group biking ubi ashland

Students

First and foremost, we’re thankful for our students. You’re the reason we’re here! From experienced shop mechanics to square-one beginners, we get our kicks from helping you achieve your goals and learning from you, too. With input from our students, our programs have morphed, changed and evolved over the years to be what they are today (and we dig them!). Since our first classroom doors opened in 1981, thousands of students have come through UBI and gone on to live out their bike-wielding dreams.

Faculty

Aside from our students, we wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for our amazing team of instructors. With a combined total of more than 200 years in the bicycle industry, their experience in mechanics, frame building, racing and shop operations is unparalleled. Each of our staff is unique not only in their expertise and ability to engage students, but also their one-of-a-kind teaching styles (we’re looking at you, Richard).

Community

Ashland and Southern Oregon have hundreds of miles of rural paved roads, and excellent single track and old fire roads all around Mt Ashland. We can’t think of a better place to call home. In-town is a great place to ride, too — bike lanes, easy-to-ride-to restaurants, loaner bike stations, and lots of great local bike shops. The proximity to trails is pretty incomparable – within minutes from UBI, you can be on a Beginner-Advanced trail system, or hitch a ride with AMA to some of the higher elevation trails.

Bike Industry Partners

Every year we’re proud to partner with Quality Bike Products for the QBP Bike Mechanic Scholarship, which aims to help increase gender diversity in the bike industry. Recipients attend our 2-week Professional Repair and Shop Operation class in the winter, and are being selected for 2020 as we speak! Since the scholarship’s beginnings, winners from all over the US and Canada have come together to hone their skills at UBI, and then continue with bike industry careers. Read our QBP Scholarship follow up stories…

We’re also incredibly thankful for partnerships with major manufacturers in the bike industry that help us provide the latest tools, technology, methods and manuals, so that our students receive the best technical bike education around. Thank you!

Friends & Family

Whether it’s our own families taking the reins at home when we’re here for late-night sessions, or our students’ families letting them travel across the country for a 10-day course, we’re grateful for the people who support us and allow us to do what we love! From spouses who help load bikes, to friends who share post-ride noshes, to kids who cheer at the finish line — we appreciate you to the Nth degree!

We’re going into the holidays with so much gratitude for our community of students, family, coworkers and partners, and we wish you all an excellent Thanksgiving 2019!

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