Friday, November 1, 2013

The Yachats Gazette, Issue 27, November 1, 2013

N.B.: The publisher wishes it to be known that none of the Taylors, including the publisher, are related to each other as far as we know.
 
Interview with Shawn Taylor of Pirate’s Bounty Boutique
The Yachats Gazette interviewed Shawn Taylor of the newly-opened consignment store Pirate’s Bounty Boutique, located at 114 Hwy 101, Suite B, in Yachats. 
TYG: Where did you get the idea to start the Pirate’s Bounty Boutique?
Shawn: Well, I have studied it and been really interested in consignment shops and resale for a really long time. So I took a class called “It’s Your Business” and I wrote a business plan and I started studying it. That’s where I came to this idea.
TYG: Cool! What kind of vendors do you have to get all of this beautiful merchandise?
Shawn: I just put a little ad in The Skinny, and word-of-mouth, and people are bringing in their clothing. They get 40% of the sales price.
TYG: So you’re different from a “booth-style” consignment shop, because it’s [all] your stuff.
Shawn: Yes, that is a little bit different. In a booth rent people set their own prices, and then all of the proceeds go back to them. In consignment, I set the prices, and then they get 40% of the sales price.
TYG: How long have you been open?
Shawn: Since Tuesday! October 22 was opening day.
TYG: Oh! So we really caught you right off the bat!
Shawn: Yes you did [laughter]! This is my third day in business.
TYG: You seem to be doing very well already. You’ve got some merchandise that I think will be very popular, like the jewelry case there. [...]
Shawn: That’s great. And the earrings—not all of them, but most of them in that case you see there—are handcrafted by two different ladies that came in and visited me from the area. So I feel very blessed to have people bringing me their products.
TYG: […] Where did you get that name [Pirate’s Bounty Boutique]—just from the products you have?
Shawn: Actually, I wanted to do something that went along with the coastal theme. So I researched and found the words that meant “abundance” for pirates.
TYG: Yes, I know. There were a lot of pirates and explorers here. One of the famous, famous explorers—I think it might’ve been Cook—landed down at Cape Perpetua.
Shawn: Wow! I didn’t know that! […]
TYG: Where did you live before Yachats?
Shawn: I lived in Northern California, right on the Oregon—California border. And actually a small, small, small little town by the name of Hornbrook, which is actually our PO Box. But there really isn’t a business there. [laughter] So we live way out in the country, and we have a family ranch on the Klamath River, that’s been there for about 85 years.
TYG-Graphic Design: What is the product of the ranch?
Shawn: We raise fallow deer and also a few cattle. We’ve had chickens, and also pigs.
TYG: I didn’t know it was legal to raise deer.
Shawn: Well you have to have a special permit.
TYG-GD: Who buys fallow deer?
Shawn: Actually fallow deer are a delicacy, for meat. Originally, we had bought them for that specific purpose. But my uncle, who started the herd, passed. So we just kept the deer on the ranch as a memory of him. […]
TYG: I see that you have one of those things that plug into your iPhone for a card reader.
Shawn: Yes, I use a Square.
TYG: So that’s what that’s called?
Shawn: Yes, very interesting. You just put all of your information from the credit card into your phone, and the deposits go directly into your bank.
TYG-GD: Have you moved up here full-time?
Shawn: We moved here the first week of September. My husband was transferred here by C & K Markets, and he is the new store manager at Ray’s in Waldport.
TYG: Is anyone taking care of the ranch?
Shawn: My family lives on the ranch.
TYG-GD: Are you living in Yachats, or are you living in Waldport at the moment?
Shawn: We live here in Yachats, and we really like it. We came here, and we drove the area, and we kind of got out and looked around.
TYG: It’s certainly a good area to raise a kid in if you have one.
Shawn: [laughter]

