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Riding the winding path

My journey through the bicycle industry

Throughout the 2000s I was fortunate to experience many different facets of the bike industry from retail, media, wholesale, skills coaching, racing, travel, it definitely took me places in the world.

I started riding bikes with my friend Justin Havukainen back in the mid 1990s and immediately began breaking or wearing out pretty much every part of the bikes I was riding. There were no real dedicated downhill parts available at that point so we had to resort to alternatives such as touring rims with as much tension as possible to keep the wheels rolling.

My first job as an apprentice technician came about completely by chance, I was picking up my bike from repair at the coolest mountainbike shop in Sydney at the time (Bike Addiction) with Justin when the manager Sean asked Justin, who had done a work experience program there the previous month, to quit school and come and work. Justin declined, but I saw an opportunity and offered myself up for the job.

"What do you know about bikes?" asked the manager

"Not that much" I replied, honestly.

"But I really love riding and I know that I really want to learn" I added.

"Can you start tomorrow?" came the reply

"Yeah sure"

"Come in at 10"

Thinking back on it, it seems ridiculous that you could hire someone that way, especially compared to the amount of effort I've had to put into job applications and interviews in the last 6 years. However, Sean Vale's seemingly whimsical hiring of me would be a key node that would set me off on my path for the rest of my life both professionally and socially.

The beauty of learning my trade at Bike Addiction was the culture that was there at the time. All the employees either raced or had raced at elite national level in their chosen discipline. On top of that the shop owner was (and still is) an ex-ferrari engineer from France who had very strong values around durable and functional design, repair over replacement and a strong problem solving process.