One person does make a difference

Leslie Bohm passed away on August 20. On Sunday I had the privilege to share a few memories at his services. 

Jb 

I want to thank Lynn, Griffin, and Cooper for the honor of being here. 

Trek’s first customer was Elmer Sorenson the owner of Penn Cycle in Minneapolis. Elmer opened his bicycle store while he was a master mechanic for Northwest airlines. Elmer lived a long and happy life and as I walked out of his funeral service a decade ago, a Northwest 747 flew low over the church. I knew that was a sign from Elmer.

Leslie loved politics, debates, and elections. When I talked to Lynn on the phone the other day and she told me to watch out for the traffic in Boulder on Sunday because the President of the United States would be speaking in Boulder. I just smiled to my self because I knew that was Leslie at work. The headline...President Obama Speaks in Boulder

Over the years, Leslie and I became good friends. On the surface, we did not have a lot in common. Leslie was short, I'm tall. Leslie was quiet, I can be loud, Leslie always took his time, I can pull the trigger. However, we did have a lot of similarities, we both loved v-neck sweaters, we both loved the bicycle business, we both loved to ride our bikes and swap stories of our favorite climbs in Europe, we both thought the bicycle was a simple solution to the major issues of the day like climate change, health issues, and congestion; and we were both total overachievers with our wives. The first time I met Lynn we were having drinks the four of us. Tania and I, Lynn and Leslie. At one point I said to Leslie, “we really did well picking our life partners” and Leslie gave me that big Leslie smile and said “John we sure did. We have to be the two luckiest guys in the world.” The last thing that we had in common were ideas. Leslie loved ideas. 

Leslie was all about ideas and the lessons of life. Leslie lived an extraordinary life, and every day to Leslie was another opportunity to learn. Today in Leslie’s honor I want to review four of the lessons of life that he leaves behind:

1. Lesson number one is Unbridled Optimism. Leslie was optimistic about everything. Shortly after I learned of his cancer, I did some research and the research told me that Leslie was going to have a tough battle. I called Leslie to see how he was doing the next day. Leslie, this is John… I heard about your cancer, how are you doing? “John thanks for the call. I'm doing GREAT. The smile coming right through the phone. “You see I have an awesome family and they have been giving me such great support, and you know I have excellent doctors and they have put me in a special program because I am really fit and have a great attitude, I am going to beat this thing” In March at the National Bike Summit Tania and I had drinks with Lynn and Leslie and I asked him how are you doing? Leslie's reply “Great, I rode my bike 50 miles on Sunday with my family. We had a great time. ” But Leslie how is the cancer? “Well they just don’t know what to do, whether I should have surgery or stick with the chemo.” And then with his BIG Leslie smile he looks at me and says “John I just wish they would crack my head open, and take this thing out, so I could get on with my life.” Business, politics, bicycle advocacy, cancer, Leslie had one outlook in life and that was to Be Positive. 

2. The second lesson is Take Care of Others. One night early in his life, Leslie was with his sisters and other cousins. In a conversation, Leslie mentioned that he was feeling a little guilty because Aunt Sara seemed to favor him more than the others. To his surprise, each of the others said that they too felt guilty at having been Aunt Sara’s “favorite” They realized at that moment in unison , that Aunt Sara had managed to make each of them feel uniquely special. Leslie took Aunt Sara’s lesson and applied it to his personal life and his business life. Leslie not only succeeded at making other people feel special, he genuinely cared about others and went out of his way to take care of others.  If Leslie ever invited someone to go on a bike ride with him, he really meant that he would ride "with" that person. Even though Leslie was a strong rider in his own right, he was never one to push someone to ride beyond their own ability. Instead Leslie, would match their pace, and make sure that everyone had a good time. Once, on a winter hut trip in Colorado, Leslie was with a group that included a woman who was not as prepared for the back-country as she should have been. Leslie hung back to encourage the woman and assist her on the trail. Then the two of them became separated from the rest of the group as a storm moved in. Leslie dug a snow cave and kept the two of them sheltered and safe until the storm blew over and he could get the woman to safety. He literally saved her life that day because of his concern, and because of the fact that Leslie always put other people first in every aspect of his life.

