Back in the day, I had a couple of stints as a bike mechanic in the Great Victorian Bike Ride just to earn some vacation money, en route to some vaguely imagined suit- or lab-coat-wearing professional career. Like a couple of my GVBR wrenching mates who maybe had similar lofty ambitions, I became a bike industry lifer instead. D'oh! Well OK, in reality it's been great. I've been able to make a living out of something I enjoy, and to meet every day with lots of cool people who ride bikes.

A dedicated road racer until 1997 (which coincidentally is when I joined a fledgling Dirt Works), I discovered hitherto-unexplored depths of non-training when mountain biking's easy camaraderie beckoned. Still, having fun on dirt instead of being serious on bitumen isn't always a bad thing.

My current rides are an aluminium 2005 Ellsworth Truth, a steel* 1997 Ritchey Road Logic and a steel 2008 Salsa La Cruz. They rock! Or at least, they give a rocking sensation on bumpy terrain.