Cycling lost one of its most ardent supporters and technical geniuses when Sheldon Brown died from a heart attack on Feb. 3. He was 63 and had been suffering from progressive multiple sclerosis that kept him off two wheels and on a recumbent trike since September 2006.

Brown, known as "Capt. Bicycle," was the long-time head mechanic, tech guru and webmaster for Harris Cyclery in West Newton, Massachusetts.

Many cyclists knew him from the shop's website at http://sheldonbrown.com/harris and from his more personal site at http://sheldonbrown.org/bicycle.html

Brown wrote profusely, sometimes with the nom-de-plume "Christopher Joyce," producing hundreds of thousands of words on bike history, technology and components for his websites and for magazines such as Bike World, Bicycling, American Bicyclist and Adventure Cyclist. His cycling knowledge was often rightly termed "encyclopedic."

According to his last blog entry, dated the day he died, Brown was looking forward to casting his vote on Super Tuesday for Barack Obama after being influenced by his daughter's work for the senator's campaign.

RBR eBook author David Rowe commented after hearing of Brown's death: "I cannot even believe what an impact that man has had on garage mechs like me. His Raleigh rebuilds inspired me to retrofit a 1973 Super Course and buy a 3-speed that is hanging on the rack waiting for its clean-up. It's a terrible loss to our community."

Says RBR's Alan "Uncle Al" Ardizone, "I remember Sheldon walking the aisles at Interbike, always with a bunch of people hanging around. It was like seeing the Pied Piper in action. Those surrounding him were probably hoping that some of his genius would rub off and that a tiny crumb of his cycling knowledge would come their way. There are few like him left, the mechanic's mechanic. Calling him Guru is proper, and the bike was his mantra. Now what are we going to do?"