Drew Carver

Drew Carver’s love for cycling began at a very young age.  Bikes were always a part of the family, be it for commuting, recreation, or racing.   Lasting memories of his Dad’s 1971 Gitane SuperCorsa (an inspiration for the shop’s name), tune ups and overhauls in the basement home shop, and the smells of degreaser and tubular glue are ones that are still familiar.

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Drew began his professional journey with bikes and cycling before his 16th birthday.  As a sophomore in high school he started an apprenticeship with Bailey Garfield at Papillon Cycles in Arlington, VA.   Under his tutelage Drew learned the art of fixing rather than just replacing; an increasingly uncommon virtue in our modern “planned obsolescence” product market. 

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Immediately after high school, Drew moved to Boulder, Colorado where he managed the rental department at University bikes (at the age of 17).  A year later (after gaining in-state tuition) Drew moved to Durango CO, and started courses at Ft. Lewis College.  This was in the early 90’s and Durango was an absolute Mecca for mountain biking.  At this time, surprisingly, Ft. Lewis College had no competitive racing team.  In the spring of '94 (Drew’s freshman year) he and his friends started Ft. Lewis College’s first club cycling team.  By the fall of that same year, the Ft. Lewis Club Cycling Team won the first annual collegiate mountain bike competition in California, beating a host of Division One powerhouse teams.

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Over the course of Drew's stay at Ft. Lewis, the team developed in to a full Varsity team and won 3 National Championships, '94, '95, and '96.  The team has gone on to win more than 25 titles and are still a force to be reckoned with.  Through his time championing cycling in Durango, he developed many industry connections including turning wrenches for the massage therapist for Team Schwinn/Toyota. This connection opened the door for Drew to fill in as a mechanic for the team and he met their top racer, Steve Larsen.  Drew earned the opportunity to work on Steve’s bike, remembering Steve’s instructions, “I want perfection and nothing less.” That first race in Welch Village MN, Steve won and Drew was hired on the spot for the rest of the season. That first year with Schwinn/Toyota took Drew on his first European tour and ended with a contract as head mechanic for his second season with the team.  Drew transitioned to Mongoose-Hyundai as road manager and head mechanic in ‘99, and in 2000 (Y2K), out of all the mechanics from the entire circuit, he was selected to wrench for the USA Olympic Mountain Bike team in Sydney, Australia. After marching in the closing Olympic ceremonies, his career on the professional circuit saw the riders he wrenched for win multiple National Championships in Cross Country, Downhill and Cyclocross in addition to World Cup victories and a World Championship Title.

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Love at first ride.  The year 2000 was a big year for Drew.  After partying like it was 1999, surviving the Y2K disaster, and participating in the Summer Olympics, Drew met his future wife, Tasha.  As they began a life together, made a couple cross-country moves, they began ruminating ideas of opening a bicycle shop. After life landed them on picturesque Amelia Island in 2013, Drew was wrenching again, riding a lot, and the opportunity presented itself for Drew and Tasha to make their dream a reality.  In May of 2016, SuperCorsa Cycles was opened and here we are.