For whatever reason I’ve always loved getting around on a wheel or two… wheel love makes the world go around I guess! Decade to decade, here’s how it’s gone down.
Wheel Love Stories:
1960’s:
- Born in the 60’s. Peace, love and… hippies
1970’s:
- Teaching myself how to ride on a hand-me down 16″ pushie that my 4 older siblings had learnt to ride on
- Trying to ‘ride away’ from home one Sunday morning when the rest of family was at church
- Doubling my sister down a sandy track on our big sister’s bike that way too big for us, speeding out of control and crashing into the grass on the side of the road. We spent the rest of the day crashing into the grass!
- Numerous trips to ambulance and doctors to get stitched up, assorted gashes cleaned out
- Getting my first big road bike and seeing how fast and close I could ride beside the house, inevitably smearing myself along the house wall
1980’s:
- Building ever bigger jumps using car tires and planks, ending in broken bones
- Getting my first geared ‘race bike’, a 10 speed Apollo III
- Riding to school in the next town along the national highway – always a tailwind in one direction
- Surviving a head on collision with a car
- Moving from the country to Brisbane and discovering the death-wish art of slip-streaming semi’s and city buses
- Riding Pedicabs at World Expo
- Heading bush in 1988 on a solo MTB tour of Queensland and the Northern Territory, made it to the tip of Cape York and ended up at Uluru several months later
1990’s:
- Living in the Victorian High Country (Falls Creek and Bogong Village) for six years, MTB’ing all over the Bogong High Plains almost every day outside of the Winter ski seasons
2000’s:
- After years of highly enjoyable abuse, lower back surgery put MTB’ing on hold for most of the decade.
- Rebuilt core while learning to unicycle and exploring the Wombat Forest over several years on mountain unicycles
2010’s:
- An unexpected second chance to enjoy two wheels. WOO-FRICKIN-HOO!
- Exploring MTB trails around Australia on my dream bike – an Ibis Mojo HD
… 2013 update: Ibis Mojo HDR 650b
… 2015 update: Ibis Mojo HD3
… 2016 update: Ibis Mojo 3
… 2018 update: Ibis Mojo Ripmo
To be continued… fingers crossed!
Holy moly! I had a Apollo Everest in 1988! But always wanted a Yeti since ’86 but being a poor arse couldn’t afford one (or the import taxes!), barely could afford an Everest. hehe.
That is too cool thylaxene! Sometimes I wished I’d kept a hold of the Everest, oh well.
I hear ya re the Yeti and the other iconic bikes of early MTB. I’m still drawn to those today.