This page is to tell you a little bit about me.​​

I have been developing softwares and Web Applications for the Canadian government and a few private companies since 1996. I'm specialized and certified in Microsoft .NET framework. I have been doing competitive cycling and training since 2002. I started in mountain bike and I'm now on road bike 99% of the time. I still ride my old mountain bike Specialized FSR Expert from time to time.



When iPhone 3G was released, back in july 2008, I got myself one right away. At the time, we started to hear success stories about developers making money like crazy by selling apps. When I checked what was required to build an app, the Mac computer was the show stopper for me. I'm a Windows guy and a Mac was a no go, so I never thought about creating an app.



Fast forward to March 2009, I'm working with developers that keep on talking about mobile applications and how cool it would be to develop one. Even better; how cool would it be to make a living off your own apps. That's where the idea came to my mind. I have been repairing and maintaining my bikes myself for years, so I knew the content, which means I can be the developer and the author at the same time.

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I searched the App Store and nothing about repairing or maintaining a bicycle existed at that time. That was it, I was fired up! Next day I bought a Mac Book and a book to start learning IOS development.

I started to develop Bike Repair part time, evenings and week-ends. Thanks to my wonderful wife who supported me all along. She even helped me in proof reading the french content. I also have a team mate who helped me validating the instructions (he is a bike mechanic for the Canadian Pro Team Spidertech and also the head mechanic at a local bike shop in Ottawa). For the photos, another team mate is a professional photographer, so we did all the initial release photos in her studio.



I have always been frustrated about cooking books. They tell you to do "something" with the meat, for example, but I don't know how to do that "something". I'm not a cook and I do a recipe once every 6 months, so I don't know all the terms. Then I have to leave the book and search that term somewhere else. That is exactly what I wanted to avoid in Bike Repair.

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From day one, the philosophie of Bike Repair was that every instruction would be understood by everybody, even a 5 years old kid with no experience at all. That explains why you can read things like: "Turn the screw clockwise", instead of: "Tighten the screw". Ok, here I assume that a 5 years old kid knows that "clockwise" means "to the right" :)

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After seeing the demand for more guides and the number of downloads, I decided to buy my own cheap photo studio (lights and drapes from Ebay) which does the job just fine. I can take my own photos and create more guides on my own. Also, knowing that English apps are the biggest seller, the app was initially release in English. Being a native French speaker (from Quebec, Canada), French has been integrated not so long after. It also explains some of the English grammatical errors you may find in the app. (let me know when you find one). Then I met a spanish lady who offered to translate it, so the app is in spanish as well.

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In May 2011, I decided to quit my day job and focus on developing mobile applications at home. I have a few ideas I want to work on and I also want to keep adding stuff into Bike Repair more regularly. All of this requires a lot of time and being on my own will give me plenty.  I'm fulfilling the dream of a lot a developers, which is working on your own projects and making a living off of your own products (Apps).

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I hope you enjoy my app, I put a lot of effort in making it so you can avoid trips to the bike shop.

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Thanks

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Patrick

Gatineau, Quebec.