I remember my love affair with riding began with a little red-and-white tricycle at about age 4. Then my first two-wheeler was a neat candy-apple red CCM single speed at age 5. I remember my grandmother helping me learn to ride it in Riley Park in Calgary. I was hooked!! My next bike was also a red CCM single speed which I rode until I was 12, when my parents bought me my first good multi-speed bike. It was British-made Falcon. I was thrilled! Ten speeds...woo-hooo! Real derailleurs! Campagnolo at that! Reynolds 531 frame, Weinmann brakes....a real European road bike (entry level for sure, but how exotic it was to me)! How I cherished that bike! I rode it absolutely everywhere and eventually outgrew it. I gave it to my little sister when my parents bought me the exact same bike in a larger size. I explored on it, I rode to school on it, I even raced it in High School. I still have very, very fond memories of those Falcons. Unfortunately, my second Falcon was stolen; I was so hooked on cycling that I went out and bought my beloved Gitane Tour De France in 1977 (and I still ride it today almost 30 years later.) I learned how to tune and maintain bikes, and soon I was doing my own upgrades and overhauls. In the mid-80's, I was bitten my the mountain bike bug, and I bought a Bianchi MTB. My poor Gitane hung in the garage for years as I discovered the joys of not eating exhaust and battling heavy traffic, and the sweet pleasure of riding in the rainforest and on the beaches around here. A whole different world! Fifteen years of corporate life followed those heady days; I put on too much weight, took on too much stress, and barely rode at all. In the late 90's I bailed from the corporate world into semi-retirement and got back on my bikes. But surgery for PCO, and metabolism problems happened. Lord...how those first couple of years back on the bikes HURT! But it was a good kind of pain, and I've never looked back. Today, I love to find vintage bikes and restore them, partly for the joy of bringing a faded rose back to life, and partly for the sheer pleasure of riding the classic bikes of my youth. I still battle weight and metabolism problems, but I ride now as much or more now than I did 30 years ago. I am a cyclist, I will always be a cyclist.
Happy and safe riding to you all!
~Sherry.