The Ride Continues

words and images Scott Faldon

Scott Chapman

Scott Chapman never expected to get back into

the cycling industry – despite being immersed in it for most of his life. But as a man of faith, he knows second chances are always possible.

He started at Bicycles of Fort Smith, assembling and repairing bikes for owner Buster Brown in early 1994. While he’d ridden bikes his whole life, he’d never raced. He and his friends would go on all-day rides from Fort Smith to Alma and back on whatever junker bikes they owned. Brown, Scott’s first boss in the cycling world, was a Master’s national champion in the time trial – a race against the clock. After seven years with Brown, Scott helped to open the original location of Champion Cycling. Then in 2005, he opened his own eponymous store – Scott’s Bike Shop – in the east end of Fort Smith in the former Ozark Mountain Smokehouse.

“I really enjoyed owning the shop, I made a lot of great relationships thanks to it,” Scott said. “But, also, I was running the store by myself. The bicycle business was booming at the time, but I was so stressed and missing so much time with my daughter.” So, in 2015, Scott sold his store. His plan was to spend more time with his daughter, Nora. But that plan quickly changed.

The buyer of the shop struggles to keep it afloat and then passed away. The nest egg Scott expected from selling his business and the building disappeared. He suddenly worried about losing, well, everything. With so much stress, Scott put his bike into a corner of the garage and did not touch it for several years. His financial plans wrecked, he began taking any odd job he could get. During those years, Scott also realized he needed help coping with the curve balls life had thrown at him. He began attending Celebrate Recovery at Community Bible Church. “I knew I needed to turn to something, and I turned to God,” Scott said. “I let go control. I turned it over to Him. I said ‘Lord, you’ve got to take this, I can’t do it.’ It was a dark time in my life, but once I did that I have never felt more free.”

As he healed, Scott dusted off his bike. The passion for cycling began to return. Then one day he got a phone call. Bryan Dobbins, owner of The Woodsman Co. in Fort Smith, had begun thinking of adding bicycles to his store’s mix of outdoor apparel, fly fishing rods, backpacking gear and kayaks. He needed somebody with experience in the cycling world.

“I was actually riding my bike and was on Dallas Street right by Community Bible when I got his call,” Scott said. “He told me he wanted to open a shop. We talked for several months, bouncing ideas off each other.” Scott began to feel the pull of the cycling industry. “I knew I was designed for more than what I was doing, and I needed more,” Scott said.

Scott joined The Woodsman Co. earlier this year as the bike department began to take shape. After owning a 1,600-square-foot shop years ago, he’s now managing a 5,400-square-foot department with four service stations.

“After I turned everything over to God, it just didn’t feel right to walk away from the business,” Scott said. “I didn’t like how it ended. That’s just not how it was supposed to end.”