Profile - Nhatt, mentor, rider, mechanic

Who are you, what is it you do?
I'm Nhatt Nichols, I work at ReCyclery (Port Townsend WA), I'm a programs director there.

How long have you been working on bicycles?
When I was 18 I got a job in a cafe in Seattle that required me to ride a bike to the farmer's Market to help get produce. I wasn't even sure if I knew how to ride a bike, and I really didn't want to do it. Within a month I'd fallen in love with that bike and was taking bike repair classes at BikeWorks. That was 17 years ago. 


How long professionally?
My first bike shop job was at Oxford Cycle Workshop in Oxford, UK. That was about 12 years ago.

How did you learn?
After taking those repair classes at BikeWorks, I really felt like I was on my own. I had some help from the mechanics around me, but I always felt like I really had to learn by doing or actively harassing the other mechanics around me. 

Did you have a female mechanic ever mentor you?
It was a female friend who was the instructor at BikeWorks, way back when I first started. Since then I've not had a more experienced mentor, although the amazing Mel Atwood was a mechanic at Brixton Cycles before I was and has always been a fantastic role model.

Have you found there to be much in the way of negative reactions to your position? If so, how do you overcome these types of occurrences?
I can never get over how obvious it is that some customers would rather speak to nearly anyone else. When I lived in London it was really bad, I once had a woman yell at me to get her a man from the back! But now that I've moved out to the country it's a less common occurrence, though a lot of the retired men in this community like to tell me they've never met a 'girl mechanic' before. 
The only way I've found to overcome this without losing my mind is to try to treat everyone evenly, and to work hard to be as good of a mechanic as I can be. Hopefully my example will teach customers that gender isn't a good way to determine who is a good mechanic.

Do you have the opportunity to help other women learn how to work on bikes?
I do! I'm the programs director at The ReCyclery in Port Townsend Washington. I teach women how to fix their own bikes during our Community Shop Days, and I also teach a Bike Repair 101 class, and that is almost all women. I also run an apprenticeship program here that is 50% female, and one of my apprentices just landed her first job as a shop mechanic at a local bike shop. 
My real passion is that I coach the middle school mountain bike team, The Ratfish. We have three girls on the team this year, and all of them have made it onto a podium at least once. One of them, Charley, even built the bike that she races on up from spare parts at the shop, so she's getting this great experience as both a rider and as a mechanic that just isn't available to everyone. These girls have been such an awesome example to their peers that I already have a bunch of girls who want to start riding with the team next year!


Do you hope to stay in the bicycle industry? If not, what do you plan on doing?
Yes and no. I'm an artist and I'm ready to transition to doing that more full time. That being said, I'm still going to coach the mountain bike team in both riding and fixing bikes, and I could see myself taking mountain bike advocacy on as a part time job. I love being able to show the next generation of girls what they can accomplish.

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