In early 2008, I moved to the post of senior editor, allowing me to work remotely, to use my "spare" time to concentrate on law school and to allow the company to expand our on-line staff by bringing an in-house web editor on board. While the addition of another full-time editorial position and a full-time developer have resulted in even greater growth, I trust that I share at least some of the credit for the phenomenal growth and profitability of VeloNews.com in recent years

     I have also worked closely with our book division VeloPress, authoring and co-authoring several books since my arrival at the company, including an annual wrap-up of events at the Tour de France and, most recently, Thomas Prehn's book, Racing Tactics for Cyclists, now on its second printing. I have also served as managing editor of several of VeloPress's top selling titles, including Zinn and the Art of Mountain bike Maintenance, Joe Friel's Cyclist's Training Bible and one of the company's most profitable titles, the Barnett's Manual, a detailed repair guide for shop owners. 

• Books
• Interviews
• Some sample clips

*NOTE: After 11 years at VeloNews, I accepted a new position at the University of Wyoming to edit the school's quarterly magazine, UWyo, in the fall of 2005. I leapt at the chance, because I love Laramie and the university and the magazine is a wonderful outreach tool for both. I realized in retrospect, however, that my new position did not offer me the professional and personal flexibility that I had at VeloNews. Despite my six-month absence, VeloNews had not yet found a replacement and after a long series of back-and-forth discussions, I accepted a generous offer to embrace the best of both worlds, return to my old full-time position and continue to be based in Laramie. (I don't really care who "invented" the Internet, I'm just grateful it's here.)

    While it was an exciting opportunity, coordinating the geographic demands of a dual-career household and the birth of our first child prompted us to return to the Rocky Mountains.

1989 to 1993
Staff Writer: Casper Star-Tribune
     I served as the Star-Tribune's Laramie bureau reporter and as the second reporter in the paper's Capitol bureau in Cheyenne. My initial assignment was to cover the budget and administration of the University of Wyoming, but that was later expanded to include economic, environmental and political issues in the state. I also covered five regular and two special sessions of the Wyoming state legislature and became something of an expert on the esoteric subject of legislative redistricting.

     Small states offer an amazing opportunity for new reporters, especially when working for a very aggressive statewide paper. At the time, the Star-Tribune had an absolutely amazing collection of editors and reporters. Looking back, I still feel privileged to have been a part of that group. Despite the long hours and low pay, I have always regarded my time at the Star-Tribune as the most enjoyable and rewarding of my professional career.

1987 to 1989
Assistant News Director: KUWR-FM
     Frank Imhoff, then news director of KUWR-FM in Laramie, Wyoming, took a chance at hiring me despite the fact that I had virtually no experience in radio – or journalism, for that matter. No experience and still Frank allowed me to serve as local anchor for the National Public Radio news program "Morning Edition." He didn't even fire me that morning I started laughing uncontrollably while doing a report on a bovine disease called Blue Tongue. He should have, but I am forever grateful that he did not.

     I later also hosted a late-night jazz and blues program and a public affairs television program. Watching myself on television convinced me that my future probably lay in print or radio.

Prior to 1987
     Gee. Where do I start? Let's see... I have been a book store clerk, a bike shop manager, an economics researcher, a bike mechanic, a waiter, a cycling coach, a janitor, a guy who cleans operating rooms between surgical cases, a bag boy, a delivery truck driver, a fish cleaner, a freezer rat in a fish factory, a grown-up version of a paper boy, publisher, writer and editor of an underground newspaper, a longshoreman, a construction worker, a telephone salesman, a cage cleaner at a vet's office, a gas station attendant and Forest Service trail crew grunt.

     As one interviewer put it in 1988, "Well Mr. Pelkey, it certainly can't be said that you think of yourself as being too good for any kind of work. I guess that's a plus." (That was a compliment, right?)

     While some may be reluctant to include that sort of work on a professional résumé, I personally think such a background is reflective of a willingness to do what it takes to get a job done. 

Education
     I recently completed my juris doctorate at the University of Wyoming College of Law, a project I took on while employed as a full-time editor at VeloNews, a job that required considerable international travel and a full range of writing and editing duties.

     In 2006, I became the first non-degreed admission to the school in nearly 30 years. It was big honor but, at times, I personally questioned the admission committee's decision, particularly during the first semester of my first year. Nonetheless, I stuck with it and completed my JD in May of 2009. Law school seems to me to be the only place in which you can find yourself juggling all of that - job, graduate school, family and finances - and still feel both lazy and stupid.

     I did attend the University of Wyoming back in the late 1970s, eventually majoring in economics, although I never finished my degree. I have more credit hours in economics than required, along with a huge number of others collected across a wide swath of subjects ranging from regulatory and environmental economics to film to Chinese, German and Russian languages to radio production and whatever else caught my eye at the time. Indeed, I believe that I have everything except for that intro' biology class I forgot to take in my freshman year, back in 1976. Embarrassed? Quite ... but the JD has gone a long way toward assuaging the guilt and embarrassment of my ne'er-do-well late adolescence. 

     I have also successfully completed both the written and oral portions of the U.S. State Department Foreign Service Examination (1988/89), which in turn opened up several interesting opportunities, including my job at the Star-Tribune and my position in Senator Simpson's office.

Other Skills: I am well versed in the usual computer skills required of anyone in newspaper and magazine work. I am comfortable using Quark, Adobe PhotoShop and can build and maintain a straight-forward network for a small office. Along the way, I have acquired some basic programming skills, including C++, Java, HTML and (just to prove just how very old I am) Fortran.

Other interests: Bicycling, mountaineering, back-country skiing, a rather odd attempt at restoring a 60-year-old jeep and, above all, our children, Philip and Annika.

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