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Like most of you, I started riding as a kid, like many of you, continued it into my early adult years then, like a surprising number of you, returned to and left cycling in rotation throughout my
early adult and middle years. Now that I'm nearing the end of my middle years, the old love has returned and looks like staying for awhile.
Why ride treddlies in the first place? Many people rave on about the health benefits. Well, they do apply, but I'm on these bikes because I enjoy riding them. They give me an activity that I can
do right from my front door ... unlike the boats which demand a certain amount of driving and preparation. You can take your bike anywhere, either by riding it there or, as I often do, drive to a
place and go riding from there. The car carrier is one of the great givers of freedom, especially if you live where I do - I can tell when I'm home because it's suddenly become flat! With the car
carrier, I can tailor my ride from heavy climbing to flat running, from rolling hills to long, steady climbs. I can go for a targetted training session or a recovery ride, I can aim to put in a
decent distance or I can just go for a potter, I can brave the open road or do intervals at the velodrome. But best of all, I can just jump on the bike and go for a ride with no more mucking about
than shutting the front door.
I've owned a few bikes over the years, as you do. Some stayed long and became good friends, others left fairly quickly to make room for more suitable steeds. The bikes shown here are the bikes
that currently fill my dining room.
First though, I'd like to mention the old white bike, not the bike that started it all, but the bike that took me from a kid riding his treddly, to an adult with an adult's bike.
I was in first year at uni - late seventies. Mum had to go to a shop to buy something and I went with her. We walked past a bike shop (now long gone) and there, in the window, was a white racer. I
was stunned. I'd already devoured 'Richard's Bicycle Book' several times, and this white racer was the 'one'. I went back later, handed over a great chunk of money, and rode her home. A simple old
girl - ten speed gears, rack, 1 1/4" wheels. She took me the 15km to uni every day, on and off, for four years, then followed me to Sydney where I sold her (fool that I was, but I'd just discovered
MGs). She did however, plant, germinate and tend the seeds that fed the cyclng obsession for the rest of my life.
There were a couple of bikes between that white racer and the Europa, notably two Nishiki racers - neither of which fitted particularly well.  The Europa was the start of the modern era. I bought her in the early to mid eighties. She commuted to work, went for
weekend rides, played the pack mule for many years. It was a turbulent time for my cycling. Typically, I'd get enthused during the Tour de France, ride everywhere for a bit, then it'd fade. Some
years it'd fade within months, other years I was still riding when the next Tour started. Through this period, I was heavily involved with motorbikes and that aided the cycle.
Then the dark years. My first divorce put me off the bike completely - it's hard to be a cyclist when you're a single Dad, then a second, disastrous marriage which saw me off the bikes completely.
Near the end of that time, I bought the horrible hybrid featured below as 'The Sow's Ear' - a choice based on cost and enthusiasm rather than more sensible reasons. I tried hard to love that bike but
it just didn't work for me and I couldn't understand why I wasn't enjoying my riding. Three years of off and on riding finally saw me drag the old Europa off the wall, do the repairs needed to get
her back on the road and I finally realised why I wasn't enjoying the riding - that damned bike. The rest is ... well ... obsession.
 The Europa answered the recall to duty with all the enthusiasm and power that
made her such a lovely bike to ride when young. In short order, my fitness and strength were growning, distances were increasing and I was looking at either modernising her or buying new bike. Enter
the Black Beast, my Trek520 - a touring bike but modified by me to become a randonneur, an alrounder. The Black Beast has seen me do my first century (metric), attack and conquer some nasty climbs
and has finished the job the Europa started - cementing cycling in my life. But the old Europa? No shed queen there - she now enjoys a second life as a fixie.
What about the horrible hybrid? She was heavily modified to become the Sow's Ear. This proved what I'd suspected, that a half reasonable bike hid in there but that she was too small for me. She
become the tug vehicle for my daughter's tag-along and serves in the stationary trainer, but even those tasks have been taken from her with the purchase of my mountain bike, the ancient Diamondback
featured below.
Enough chatter, now to the bikes (which is why you're here isn't it?)
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Go straight to the bikes
