About Race Ready Repair

I found the sport of cycling through my in-laws. I started on a used-two sizes too small Schwinn loaned to me from my Mandi’s parents. Ten mile road rides started my addiction to go further. After purchasing my first road bike and doing some charity rides I was hooked. Then I slowly went to the dark side…the dirt is where I belong. I got into racing XC and loved racing my Salsa Single Speed. Then I wanted to meet my lovely bride half way since she stuck to the tarmac so we got a gravel tandem The Salsa Powderkeg. Some of my most memorable rides are with her on that marriage counseling machine. My enjoyment now is the long and grueling ones…where you find your weaknesses mentally and physically and break those barriers. I have raced 6hr…12hr and 24hr mtb races & Leadville 100 pushing my limits. My favorites are the Gran Gravel 500 and any event Mandi is willing to do on the tandem. My ride or die partner!! Mandi and I spent many hours over the years driving to rides/races/events talking about what it would be like to open a bike shop. A giant leap of faith and here we are sharing our passions and growing the cycling community in our area.

My father first got me into riding bikes when I was about ten years old. For a few years it seemed like we went up to Huntsville State Park almost every weekend to ride the trails together. Over time we got more seriously involved with the cycling community and started doing a few XC mountain bike races on occasion. One thing led to another and I essentially fell into the unfathomably deep rabbit hole that is the cycling industry. I now enjoy road and gravel riding along with mountain biking. I especially like bikepacking whenever I can make the time for it. I love both the competitive aspect as well as the sense of adventure cycling provides.

I have been riding bikes for over 40 years. I spent over 30 years in the corporate world and I wanted to do something different. It helped that the company was downsizing so I took the opportunity for change and have been working at bicycle shops for over 10 years now. My favorite gravel rides are R3 Express and Chappell Hill to Roundtop, road ride is the loop Utopia 100k, Vanderpool, to Leakey, and my favorite shop, well it is a no brainer Race Ready Repair.

Cycling, What can I say. It’s more of a feeling than an action and that feeling is best described as Freedom.
I love the feeling of getting away, the sense of exploring and navigating to places you would never go in car.
Riding on some old forgotten gravel road, Mountain biking on some beautiful single track or the solitude of long ride on some nice country blacktop roads where the only sound you hear is the hum of your tires on the road. I still enjoy racing with my fellow cyclists because the competition is more important than the victory. But the win is pretty sweet as well. Race Ready Repair is more about the culture of cycling than the bike itself and you can feel that when you walk into the shop. Happy Cycling.