3. The third lesson of Leslie's life is to be Open to Ideas. There is a great passage from Eleanor Roosevelt’s favorite poem that goes like this: “Small minds discuss people, average minds discuss events, great minds discuss ideas.” Leslie loved ideas. At a Bikes Belong Board meeting Leslie was making the point that we needed to get better organized. “This really isn’t that difficult. All we need to do is take a look at the NRA. Leslie goes into a five minute monologue about the NRA and how they do it. They have great messaging, incredible marketing, and they have 4.2 million dedicated members, and they are advocating for guns. We are advocating for bicycles. Our cause is so much better and yet they are kicking our butts. We can learn from these guys?” From across the table I ask Leslie... "Leslie how do you know so much about the NRA. Well I did some research and I was so impressed with their work that I wanted to learn more, so I signed up and became a member of the NRA so that they would send me all the material. It’s really GREAT stuff." “Leslie are you really a Member of the NRA?” With that Big Leslie smile, “I sure am!” Leslie was very passionate about his positions in life, but he was always smart enough and humble enough and decent enough to look at all sides of any issue, including the NRA.

4. The fourth lesson of Leslie's life is Find Something that You are Passionate about and Make a Difference. In 1997 I met Leslie for the first time at the National Bike Summit. We had been summoned by Congressman Jim Oberstar to get involved at the national level in making sure that bicycles were part of the national transportation budget. At that time cycling received less than $20 million in federal funding. Leslie was part of the industry group that got together and helped to make bicycles part of the Transportation Bill in 1997. We worked hard and won the battle, bicycle funding went from $20 million to over $200 million. We sat in the basement of a lousy Washington hotel feeling pretty good about ourselves. There were four of us and Leslie turned the celebration into a question. Where do we go from here? A debate took place and a decision was made to create Bikes Belong, an industry organization that had the mission of more people on bikes more often. Not only was Leslie a founding member of Bikes Belong, he actively (and I underline actively), served as a board member for the last 15 years. In that time federal funding for cycling increased to over $1.3 billion and more and more places across America are starting to look like Boulder, Colorado because Leslie was passionate about cycling and wanted to make a difference. 

Unbridled optimism, taking care of others, being open to ideas, and finding something that you are passionate about and make a difference are four of the characteristics that made Leslie the Legend that he was. On top of those four there really is one other. Leslie was just a good person to the core.

While Leslie’s life was cut short at 59 years, history will show that Leslie packed 100 years into his 59. A few years back my father was in poor health and with his death imminent a friend told me something that will stay with me the rest of my life. She said, “John, his body will die, but his spirit will live on.” The same holds true for Leslie. While he his body died on August 20, 2012, Leslie’s spirit will live on and that spirit will be a guiding force for his wife, his two sons, the bicycle movement and the many others who had the privilege of knowing Leslie Bohm.  

Leslie Bohm, rock star.

Friends,

I awoke this morning to check my e-mail and saw a CarePages update on Leslie Bohm, one of the foundering members of Bikes Belong. About a year and a half ago, Leslie found out he had brain cancer and has been fighting it ever since. Leslie's wife Lynn, who is a rock star, wrote an update that I have shared below.

After I read this, I emailed a note of encouragement to Leslie and I think he would want to hear from all of his friends. If you have been lucky enough to know Leslie over the years, he is a very special person, so take a minute to send him a note on his CarePage or via Lynn at lynn@catacom.com. 

I am a list guy and here is my list as to why Leslie is a very special person:

1. Short on size, big on personality. 

2. Leslie can light up a room. I have been lucky enough to know a handful of people who can illuminate a room when they walk in. Leslie is one of those special people. Big smile, the big handshake, and the booming voice out of the small man "John how are ya!!!"

