This week we spoke to Tom, one of our fab volunteers who helps out regularly at our lively After School Bikes session on a Friday afternoon. Like many of our volunteers, we recently discovered that Tom’s talents go far beyond his spannering skills in the workshop. Tom offered to design a new Limited Edition t-shirt to help boost the sales of the illustrious Bristol Bike Project merchandise and raise more revenue for the community work we do. The awesome new t-shirts are already going faster than Chris Hoy in the velodrome so we decided to run a ‘design your own tee‘ competition to see what more untapped talents we could find at the project and showcase that creativity on cycling chests across Bristol.

Here’s Tom’s story…

As is so often the case, I suppose, I rediscovered my love of cycling through wanting to keep fit combined with a wish to prise myself out of the car on commutes. I didn’t just rediscover it though, I sprouted a new addiction. Volunteering for The Bristol Bike Project is partly to blame. I offered my limited services with honest but selfish intentions. I didn’t know how to fix a bike and I wanted to have access to a new circle of friends; offering to volunteer in the workshop seemed to be a solution to both issues. I could just about fix a puncture when I started at BBP but I was still welcomed. After two years of regularly dropping in to support the project’s After School Bikes sessions I’m still making mechanical mistakes, still learning how to be more efficient, still feeling like a bumbling fool next to the stellar velo-experience of the coordinators. I’m surprised I’m allowed back in each week. However… I have now been infused with a cycle know-how for free, I’m confident working on and talking about a variety of bikes, I’ve built two custom bikes for myself (told you – selfish intentions). BBP has given the knowledge to fuel my passion for cycling. But it’s not just this knowledge that’s the fuel. It’s the buzz from meeting and helping so many different people. The interest gained from seeing the power of the bicycle. It’s this “buzz”, as well as the knowledge, that I wanted to convey in my design for this summer’s BBP tee shirt. Like it? Please pop in and buy one. Think you could design another shirt for the Project’s shop? Enter the competition to do so. Safe and happy riding everybody.