TYG: It is! I know from experience! There are plenty of places for a kid to go here. It’s a small town, but there’s a big youth program.
Shawn: I believe you!
TYG-GD: So you drove around, and you found something?
Shawn: Actually, we left. We came for three days—Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We looked and looked and looked for a place to live, and we had a really hard time. So we went home, and luckily on Monday morning a rental came up, and we were able to get that. So we actually live very close to work. […]
TYG: So what is it like living here everyday? Is the business going well?
Shawn: Yes, business is going very well. I couldn’t be more pleased. I only see growth coming. My customers are very happy with my products as well as that we have a shop now in Yachats.
TYG: Um… Who buys the skulls in the treasure chest?
Shawn: [laughter] I bought those. They’re decoration—they’re not for sale.
TYG: I, for one, am glad there’s now a clothes shop in Yachats. I hate having to go all the way to Newport for clothes.
Shawn: I think that I filled the need for several people.
TYG: What are your hours?
Shawn: My hours are Tuesday through Saturday, 10 AM to 6 PM, but it also depends on the seasonal demand, as well as if there’s an event happening in Yachats. I plan on being open during those. And if I can’t be here to keep the store open then someone from my family will come from California and the store will be open. […] In fact last weekend before we got the store opened, I say I called in the big guns because I called in the family. They came in and we got the store completely marked, merchandised, and ready to go. […] I also had a lot of help from Jesse Paden. He’s a local framer. His name was given to me and I called him and he came right in and helped me attach all of my rig wall and all of my out-riggers.
TYG: Thanks so much for your time!
Shawn: Thank you—and I hope to see you soon!

Interview with Jennifer Taylor of Roadrunner Vintique

The Yachats Gazette interviewed Jennifer Taylor of RoadRunner Vintique, a new second-hand store located at the corner of Hwy 101 and Forest Hill Rd. just north of Yachats.

TYG: Why did you open the Roadrunner’s Vintique?
Jennifer: We opened Roadrunner’s Vintique because we’ve been in the process of running three different secondhand vintage and antique stores. We opened our first one together up in Wenatchee, Washington. We got bigger up there, and then we moved to Yachats. This is not the biggest square footage wise, but it’s probably the busiest one that we’ve had. Marc [Marc Taylor, Jennifer’s husband and the official Estate Buyer of Roadrunner’s Vintique] grew up in the industry because his Mom and Dad ran a number [of secondhand stores]— they ran Trident Antiques—which, if you’ve been on the coast for a while you might know, and he had a couple before I met him.

TYG: What kind of products do you sell?
Jennifer: Antiques, collectibles and vintage. And home decor.

TYG-Graphic Design: What is the difference between antique and vintage?
Jennifer: […] I normally do cut off at 40s. If it’s 1940 or prior it’s an antique; if it’s 1950s or later, I would say up until the 90s, it’s a vintage.

TYG-GD: 90s already? [laughter]
Jennifer: Yeah. And then if you can’t determine, it’s generally best to call it vintage rather than antique.

TYG: What happens for products that are younger than 90s?
Jennifer: They’re just secondhand.

TYG: Where is the store located?
Jennifer: 2334 N. Highway 101, Yachats, OR. It’s about a quarter-mile north of town, or it’s exactly one mile from the grocery store in the center of Yachats. [We break while she goes upstairs to get her baby, Michael. They have another son, Quentin, as well.]

TYG: Are those other shops still open?
Jennifer: No. The first one we opened, and we outgrew the size of the retail space.

TYG: Small store?
Jennifer: It wasn’t particularly small; it was about 4000 square feet, but we outgrew it for up there. We moved to one that had been about 6000 square feet, and after that we decided it would be best to come back where our family is. Because my family is in the Valley, and my husband’s family is actually in Waldport.

TYG: Where do you get your stuff?
Jennifer: A lot of people come in and sell it individually, people will put it on consignment, and then we also buy estates. We go to different vendors like other antique stores, other collectibles, things like that.

TYG: Tell us what life was like in Washington.
Jennifer: Pretty much like it is here.

TYG: I grew up from birth to four in Washington except for three days spent at Emanuel [Hospital, in Portland].

