About Us

Our Story:

Aedan T. O'Connell, born in Dublin, Ireland in the early 60's. He is the second of three children. He was educated at his local Catholic School and began cycling out of necessity: there was no other way to get to class. In 1978, he worked a summer, farming job to make enough money to buy his first racing bike. Later, after taking his first job at a downtown department store (famous for its clock), Aedan commuted the 10 miles daily by bike.

Aedan moved to Sydney, Australia in 1988. He returned to Ireland and opened his first bike business in 1989. He put an ad in the local newspaper to "buy old bikes for cash." He bought and refurbished these bikes, resold them and lived on this income. This way, he funded his first European trip to check out the Tour de France.

Although Aedan has retail experience, he would describe his bike assembly and repair skills as self-taught. He needed to learn bike repair in order to service his own bike. He has recently adapted to the industry standards of E-bikes and upgrades such as hydraulic disc brakes and others.

Aedan moved to the USA to attend seminary in 1990 and married in 1995.  He and his lovely wife, Bernadette, lived in Ireland for 7 years before returning to America. They welcomed their first child in 2000 and second in 2008. For many years, Aedan did not cycle routinely. In 2011, a health scare provided the impetus to begin regular training and racing again. He began racing in bike races in Baltimore, Maryland, and took up the Gran Fondo competitions in 2014. In 2015, he opened Spokeman Mobile Bike Repair on a part-time basis.

Aedan’s other interests are Rugby, Cricket and Mission Work to Nepal. In 2020, Aedan and Bernadette celebrated their 25th Anniversary.

Aedan took a summer harvesting job in Dublin in 1978 and saved 10 pounds weekly for 8 and a half weeks in order to buy his first racing bike, a Raleigh Scorpio. He joined his first Cycling club in 1979 called Clann Brugha. He cycled to work each day and joined a second club, Lorraine in 1984, moving on to Eagle CRC in 1986. He raced for these clubs for three years, won two club races. He gained a high placing in the Mullingar GP Open race, also in that year.

To date, Aedan has completed fifteen Gran Fondo centuries (one hundred mile race) and finished in the top ten on seven occasions in his age category.  He recently placed 2nd Overall in the COVID-hit, 2020 Highlands Gran Fondo in Butler NJ. He qualified and  participated in the first USA  Cycling Gran Fondo National Championships in Ashville, NC. 

In 2022, Aedan placed 3rd in the Highlands event in his age category. He was hoping to hang up his wheels, but the recently-announced Gran Fondo Nationals took place in his home state of Maryland. This forced a rethink......

Aedan is a Pastor/Minister and radio broadcaster of the Gospel. He trained at Maryland Bible College & Seminary, (mbcs.edu), He was a missionary to Chester, England before starting a ministry in his native Dublin, Ireland where he was overseeing Pastor. There, he hosted  a weekly radio broadcast. In recent years, he has made several Mission trips to Nepal, India, Hungary, Poland and Ireland. He currently ministers weekly online with listeners from Ireland, Nepal and the US.

Aedan is currently setting up a new ministry in Washington DC

Anyone can tune in to Aedan's broadcast at:: facebook.com/gracechurch.ireland