In 1974, professional drummer Andy Jordan told his fellow studio musicians that he and his wife, Susan, were starting a bicycle shop in Augusta.
“Everybody in the studio just laughed at him,” recalled his son Drew in a family story told many times. “‘Yeah, right – we’ll give you a month.’”
Not too long ago, Drew Jordan saw one of those bandmates, who said, “‘Here we are 50 years later, and it looks like he knew what he was doing.’”
Though Andy Jordan died in 2015, Andy Jordan’s Bicycle Warehouse is still on 13th Street in downtown Augusta, with Drew keeping the shop rolling. Before the shop existed, getting a bicycle professionally serviced usually meant driving out of town.
“Back then if you were looking for a bike or needed a bike serviced, they probably sold lawn equipment too or some other things,” Jordan said. “There wasn’t a true bicycle store in Augusta at the time.”
Jordan got his first bicycle – “a little red Raleigh with a banana seat on it” – at age 3. By age 4, the training wheels were off and so was he. Before he reached high school Jordan also was becoming a nationally competitive BMX racer.