August eNewsletter - Clearance Sale | Night Rides

5 Questions: Paul Gallmeier

Paul Gallmeier, age 61, is one of several customers-turned-employees at Century Cycles. He has been a valuable addition to the part-time staff of the Peninsula store since the Spring of this year. He lives in nearby Sagamore Hills with his wife and their two Boston Terriers.

Q. How long have you been cycling?

A. It's really been a lifelong thing for me. As a kid growing up in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, I rode my bike to little league games and practices, and everywhere else. It was my only transportation at Indiana University in Bloomington; I rode to classes, work, and to get groceries and other errands. The only time I've really taken a break from bicycling was when I was in the service.

Q. What was your time in the service like?

A. I enlisted in the Navy in March of '67. I was assigned to a couple of different ships in the Pacific and Atlantic. A big part of the time was along the coast of Vietnam on supply ships, but I was also on an aircraft carrier for a while. The big ships can stay at sea almost indefinitely, as long as they can get food, fuel, and ammunition, and that's what the ships I was assigned to did--I was on an "oiler," or fuel supplier, and an ammo supplier. I got to see many other countries: Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Spain, Italy, Malta, and the Greek island of Corfu. One day while we were docked for R&R at Crete, we turned the deck into a floating casino. I loved being a sailor, and I learned a lot, but I got out in 1971 because I also wanted to get a college education.

Q. So, you were at IU in Bloomington--there's a big cycling culture there, with the "Little 500" race and the connection to the movie "Breaking Away" and all...what was that like?

A. It was a great town; I lived there for nine years, and I tried to find a way to stay there longer, but the jobs just weren't there. I did have a job driving for the campus bus service for a while during the filming of the movie, and met a lot of the crew as I drove them around town. There are several scenes in the film where if you are familiar with the town, they just aren't right, like where Dave Stoller is supposed to be riding to campus, but if you know the streets, you can tell he's riding the wrong way!

Q. What was your first bicycle?

A. It was the one I rode around as a kid; I don't remember what brand it was, but it had a swept-back handlebar, coaster brakes, and it was a singlespeed--these (points to his legs) were the real gears! Later, I got a Schwinn Varsity, and then a couple years into college I got a Raleigh Record. I still had that Raleigh when we moved to Ohio. In the late 90's, I got another Raleigh, a C-40 hybrid.

Q. How many bikes do you own now?

A. I have a Raleigh Mojave 4.0 mountain bike that I bought from Century Cycles a couple of years ago, and I have a Surly Long Haul Trucker that I bought since I started working here.

You can read the rest of our interview with Paul on our blog.