Welcome to MEATengines, sanguinely a contribution to our shared cycling culture and community. For better and worse, most of the mountain bicycle musings you’ll find here are mine. At some point, in the evolution of acknowledging contributions from our tens of readers and my grom, Claire, my name stopped appearing on the main page and more recently that’s resulted in some humorous messages from familiar folks who’ve been reading MEATengines without making the connection to my past efforts as a bicycle litterateur or, sometimes, even the fact we’ve pedaled together.

With that in mind, I thought I’d take this opportunity to reintroduce myself. Hi, I’m Andrew Major. I’m a well-worn parentally-silhouetted middle-aged fella, passionate about mountain biking but {three decades in} still a plodding plunking punter on two wheels all the same. A loquacious try-hard writer, a proud dad, a sometimes trail-maintainer {we could all dig more}, a sainted older brother*, a casually employed bike industry mechanic/grompa, and, oh, also, a single-speed enthusiast {but definitely not an evangelist}. It’s all uphill and downhill from there.

I contend that the bicycle is humankind’s most beautiful invention. Efficiently, magically, transforming one form of motion into another. Witching that wearisome walking into rolling joy. And while these two-wheeled machines are an amazing form of self-powered transportation, which I do write about quite frequently, the greatest passion to be found here is for playing bicycles in the forest. Mountain biking.

*{Shoutout to my siblings, Crash Test Kevin & Uncle Tiny Steve.}

I’ve spent most of my adult life working in the bicycle industry culminating almost thirteen years ago when I hung up my Birks-&-Socks as Mandrew, the front desk guy, at SuspensionWerx to become a primary parent, pedaling between different part time gigs. Mostly wrenching and writing, but the bills don’t really care what I do.

Working words wise, well, I’m a bit bananas but I know that I’ll never be Dan Koeppel. Still, I try. I’m probably best known for my past test-writing and irreverent pedal-bike-ponderings at NSMB.com. In the end, from the first to the last piece posted, my byline appeared there for almost a decade and the archive holds some 500+ examples of my efforts. Not always good, but always real. I also put in a sadly too short stint at BIKE, during the brief reign of Cy Whitling, and I’ve been published twice, once if you only count original content, on Pinkbike.com.

I’m generally a fan of my work {he says unironically while over-inflating his ego}, but if I was going to highlight a single theme, showcase a single series, it would be my dual passions for used rigs and budget-friendlier products {min-maxing performance, buying the bike you already own, the best of yester-bikes to buy used, etc.}, or anything related to cycling with my kid. Yes, that is three things.

What is the purpose of MEATmag? The triarchic stretch goals behind any writing here, mine or otherwise, is to inform, entertain, and inspire*. To remind folks that, as much fun as it is nerding out granular gear changes, the joy of mountain biking transcends technology. But also, working on your own bike is awesome. I’d also love to claim I encourage folks to share their love of two-wheeled life with their friends, kids, their friends’ kids, etc. And maybe, just a little, to push community over commodification and simplicity over systems.

Bedrock, I love to write. Need to write? And so I do it for myself as much as the tens of people who find their way here. Maybe, {secretly}, deep down, I hope, despite all odds, that maintaining whatever small amount of craft and currency I have will lead to employment in the industry again down the trail.

Yeah, so. If you read this far, I’m Andrew Major and thanks for being part of the community here at MEATengines.

*{Yes, I-E-I, like that Tracy Chapman song.}

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If you enjoy MEATengines, that’s awesome. If you’d like to contribute it’s not all expected but it’s always appreciated. You can haiku About a Single Speed or pen your own Bicycle Valentine, or if you have some other bicycle topic you’re keen to write about, fire me an e-mail. I’m interested. You can engage with the comment section below every piece {thank you, Geof!}, or join the crew at r/MEATengines, or, if you have a couple spare bucks {ha!}, you can always buy me a coffee. Thank you.