Race Tech: Lachlan McKillop - Mobile Mechanic

We’re in Bright, Victoria, for the Australian National MTB Championships. Day two has been full of racing and practice, with U15 and U17 men and women, plus all other age groups besides U19, Elite and U23 racing for cross-country today, plus lots of downhill practice. It’s pretty busy in Mystic MTB Park.

Just as busy are the crews who are supporting the racers. Companies like SRAM have the biggest set up, looking after countless racers running their gear. But lots of bike manufacturers and shop teams are also on site to support their riders, especially the downhillers who just happen to be more likely to break things. I spoke to Lachlan McKillop, who is in Bright working for Specialized.

At work in the big red tent.

Working on the road isn’t new for McKillop.

“Last year I did it all season with Green and Gold, but this season I’m working with Specialized, and have done all the National rounds except for You Yangs.”

While he works part time at Sydney bike store Park Bikes, McKillop points out that it’s not exactly the same taking those skills on the road.

“It’s pretty different, you have to make a lot of stuff up as you go! Not so much the skills, but sometimes you don’t have the right part or quite the right things to fox stuff. You just have to get things done. In a shop, it has to be accurate. You have to be spot on.”

It’s even the case that one mechanic from a shop might not be as suitable as another, especially for supporting a downhill team.

“In downhill, things break so much that you’re fixing things so it can last a few runs, it’s pretty different to shop mechanics.”

Some of the work for the afternoon.

The Specialized tent is right next to the SRAM tent palace, and next to Yarra Valley Cycles, both tents have a huge rack of bikes out the front that they are looking after. Riders and staff move between the tents pretty freely.

“Everyone helps everyone out at these races, it’s really good to see the support for each other. Any things I can give to riders I will. SRAM are here and they help everyone out, and Yarra Valley Cycles and a couple of other teams are great to swap parts with too. It works out for everyone.”

“There are all the regular tools, but my favourite tool is a hole punch. I’ve got a single hole punch that is perfect for putting number plates on. But you’d be really surprised what you can use a single hole punch for. I was making shims for a shock today with it. That’s a case of getting it done. It just worked perfectly. I’ve never seen it in bike shops, but this is treasured on the road. If I lost it I’d have the shits.”

I leave Lachlan too it, as he has a rack of bikes in front of him that need some tweaking for seeding tomorrow. Riders are sat in the far end of the tent, chatting pretty happily, and Lachlan soldiers on, with at least a few hours of work ahead of him.

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