logo
  • Explore
    • Local Events
    • Local News
    • Local Organisations
  • News
    • Community
    • Local Government
    • Sports
    • Alberta Politics
    • Opinion
    • Deke
  • Peaks & Valleys
    • Wildlife
    • Snow Sports
    • Hiking and Climbing
    • Biking
    • Fishing
  • Culture
    • Jasper Arts & Culture
    • Local Dining
    • Local Literature
  • Jasper History
    • Explore
      • Local Events
      • Local News
      • Local Organisations
    • News
      • Community
      • Local Government
      • Sports
      • Alberta Politics
      • Opinion
      • Deke
    • Peaks & Valleys
      • Wildlife
      • Snow Sports
      • Hiking and Climbing
      • Biking
      • Fishing
    • Culture
      • Jasper Arts & Culture
      • Local Dining
      • Local Literature
    • Jasper History
It was always about MORE THAN THE BIKE
Arts and Culture, Biking, Jasper History, Local Literature, Peaks & Valleys
By Bob Covey
Monday, June 25, 2018
It was always about MORE THAN THE BIKE

It was 1993. May. The almost two-month long siege at Waco Texas had just ended in terrible massacre; the siege of Sarajevo by the Bosnian Serbs was into its second year.

The following month would see TVs final episode of Cheers and rave reviews for blockbuster movie Jurassic Park.

There was no fanfare for us, however, as we stuttered into town broken and beat in an old Ford Tempo hardly running. I’d lost my wife (Liam’s Mum) to cancer, my five bedroom house in BC, and the wolves had eaten my dog.

That summer Liam and I rented a bedroom in Wes and Nevada’s apartment—and got a real education. We watched the brothers respoking bike wheels on the living room floor; tuning up a Cannondale, hearing about Gary Fisher bikes and Manitou suspension forks, clip-on pedals and trails to ride around town. Bikes got fixed to U2’s The Joshua Tree—With Or Without You; I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For (my signature tune still)—and Leonard Cohen’s Closing Time and Democracy. Wow! Heavy stuff those early Nineties. A time when you could do the amazing Ho-Chi-Min and Bike Toss trails and take your dog wherever you liked.  Wood for campfires was free and you could find  Freewheel Cycle next to the old Husky station on Patricia.

Gunner was the mechanic. Dave was there. Steve. And  Dale had his hole-in-the-wall Gravity Gear with a mickey-mouse climbing wall and a mattress on the floor. Liam and I would go there every day, visiting, hearing about bikes and trails, trying on Lycra shorts and flashy jerseys, imagining.  Then one afternoon Dave let me take some bikes for test runs, while Liam fell on his head making deft moves on Dale’s wall.   

But not just any old bikes: Rocky Mountain bikes.

I tested the Blizzard, the Fusion, and the Hammer up Trail 2. I settled on the Blizzard with its twenty-one gears, light steel frame, SPD pedals and its amazing ability on hills if the fellow doing the pumping was up for it. Gunner trimmed down the headset and fitted Amp forks, the second lightest suspension forks next to the Manitou in the whole wide world, or so I was told. For the first time in my life I owned transportation that attracted admiring whistles and comments.

Decked out from Freewheel I was now King of the Road, flashing down Main Street in my synthetic ultrasuede chamois jet-black Pearlizumi cycle shorts, gripping handlebars with hands incased in pink (shows off suntanned arms best) Lycra cycle gloves, wearing yellow and black high-performance Shimano cycle shoes clipped into my SPD pedal system, athwart my Rocky Mountain charger. If my 100% polyester Sugoi cycle jersey had been yellow instead of plum-purple, I could have done victory laps round town with flower wreaths around my neck and applause and cheers ringing in my ears. As it was I got “Cool bike!” “Wow! Amp forks, never seen them before! Must be the only bike in town with them. How do they ride?”

“They ride my friend, let me tell you!” And to admiring gazes we would do another lap around the Arc de Triomphe. It didn’t seem to matter that a three-year-old kid, suitably attired in ladies’ gear (you couldn’t find hard-core stuff for little kids back then) from Freewheel, was plonked over the back wheel, the audience was too busy ooh-ing and aah-ing at my machine.

 

Well that all lasted till next year’s models came out and everyone upgraded. Then nobody gave us a second glance, unless it was “Look at that silly old fart dressed up like he’s in the Tour de France. Shouldn’t be allowed on the streets if you ask me.” Although I still got enquiries about the Amp forks. Apparently, they weren’t making them any more, they were becoming museum curiosities—like the owner.

We rode Bike Toss, The-Ho-Chi-Min, Signal Mountain, The Valley of the Five, The Palisades, Death Wall, The Overlander, I was building up my calf muscles until they were getting more admiring glances than the bike. I wore my cap backwards that year, not because of a mid-life crisis but rather to identify with “the boys.” My mother would have been appalled—“Mutton dressed as lamb,” she would have said.

I rode and rode that summer, burning off the pain I suppose, and always with my coxswain on the back of the bike: “DAD! I SAID TURN HERE!”

A two-dollar child seat from a junk shop had changed my life. I no longer had to stay within the bounds of a little boy’s walking ability. As long as I could pedal, we had the freedom of the hills to go to impossible places together. We had picnics by secret lakes and hidden creeks, we watched marmots and pikas when we pedaled to the land above the trees, we saw squirrels and bears and Indian Paintbrush. We sped like Mongolian horsemen down trails, sometimes wiping out because of going so fast.

We spent hours and hours goofing around at Freewheel Cycle. Visiting. Talking with the guys. Listening. Hearing their advice. They were all so friendly to a beaten old man and his little boy. If it was a bike seat on the back of a bike that launched our mountain careers, then it was a Rocky Mountain Blizzard from the guys at Freewheel that got us rolling.

