{"id":40902,"date":"2019-01-09T12:31:12","date_gmt":"2019-01-09T17:31:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=40902"},"modified":"2019-01-09T12:31:12","modified_gmt":"2019-01-09T17:31:12","slug":"blue-ridge-outdoors-magazine-names-ben-wyse-best-bike-mechanic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/blue-ridge-outdoors-magazine-names-ben-wyse-best-bike-mechanic\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine names Ben Wyse ‘Best Bike Mechanic’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ben Wyse \u201899<\/b> isn\u2019t just the cool guy who sets up his mobile bicycle repair shop \u2013 <\/span>Wyse Cycles<\/span><\/a> \u2013 in front of Eastern Mennonite University\u2019s Campus Center on most Wednesdays. He is also the <\/span>Best Bike Mechanic<\/span><\/a> of the Blue Ridge in <\/span>Blue Ridge Outdoors<\/span><\/i> magazine\u2019s Best of the Blue Ridge Awards contest.<\/span><\/p>\n

Wyse pulls his equipment in a trailer behind his own bicycle, and is entering his 10th year of providing house calls and event support. He also volunteers his mechanic skills for a number of local nonprofits.<\/span><\/p>\n

The eighth annual awards contest included more than 100 categories from destinations to events to food to people. Voting took place in October, and the winners were published in a <\/span>Dec. 21 online article<\/span><\/a> and the January 2019 issue of the magazine. Bike mechanic finalists also included Adam Ritter of Bluestone Bike and Run in Harrisonburg and Randy Collette of The Hub and Pisgah Tavern in Pisgah Forest, North Carolina.<\/span><\/p>\n

At EMU, students, faculty and staff can leave their bicycles with Wyse, head to class or a meeting, and later return for pick up \u2013 and lots of bike owner advice and friendly conversation. <\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"
Ben Wyse “connects bikers across generations and communities,” said EMU Cycling Club president Ella Reist.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cBen loves what he does and infects others with a curiosity and excitement about bikes,\u201d said junior and <\/span>Cycling Club<\/span><\/a> president Ella Reist<\/strong>. \u201cHe connects bikers across generations and communities. Anyone from undergrad students to professors to VMRC residents to community members all pass through to see Ben, just to chat, if not to get their bike worked on.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Bicycles are a means of fun recreation and exercise, yes, but also a tool for affordable transportation that Wyse began using in a serious way one summer during college. While at the time Wyse would have loved owning a vintage muscle car instead, economic necessity drove him to rely on bicycling.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the next few years, he came to see it as \u201ca way to live out many of my ethical and theological beliefs,\u201d he said. Biking is not only cheap: it\u2019s also anti-war, pro-healthy planet, egalitarian, pro-community, good for mental and physical health \u2013 and more.<\/span><\/p>\n

As he said in a <\/span>2014 EMU article<\/span><\/a>, riding bike \u201cis fundamentally about moving us toward something that\u2019s more whole and healthy for the human community.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ben Wyse \u201899 isn\u2019t just the cool guy who sets up his mobile bicycle repair shop \u2013 Wyse Cycles \u2013 in front of Eastern Mennonite University\u2019s Campus Center on most ... read more about Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine names Ben Wyse ‘Best Bike Mechanic’<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":265,"featured_media":40904,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[266,5583,14715,17562,5708],"tags":[],"feature":[17426,17241],"class_list":["post-40902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-campus-community","category-campus-life","category-digest","category-sustainability","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature"],"yoast_head":"\nBlue Ridge Outdoors magazine names Ben Wyse 'Best Bike Mechanic' - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2019\/blue-ridge-outdoors-magazine-names-ben-wyse-best-bike-mechanic\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blue Ridge Outdoors magazine names Ben Wyse 'Best Bike Mechanic' - 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