Since the moment I arrived in Denver, Josh from Avery County Cycles has been an exceptional host. He picked me up from the airport, took me to a whiskey sipping night, then dinner and let me crash at his place. I’ve spent a lot of time around his shop and today, I took some film photos of him working. As we were having a beer tonight, he pulled out his cheater bar. Every shop has one, but few have a story like this.

Josh is a self-taught frame builder. Which, these days you rarely hear about. With dozens of frame building schools sprouting up all over the US, you don’t need to spend countless hours by yourself, figuring the ins and outs of brazing but he did anyway. This piece of tubing is where Josh learned how to use a torch.

Of course, there’s no easy way to venture into building bicycle frames. Just a lot of practice and patience. Over the past year, Avery County Cycles has built numerous frames for friends and even a single speed cross team with Pearl Velo. On Sunday, his hard work paid off, when he won Rookie of the Year at NAHBS (he even sold his car to pay for the show’s fees).

There’s more to come here on the site but I just wanted to congratulate Josh on his award!