Our featured volunteer this month is Bruce Hildenbrand. Bruce is the only SVBE volunteer who has served for as long as Dave Fork.
That’s because Bruce and Dave are the co-founders! Back in the early 1990s when the Bicycle Exchange was part of the Mountain View Community Services Agency, Dave rustled up some grant money and Bruce leaned on the MVCSA to find us a building to rent, and the rest is history. If you are at all familiar with the local bicycle scene, you probably already know Bruce thanks to his ubiquitous presence and his frequent appearances at speaking events. You might find Bruce announcing a local cyclocross race, picking up trash as part of the Bicyclean movement, writing articles about professional cycling and doping, or MCing a Cupertino Bike Fest.
We’re profiling Bruce this month because he has graciously joined the SVBE board of directors as its newest member. Bruce brings a wealth of experience within the cycling ecosystem and the tech world. He once built the fastest web server!
Tell us a little about yourself:
My father introduced me to bicycling. When I was in my early teens we used to ride our three-speed bikes on the dirt roads around Saddleback Mountain in Southern California.
I graduated from Mountain View High School. I have four college degrees, BS in Nutrition Science, BS in Food Science from UC Davis and MS in Food Science and MS in Computer Science from University of Wisconsin-Madison. I got accepted to Medical School but didn't go. Instead, I spent two years rock climbing in Yosemite Valley.
After getting my MS in Computer Science, I spent six years at Bell Laboratories building phone computers then two years at Convergent Technologies/Unisys building multiprocessor, Unix-based computers and finally ten years at Sun Microsystems doing operating system and networking work.
You co-founded SVBE! How did that happen?
I co-founded SVBE with Dave Fork back in the early 1990s. We ran a really lean operation, but as I was getting sucked into working on this new technology known and the Internet, Dave had the vision and drive to take the organization to a new and better level so I stepped aside. Since then Dave has taken it to many new levels.
What keeps you coming back?
Not only is there a need to provide either free or low-cost transportation in the form of bicycles to those who are economically challenged, but we need to be environmentally responsible and make sure that we respect the planet and keep the unusable or nonrepairable bicycles out of landfills.
What is your background in cycling? And on wrenching on bikes?
I enjoy all aspects of cycling from road riding to gravel to mountain biking. I lead bicycle tours in Europe which includes wrenching on the client's bicycles which have undergone some interesting servicing at their favorite local bike shop!
(pictured: Bruce announcing a race. photo by Garret Lau)
What can you share about your personal or family bike collection?
My favorite bicycle at the moment is my Ritchey titanium BreakAway travel bike. I pestered Tom to build a version of the BreakAway out of titanium. The first two he had made were one for himself and one for me.
What have you learned since volunteering with SVBE or the most interesting problem you’ve had to deal with?
Everyone in the SVBE family plays an important role in the success of the organization and their efforts need to be valued and respected. The phrase "we couldn't do it without you" totally applies at SVBE.
Moving forward, SVBE is most likely going to need to grow the "bike shop" or retail portion of its organization if we have any chance of securing a permanent home. Being able to do that and still retain the volunteer experience that so many members of the SVBE family are used to being part of will be a major goal. I feel like we can have both and still retain the volunteer experience with which everyone is so familiar.
What’s your favorite bike ride (local or not)?
Chapman Drive, Flagstaff Mountain, Boulder, CO