Meet the MSBC Crew 2.0 - the Rest of the Bunch

• Posted on 27 March 2022
• By KW
• 0

You've met the Schutters; this is everyone else.

Before you read this one, you should check out the post about the Schutters...

  If you've been passed at Riley (or CSGA, or Yankee, or Upper Mac...) by someone with a hamster on her bike, then you've met Jenny Gouveia!  Jenny started with the shop this past March, building bikes, fixing bikes, selling bikes, and talking to people.  Jenny has been an RN for 20 years (which is great when we are on shop rides and stuff), and currently works at Boven Birth Center at Holland Hospital.  When she isn't saving the lives of tiny children she can be seen at the shop or on her mountain bike.  She also loves to run on the trails, longboard, traveling in general, and hanging out with her family - her husband Matt and sons Levi and Luke.  They all enjoy riding together. She recently acquired a lovely Scott Contessa Spark 910 to shred the trails on.

This is Juan "Bachi" Torres.  Bachi is new to the shop as of March 2023, and we love what he's done to the place.  Bachi is frequently seen riding on the road.  Or gravel.  Or MTB trails.  Bachi rides all the time!  He is a member of Team Vivela, an organiztion dedicated to increasing the presence of Latinos in bicycling.  When he's riding, it's on one of several great bikes: a Santa Cruz Stigmata on gravel, a Santa Cruz Higball MTB, and a Specialized Tarmac on the road.  

  Tara Wykstra is one of the first people you see at the shop, since she is most frequently seen with a wrench in her hand working on bikes.  Tara started with us in 2021 and has proven herself to be an outstanding mechanic!  She worked in the culinary industry for the past 20 years, which comes in handy for things like the Chili Crawl.  Looking to pursue other career options, she decided to inquire about working at the shop, and here we are.  Tara is an avid mountain biker (currently rocking a Scott Spark RC 900 Team and a Norco Fluid FS 3), but also loves gravel - she has raced Hart Hills, Barry-Roubaix, the Dirty 30, Lumberjack 100and more.  You can find her on local trails, but her favorites are Palmer Woods, DTE, and The Highlands.  If she's not riding she is camping, traveling, going out to eat, or sitting on the couch with her cat, Catloaf (like "Meatloaf," only a cat) after a hard race.

  Lee Wassink is finishing up her junioryear at Unity Christian and loves mountain biking.  Listing the Cannonsburg State Game Area as her favorite ride, she can be seen there riding her Scott Scale 970 (her most treasured possession).  Lee's life plans at the moment include becoming an auto body technician - painting and repairing cars.  Until then she enjoys reading and drawing (if you ask her, she might draw a picture of your bike).  Lee lives on a farm and has several cats and goats, but the goats are her favorites!

  Paul Bright has been at MSBC since about 2015 (though this is his second go-round here, having been hired by Jack some time back in the day), working during the summer seasonal rush; in his other life he's an elementary school teacher in Jenison.  Paul can most often be seen riding the local trails - Upper Mac is just a few pedal cranks away from his house - but he enjoys a good road ride as well, and gravel and fat bikes are pressed into service, too.  He and his wife Lauri own a really sweet classic Ibis tandem in addition to Paul's custom Waterford road bike.  You will most frequently see Paul on one of his purple machines: his brand new Norco Bigfoot 3 or his slightly older Norco Torrent.  A popular feature of Paul's neighborhood is the MTB jump that he manufactured, which the kids on the block really love (almost as much as Paul does!).  

  Most people know Keith Walker not from bicycling, but from teaching.  He spent 31 years in the classroom teaching HS band, retiring from Zeeland Public Schools in 2018.  His history with bikes goes back some decades, and he has worked in the bicycle retail industry since 2009, joining the MSBC staff in 2017.  A dedicated roadie, he puts up with mountain biking because it is indeed, he's decided, pretty fun.  You can frequently see him commuting to the shop from home on his 2020 Jamis Sequel, and once in a while he gets his Norco Bigfoot out in the winter, and last fall a new Jamis Renegade S3 gravel bike went home with him.  Keith's claim to fame is his PR of 238.5 miles in the National 24-Hour Challenge, which he usually rounds up to 240.  He is also a 4-time finisher at Iceman.  In his spare time he enjoys cooking and baking (which is why he has to ride...) for himself and his wife, Dana, and is a founding member of the Holland Concert Jazz Orchestra, where he is a member of the trumpet section and Chair of the Board of Directors.