Jennifer: Yeah? It was very similar, except it was a lot warmer—Wenatchee is in central Washington. So it would be akin to Bend, Oregon.

TYG: In Washington, what kind of things were there to do?
Jennifer: There were a lot of vineyards, there were orchards, there was hiking, biking, camping, rafting… The SUP [stand-up while paddling] was very popular, kayaking… I did a number of marathons when I lived there… And there are all kinds of kids’ activities: baseball, soccer, football…

TYG: That’s great!
Jennifer: Yes—it was a fantastic area.

TYG: In Washington, where did you live? Farm, city, apartment building?
Jennifer: We had a two story, stick built home—a regular house. […] It was 5 miles up a road called Mission Creek. To give you an idea of how far out this was: even though it was only 5 miles, from the time that you would hit the small town of Cashmere, which was an outlying suburb of Wenatchee, your temperature dropped by 12 degrees. So it was pretty significant. We were right in the center of 40 acres of orchard.

TYG-GD: Did you guys take care of it too, on top of the thrift stores?
Jennifer: We took care of about 5 acres of it, because that was kind of what came part and parcel with our property.

TYG-GD: So what are you going to do out here for fun?
Jennifer: Well, my son and I are thinking about making a raised bed out here for gardening but were also thinking about getting a part of the community gardens. And then church, Boy Scouts, and then looking into soccer, football, baseball… All of those because he’s very athletic.

TYG: There’s baseball in town, every Saturday.

Jennifer: Oh, really?

TYG-GD: Not in the winter months. But it’s out behind the Commons.

Jennifer: Oh, ok!

TYG: Thank you so much for your time!

Jennifer: Not a problem!