3. Great note taker. I have been to a lot of Bikes Belong board meetings. No one can take notes like Leslie.

4. NRA member. This one might surprise you, but Leslie is an NRA member. He thought they did such a good job with membership and message that he joined to learn and pass along those lessons to Bikes Belong.

5. Optimist! Great leaders are optimists and Leslie is a very optimistic person. When I saw him in April and we were talking about his brain tumor he told me "John, they just don't know what to do, radiation, or just have surgery. I hope they have the surgery. Just crack my head open and get this thing out of me. That would be great!" Leslie's optimism is best seen in the bike movement he loves. No problems, only challenges, and Leslie has a strong belief that in the end, the bicycle will prevail.

6. Founding Member of Bikes Belong. Back in the day there were only a few of us from the industry who cared about advocacy. Bikes Belong was founded in the basement at the National Bike Summit back in the late 90's. Total attendance at the Bike Summit: 75. People in the room that founded Bikes Belong: 4. Leslie was one. In the years since the founding of Bikes Belong, federal funding for bikes has gone from $20 million to over $1.2 billion. Thousands of miles of trail have been built and the accomplishments of the movement are too many to list. The bicycle movement owes Leslie a big thank you.

Colleagues at the National Bike Summit March 22 in Wash. DC. L to R: Tania and John Burke, Pro-bike leader in House of Reps; Earl Blumenauer, Leslie Bohm, Chris Kegel, and Lynn.

 

Take a minute today and send a note to Leslie. He would love to hear from you.

Jb.

Leslie

We haven't updated this CarePage because it's hard to write. You've all been such wonderful support that we want you to know what's going on.

Leslie is very sick. He developed a bad staph infection from the surgery at MD Anderson, which took a while to diagnose. He had a second surgery at Boulder Community Hospital for the infection. During the process of diagnosing the infection, we learned that Leslie had tumor in a new area of the brain that was developing quickly - it didn't show up on the MRI after the surgery but was there a few weeks later.

Leslie has been a graceful inspiration in his illness. Our plan is to bring him home and bring in nursing care.

This, of course, only begins to tell the story. There are so many of you we would like to contact individually. We so appreciate all your love, your prayers, your good thoughts and kindnesses. We hope you'll pray for him, in your own way, now. We read him your notes and texts, and they bring on that Leslie smile.

Love,

Lynn, Griffin and Cooper

 

The BEST graduation gift?

My daughter Courtney graduated from high school last week, with honors! Graduating with honors is a big deal because yours truly never made the honor roll, and neither did my dad. Courtney kicked off high school with a 2.9 freshman year GPA and picking dandelions at the tennis matches. A lightswitch went off the summer of sophomore year and she made the honor roll every semester, while playing varsity tennis, making it to state junior and senior year.

I am so proud of her that when it came time for a graduation gift I thought I would do something really special and give her ... a bike.

Kind of lame from someone who runs a bike company, but I decided to make Courtney a very special bike: a pink Madone with her favorite panda bear on the front of the bike and the back. Lots of pink and white accents. Trek's Project One guru Eric Maves did a great job with the detailing and Courtney absolutely loves it!

Jb.

An Amazing Weekend at the Warrior 100k Ride

Last weekend I headed to Amarillo, Texas and rode in the Warrior 100 mountain bike event with 20 members of the Wounded Warrior Project, an organization that provides wounded military veterans with unique resources to live healthy, happy lives after their service. We’ve worked with them in the past to help create adaptive bicycles for their organized rides.

The Warrior 100 was a life-changing experience. I heard the stories of the 20 servicemen and women; people who lost arms, legs, and much more fighting for our freedom. The stories of how they’ve put their lives back together were truly amazing. I enjoyed meeting all the Wounded Warriors, especially Melissa Stockwell. Melissa graduated from University of Colorado and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the United States Army. In 2004 her unit was deployed to Iraq. On April 13, 2004 a roadside bomb hit her Humvee and Melissa suffered the loss of her leg above the knee.

