Geoff Brown has seen some of the biggest stars come and go during his 14-year stint as one of Europe’s top professional mechanics, but he still loves the thrill of a bike race.

For the first time since 1993 when he heads back to North America at the end of the season, he’ll stay there. Brown has decided it’s time to change gears. He’ll leave Discovery Channel to join the Canadian Symetrics team on the North American circuit.

VeloNews.com: How did you get started as a mechanic?

Geoff Brown: I started working in a department store putting bikes together. I come from a cycling family. My dad was an ex-pro. I raced at the amateur level and I quickly found out I was much better at fixing the bike than racing it. You have to go with what you know.

VN: How did you make the jump to become a top-level mechanic?

GB: I was working with the Canadian cycling federation. I worked with the Canadian national team for five years and serviced the bikes during the Barcelona Olympics [in 1992]. Ron Hayman, who was an ex-pro, told me Motorola was looking for mechanics. So I contacted the team and I worked with them at the Tour du Pont in 1993. I came over to Europe and I’ve stayed here ever since. When I got the opportunity to work with Motorola, I jumped at it. It was like a dream come true.

VN: What was your first race in Europe?

GB: I flew into Harelbeke were the service corps was. That was impressive, seeing all the Eddy Merckx bikes. It was just like all the stuff you read about in the magazines. The next day, we jumped in the truck and drove down to Spain. My first race was the Vuelta a Burgos.

VN: What’s best about the life as a pro wrench?

GB: It’s a great lifestyle. It’s a good way to save some money if you’re careful, because all your expenses are always paid. You rent an apartment, but that’s just to collect the mail. You don’t make a lot of money, maybe $30,000 to $40,000. It’s the traveling, the lifestyle. I have no wife, no kids, I’m never home. In the last 14 years, I’ve spent an average of 200 nights a year in hotels.

VN: What was it like working with Lance Armstrong?

GB: He was always checking things out. That’s part of the reason why he was the best. Every time he would get on his bike, I would just hand him a 5mm Allen key and a tape measure. He knew the measurements on his home bike and the position he wanted on his race bike. He was “Mr. Millimeter.” That’s why he got that nickname.

VN: Are all riders as meticulous with their bikes?

GB: Some guys aren’t interested at all in their bikes. Some riders don’t even know how to change a flat. We had a rider once who was trying out some new pedals and he didn’t tell us. Just before the race he gave us a pair of them, but we didn’t have time to mount them. Then later in the race he had to switch bikes and the spare didn’t have the pedals, so we had to do an on-the-road pedal change, which takes about three times as long anything else. That was his race.

VN: Do you take special pride when riders win on bikes you’ve serviced?

GB: A rider wins not because the bike’s working right, but because he’s the strongest. What’s satisfying is that the bike didn’t have any problems. A super-fast wheel-change can save the day. I remember at the Paris-Roubaix that Ekimov finished third [in 2003], I was standing right at the end of the Arenberg forest and Eki flatted. He just stopped right in front of me and I did a lightning fast change and he got right back in the front. He came up to me after the race and said the podium was won because of you.

VN: Why leave Europe now?

GB: You can only do the Tour de France so many times. I’ve done three Giros, 11 Vueltas and 12 Tours. I’ve been there for all the good moments. I was there to see Lance win seven Tours. Not many mechanics can say that.

VN: Why do you stick with it?

GB: I love almost every aspect of the job. You’re working with the best materials with the best people. I am a bike mechanic at heart and I really love the race environment. If it’s a ProTour race or a club race, it’s the excitement of watching guys go quick. I just love that.