Age: 36
Home: Minneapolis
Title: Mechanic and store manager, Flanders Bros. Cycles
Salary: about $30,000
Education: Psychology and biology, University of Nebraska
How did you get this job? A friend recommended me. ... I've been in the bike industry for 20 years. ... I was a junior "race rat" at 15 or 16 years old, racing bicycles. I started hanging around the local shop and ended up working there through high school and part-time jobs through college. Hating the real world after college, I went back to working in a bike shop.
What's your favorite part of working at a bike shop? A lot of the camaraderie that comes with it -- the people I work with here, the owners. Yes, I'm coming to work, but it's still a lot more fun than going to an everyday, punch-the-clock, do-your-job-and-go-home [environment].
How do you develop expertise as a bike mechanic? For me, I've worked in a shop since I was 16 years old. You can go to bike school ... but that's kind of a crash course in bicycle repair.
Career advice? Stay in school. Definitely pick something you like, though. If you're in it for the money, you're going to be burned out in a hurry ... and you'll end up working at a bike shop because you hated a stiff job, working in a lab.
What's the hardest part of your job? The hardest part is finding people to work -- finding a qualified bicycle mechanic. A lot of people play with bicycles at home, but it doesn't necessarily mean that we'll let them work on the general public's bicycles, and certainly not a higher-end professional-style bicycle.
What do you think about bike racing today, like the Tour de France, with all the drug scandals? I'm into bike racing. ... It's kind of scarred because of all the doping issues. People have lost a little faith in it ... people have lost a lot of faith in it, but it's still very popular.
HILARY BRUECK