Interview with Rachel McBride,
Women’s Winner of the Oregon Coast Gravel Epic 

The Yachats Gazette interviewed the women’s winner of the 73 mile, 10,000 feet of climbing, forest roads bicycle race beginning and ending in Waldport. Rachel McBride won the event in 4:59:21, riding along the “Abomination Course.” Her time was almost a full hour ahead of the next woman’s. 
TYG: Where are you from?
Rachel: I’m from Vancouver, BC, in Canada.
TYG: What kind of cycling do you do?
Rachel: I’m actually a triathlete, so I do cycling, but before, I usually swim, and after, I usually run.
TYG: What do you do to prepare for a race?
Rachel: Well, usually I’ll do a lot of training, so I train about an average of 25 hours a week. It’s my full-time job, so I don’t have any other job. Right before a race, I will not train as much, so I get a little bit rested. I make sure my nutrition is good, and I’m healthy, and get mentally prepared too.
TYG: What kind of swimming do you do? You mentioned swimming.
Rachel: I have a group in Vancouver that I swim with in the pool, and then during the summer we do a lot of swimming in the ocean and in lakes around Vancouver.
TYG: Interesting! What kind of running do you do? You mentioned that as well.
Rachel: A lot of the running that I do is on trails in Vancouver. We also have a track workout that we do once a week.
TYG: What kind of mental preparation do you do?
Rachel: I usually think about the course that I’m going to be racing on, and I imagine myself going really fast on the course and I’m always in the race to win, so I imagine myself winning the race.
TYG: Where did you get the idea for going into biking and racing, as a professional job?
Rachel: Well, I did my first triathlon in 2006 and really really liked it. I’d only been running before that. I did really well in my first triathlon, too. I’m a very competitive person, so when I win, I like that. I started doing shorter-distance triathlon, and then three years ago, I did my first Ironman half triathlon, and I won the race by 24 minutes.
TYG: That’s a lot!
Rachel: Yeah! And so I thought: “You know what? I think I want to try this as a profession, and try while I’m still young and have my fitness, to see how far I can go with it and maybe become a world champion.”
TYG: What was it like to race along the gravel roads around here? Gravel and pavement: rough terrain! What was it like?
Rachel: Well, this was the first time I’ve ever done anything like this before. I’ve done a little bit of gravel riding before, but nothing so epic as this race. It was pretty amazing. Because we do so many climbs up here—at some point we were climbing up it was sunny up where we were but in the valley it was completely foggy down there, so it was a really amazing view. It was a really hard ride. Doing all that climbing on the gravel was really hard. I was happy to cross the finish line. You’re out there for five hours, so that’s a long time to be riding a bike hard.
TYG: So you’ve mostly been a pavement rider before?
Rachel: Yep, mostly on pavement. Riding on the gravel is a little bit more scary for me to be on the gravel because when you crash, you’re falling on rocks. And it’s a little bit more slippery.
TYG: When you crash, you crash bad on gravel. And it’s also easier to crash: on pavement, you at least have high traction.
Rachel: Yes, exactly. But it’s amazing: these race organizers and the races that they put on are really amazing. We came down for another one of their races in August and had a really great time, so decided to come back down for this one today.
TYG: The competition must’ve been really intense during the race. Was there a halfway rest stop, or was it continuous?
Rachel: It was pretty continuous. There were three aid stations, and I just stopped at one to fill up my water bottle. Because of course when you stop, it takes time, and not everybody is stopping. I was riding on my own for most of the race so I didn’t see a lot of people in front of me are behind me. You really have to use your mental skills to keep pushing yourself forward.
TYG: I’m noticing how spread out it is!
Rachel: Yes, exactly.
TYG: Like those four riders [who were] announced right as we arrived. Those are the only cluster we’ve seen so far.
Rachel: Yes, usually everybody’s been really spaced out. I think there’s even, between sixth and seventh place today, there was something like almost an hour.
TYG: That also makes it easier in a way because you don’t have to worry about crashing into people.
Rachel: Right!
TYG: I remember seeing Lance Armstrong’s races, and looking at him, he’s crowded in the middle of the people. So if you make a single wrong move, you not only crash, you could take out 20, 30 racers.
Rachel: Absolutely. And it happens! And it’s really horrible to see those crashes, because so many people get hurt. That’s bike racing!
TYG-Editorial Assistant: Have you ever crashed, hard?
Rachel: Yes! In 2010, I was racing bikes actually in Seattle—I was doing what’s called a crit race. These are probably the most dangerous types of bike races to do because you’re just going around a city block very fast, with really tight corners. And one of the girls in front of me, on the last corner to the finish, took it a little bit too hard and she skidded out. She crashed two of us beside her. I ended up with a shoulder injury. I didn’t break any bones, thank goodness! It did affect my racing for several months, but luckily I healed from that.
TYG: Were there any crashes this race, any serious crashes?