Melissa told her story last Friday night and it is quite powerful. She has become a certified prosthetist, in which she fits other amputees with artificial limbs. She competed in the 2008 Paralympics in Beijing in swimming, and is the current and two-time World Champion in her triathlon class. The next day I was lucky enough to ride a really challenging mountain bike course in Palo Duro Canyon State Park with Melissa, and she is a really impressive cyclist. Visualize Melissa riding a mountain bike 100k over 3 days with her one good leg, without being able to get out of the saddle. She got the deal done and always had a smile on her face. What a rock star. Melissa and her boyfriend will be visiting Trek this summer to go for a ride.

To read more about Melissa, check out her website at www.melissastockwell.com.

-Jb

 

Help out Bo Bikes Bama

Last December, my rock star assistant, Cindy, walked into my office and said Bo Jackson was on the phone.

“Really,” I replied. The legendary Bo Jackson from my youth, who starred in the “Bo Knows” Nike commercials, and who was the Rock Star football player and baseball player? “Put him on the line.”

Bo wanted to talk about starting a bike ride in Alabama for the tornado victims from last year. I listened and said that sounds interesting; we like to use the bike company to help people. Bo replies, “Great. How about if I come up and we can meet.” Sure enough, a week later Bo Jackson drives up to Trek in his pickup truck and we talk about Bo Bikes ‘Bama.

Well, Tuesday the dream became a reality. I arrived in Birmingham Monday night and rode the first day’s route from Henagar to Lake Guntersville State Park.

My top ten observations from Tuesday’s ride:

10.  Alabama is a really great place to ride your bike.  Kind of like Wisconsin, but warm!

9.  Scottie Pippen, the 6 time World Champion Chicago Bull forward, is a great guy and a great basketball player, but didn't know a lot about riding a bike. Pat “Sully” Sullivan (Director of Trek Component Group) and I took care of that and rode with Scottie for the first twenty miles going through shifting with STI, clipping in and clipping out. We even got into drafting with a 20 mph headwind in the afternoon. In the end, a great athlete is still a great athlete.

8.  Rebecca Falls, who lead the Logistics team for Trek Travel, is a Rock Star!!! Ride was awesome and the logistics were better.

7.  It was cold at the start. Glad Sully was with me. He brought extra arm warmers and leg warmers and I used them both.

6.  The tornadoes that ripped through Alabama were the real deal. Over 400 tornadoes in three days. The damage was incredible.

5.  A lot of people lost their lives in Alabama; Over 300. When you read the paper, it seems like a horrible statistic. When you meet an 8 year old kid named Bryce, who lost his Mom and his Dad along with two siblings, it is no longer a statistic.

4.  The Alabama State Troopers rock. The ride support by all the law enforcement was impressive.  

3.  Picabo Street is the best climber I have ever seen. Her husband’s pickup truck riding next to her did not hurt the effort.

2.  I met a guy today riding a 1977 Trek. Really??? Yep. Original bike, original paint, still riding strong. A little rust, but a very happy Trek customer!!

1.  Bo Jackson is an amazing person, leading a ride to help heal the wounds left by the tornadoes that wreaked havoc in Alabama a year ago.

This is a good cause and worthy of a donation. Check out Bo Bikes Bama and help out the effort.

Jb.

 

Off to Asia

I left for Asia last Saturday. Why off to Asia? Because it's a very important part of the world for Trek. When my father started Trek 35 years ago, he thought there was a market for high end bikes in the US. Little did he know at that time that Trek would end up doing more business outside of the United States than in. The truth is, we sell Trek bikes in over eighty countries around the world. 

