The bicycle ...

I was totally shocked to be told that I had a fractured neck vertebrae. "I don't have a broken neck", I said. "Yes, you do", replied the emergency room physician. During my first consultation with my orthopedic surgeon, I was told that I needed to be extremely careful with any physical activity. My C2 vertebrae was in an extremely precarious situation. Certainly, cycling was out of the question. A few weeks later I sold my one year old Giant Cypress bicycle to a dear friend who gave me twice what I paid for it. I used the money to help cover the costs to consult with a naturopathic doctor.

I discovered that I missed my bicycle very much. I kept telling my wife, Karen, how sad I was to have had to give it up. Neither my orthopedic surgeon or I had any expectation that my neck would heal as well and as completely as it has. I was overjoyed to be told that, with some care, I could resume something approaching my normal activities.

Karen and I have lived in the same apartment, very near Victoria Park for twenty-five years. For many of those years we attended the Victoria Park Crafts Fair, held every year in August. After a while though, the craft fair became much the same each year. One only has a need for so many floppy-eared stuffed rabbits, after all.

So, on the Saturday of this year's Victoria Park Craft Sale, Karen and I went around the neighbourhood checking out the yard sales instead. At one yard sale there was an old bicycle for sale for the princely sum of $10. I was very tempted to buy it, but Karen was dissuading me, and we ended up walking away. A block down the street I stopped and said to Karen that it was only $10 after all, and at the very worst, I could clean the bike up and sell it for $50. So, we went back and I bought the $10 bicycle and walked it home.

Over the next few days, I totally disassembled the bicycle and carefully cleaned each part and then re-assembled it. Underneath forty some years of dirt and grime there was a like new Eaton TruLine Glider 3-speed bicycle built at the Raleigh Nottingham factory in England in 1972.  Patterned after the Raleigh Superbe model and made for the Canadian market, it originally sold for $59.99 in the Eaton's mail order catalogue of that year.

It was virtually brand new, with absolutely no rust on its fenders and very little sign of any wear. I had bought an English made 3-speed bicycle, with rims made in France and a Brooks saddle to boot! For $10!!! All told, to date, I have spent a total of $103.80 on repairs and accessories. The only thing wrong with it was a pinhole leak at the valve stem of on of the inner tubes. At my local bike shop, I was told that the Brooks seat alone was worth at least $200. The bicycle itself is worth about $1000 in the collector's market. So this has to be the best yard sale find EVER! I plan to ride the bicycle around Victoria Park for the exercise and to help rebuild my muscle mass and stamina. I have decided to name the bicycle Emily.

These are her stories ...