I’ve been a USAC Race Mechanic since 2005, but have been busy with the day-to-day family and bike shop operations life for the last several years. Recently, I had the chance to dip my toes in the waters of domestic professional bike race mechanic work again. The first two races of the SpeedWeek criterium series were in Greenville (my city) and Spartanburg (20 minutes away).
There was no neutral support mechanic crew for the series, so I traded a Cat 4/5 race entry fee for my help in the wheel pit.
I had a great time getting back after it. It had been quite a while since I had worked a pro criterium (when did thru axles become a thing???), but the cobwebs got dusted off pretty quickly, and I was able to get some riders back into competition when they would otherwise have a disadvantage because they didn’t have a team mechanic.
Now that I’ve got a taste of that scene again, I have this crazy urge to find more races to work. If you’ve ever been part of that scene, you understand the thrill of bike racing and the weird magnetic attraction that you can’t make go away, especially once you’ve had a taste of the good stuff.
We’ll see how this progresses…
PROBIKEWRENCH 
How are you doing?
How are you, my friend? I’m doing okay. It’s been a busy few years. My wife and I just became grandparents, which is exciting! We still have two of our five children in the house. My little guy, Andrew (4), is high-functioning Autistic and ADHD, so keeping up with him is a lot of work. Still working in the bike industry… 25 years in shops and on the road, now. I hope to be able to find some remote work to allow me to continue to pursue interests with bicycles, but offer some flexibility to assist with my son’s therapy schedules and potential homeschooling in the future.
I hope you and the family are well. It’s been a long time. Thanks for checking in.