing flooring audits for accounts up to $10MM.

I started at ATB Financial Conditional Sales Department in June of 2005 as a business development manager after a 1 year hiatus from the banking world. I was a natural fit, and enjoyed working remotely with our head office up in Sherwood Park. After one year in the position I was offered the opportunity to get paid by 100% commission. Although nervous at first, I took on the challenge, and then had 7 years of always achieving targets, and reaping the rewards in terms of compensation. The commission compensation was taken away in April of 2013 and I was back on salary until I left the bank in December of 2017.

I enjoyed my time in the banking world, but I was bottlenecked with the limited experience in my position. I wanted the ability to have more input into how the department was run, but management wasn’t onside. The switch from commission to salary incentivized me to find another path, and that lead me to B-LINE.