James - Shop Supervisor

What is your ethos?
I believe in the bicycle; it can change lives, communities, and our planet, if we let it. I always want to make the cycling experience easier and more enjoyable for the rider.

Why did you choose Finish Line?
I found a place where growth and passion are driving forces.

How does cycling make you feel?
Free. Like I can go anywhere. Like I have wings.

What’s your favorite bike?
Well, Ol’ Red… The H.M.S. Indefatigable. My 1999 Giant Sedona. Heavy, yea, but it’ll go anywhere I point it. Shout out to Brompton-Friend, though!

Where is your favorite place to ride?
New Mexico.

What is some advice you would give to someone who just started cycling?
Let your bike carry your gear, backpacks are for suckers. Get a really good saddle. Always carry a flat kit. Go on at least an overnight bike trip, to learn that a bike can take you anywhere you want to go.

How has cycling changed your life?
Well, cycling became a career, so that’s not nothing. It made the city smaller; in Bakersfield we think that across town is a long way to drive, like it’s a chore. On a bike, though, I don’t think anything of riding ten miles to get some place. Along the way I experience my hometown very differently. The bicycle has freed me from driving for most of my trips, you don’t realize how stressful driving is until you don’t have to do it, anymore.

Anything else you want to add?
Two quotes:
“I am one of those zealots who would have a special corner in Westminster Abbey for the honoured bones of the men who brought to perfection this slender whippet thing of steel and rubber that carries a man far and fast, by his own glad effort, on the open road, and takes him away from his cares as nothing else can.” -Twells Brex

“The bicycle is like a magic machine. A machine of wonder and harmony. So while pedestrians ignore each other and drivers berate each other, cyclists greet each other with a smile.” -Jacques Goddet, Former Director of the Tour de France