Wheelthing: Beginnings – Growing up in a small community in Edmonton, Alberta – one side ravine, one side farm – bikes were the way we got around. When I turned 14 the local corner store turned into a bike shop called the Wheelthing. That’s when Bikes became my Life. Randy Ross, the owner of the shop had 4 boys of his own and still always made time for me. I learned bicycle mechanics starting with the small things: cleaning, removing wheels, changing flats and lubing chains. I vividly remember when he taught me to remove cranks. Randy was always so positive and soon I was part of this family. Did bikes bring me to Randy or Randy bring me to bikes?
British Columbia: Home – Growing up my grandparents liked to camp, travel and visit our extended family. I was in North Vancouver a bunch. I love the mountains, love the big trees and I love the smell. It still reminds me of summer vacation. When I graduated high school I came West. I rolled right into a job at – The Real – John Henry Bikes in North Vancouver where John, Sylvia, Willie and the rest of the JH family welcomed me into their shop. I worked there for the next 5 years. Constantly riding my bike, learning a little about mechanics and a lot about life.
Racing: Motivation – Me, my bike and New Zealand. Racing came naturally to me when I found myself in the midst of this encouraging riding and racing community. I yearned to go faster. I came back to Canada with a pro licence and spent the next 10 years streamlining my processes. I did every and any race I could. I knew I couldn’t be the fastest. I knew I could have the fastest bike and I always had the best maintained bike on the circuit. My goal was to get to the start gate with nothing to do and nothing to focus on but racing.
Quality: Family – I look up to my little brother so much. He works in a competitive industry for a company that recently cut from 80 mechanics down to 7. My brother was one of the few mechanics left. He always does every job to his best ability while also leaving time for preparation and clean up so his work looks professional. Even if its something so mundane like putting on a safety check sticker. He’s taught me that people don’t always notice when you put in 100% but they definitely notice when you put in 50%.
Consistency: Race Mechanics – In 2015 I was asked by the Canadian National team to travel to Andorra to work as a mechanic for the Downhill Race team. It was a honour to get an invite to service bikes at this level. In 2017 Rocky Mountain Bikes asked me to travel to locations around the world supporting two of their Enduro World Series racers. My job was simply to keep their bikes running perfectly.
Learning: Mighty Riders – I’m not much of a road rider but I have worked on road bikes. I thought I knew how to work on road bikes. Now I know how to work on road bikes. For two years I have been working a day a week at Mighty Riders on Broadway to hone my knowledge of road bikes and cycling culture. I love to learn the finer points of set-up and style working on the highest end road bikes and travelling to events chasing the Peleton.
Bikeroom: Life – The thoughts “I need to do this my way, I need to do this for myself and it needs to support my community” were always on my mind while working for other people. At MEC I was charged with designing a program to train mechanics in house instead of sending them abroad. We felt we could do a lot better with an incremental level program with lots of hands on hours behind the mechanics before advancing to the next level. Classroom learning is important but nothing replaces hands on experience and hours working in a shop.
Kaslo: My Community – North Vancouver is changing. I love the people, I love the trails, I love the community but I want a simpler life. I want to walk to town, I want to know my neighbors and I want to have more time to read; I want more time for me.
I have been visiting Kaslo now for the past 8 years traveling BC talking about my business. I love the small town feel where you can ride from home, to the trails, to the pub. I love the idea of knowing what you are eating, the people who run the community and look forward to adding to it. I look forward to putting down some roots and calling Kaslo home. I look forward to friends, family and students coming to visit while exploring this town with me.
Jeffery Bryson