Today we’d like to introduce you to Lynnette Wood.
Hi Lynnette, we’re thrilled to have a chance to learn your story today. So, before we get into specifics, maybe you can briefly walk us through how you got to where you are today?
From Peace Corps volunteer 30 years ago to the Bike Lady of East Texas, I have always been a giver and a do-er even before I knew the words to voice it. When I was about 3 years old, I saw an advertisement for the Peace Corps on our family’s small black-and-white TV – if you are old enough, you may remember those ads, with the photos of people digging wells and latrines flashing on the screen, a bold drum beat in the background, finishing with a single image and voiceover: Peace Corps; the toughest job you’ll ever love.
I told my mother that’s what I wanted to do when I grew up. She laughed and said, “What would you want to do that for?” How does a 3 year old know or put to words that they want to help others?
As the 5th of 6 kids, I was an expert in self-preservation and knew when to avoid the spotlight so as not to get teased by older siblings, and thought it best to keep this dream to myself. I realized early that my brain was my ticket out of rural Vermont into the Peace Corps, and learning came easy to me – I skipped the 4th grade and finished in the top 10 of my graduating class, focusing on science and Chemistry and completing 4 years of Spanish classes. I kept my Peace Corps dream to myself until my senior year when my high school financial aid counselor helped me select a small school outside of Vermont with a good Chemistry and Environmental Studies program.
After 4 years of college, and one year of work, I finally received my Peace Corps assignment to work in Environmental Education in a rural mountain town of the Dominican Republic. It was everything I had dreamed and more! I renewed my service 1 year beyond the original commitment of 27 months, then returned to the U.S. somewhat adrift – I had achieved my dream, now what? I landed a job at Lucent Technologies (now Nokia) at the time when the internet and cell phone communications were in their infancy and have been supporting fiber optic networks since. I went back to school to get a graduate certificate in Electro-Optics in order to be at the top of my game in my field. Around this time, some co-workers introduced me to mountain biking.
I’d always been a casual cyclist using the bike for transportation, even while in the Peace Corps. As I got into mountain biking, I realized there were relatively few women in the sport. Even after many years, I felt I was always biking “with the guys”. I went to a women’s skills camp and the whole atmosphere was different. I realized I wanted not only to be part of it, but to help bring that to others. I attended some skills sessions and took a course to become a mountain bike skills instructor, and have been a certified skills coach for over a decade. Those skills led me to help out with the National Interscholastic Cycling Association (NICA) youth mountain bike organization which has a league in Texas. I started volunteering with our 2 local East Texas teams to help teach skills to student-athletes and coaches, as well as at the league level to help train coaches all over Texas.
As a customer of my local bike shop, I would often go in for a simple purchase, and the mechanics would have to put down a repair in progress to run the cash register or otherwise help me. My 2017 New Year’s Resolution was to go to the shop on Saturdays and help out. I like to say I infiltrated the shop! I showed up and helped un-box inventory and stock shelves, clean up, and run the cash register. They would buy me lunch, and after three weeks realized I’d keep coming back. I told them that I knew how to fix my own flats, but asked them to teach me how the shop does it, so I’d be consistent, and I became Fix-a-Flat Girl. I then learned how to true wheels, tape rims, and set up tubeless tires, so I was Wheel Girl. I learned to build new bikes and do minor repairs. After over a year of helping out at the shop, I saw some information on the United Bicycle Institute’s scholarship for women to attend bike mechanic school. I applied, and although competition to get in is tough, I won the scholarship to attend in the fall of 2018. Bike mechanic certification is an intensive 2-week course, but I loved every minute and passed the certification exam! Some of the other attendees were doing great things with women’s groups and underprivileged communities, and I felt… privileged. I knew there was more I could do, and it was just a matter of finding the opportunity.
I came across a request through the Tyler Street Team one day, looking for someone to make some repairs to a client’s bicycle. The Tyler Street Team assists unhoused and other folks in the greater Tyler Texas area. When their clients get jobs, they can earn a bicycle. Since I work part-time at the bike shop, we often have customers who do not want to repair bicycles, and will donate them. I take the donated bicycles and fix them for clients in need. They call me the Bike Lady. I receive text messages when they get flat tires or otherwise need repairs, and try to get them back up and running so they have transportation. I even applied for and received a small grant to help purchase lights for clients, because many of them work night jobs when public transportation is not running.
Another little niche I have discovered this year is teaching young kids to ride bikes without training wheels. Many kids simply don’t have the opportunities these days that I had when I was a kid. I have successfully taught around 10 kids to ride bikes this year!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
From my optimistic “Pollyanna” outlook, my journey has been one of side roads and detours – perhaps not smooth, but more like a winding and hilly gravel road – with more opportunities than obstacles or challenges. Growing up, I never realized we received government cheese or winter coats and boots from charity. I didn’t have a lot of family support, and learned to be independent very young, for better or worse! I knew there was a bigger, different world out there, and I could be part of it, but I can’t help but wonder if it was those roots which instilled in me a desire to help others. When filling out financial aid forms my senior year of college, my mother had exactly $63 in her combined bank accounts – needless to say, my financial aid was approved – but was this need to work hard to put myself through school and pay back loans part of what drives me to face challenges head-on?
As someone who has had to be independent and just do what needs to be done, I struggle to ask for help. It can be difficult to keep a good face forward when barely making ends meet financially and feeling pressure to meet other people’s expectations, and am still learning to set boundaries – this has always been one of the hardest things for me.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I work full time as a tech support engineer for Nokia, part-time as a bike mechanic for PlayTri bicycle shop in Tyler, part-time for iTRI365 Timing & Event Production timing races, and am a mountain bike skills coach for Grit Clinics and Ladies AllRide. Although it may seem there wouldn’t be much time left in my schedule to do anything else, I volunteer a lot. I am a NICA Coach Supporter who teaches coaches how to teach mountain biking skills to student-athletes for the Texas NICA leagues, volunteer with NICA on weekends during the race season, and have introduced a new skills program to the Texas NICA leagues to help the parents of student-athletes learn mountain biking skills, and that program has been embraced at the national NICA level! I am on the TxDOT Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC); president of the East Texas Trail Advocates (a local International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) chapter) and organize trail work days and trail fundraising events; co-coordinator of the local Healthy Kids Running Series – Tyler, TX; and take donated bikes and fix them up for clients of the Tyler Street Team. I organize sock drives and food drives, delivering donated items by bicycle, and gather volunteers to help build bikes for the Salvation Army Angel Tree every year. I also volunteer at local events when I can.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
The most important lesson I’ve learned is that for me, when giving, it has to be unconditional. If I ever have an expectation of getting something in return, even later down the road thinking “after all I’ve done for this person, the least they can do is…” – that takes away the joy of giving. I have learned to give from the heart, because it gives ME joy. To others it may seem that it solely benefits the recipients, but for me, it feeds my own heart and brings me happiness. Think of the joy of sending a secret Santa gift or an unexpected surprise to a friend – that’s the feeling I get when I give unconditionally.
I’ve also learned there are always more ways to grow and things to learn. I often like to ask people, “when was the last time you did something for the first time?” More often than not, there is much more to gain than to lose.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elwood001/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lynnette.wood.1
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lynnette-wood-19aa6710/
