Anika’s Story as a Bike Mechanic at BBP
On a Saturday in Summer 2022, I was riding bikes around Boise with friends, buying pastries at the Farmer’s Market, sitting in the sun beside the river, conversing with friends about our lives, futures, hopes, dreams, all the things high-achieving young women discuss when we’re eating pastries in the sunshine. I’d been a direct care provider for children for three years throughout the pandemic and I absolutely loved my job working with kids, but I wanted something new, wanted to be around people my own age and develop a new community for myself after the lonely pandemic years. I remember telling my best friend Patience that Saturday morning, “I really want a job where I can ride my bike to work every day.”
A few weeks prior, I’d bought a road bike on Facebook Marketplace and took it to Boise Bicycle Project right away to fix a strange bump in one of the tires (it was a bunched up puncture strip, yuck). I immediately fell in love with the shop space, despite feeling awkward and out of my element in a bike shop full of tools, parts, and all sorts of things I was completely unfamiliar with. I was part way through my college degree in creative writing, and had never considered myself capable of anything remotely STEM related. For some reason, BBP struck a chord with me, so I bought a student membership and kept going back weekly to learn more.
That Saturday afternoon as we were galavanting our bikes around town, we decided to swing by BBP to top off our tires with more air. While we were using the pump outside the shop, the shop director, who I’d worked with on my bike over the past few weeks, came outside and said, “Hey Anika! Do you wanna work here?” I started laughing because I fully thought he was joking. I had zero mechanic skills and he knew that. He asked why I was laughing and I went, “Oh, you’re serious? I know nothing about bikes.” He said they’d train me. I went in for an interview and started working on bikes two weeks later.
Three years have passed since then and BBP has radically altered my life in ways I never imagined. I started working with zero mechanical knowledge and now have three years of experience under my belt working on the shop floor and teaching our patrons how to fix their own bikes. I maintain a strong sense of gratitude and remind myself how cyclical my story is; I learned everything I know from my generous, patient coworkers and now pay it forward by imparting those skills onto those hungry to learn for themselves. I help lead FEM Night and opened the Boise chapter of Radical Adventure Riders, so I also get to empower other women, trans, femme, nonbinary and gender expansive people to become independent and confident in their own mechanic skills. Coming from a background in the arts, I didn’t believe myself capable of math, science, engineering, or mechanics. I never considered myself a candidate for a career in STEM of any kind. Until I started working at BBP, my self-limiting beliefs combined with gender stigma and misogyny in the field of STEM, and in the cycling industry, kept me from realizing my true capabilities and potential. I pride myself on working at the most friendly, welcoming, and inclusive bike shop in the country. I love the community at BBP that takes care of one another and treats everyone who comes in our door like a neighbor. I love teaching my fellow women and queer people how to fix their own bikes and witnessing their confidence and joy expand exponentially as they realize what kind of place our shop is, what kind of people we have here, and why this work matters far beyond just turning wrenches. BBP is a special place, and its impact on my life and identity will continue to be part of myself forever.
