Mechanic of the Week p/b Abbey Bike Tools - Monday November 28th 2016 #mechanicmonday

PBMA is pleased to introduce our newest Mechanic of the Week, Delmy Linares, of Bicycles Inc. in Southlake, Texas! Delmy is the first woman to be nominated for #mechanicmonday, and we are very proud and excited to feature her today.

PBMA is still in its infancy as an organization, but we believe that it is important to our mission that we build an inclusive and supportive community that is rooted in mechanics supporting fellow mechanics. MOTW has grown significantly over the past six months and is truly one of the hallmarks of our organization. Even behind the scenes, MOTW is supported by mechanics; this year’s awards are presented by one of the best in our business, Jason Quade, a.k.a. the Abbey Bike Tools Friar. The mechanics that we have gotten to know through this feature – both nominators and recipients – have shared some of the most humbling and inspiring stories, and we are thankful to have the opportunity to pass those stories on to the community that we are building together.

There are no firm statistics for how many women are working in a mechanical capacity in the cycling industry, but everyone we have spoken to estimates that the percentage is probably in the single or very-low-double digits. This is one of the many reasons that PBMA is so important, because our community of mechanics and industry professionals is as inclusive and supportive as it is technically knowledgeable. We hope that together we will lead by example and help make the profession of cycling mechanics more accessible to every demographic.

Delmy became involved in cycling when she and her husband, Gilbert, owned a shop in El Salvador called Bike Doctor. It was through managing the shop’s day-to-day operations that Delmy came to enjoy the mechanical side of cycling. In her own words, she fell so in love with cycling that she wanted to give her best work to all of her customers. This, coupled with her husband’s encouragement, is what motivates her to excel as one of the few women mechanics in our industry.

When Delmy and her husband owned their shop in El Salvador, they also sponsored a racing team. Delmy would spend hours in their workshop to help Gilbert get the athletes’ bikes ready for races, and she would spend hours in their kitchen cooking food for the entire team and their support staff. It was (and still is!) a testament to how much she loves what she does. Delmy says that “when you love the work that you do, it inspires you to do better every day.”

Delmy was nominated by her husband to be featured this week, and it is our privilege to call her our first woman Mechanic of the Week. Gilbert told us that he is “so proud of [his] wife for her dedication and love for the bikes” and we are proud of her too! He also said that she treats every bike as if it is her own and that she is always looking for ways to improve her craft. To that extent, her current “favorite tool” is her new double-sided Crombie from Abbey, because it saves her time not having to take off skewers to change cassettes. We hope that she loves her new special edition MOTW Stu Stick just as much!

On behalf of the entire PBMA community, we encourage all of you reading this at home to join the #MOTW conversation: Post a picture of YOUR favorite mechanic and tag us @probicyclemech, #probma, or #mechanicmonday, or nominate him or her to be featured in next week’s post!