For the love of cycling
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Mike Dennison of Sustrans Scotland has been spending some of lockdown in his workshop after finding an old bike with special memories
Renovate or ‘recycle’? A question most bike owners face at one time or another.
On this occasion, I was looking at a neglected old Peugeot road bike, which lay abandoned in the back of my shed.
The bike dated back to the mid '80s, and was in a sorry state. It was covered in rust and grime, the perished tyres barely clinging to the buckled wheels, and the bar tape was in tatters.
It was a wreck… edging ever closer towards the skip. "The next time I go to the recycling centre..." I muttered to myself.
But a chance discovery a couple of weeks later, and that old bike took on a new significance.
I was in my home office, rummaging through drawers and folders. Lockdown 'cabin fever' had triggered another attempt to declutter – a chance to get rid of redundant paperwork; bank statements from years gone by, and operating instructions for devices I no longer owned.
As I sent another handful of paperwork spinning towards the bin, out fluttered an old hand-written receipt.
The paper was faded and creased, and it clearly warranted a closer inspection. To my surprise, I could see it was a receipt for a bicycle. Not just any old bike, but my Peugeot road bike – the one that was disintegrating in the back of the shed!
In an instant, I was taken back to that sunny Saturday afternoon in August 1986, the day I picked up my new bike.
I’d completed my first year at Bangor University in North Wales, and was back home for the summer. Eager to generate some cash, I'd picked up a job tractor driving on a local fruit farm.
Why the urgency for the cash? Well, I’d lived in a hall of residence during my first year, but the plan was to move into a cottage out in the sticks for my second year, along with my new girlfriend!
The only flaw in my plan was transport, the cottage being six miles from campus, and nowhere near a bus route.
The solution? I would buy myself a road bike. I'd always owned a bike as a kid, spending endless hours racing my brothers around the garden and the local woods. But at some point during my teenage years, I’d grown out of my three-speed Raleigh 'hand me down', and hadn’t been bothered enough about it to find a replacement.
Now seemed like the ideal time.
I’d spotted the bike in the window of ‘BN Bragg, Cycle Agent and Repairer’. It was a racing bike – a mustard coloured Peugeot 'Aubisque’ – all pristine paintwork and polished alloy.
There were other bikes in the window too, in various colours and sizes, but my mind was made up – this was the one for me. I went into the shop and paid a £50 deposit, watching with satisfaction as Mr Bragg marked the price ticket ‘SOLD’.
At 9am the following Saturday, I excitedly handed over four weeks' wages, and that beautiful bike was mine!
Sitting in my office, looking at that old receipt, I could vividly recall many of my early outings. My daily commute in all weathers, to and from university. And the occasional much longer ride up into Snowdonia via the Llanberis Pass or the Ogwen valley. Usually in jeans and a T-shirt, and with a Pac-a-Mac stuffed in my back pocket; no-one wore helmets back then.
And the return trips were often pretty ‘interesting’ as I didn’t own any lights!
That bike had been bought for a purpose – to enable me to move in with my girlfriend – and it had served that purpose well. As I reflected on those daily rides and early adventures, that rusty old bike took on a new significance. It was transformed in my mind…from worthless, to priceless.
So where’s the bike now? Well I’m pleased to report that it’s on my bike maintenance stand, in the very early stages of what will be a long, and probably expensive restoration.
And when my wife inevitably asks me why I need yet another bike, I’ll remind her that 35 years ago, she was the reason I bought it.
- Mike Dennison is marketing and tourism development coordinator for Sustrans Scotland