So: Madison, Minneapolis, Seattle, Bejing. That was the plan. The plane left Madison 40 minutes late and we had to run to our gate in Minneapolis to make the plane to Seattle. As we arrived at the gate, the plane was still there, but the door was closed. I asked if they would open the door so I could make it to my meetings the next morning in Beijing? “NO.” was the answer. Really...... I am one of your best customers, and if I don’t make that plane, I won’t be able to make it to China and I will miss my meetings. “Sorry.” As we discussed this issue of global importance, the plane just sat there.  There were 10 people who wanted to get on that plane, including a young couple with two young kids and a stroller. My final plea: “I own a bicycle shop (a rather large one) and let’s say that I have a customer who has purchased 20 bikes from me. Last week he purchased a brand new $5,000 bike. We close our doors at 6 pm. The customer shows up at 6:01 and the doors are closed. Should I open the door for that customer?” The door doesn’t open. Fifteen minutes later, it pulled away. Without us.

We sit in Minneapolis for three hours, then took a flight to LAX, sat in LAX for 6 hours, and boarded a plane at 1 am for a flight to Beijing. I arrive one hour before my meetings.

The first few days of the trip were spent in Beijing meeting with our Asian Managers. Yoshi Tamura, our Japanese manager, Joanna Lee the Manager of Trek China, and Jason Pye, the Manager of Trek Australia (team photo below). One of the smartest moves I have made was opening Trek Japan in 1991. That was at a time when all of the trade talk was that Japan was a closed market and you could not sell American products there. I flew to Japan and interviewed distributors and I could not find a good one. I figured, let’s just do it on our own. The response from a lot of people? “You can’t go direct in Japan.” “It's too tough.” Our most successful market in the last twenty years? You guessed it. Japan. And so, five years ago when people said that you can’t go direct in China, we went direct in China. Earlier this year, we purchased our Australian Distributor from the Cook family and have built upon a successful Asian foundation. And now I was spending a few days of listening to Asian business updates and focusing on my favorite question: How may I help?

That first night we had dinner in a restaurant near Tiananmen Square. I gave the toast: “26 years ago I started at Trek and it was a small company. That year we did less than $20 million in business. This year we will do over $800 million. I feel the same type of adventure and enthusiasm with this group as you build Trek Asia into a very important part of Trek. There will be challenges along the way for sure, but you will be amazed at what you will accomplish in the next 25 years. Do something GREAT!”

The trip back to Madison went smoothly. One of the great experiences in world travel is getting a beer in the Delta Lounge in Tokyo. You put an ice-cold mug on a machine. The machine tilts the mug back and pours the perfect beer. It's something you need to see at least once in life.

Jb.

Gotta love the seasons

It gets cold in Wisconsin in November. It always has. And so, I opened my email a few weeks ago to a very kind invitation from Brandi Funk (see my previous posts about the Funks here and here) to join her and her family for a family tradition of jumping into Beaver Lake on Thanksgiving. Really!!! The forecast was for a high that day of 28 degrees and sure enough, it was 28 fun-lovin' degrees on Thanksgiving. We arrived at the appointed hour and I said to my lovely wife, "Do you really think they are going to jump in the lake at 28 degrees?" To which she replied, "I doubt it. Let’s just not take our swim stuff inside, that might encourage them." Well we rang the doorbell and a very enthusiastic crowd greeted us and it was very clear that they were going to jump into that lake and...so were we!!! We ended up jumping into the lake fully submerged and had a blast. Good friends, good times, the holidays.

Fast-forward and we have visitors from France at the office this past week. They have heard of the Trek mountain bike trails and they are looking forward to riding them. It is cold. Really cold. Another 26 fun-lovin' degrees. A thin blanket of snow on the trails, a little bit of ice and we went out and had a blast riding the Farm for an hour and a half.

You gotta' love the winter. There is four more months of it!

