Meet Brock Benson | Bike Shop Owner/Teacher/Director/DJ/Podcaster

We had the good fortune of connecting with Brock Benson and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Brock, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
My thought process has a lot to do with my history and sense of duty to my community, so I’ll give you a quick rundown. I grew up on a cattle ranch here in the West End. My father was the superintendent of the coal mine in Nucla when it was operating in the 80s. My mother was the secretary, and Peabody Coal Co. owned it. When it finally shut down my mother was transferred and in 1990 I moved away. After graduating high school I landed in Grand Junction for college and in 1995 I got my first job as a bike mechanic and I stayed with it through the mountain biking boom that was happening in the Grand Valley at that time. I got my BA in Theatre from Mesa University, moved to Denver in 2010, and worked for Turin Cycles for a few years while I was acting. Throughout that whole time I have been coming back to the West End to ride my mountain bike. My family has a couple hundred acres of land on the Uncompaghre Plateau just north of Nucla so I am spoiled with a lot of back country riding that few others get to experience. Once the pandemic came and the world shut down my partner and I decided it was time to move back to my hometown. He’s not from here but he’s been in love with the West End ever since we met eleven years ago. It’s been a real joy being home for the last twelve months, we moved here in June of 2021 and we were very eager to get involved in our community. These two towns, Nucla and Naturita, have been economically ravaged because of the collapse of the coal industry, and it’s been heartbreaking to watch the economy get strangled out of this community over the last 35 years. We see an incredible amount of potential in this area and we wanted to be a part of lifting up this community and giving some hope to people that have been surviving this really hard time that we’ve all been going through. I started writing and producing a podcast called WEcast that speaks to the history and culture of the West End and lifts up artists and other members of our community who are doing kind things for people. Also, I should have already mentioned this, I have dreamt of owning a bike shop in this community ever since I started working in one in 1995. But not like a dream or a wish in my heart, it was a recurring dream that would visit me often and from which I would always wake wondering why I was dreaming about that. I always told myself that this community could never support a bike shop. Then, after moving here and seeing the amount of people coming through to ride bikes, and wrapping my head around the amount of work guys like Paul Koski and the West End Trail Alliance are doing to build trails, and seeing what an incredible job Natalie Binder and the team at Camp V are doing at getting people to come here and check us out, and Rimrocker Adventure offering all the toys you need to rent to come out and play, my sense of duty to my home town took over. Everybody knew the only thing we were missing was a bike shop, and that’s when I flipped the script. Instead of asking how my community could support a bike shop, I asked, “How could a bike shop support my community?”. I started working out of my garage right away and it became clear that we needed more space immediately. Literally the day that I started working in my shop Vivian Russel from True North Youth Outreach Program contacted me and asked if I would be interested in helping True North with a bike donation they were receiving from the Telluride Marshals. They were trying to figure out what to do with 25 recovered bikes. After chatting with her and consulting with Sara Bachman we decided that we would apply for a grant from the West End Pay It Forward Trust and start a Bicycle Maintenance Program through my shop, with True North as a sponsor, and I would teach local students how to work on bicycles. We also purchased a commercial building that had been boarded up for over ten years and started bringing that piece of local history back to life. I got the grant to teach the program and then renovated what used to be an old liquor store into the first bike shop that the West End end of Montrose County has ever seen. Now I’m teaching a bicycle maintenance program through my shop and the doors are open for business. Plus there is room in the back for my office and recording studio so I can produce a better podcast and hopefully stay organized while I am teaching. Did I mention on top of teaching a maintenance program in my shop, I am giving private DJ lessons once a week (I was a club DJ for ten years), and I will also be teaching a theatre program at the local Jr – Sr High School for the duration of their academic year. My process is all about the spirit of the pioneers and utilizing your talents to do what you can to lift up your community and make it a better place for the next generation.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Aside from Paradox Cycle I have also accepted a teaching position at the Nucla Jr – Sr High School and will begin teaching Theatre this fall. I stopped teaching in Denver before the pandemic and didn’t really see myself ever getting back into it, but again, my duty to my community compelled me to step up. My first ‘big’ production on a stage was my freshmen year at Nucla High School back in 1989, and it changed the course of my life forever. That stage at the high school is still intact, though not for long, and I asked the principal if I could put on a play before they tear it down. She said yes, if I taught the program to the students…. How could I say ‘No”? So I’m really excited to be able to come full circle and produce and direct a play on the stage where it all started for me. History is very important to us in the West End and we are proud of our uniquely American History and our place in the American West. Charlene Knickerbocker was the English Teacher who taught me when I was a freshman and she cast me in the play that started it all for me.  