Andrew Demack
Development Officer
What's your earliest cycling memory?
Learning to ride a bike…pretty late in life really. I was in Grade 2 or 3 at school, aged 7, and visiting a friend after school. He said: “Let’s go for a bike ride.” I said: “I don’t know how to ride a bike!” He said: “It’s easy … I’ll show you!” And it was.
My first bike was...
A Tom Wallace Special, 24 inch wheels, green, single speed with coaster brakes, flat handlebars. Pretty sure it was for my 8th birthday.
What do you do to relax?
I like to read. Sometimes books about cycling, but mostly not. Although everyone should read “The Rider” by Tim Krabbe.
What's most memorable sight you've seen from a bike?
I’ve had the most memorable times on the bike enjoying the journey itself, rather than specific destinations. I like any quiet tree-lined country road…and there are stacks of them in south-east Qld and northern NSW.
If you could give one piece of advice to a new rider, what would it be?
Get to know the owner of your local bike shop. When I bought my first decent road bike, aged 24, the local bike shop guy showed me the basics of bike maintenance…how to change a flat tyre, the difference between Schrader and Presta valves, etc. I still go to that shop more than 20 years later and the same guy still runs the shop.
Road bike, mountain bike or tourer?
All of them at the very least! Nothing wrong with a track bike as well. At least two sorts of mountain bike, maybe more. Correct number of bikes = n + 1, where n is your current number of bikes.
Oh, was the question what bikes do I have??
- Cannondale RZ 120 dual-suspension mountain bike (yes, with a Lefty!)
- Enigma Echo titanium road bike (with most of a Campag Record groupset)
- Custom-made Frezoni steel road bike (made by the Brisbane legend Joe Cosgrove). Designed with sufficient clearance for different tyres, and mounting points for a rack, so it can be used for light touring, and for those once-a-year cyclocross races.
- A blue steel-frame bike which was once a Shogun Alpine GT touring bike, but is currently a single speed flat-bar road bike for riding from BQ office into the City and back. Thinking of adding gears back onto that one, so it will become the bike for cyclocross events and dirt-road rides.
- A Gary Fisher Tassajara hardtail aluminium mountain bike, set up as a single-speed, for muddy days on the trail (saving the drivetrain of the RZ 120).
What's the best thing about your job?
Working with positive people (BQ staff, committee & members) who are committed to making Queensland a better place to ride your bicycle.
If you had the power to change one thing in the world, what would it be?
I would have the State and Federal Governments actually match funding for cycling infrastructure with the targets they set for cycling ‘mode share’ (typically 5%). A pretty modest request, I think.
