Tyson Hobson's day at the Glen Innes Bike Hub includes fixing bikes and using his mandarin skills to help the growing Chinese community there. Photo: Ke-Xin Li
Tyson Hobson is a mechanic at the EcoMatters community bike hub in Glen Innes. But he doesn't just fix bikes.
"This specific job changed my life. Everything that I do now are for the positives. My physical health and my mental health are 100 percent better now. And now it's my job to hopefully change other people's lives with something as simple as the bicycle."
The 47-year-old has been learning bike mechanic skills on the job, and that's not the only special skill he's picked up.
In Mandarin, he showed me all the bike parts.
"This is called a Bashou (把手) handlebar. If we come over to the other side here you've got a chain, now this one's a bit hard for me to remember I think it's called Lanzi (链子) and this one here which is a seat, Zuoyi (座椅)."
He got all of them right.
Bike maintenance and Mandarin were two life skills Tyson bumped into, and they'd been life-changing.
"This specific bike hub had opened just as I bought a bike, so it was the right timing. They were looking for a position, and that was me."
With no prior experience in bike maintenance, Tyson jumped into the role.
"All they want from anybody who applies for jobs like this is just enthusiasm, because you can learn as you go."
Tyson Hobson says cycling changed his life and learning Mandarin took him to some special places. He wears bracelets he received from his Chinese friends. Photo: Ke-Xin Li
In his last job, Tyson worked with many Chinese colleagues, so he started having a go at the language.
"This is called Luntai (轮胎) - it's a wheel on the bike. What is on the bike is also a tyre which is called Chelun (车轮)."
These are the only two terms I had to correct Tyson during our conversation, which he learnt right away.
Chelun is the wheel, and Luntai is the tyre.
Glen Innes is a suburb in east Auckland with a high number of Chinese speaking people. And Tyson said that challenged him to sharpen up his skills
"I have a bit of a problem now because when Chinese people come to my shop and they don't speak good English, so I have to speak Chinese.
"I have to take risks. So if I'm not sure that my Chinese is correct, but the person who I want to speak to does not speak English, I will take a risk and say what I'm going to say. And if they smile or agree, then I've said something right. But if they throw something at me, I've said something wrong, right?"
He said so far, that strategy was working as his Chinese was improving quickly, and no one had thrown anything at him yet.
Tyson Hobson is a bike mechanic at Glen Innes Bike Hub who doesn't just fix bikes. Photo: Ke-Xin Li
Fixing bikes and learning Chinese had led Tyson to some special places.
"I met a friend who came to our shop and her son wanted his bike fixed. After I fixed his bike, I introduced him to a few bike riding groups. And then the mum said one day that she's going to China. [She asked] Do I want to come? So I said, Yes, of course! 当然我跟你去中国啦。So I went to a place called Xi'an which is like a traditional part of China. 当我在中国的时候，非常好，每天都玩的开心，中国菜非常好吃，喜欢的。（When I was in China, it was great, I had a lot of fun every day, Chinese food was also very delicious, I liked it.)
"If you like Chinese food then you can get really fat there very easily because you will eat so much delicious food. When I was there, I wasn't riding my bike as much and I was eating more and getting fat."
This month is Biketober, a month of celebration for those who love bikes and cycling, with plenty opportunities for people to get on a bike too.
And this year, Tyson has a good reason for everyone to go for a ride.
"For one thing, if you want to think of fitness, because a lot of people jump on bikes for fitness, right? But if you go to a gym, I hear nothing but complaints. For example, I'm going to the gym today. What are you doing? Oh, I'm doing my legs! That's a complaint." Tyson explained in his grumble voice.
"But if you jump on a bike and go for a ride, all you're doing is going for a ride to sightseeing and look at different places without realising you're working out at the same time, because you're having so much fun on the bike."
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