I've been taking a mechanic's class at my LBS. The classes are two hours each for six weeks. This week will be the last class.

We have done things to our bikes that I would never have imagined that I would tackle myself. While I don't envision that I will ever have a career as a professional mechanic I have found that it is really cool to have a much better understanding of how everything works on it. It's been very satisfying to take things apart and be able to put it all back together again (and have it still work correctly). There were so many things on the bike that I would have been afraid to touch myself, but not anymore. I really looking forward to doing my own maintenance work. For the things that I can't do myself I'll be able to communicate my issues much better to the mechanics at my shop.

I would highly recommend taking some classes to everyone. Hopefully you'll have instructors as great as the two that have been teaching our classes.