Granite Chief Powered by BlueZone Sports — Local services in Truckee

Mansplaining, explained

I wasn’t going to leave a review, but this was one of those experiences that sat with me after, and the more I thought about it, the more I realized I needed to say something.

When I entered the store, a man asked me if I needed help with anything. I said I was interested in bike rentals and he said they only rent demo mountain bikes. He then said, in a sarcastic tone, “You know, the kind that only go off the pavement. Mountain bikes are for off the pavement.” Never mind that I’ve been mountain biking since I was a child, this was an inappropriate comment to make to a customer, particularly a young Indian woman. The assumptions were there!

After he explained that they don’t do half day rentals of any bikes, I asked him politely if he knew anywhere else to go. He said “I’m not in the business of knowing what my competitors do.” The tone was again, clipped and rude. Never mind that, if he doesn’t do half days, the other stores that do them aren’t technically his competitors, he could have given a polite answer.

Now, there will be those of you who dismiss this review when I say this last part; fine, this isn’t for you. But for those of you that are listening closely and paying attention to the world: THESE are the small moments in which prejudice happens and we need to speak up. I’m a young brown woman and that man was an older, white man. Of course, you’ll say, how do I know this was prejudice? I could be wrong. But, remember, I’ve lived a lifetime of these small cuts and it gets old.

Instead of going here, I’d suggest you patronize a woman-owned store down the street:...

EDIT: Darby is still a legend, and deserves 5 stars. But I’m revising my review down because I just had a terrible experience trying to get my bindings adjusted to the boots. They took the skis on Thursday and said everything looks good and I should have my skis ready 8 AM Saturday. I pre-paid and left. We arrived promptly at 8 AM Sat and they said “oh, sorry, we couldn’t adjust your bindings.” No call on Friday. No call on Saturday. Nothing. We burned hours of a great day dealing with this nonsense. I maintain Darby is a legend, but this experience sucked.

Darby is a living legend. I went to this BlueZone Sports location in early 2021 to get ski boots after 3 unfruitful visits to other, nearby locations. Darby spent 1.5 hours helping me get the perfect boot. He clearly has a love for his craft that makes him exceptional at his job. If you need ski boots, I highly suggest you go to this location and...

Rented skis for a party of 5. Stars given for value: $31 for walk ins, and $21 for purchases in advance via Groupon.

Points of improvement:

1. rental variety was limited and not accommodating for wide feet. They also ran out of helmets (medium, large) before 10:30am. They don’t rent ski goggles, pants, or jackets. They have skis/boards, bindings, boots, poles, and helmets.
2. integrity; they tried to get my friend to rent an XL helmet that didn’t fit, you could stick two fingers between. This should be reviewed, and was really disappointing to me.

I didn’t expect these shortcomings from a store with typically great reviews. But I can’t really complain at that price for beginners, $31 is much cheaper than ~$70...