Selling one bike at a time

I have always said that at Trek we sell one bike at a time; every customer matters. Whenever I get a note from a satisfied customer, they always get a note back. Whenever I get a note from an unsatisfied customer, they always get a note or a phone call and we get the problem solved. We take care of people, because, we sell one bike at a time.

The other night my lovely wife Tania and I were in a local bar and met a few very nice people from Australia who live in the UK.  We had a good chat, and Matt ended up purchasing a 7.3 fx in the the UK.

Jb.

From: matthew adams
Date: Tue, 28 Sep 2010 14:33:25 -0700
To: John Burke
Subject: some good old american hospitality

Hi John,

My colleagues and I are extremely grateful for your friendliness and hospitalty that you provided on the Thursday evening at the 'The Old Fashioned'. We all found yourself and Tania to be wonderfully talkative and geniunely engaging.

We had a terrific time at the Mansion Inn, it is one hell of a place. The architecture is fascinating and some of those beers you have in stock are like 'mother's milk'. I particularly like the Samuel Adams as that is my son's name. That night topped off what was an exciting and fun-filled trip to Madison.

I picked up my new Trek 7.3FX the other day and have covered about 50 miles in the last 2 days. It feels terrific and makes riding so much more fun.

All the best to you and Tania. It was a pleasure meeting you both.

Matt, Nadia, Sangeeta, and Ruby.

My basement bike - how many Transport cargo bikes do we build?

Once a week, I have a meeting with the forecasting group. We look at shipments, orders, and new products to make decisions on units to build for each bike model. 95% of the time, everyone agrees on the decision. However, once in a while there is a disagreement. One of the disagreements this year is the Transport Plus. A new, super-cool, utility cargo bike that can carry 150 pounds of cargo in the back and 25 pounds in the rack up front. It also features an electric assist. Perfect for getting around town, going shopping, or replacing your car! It is AWESOME. Unfortunately, Jennifer Garner, who is in charge of forecasting for this product category, does not share my enthusiasm. Jennifer and I have placed a bet for a case of beer.  Winner's choice with an over/under number. If you think this is a cool product, would you please send Jennifer an email and let her know? I want to make sure that we are producing enough of these bikes!!!

Thanks!  Jb.

P.S. I received this e-mail from one of our top engineers today.

From: "L, Chad"
Date: Fri, 6 Aug 2010 11:19:51 -0500
To: "L, Michael", "Burke, J"
Subject: Seriously holy awesome

I just rode the ride plus Transport with Keith Von Huben on the back. All I am gonna say is holy sh*t and hallelujah that bike is F'n awesome!!!!!!!!

Now I know these are on back order.  Can we start an employee purchase back order list?  Seriously this is my next family bike...my farmers market bike...my take my son to the Monona pool bike...my next bike that my wife fights me to ride to the Y.

ChadL!

The family vacation

Every year the Burkes go on family vacation. Traditionally the third week in June and each year hosted by one of the kids. Last year Tania and I hosted with a family Trek Travel trip to Yellowstone. Of course, it rained every day except for the one day it snowed. Everyone had a blast. This year, my sister Sharon and her husband Jeff hosted the family in Park City, Utah. Events included a Steve Martin banjo concert (he really does play the banjo and unfortunately does not tell a lot of jokes) outdoors with rain and temperatures in the low 50’s, family bowling, golf, a bike ride, a trip to the ski hill for a family luge event, and yes, the Burke family games night where the Black team beat the White team. Events included horse, one hole of golf, the peanut toss, ping pong, and banana grams.

My favorite event this year was the luge ride down one of the ski hills in Park City. We traveled down in pairs with people racing each other to the end. I provided security for my 77 year-old mother as she mounted her sled and headed down the hill. I wanted to be behind her so that some 13 year-old kid did not slam into my Mom. We are around 1/4 of the way down the hill and I am thinking this is really funny...so...I got my iPhone out, hit the video button, and turned into an Olympic announcer as I called Lainey's wild ride down the hill in Park City. This is a must watch!