She’s still living here in Nucla and she will reach her Century mark this August. It’s very exciting for our town to have an icon such as her and we are all so proud of her and we love her so much. She taught English from the early sixties until 2010 and knows everybody that ever lived, settled, or came through during those years, and if you had her as a teacher you remember her well. To have the opportunity to pass on the craft as she intended to do, on the very same stage where she taught me, is a real honor. I’m also continuing to write and produce the WEcast podcast as I have time. I really enjoy writing and storytelling and I learn a lot about our local history along the way. I didn’t really see myself pursuing much of the arts when I moved back to a rural community but there seems to be a renaissance happening because, aside from the bike shop, all I am doing is creating art and learning experiences for others. I still DJ at Camp V and special events, parties, and weddings, and I”m currently teaching two young locals how to DJ. Then at Christmas time I play Santa Claus for our community, taking lots of pictures and reading to the elementary school as Santa Claus. When you’re the only game in town you have to make sure you are giving back to the community as much as you can.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Well, in our tiny towns we only have one or two places to eat so the itinerary is as follows: If you’re traveling through Grand Junction make sure you don’t come down Hwy 141 in the dark. The drive on that highway is beyond spectacular so make sure you don’t drive it at night. Roll into town around breakfast and we’ll go to whatever restaurant is open that day and have food there. Then we put our paddle boards in the San Miguel River and float it down to the Ball Park Campground in Uravan. After five hours on the fiver we’ll get picked up and drive back to my house to change. Then we fill up the cooler with whatever you’re still drinking and get some steaks from one of our local ranchers (the Garvey Family really produces some delicious beef if you have access), and some local produce from Wild Gal’s Market (who will sell you delicious duck eggs from Shirley Miller’s farm). We load up the dogs and mountain bikes in the Subaru and send the designated concierge (the guy that hauls all the dogs, bikes, food, and gear in the Subaru) up the mountain to prepare the way. Then we rent a Polaris Razor 1,000 Side by Side from Seanielle at Rimrocker Adventures, hit the Rimrocker Trail and take the long way up to my cabin, enjoying expansive views of the San Juan Mountains, Mesa Verde, Paradox Valley, and the La Sal Mountains. Upon arrival you will enjoy a steak dinner with fresh organic local produce, fine wine, and an evening by a campfire as you stargaze at one of the darkest skies in the country while I regale you with stories and/or house music. Dancing is always on the menu. Don’t stay up too late though, as tomorrow is a rise and shine so we can get on the mountain bikes early and enjoy some private single track on my mountain property before lounging in the hammocks and napping away the afternoon as the story book clouds roll by overhead. Day three we are back in the side by side and we take the Rimrocker Trail all the way out to the Paradox Valley and enjoy a day of canyon exploring and finding the petroglyphs that litter the remote areas of our backcountry. Day four we are back on the river to float from Ball Park Campground in Uravan to Biscuit Rock then back to the cabin for another night of stargazing. Day five we go to Telluride and enjoy a day of mountain biking and a gourmet dinner at the Chop House Restaurant. Then we hurry back to Naturita and enjoy outdoor movie night out at Camp V where we relax with our beverages and take in whatever interesting film the Camp V crew is showing that week. We will also enjoy the Dandelions and the tank art and all the other fun light up displays that Camp V has going on at night, then go to my house in Naturita and get some shut eye. Friday is a day trip to Moab to see the sights and check out the views. Friday night we hit the Mother Lode in Naturita for their legendary Friday night pool tournament and super rowdy locals strutting and flexing on each other. Saturday we go out to Lake V at Camp V, take the sound system and listen to live DJs and play on the lake all day with all of our friends and family. Saturday night will be a BBQ. Sunday you will want to pack up all of your things and go home to where they have restaurants and traffic so you can start planning your next visit to our outdoor paradise.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
My biggest Shoutout belongs to the love of my life, Troy Masters. He makes my world turn and without him I don’t know what street corner I would be living on but it would not be as nice as the one we are on together. He built his life around this dream and I owe him the moon. Also to Natalie Binder for having a dream bigger than all of us and for fighting as hard as she does to lift up this community through art and music and for letting me be a DJ at Camp V. To Sara Bachman for being my friend, attorney, and the Queen of Naturita. She’s been fighting to lift this community up for years and I’m proud to be by her side in that fight as a friend and colleague. Paul Koski gets a Shoutout for all the work he’s done on advocating for mountain biking in the West End and building trails and supporting the community. Also, Danielle Pond of Rimrocker Adventure gets a Shoutout for being my friend and my first customer. Had she not needed her bikes worked on I probably wouldn’t have been so motivated to get a shop open. I’m constantly in awe of how hard she works for this community and the sacrifices she and her husband Sean make to keep our Main St in Naturita owned by Naturita. Also, to the West End Pay It Forward Trust for their generous grant and for believing in me. And finally a Shouout to the West End Economical Development Corporation and Montrose West Recreation for all of your guidance and support.

Instagram: Paradoxycle

Facebook: Paradox Cycle

Image Credits
Picture of me DJing, photo credit Derrick Tuohy All others Brock Benson