Rachel: Uh huh! One of the guys that I came down with, he crashed coming down the descent for the Ogre, which was one of the climbs. […] He said he slid for about 200 meters. He must’ve been going very fast. So he’s covered in road rash, unfortunately. But he still finished! Still got back on his bike, and crossed the finish line.
TYG: That’s incredible! What place was he in?
Rachel: He was in sixth place.
TYG: Really? So he was right after you, even with an injury like that?
Rachel: Then he was pretty bummed, because he saw that the guy who came in fifth was only a minute and a half ahead of him. So if he had just raced a little bit harder and not stopped at some of the aid stations, he might’ve done a little better.
TYG: What place were you in?
Rachel: Well, I was fifth overall [but first for the women].
TYG: At one point when we were watching TV, we happened to catch it at just the right time and it was the Tour de France. A guy was riding with a broken hip! And he still got in a good place!
Rachel: It’s amazing! Some of these athletes who race with broken bones... I’ve actually raced with a broken foot before, a triathlon. So I had to run a half marathon with a broken foot. And it was very painful. I’d never do it again. But you learn your lesson. And I still won $1000 from that.
TYG: Was that a full triathlon as well?
Rachel: Yep, swimming, biking, and running.
TYG: Swimming actually, not running, I think would be the worst for it.
Rachel: Running was the worst. It was excruciating on the run—you do the run last. They want you to do the swim first, because if people did the swim last, they would probably drown because they’re so tired. And when you get really tired on your bike you could fall off, so they don’t want to do that last, either. So it’s easiest to do the run last. If you fall down because you’re so tired, you’ve just fallen down.
TYG: Is this a full triathlon, or just bike today?
Rachel: This is just bike. Though I had to do a run afterwards.
TYG: Really? Why?
Rachel: That was what my coach told me I had to do! I had to go in for a 40 minute run after.
TYG: Geeze!!!
Rachel: I was really tired after that, because I was already really tired after the bike race.
TYG-EA: Do you know a lot of these same people?
Rachel: This is a small enough race that I don’t know too many people. In the triathlon scene, a lot of the other pros, I do know—we get pretty familiar with each other, but here… You know what? However… At Aufderheide [another dark:30 sponsored race] we did meet a number of really great people who are also here again. There’s obviously a lot of loyalty but these guys are establishing…
TYG-EA: The organizers?
Rachel: Yeah. And so it’s fantastic to see a lot of those familiar faces. You know, people remember your name: “Oh, you guys are team Canada, you’re back again…” It’s really great to be in such a welcoming community here.
TYG-EA: What’s the name of your team?
Rachel: The guys that I come down with, their team is called the Mighty Riders, and I ride on my own.
TYG: So you just decided to side with them this race?
Rachel: We just travel together. It’s my boyfriend’s team, so I come down with them. We have a good time.
TYG: We come from an even smaller town, the next town down: Yachats, only 700 people.
Rachel: Really?
TYG: Yes. Even Waldport is like 2000 people.
Rachel: I’ve heard of Yachats before and I’ve heard it’s a great place.
TYG-EA: So how does one become a professional athlete of this sort?
Rachel: That’s a good question! You quit your full-time job, or in my case, I had finished my second Master’s, so I said “Okay, I want to put my career on hold and become a professional athlete”—so it was kind of easy. You get as many sponsors as you can; a lot of that involves getting product sponsorships. All of my equipment is covered— I don’t really pay for any of my equipment that I need for training or for racing.
TYG: So you buy a new bike every time?
Rachel: Well I don’t buy anything! They just give me a new bike.
TYG: So really, every time you need a new bike? Every race?
Rachel: Oh no, not for every race! Every season I get a new bike, and at the end of the season I give it back.
TYG: So it’s the best bike?
Rachel: It’s the top of the line for that year. And then a lot of companies will give you performance bonuses. That means if you place well in a race, and they give you money.
TYG: Like this time you placed first.
Rachel: I don’t know if I’ll get any money for this race. If you’re lucky you get financial sponsorship too. So you get companies who will give you money to train, and race, and pay for your transportation. That’s the biggest cost: taking planes everywhere around the world to race.
TYG: Did your team place really well in this race?
Rachel: Yes, actually, the Mighty Riders did really well. We were third and fourth, and I was fifth, and we also had the seventh place. So yes, they did really well, although I think some of them were hoping to win. So they might’ve been a bit disappointed.
TYG: Still, third out of 120… Yet you mentioned that 120 was small.
Rachel: Actually, for the races that I do, there are sometimes 2000 people racing.
TYG: Whoa! I can’t imagine the humiliation it must be to get two thousandth place!
Rachel: [laughter] Well, often for those races, people are just happy to finish. Maybe they’ve never done a half Ironman triathlon before.
TYG: What’s a “half Ironman” mean?
Rachel: That means that you swim the 1.2 miles, and then you bike 56 miles, and then you run 13 miles.
TYG: So that’s 70.3 miles [for a half Ironman]?
Rachel: Yep. And then a full Ironman is twice that distance.
TYG-EA: What are your degrees in?
Rachel: I have a Master’s in developmental genetics, and a Master’s in genetic counseling. […]
They’re calling me up [to the podium]—do you mind if I go?

TYG: Of course not! Thanks very much!