The race for the YJA

Selling bikes can be harder than you might think. Not only do you have to deal with incessant requests to throw in a free helmet/pump/set of steak knives, but sometimes you also get the expert friend, who advises that the beginner friend must have Ultegra or XT, a carbon frame or dual suspension even though they only want to spend a grand, and insists on butting in every ten seconds to contradict every piece of sound advice you've just offered. These people are known to us as a YJA, or the Yellow Jacket of Authority. The name came about a while ago when a bike buyer, who'd been in on several occasions previously wanting a cyclocross style bike to tour on, returned with his know-it-all friend, clad in the sure sign of bicycle wisdom, a fluoro yellow spray jacket. He ended up leaving with a flat-bar road bike. And so the YJA was born.
Now, selling bikes can also get competitive amongst the guys selling them, i.e. us, so to spice up the competition a little we have turned the monthly sales figures into our own little race. Or to be more precise, each month becomes the Grand Tour that coincides on the PRO calender. Hence, last month was the Giro d'Italia, convincingly won by Mike with a solid early break which he held all the way to the end (or Milan I guess), while Josh and I lagged behind, going back to the team car to get bottles and warm clothing for the little fella. This month is the Tour Du Suisse, and I've jumped out to an early lead with some small time bonuses (kids bikes and P & A) helping put me up the road. (Of course we are all just tuning up for the big one in July.) And now we have our very own Maillot Jaune of Authority, awarded to the leader on GC at the end of each day (there are also stage wins each day too)... it comes with its own YSA, or Yellow Sporran of Activity. Yep, winter in the shop can send you mad...