Anchorage bike mechanic heads to Rio Olympics with Canada's triathlon team

As a 10-year-old boy in Juneau, Dave Coleman discovered the joy of taking bikes apart. By the time he was 14, he had learned enough to put them back together.

"For four years, my parents weren't that proud of me," he said.

Ah, but look at him now.

Coleman, 32 and a bike mechanic in Anchorage, is going to the Summer Olympics as the bike mechanic for Canada's triathlon team.

Coleman's road to the Olympics began in 2005 when he started working on bikes for USA Triathlon. Among the people he got to know was Libby Burrell, USA Triathlon's high-performance director. A year after Triathlon Canada hired her in 2012, she asked Coleman to join her on the team.

He's been with the team ever since. He lives in Anchorage and joins the Canadians at competitions. Last year, his travels took him to Abu Dhabi, New Zealand, Japan, Brazil and several places in North America.

The Canadians are in good hands, said Bill Fleming, Coleman's boss at the Trek Bicycle Store in Anchorage.

"The guy has a body of knowledge you just don't see in regular bike shops," Fleming said. "He just knows his stuff. He's passionate about his craft and takes tremendous pride in his work. He's a pro through and through.

"Technology changes pretty quickly in the bicycle industry, but Dave's all over it."

Coleman will be with Triathlon Canada at both the Olympics and Paralympics, a gig that's a dream come true for a man who long ago wrote a list of goals that included working as a bike tech at the Olympics.

His other big goal was to ride in a support vehicle at a big bike race like the Tour de France. That dream was dashed in 2010 when Coleman was seriously injured when a runaway boat trailer struck him while he was riding his bike on O'Malley Road.

The trailer decoupled from the truck towing it, traveled through a lane of traffic and went up on a bike trail, where it slammed into Coleman.

"I was at the wrong place at the wrong time," he said. "I was thrown 15 feet in the air and landed on my head."

Coleman's left leg was left in ruins — the femur broke in half and the tibia shattered into 15 pieces. He fractured a shoulder, broke two vertebrae and displaced two others.

"When I came to in the hospital, I could not move my right arm," Coleman said. "It was 10 to 14 days before movement came back.

"… Luckily it was just some swelling causing my nerves to pinch, but at the time I was dealing with not (being) able to do the work I have been doing for the last 14 years."

Coleman spent six weeks in the hospital. Six months passed before Coleman was able to wield a wrench again.

Most of his injuries healed, although the damaged leg — which doctors considered amputating — remains troublesome. It prevents Coleman from riding bikes as much as he'd like and makes it impossible for him to run without excruciating pain.

That's why riding in a support vehicle at a big stage race is no longer a viable goal — crew members must be able to dash from the vehicle to the biker in need, and Coleman can't do that.

For all of that, Coleman considers himself fortunate.

"For everything that went wrong," he said, "a number of things went right."

The experience certainly makes a difference when Coleman deals with Olympic-caliber athletes at high-stress competitions.

"It changed my perspective on life, to say the least," he said. "A big stressful event isn't as stressful.

"One thing I bring to the team and the event and the athletes is I am probably one of the calmest guys at the event. I would say it has mellowed me out substantially."

Fleming said Coleman is unflappable.

"He just doesn't get flustered or frustrated," Fleming said. " I remember when he was in his accident, and we all rushed down to the hospital. He was laying on this gurney, bleeding through all of his bandages, almost had his leg torn off. I asked him how he was doing. He looked up and said, 'I've been better.' Super deadpan without even trying.

"You almost wanted to laugh. He's the master of understatement. It doesn't matter what the circumstances are, he just stays professional."

Coleman becomes a traveling bike shop when he heads to competitions with Triathlon Canada. He routinely packs three bags, only one of them with personal items. The other two are all about the bike.

"One is tools," he said. "The other is a hard-shelled golf case with a stand, pump, enough cable to replace all the cables on a bicycle, spare parts — brake pads, bearings, tubulars — pretty much everything you need to make a bicycle.

"At the hotel I rearrange my room so it's an awesome layout for a bike shop. I get some very interesting looks from housekeepers."

During competitions, Coleman's days begin at 4 a.m. and often don't end until midnight. Part of his job is to ensure each athlete's bike is functioning perfectly, and another part is helping each athlete feel confident and prepared.

"It could be as simple as grabbing a (bicycle) part for an athlete or as complex as putting that athlete in the perfect state of mind to make sure they can succeed," Coleman said. "This is my goal."