Hidden away in the middle of historic Old Town Helotes lies a piece of history unlike any other, a landmark that anyone with an appreciation for old-school charm will definitely enjoy.
Helotes Bicycle, founded in 1980, is home to one of the most fascinating bicycle collections and friendliest staff in north San Antonio. Run by Vietnam war veteran Hank Cunningham and his wife Kyle, Helotes Bicycle is not the typical run-of-the-mill bicycle repair shop. They do everything from tires, service, full on repairs and even sales and trades. However upon meeting Mr. Cunningham himself, one will learn straight away that there is more history than meets the eye when it comes to this humble small business.
“Houston was where I got my education in bicycles,” Hank said. “Then we came up here to the bike race, the state championships and boy I just fell in love with this place. We got a chance to buy this place and that was everything that I was dreaming about, a place where I could live above the shop. I wrote a paper about it in college. I got the idea from doing a little r&r in Hong Kong, and thought, ‘How cool would it be to live above your business?’”
After witnessing the small-town charm of Helotes for himself and the beauty that would eventually become Government Canyon thanks to his wife Kyle, Hank would come to settle down in the historic Gugger Homestead. There he would set up shop next to the iconic Floore Country Store and provide the cyclists of Helotes with their most important service.
“It’s the small town atmosphere,” Hank said. “It’s a good climate, we don’t get a lot of hurricanes or earthquakes, there is a whole lot of things in other parts of the country that are nice. But Florida gets hurricanes, and California gets earthquakes and forest fires, but San Antonio seems to be immune to all of that. The heat is something you can get used to, it’s warm but it’s not all year round. The winters are pretty mild and I like hills, it makes a more interesting place to live when you’ve got hills and Helotes seems to be really well situated for that kind of stuff.”
In addition to providing an important service to cyclists, Hank and Kyle are also credited with contributing to one of Helotes’ other famous landmarks.
“Then we got a chance to buy Government Canyon, she got to, and she went down to the county commissioner’s and told them that she was interested in buying this piece of property that would be good for the aquifer,” he said. “They said, ‘Hey, we got another piece of property that’s even bigger and can do a better job than that’, and the next thing she knew she’s on the phone making calls and writing letters to people. She brought in a couple of people to help, and Trust for Public Land, and pretty soon they had a state park that was up and running and doing really good. It’s fun to see what a single person can do and I’m real proud of her for pulling it off.”
Government Canyon State Natural Area, sits near a recharge zone for the Edwards Aquifer. The area serves as a preservation area, as well as a campground, events venue, geocaching area and a trailhead with over 40 miles of walking, hiking and biking trails. Along with running the shop in town, Hank also helps his wife in volunteering for the Natural Area. On weekends they patrol the trails together and provide help to people who are without water, do on the spot repairs for cyclists and even help out the pets they may encounter on the trails.
“I was in a thing called the ‘Trail Patrol’,” Hank said. “We help people who mainly run out of water, people aren’t always thoughtful of things like that and they take their animals out on real hot days thinking that animals are in good shape all of the time and that’s not always true, but it’s great to have a park out there. They found dinosaur tracks out there and the Witte Museum got involved so it’s real interesting to see those.”
After nearly 50 years of continued service to Helotes, the shop shows no signs of slowing down or relocating despite its age. Helotes Bicycle Shop is located at 14464 Old Bandera Road, and is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. You can learn more about the shop at visithelotes.com, and check out Government Canyon State Natural Area at 12861 Galm Road. To learn more about the state park at tepid.texas.gov, or head on over to the shop and hear about it firsthand from the people who brought it to the community.
