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Faces of Arvada and Wheat Ridge page, where YourHub.com staff and readers can introduce you to more people who make this part of the metro area what it is.
For
Nathan Espinosa, a bike tech at Wheat Ridge Cyclery, 7085 W. 38th Ave., bikes are "more than a passion. They're a lifestyle."
They also just happen to be his primary mode of transportation.
Espinosa, a resident of Denver, doesn't own a car. He rides his bike to work each day. He also rides his bike to unwind at the end of the day. When he's feeling the need for a rush, he picks up his BMX bike.
"I take vacations to ride bikes," he said.
Espinosa, 23, has been riding bikes since he was achild. He got started with his biking passion at the age of 7. That's when he got his first BMX bike.
The allure of BMX, he said, is all about becoming a better rider.
"I can go out my front door and find something to goof around on," he said. "There's a lot of facets to it and it's a good way to be a well-rounded rider."
Espinosa has been working for the cyclery for the better part of five years, and in that time, he's realized a few things about working on bikes.
"When I first started, I thought I knew a lot (about bikes)," he said. "When I came back here (to the shop), I realized I didn't know anything."
Hundreds of bikes come through the shop each week, keeping the techs busy with work, even during the offseason.
During the busy season in the summer, techs will work on up to eight bikes a day. Espinosa estimates that it takes around two to three hours to complete a tune up on a road bike and three to four hours to tune up a mountain bike. A tune-up includes making sure that the brakes are responsive, the chain is clean, the gears shift properly and that everything is aligned for the rider.
"A mountain bike is like an off-road jeep," he said.
The difficulty of fixing each bike varies, Espinosa said.
"Sometimes you'll dig into a bike and everything will go smoothly," he said. "Sometimes, things go poorly and you'll do it all day."
He laughs.
"Yeah, sometimes you get a turd."
Each bike that comes through the shop also is given a thorough cleaning. It is the part of the job that takes the most time.
"We clean everything so well," he said. "Half of the time the problem with the bike is that it's so dirty. A clean bike is a happy bike."