New café/bike shop owners aim to 'embrace and celebrate where we are'

MARSHALL - It's not often that a business features both a café and a bike repair shop, but that's exactly what On Your Bike, a newly-opened establishment in downtown Marshall, is offering.

The business had a soft opening to coincide with the Mermaid Parade June 3, according to co-owners and married couple Adam Schmitt and Alex Webber, who each own 45% of the business, while Webber's daughter, Madeleine, owns 10%.

"We got the keys back in March, and about 84 days we got the place all decked out, and we're off and running," Schmitt said.

Schmitt, who is originally from Indiana, runs the bike shop component of the business. Schmitt owned a motorcycle shop and previously served as a motorcycle team owner and head mechanic.

"I've had my hands on two wheels literally my entire life," Schmitt said. "At 6 years old, I got on a bike and fell in love with it. I raced in motorcycles for 15 years, and raced in bicycles for 15 years. I've been doing everything."

According to the owners, On Your Bike is the only bike shop within a 20-mile radius of downtown Marshall, as the other shops closest to it are located in either Hot Springs or Woodfin.

"We want it to be the stop — if you're on a motorcycle or a bicycle or anything on two wheels and you run into problems, we've got everything from sunscreen to chains," Schmitt said. "There are a lot of motorcycle groups that come through. Sometimes you stop for lunch and you've got a headache ... or the sun's out, and you left your sunglasses at the gas pump. We're here as a support station. The other side of that is, we also want to be a café for the locals.

"We've both done the long-distance thing. I'm not a biker, but I used to run in marathons," Webber said. "If you forget something and you get into trouble while you're 20 miles out, there's not really a pharmacy out here. Marshall's such a small place that we thought it would be nice to have another place to go."

Alex Webber, who works professionally as a medical illustrator, designed the website and the company logo. Webber was born in Bristol, England, but has also lived in Mexico, New Jersey, New York, Georgia and Louisiana.

Schmitt moved to Marshall roughly 10 years ago, and he and Webber were married last year.

"We saw the space and said, 'Let's do something,'" Schmitt said. "Maddie was working at a couple different cafés in Asheville, doing the whole barista thing, so we said, 'How can we put these two things together?'"

Madeleine Webber, Alex's daughter, helped form the menu. When The News-Record visited the shop, On Your Bike was offering a special of watermelon jalapeno limeades.

According to the owners, the business was approved by the state health department on June 27 to start offering breakfast and lunch options as well.

Things are moving fast for the business, as the website launched June 28, too, Schmitt said.

Within the next few weeks, the bike shop plans to sell Marin bikes, and the owners also have plans to offer electronic bikes (e-bikes).

"We're working with M2S Bikes out of Arden, which is really exciting because if anything goes wrong, you call Arden, not China," Alex Webber said. "So, we'll be able to support local buyers."

According to Alex Webber, the e-bikes can be very useful in the sometimes difficult mountain geography terrain, as switchbacks up the popular Baileys Branch Road route can present challenges.

"With the e-bikes, you can scoot right up them at 25 miles per hour, and it's just pedal assist," she said. "They're an absolute hoot. They're so much fun, and just the fact they're a local brand that we can support helps."

The café

The business has partnered with local dealers for its drinks, too, using Methodical Coffee, based out of Greenville, South Carolina.

"It's a great-tasting coffee," Alex Webber said. "We also carry Matcha Nude, which is local, organic and female-owned. We carry Asheville Tea Company and Appalachai, as well as Buchi, which is made in Marshall."

According to Webber, the espresso-tonic is one of the most popular items on the menu.

"It's a double shot of Methodical espresso, over a Fever Tree tonic, with syrup," Webber said. "We're calling it 'cold brew's cool cousin.' It's really good."

Madeleine Webber said the team placed a particular emphasis on offering affordable prices, as a 16-ounce drip coffee costs $3 before tax.

"I used to work at a café in Asheville, and prices there were ridiculous, and I felt awful talking to people who would say, 'I want an iced latte, and I'd have to say, 'OK, give me $10,'" Madeleine Webber said. "So, when we were designing the menu, we wanted to offer reasonable prices accessible to everyone."

After all, "Everyone deserves good coffee," Alex Webber said.

Co-owners Schmitt and Webber, who live in Marshall, said residents have been enthusiastic about the business.

"It's been really positive," Webber said. "I think people are happy to see us here. We're not trying to be Zuma. It's a totally different vibe. They do their thing, we do our thing. We've got two flower shops in Marshall. We've got a record shop here, and a place right across the street that also sells used records. There's plenty of room."

While Schmitt's passion for bikes began at a young age, so too did Alex Webber's love for art. Webber, whose work has been featured in Asheville galleries, painted the mountain landscape on the building's interior, while Asheville artist Chris King crafted the graffiti-style piece in the bike shop.

According to Webber, the team wanted to "embrace and celebrate where we are."

"We love it here. I came here 10 years ago and just said, 'This is it,'" Schmitt said. "So, we really wanted to embrace where we are. We didn't want to land in the middle of Marshall and go all San Francisco. That's why when you look at the walls here, you see the Blue Ridge Mountains. You see the colors of the mountains. You see the sky, the haze of the mountains. Underneath, you see maps, and you see Stackhouse and Reeds Creek and Marshall. We really wanted to give a place of here and now."

Painted on the wall behind the barista counter is a map of Western North Carolina from 1926.

"How much more of a place that you can get where locals are coming in and going, 'Oh, I live there,'" Schmitt said.

Many residents have made On Your Bike a repeat destination, as the shop also offers a $2 in-house refillable coffee deal.

"It's apparently a great place to work," Madeleine Webber said. "I have quite a few people who camp out and spend the entire day. We also have a very comfortable couch."

The turquoise couch initially established the "Blue Ridge Mountain" geography theme for Alex Webber.

"It was one of the first pieces of the café that kind of set the tone," Alex Webber said.

The couch is just one aspect that has kept customers coming back. According to the owners, the shop has already developed relationships with a number of "regular" customers.

"Apparently cyclists are just absolute coffee snobs, in the best way possible, but we love them dearly," Madeleine Webber said.

As for the theme of café-and-bike shop, Schmitt said some residents may think of Gravelo Workshop in Asheville.

But Schmitt said whereas Gravelo is more oriented toward the bike shop, On Your Bike is geared more toward its café.

"They are a bike shop with a kind of coffee stand," Schmitt said. "We're kind of a café with a bike shop. They're 80/20, we're 20/80."

Whatever the ratio, the team hopes their family-owned business continues to help Marshall grow.

"A rising tide lifts all boats," Alex Webber said.

On Your Bike is located at 133 S. Main St., Unit 104, in downtown Marshall. Its hours are Wednesday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: New café/bike shop owners aim to 'embrace and celebrate' area