My Outdoor Life: Quality Bike Products boss and his life on the wheel

In 1988, Rich Tauer took a job in customer service at a low-profile west Bloomington company called Quality Bicycle Products — "I was taking calls," he said. "I think we had one line in the Yellow Pages."

Last October, Tauer, now 50, was named president of QBP, taking over from founder Steve Flagg, who became company chairman. The company has become an industry behemoth, the nation's largest distributor of bike components, accessories and actual bikes, serving 5,400 of the nation's 5,700 dealers. About a quarter of QBP revenue also now comes from its own bicycles, which include such brands as Surly, Salsa and All-City.

Turns out, Tauer likes to ride bikes.

On how many bikes he owns

I haven't done a count, but I know I have more than a dozen. Tandem, commuter, road bikes, cyclocross bike, gravel bike, all conceivable kinds. I get on average three new ones a year, rotating them in and out when something cool catches my eye in one of our brands.

On his interest in bikes before he came to QBP?

I got into bikes coming out of high school. I was a runner and I wanted to do something in addition to running. I bought a bike, liked it, and started to work at Now Sports. That was my first bike shop job. Then to Penn Cycle. And then here.

On his favorite places to ride

It depends on the type of riding. If it's a mountain bike and it's local, my favorite place to ride is Lebanon Hills (Regional Park in Dakota County). If it's mountain biking and it's domestic, it's probably Chequamegon (National Forest) up in northern Wisconsin. I have not done mountain biking internationally. Road biking internationally, I've been to Majorca several times in Spain. That is a fabulous place to ride a bike. Around here, I live in the southwest in Eden Prairie, so all of my routes are out through Chaska and Chanhassen, and out into East Union and Carver.

I ride to and from work all the time. I've been a top-10 commuter (at QBP) for 10 years. We do bike credits, so if you ride in (to work) you get so many bike credits each day for however many miles the ­commute is. So I've been a year-round commuter since my oldest daughter got her driver's license, and I just didn't want to buy another car. It's one of the most proud things I've done here. To be a top-10 commuter at QBP is no easy task. That means you are riding 90 percent or more of the days you work, for sure. More like 95 percent. The only reason I don't ride right now is travel. Otherwise, I ride.

On why the Twin Cities has become such a big bike community, both for riders and for the industry

The fact that we have the bike industry located here — ourselves, Park Tool, Banjo Brothers, Dero, HED Wheels, all those companies have an enormous influence on that. I think it's also about advocacy. If there are places to ride, you'll ride. And there has been an enormous amount of time and effort spent on advocacy in Minnesota and the metro. That has a huge impact. If you are in Minnesota, you have only so much time to play. … That has impact.

On the bike business and how bicycling will be different in 10-15 years

It will continue to grow. I don't think it's going to be a dramatic rise. We'll have the consistency (in growth) we have had because of things like transportation and health. On transportation, there is no way to continue to build out more roads for all the cars that are on the roads. There are not enough dollars to do that. So transportation will have a significant impact on it. And general health. It's a very healthy sport. It's a great way to get out and get places. That part will continue to grow. And we haven't even scratched the surface of things like electric-assist (bikes), which have become super popular in Europe, and are just sort of starting here. Ten years from now, I think there will be a fair amount of (electric-assist biking) here.

On regular bikes — are they going to be much different in 10-15 years than they are now?

I don't think that they're going to be that much different. Technology — people keep pushing the ability to make things lighter and faster and stronger. But for most people, that's not what they're looking for. They just want a bike they can ride. For a majority of the people, I don't think it's going to change that much. Again, other than electric-assist or something along those lines.

Tony Brown is a freelance writer from Minneapolis.