Your Story: Lily Clarke

You know that person at work who just gets things done? They know things others don’t and they work harder than most. Reliable, smart, resourceful; you know the person I’m talkin’ about. When you need something, they are the person you go to. It’s been my experience at Sweet Pete’s this summer that this person is Lily Clarke and this is her story.

Lily. She’s the s&%t. She’s kinda tiny, she’s not a very experienced cyclist and most of her bike knowledge is self taught. But you know what, she’s got sass and, let’s be honest, in the male dominated, macho world of cycling, a healthy dose of sass goes a long way.

When Lily was hired as the coordinator at the University of Guelph Campus Bike Centre, she quickly came to realize that in reality she would be taking over all facets of the operation, including mechanic. At this point in her life, Lily didn’t even own a bike, let alone know the difference between cottered cranks and square-taped bottom brackets. So, she shrugged her shoulders, rolled up her sleeves and got her hands dirty. “I was often there by myself and people would consistently come into the Bike Centre in need of bicycle repairs and I had no idea what to do. So I eventually decided to take one apart to try to build some kind of repairs knowledge, which it eventually did.” Today, not only does she know the difference between bottom brackets, she can remove, overhaul and reinstall them. “Someone donated an old beater step through road bike thing that I ended up taking apart, painting and putting back together which actually taught me about basic bicycle repair.”

Any woman who has spent even a little bit of time working in this industry will have myriad stories about how they are routinely marginalized and otherwise disrespected. Lily is no exception. “I experienced some of the most blatant sexism ever including individuals  fighting with me to have women and trans night cancelled because it was sexist against men (?!?!?). Eventually we had to ban one threatening individual because of his offensive and misogynist view points. Oddly enough, all this only made me love bikes more.”

While her passion is in the service department, Lily was a champ on the sales floor all season. Now back at university, the place just isn’t the same without Lily’s sassy self strutting around the store. Not to worry, even if I were never to see her again,[but I will] I am confident the cycling community will always be better off for having her as a member. That fact will always keep her near.