Liv: You’ve hosted a quite few women's mountain bike maintenance clinics. What have been some of your takeaways, and what do you plan to do in future clinics?

Casey Wytaske: My biggest takeaway is women want to wrench on their own bikes.

There are so many times I've gone into shops, and shops say, “Nah, women don't really want to do that.” I can guarantee from experience that women want to wrench on their own bikes. They want to know how to fix their bikes. I love giving women that resource.

Liv: What was the first clinic you taught?

Casey Wytaske: The very first clinic I ever taught was through Liv. I can't remember what it was called, but I remember Steph Allen, who at the time was a fellow demo tech, was training me to do the clinic.

I watched and I learned, and I was in so much awe of her. I liked how she broke everything down and explained everything. I just wanted to be as cool as her, and I feel like I'm there now. I feel like I can finally teach at her level.

Liv: If you could go back in time and talk to yourself when you were just starting out, what guidance would you share?

Casey Wytaske: I would say, there's always time to volunteer. All the things I started out doing, like volunteering as a coach or as an executive director– I made time to volunteer, and that's what brought me to where I am today.

Always find time, even if it's an hour a week. Go to your local bike kitchen and fix flats for that hour, or mentor a kid or take a kid mountain biking. Just put in that time, it will add up.

Liv: For women who want to become a bike mechanic, what would you say to them?

Casey Wytaske: Go get certified first. Go get your United Bicycle Institute certification, and the reason for that is because that lays down the foundation so that you know the very basics of how to wrench on bikes…You learn the very basics to be a good mechanic, so even when you come into something that's difficult, or a new challenge, you have that foundation for figuring that out.