Ted Kubisek stood in front of the fan to combat the heat during the shop’s last week of being open for business. He spoke to customers and employees in a way that shows he’s known them for years.
After 21 years owning and operating Spin Cycle, it was time for a change.
By June 19, the warehouse, home to a bike shop, screen printing business and music venue, is set to clear out of the building it has been in for more than a decade.
“I’ve done it for so long that I don’t want to do it forever,” said Kubisek, 39.
Monster Press Printing, the screen printing business, will continue after the bike store closes.
The shop is closing because Santa Fe College is expanding its downtown campus into Spin Cycle’s building on University Avenue.
“That has given us, myself, my family a chance, a breaking point that after 21 years seems to make sense,” Kubisek said.
Kubisek, a Gainesville native, originally opened the shop on Northwest 13th Street in 1991. He graduated from high school at a time when mountain biking was an emerging sport.
“I was already working in a shop since I was 12,” Kubisek said, “so by the time I graduated high school, I was well-trained and experienced.”
From there, Kubisek started running someone else’s store, where he sold a lot of high-end and emerging mountain bike equipment.
He and some friends decided to open Spin Cycle shortly after.
“It was very successful right away,” Kubisek said. “People would travel from other towns to come to our store. We had a lot of organized rides and a lot of community participation.”
The venue Spin Cycle on Tap was added two years ago. It participated in Gator Stompin’ and has hosted bands and variety shows.
The timing of Spin Cycle’s opening prevented Kubisek from finishing college. He went to SFC briefly but never earned a degree.
“I regret that decision,” Kubisek said.
He wants to work toward a degree, among other things, after the store closes.
“I certainly look forward to what it is that my family and friends are going to be doing,” he said, “but whatever it is will be free from having to do this.”
Along with continuing Monster Press Printing, he and his wife, Jill Kubisek, 33, plan to travel to Washington, D.C. with their two children, Vander, 2, and Cadence, 10 months, to campaign for President Barack Obama.
“That’s a plan, that’s a dream,” Ted Kubisek said. “I’d like to witness a presidential inauguration once in my lifetime.”
Despite all of the excitement in new beginnings, Kubisek will miss seeing his children grow up in the bike shop.
“That’s one of the saddest parts — that I don’t get to raise my children here,” he said.
