Cycling

[Mike T]

My first decent-ish bike was a 1969 model Peugeot P8E, drop bars, 10 speed, Dutch "corncob" rear cluster, "tube spécial alliage Peugeot" (in other words, the cheap stuff) with godawful Simplex gears made out of delrin plastic.  Oh yeah and steel chromed Rigida rims.  Nevertheless, this bike was my riding partner between early 1970 and 1978.  In the period 1970-1972, I rode it around the southern part of the Netherlands, and into Germany and Belgium, on day trips with my friends.  We were all aged 10-12.

I moved back to Canada in 1972 and this bike came with me.  The rear derailleur got caught in the spokes so I got a cheap Campagnolo unit, the 700C tires were not available in Canada so my Dad had to buy me new wheels (with a new Alpine rear cluster, YES!) and a few other repairs were made over the years.  The bike was too small for me by then but the household budget was limited....Someone in North Vancouver relieved me of this Peugeot in 1978.  I really should thank them.

I tried to get another Peugeot but they were not available locally in 1978, at least not a decent one with 531 tubes.  So the insurance company bought me a new 1978 Raleigh Super Course with a 25" frame, 531 triangle, Suntour Cyclone stuff, Weinmann rims, a good basic bike.  That bike and I have been inseparable since I was 18 and it is still used regularly as a beater, with fenders fitted.  I crashed it heavily in 1993 and bent the frame.  A friend in France looked up new Peugeot frames and I considered getting one, but the damaged frame was straightened at a builder's shop in Edmonton and so it soldiered on.  And it does so today with about 45,000 km on it.

As an aside, Peugeot spun off its bike making business to Cycleurope in ~1990 so they have been Peugeots in name only since then.  And now the Peugeot family is talking about revoking their licensing agreements to all other spun off businesses (scooters, bikes, pepper mills, hand tools, power tools....).  So I really didn't want another Peugeot bike, even in 1993.

In 2010 I bought my first new bike since 1978: a Cervélo RS, 58 cm frame, Shimano Ultegra all around plus Fulcrum Racing 1 Competition wheels.  Even though it's a fairly basic bike by modern standards, it's a friggin' rocket on the road, dead reliable and I have put about 17,000 km on it in 5 years (plus the Raleigh gets ridden a fair bit too).

These days I typically ride 4000-5000 km in a season (only at 1100 so far in 2016, but the year is young).  Every year I ride the Granfondo Axel Merckx in Penticton BC and sometimes one other.  Last year my son (who has a Cannondale Synapse with Mavic Ksyrium wheels) and I rode from Jasper to Banff in two days on these bikes.  We left care packages at the midpoint (Saskatchewan River Crossing) and the endpoint (Best Western Siding 29 in Banff) and rode with virtually nothing to carry.  The weather was turning those first two days of September so we had some interesting 0 degree and sleet weather on the Icefields summit!

Love cycling!

[Mike T]

My latest bike is a 2011 Cramerotti Vidante steel framed classic bike with a full Ultegra group and Fulcrum Racing 1 wheels.  It's painted a lovely Celeste colour (pastel turquoise) and was a gift from the sister of a very close friend who died in February 2016.  He custom ordered this bike when I was with him in 2011 and he rode it beside me in several granfondos.

[Bean]

Sorry I missed reading this - great history Mike!

I started looking at this as I just ordered a whack of "new to me" parts for my Comete Galaxie build.  This is mostly a fun / show bike since it's period correct to my 89 505 Turbo, but I will ride it a fair bit.  Hoping to "Try a tri" this summer if all goes well so I wanted a nice road bike to compete on.  Won't be going after any records so not concerned at all about pace - just wanted to see if I could do it is all.

Rabin

[Mike T]

Xmas gift!