Dave Harrap // info@thejasperlocal.com

Jasper’s David Harrap is the author of The Littlest Hiker in the Canadian Rockies. In 1993 he tested and settled on the Rocky Mountain Blizzard. In subsequent seasons in Jasper, Rocky Mountain blizzards have tested and settled on him.      

Articles You May LIke ›
Most Read ›
Fully funded bridge proposal rebuffed by Jasper’s superintendent
News
Fully funded bridge proposal rebuffed by Jasper’s superintendent
Bob Covey 
Friday, May 5, 2023
Jasper National Park Superintendent Alan Fehr has declined a private offer to rebuild a washed-out bridge at Simon Creek, a structure which would allo...
this is a test
NDP’s Kreiner withdraws from all-candidates forum
Local Government
NDP’s Kreiner withdraws from all-candidates forum
Bob Covey 
Monday, May 15, 2023
West Yellowhead’s NDP candidate Fred Kreiner has elected not to participate in Jasper’s scheduled all-candidates forum. “I’ve decided and the NDP part...
this is a test
Helicopter sustains “incredible” damage after accident on Columbia Icefields
Community
Helicopter sustains “incredible” damage after accident on Columbia Icefields
Bob Covey 
Monday, April 24, 2023
A helicopter transporting Natural Resources Canada glacier surveyors had a hard landing on an icefield in Banff National Park April 14. The accident l...
this is a test
Letter: Keep up the public pressure to make Jasper’s backcountry safe
Opinion
Letter: Keep up the public pressure to make Jasper’s backcountry safe
Tuesday, May 9, 2023
Re: Fully funded bridge proposal rebuffed by Jasper's superintendent (May 5, 2023) Dear Editor, This is an excellent article in The Jasper Local. I am...
this is a test
Latest ›
Letter: Maintaining the Athabasca Pass Heritage Trail
Opinion
Letter: Maintaining the Athabasca Pass Heritage Trail
Thursday, May 18, 2023
re: Fully funded bridge proposal rebuffed by Jasper’s superintendent (May 5, 2023)  Dear Editor, The Athabasca Pass Heritage Trail is a Canadian icon ...
this is a test
Store manager leaving a legacy of customer care
Store manager leaving a legacy of customer care
Bob Covey 
Thursday, May 18, 2023
Rick Lagace has stocked his last shelf. The store manager at TGP Your Jasper Grocer is retiring. Over hotdogs and pop in the TGP parking lot, Lagace s...
this is a test
Forty and fabulous: Mountain Air an OG of Jasper retail
Business
Forty and fabulous: Mountain Air an OG of Jasper retail
Wednesday, May 17, 2023
Mountain Air stands as one of Jasper’s most unique, well-established shopping locations. Having celebrated the store’s 40th anniversary recently, the ...
this is a test
NDP’s Kreiner withdraws from all-candidates forum
Local Government
NDP’s Kreiner withdraws from all-candidates forum
Bob Covey 
Monday, May 15, 2023
West Yellowhead’s NDP candidate Fred Kreiner has elected not to participate in Jasper’s scheduled all-candidates forum. “I’ve decided and the NDP part...
this is a test

NEXT ARTICLE

Jasper cyclist pushing her limits in world’s longest self-supported bike race

Biking, News, Peaks & Valleys, Sports

Most Read ›
Fully funded bridge proposal rebuffed by Jasper’s superintendent
News
Fully funded bridge proposal rebuffed by Jasper’s superintendent
Bob Covey 
Friday, May 5, 2023
Jasper National Park Superintendent Alan Fehr has declined a private offer to rebuild a washed-out bridge at Simon Creek, a structure which would allo...
this is a test
NDP’s Kreiner withdraws from all-candidates forum
Local Government
NDP’s Kreiner withdraws from all-candidates forum
Bob Covey 
Monday, May 15, 2023
West Yellowhead’s NDP candidate Fred Kreiner has elected not to participate in Jasper’s scheduled all-candidates forum. “I’ve decided and the NDP part...
this is a test
Helicopter sustains “incredible” damage after accident on Columbia Icefields
Community
Helicopter sustains “incredible” damage after accident on Columbia Icefields
Bob Covey 
Monday, April 24, 2023
A helicopter transporting Natural Resources Canada glacier surveyors had a hard landing on an icefield in Banff National Park April 14. The accident l...
this is a test
Letter: Keep up the public pressure to make Jasper’s backcountry safe
Opinion
Letter: Keep up the public pressure to make Jasper’s backcountry safe
Tuesday, May 9, 2023
Re: Fully funded bridge proposal rebuffed by Jasper's superintendent (May 5, 2023) Dear Editor, This is an excellent article in The Jasper Local. I am...
this is a test
Latest ›
Perfect pitch: Jasper golfer an ambassador for women and deaf athletes
News
Perfect pitch: Jasper golfer an ambassador for women and deaf athletes
Women’s Golf Day at the Fairmont Jasper Park Lodge Golf Club is June 6
Bob Covey 
Wednesday, May 31, 2023
Dressed in Sunday red, balanced perfectly on her follow-through and watching her golf ball arc above a stand of aspens on the hardest ranked hole at S...
this is a test
Team Orange has the blues: Low voter turnout in Neverland
Alberta Politics
Team Orange has the blues: Low voter turnout in Neverland
Bob Covey 
Tuesday, May 30, 2023
Despite pundits calling this election the most important in Alberta’s history, only one in four eligible Jasperites made the trip down to the Jasper A...
this is a test
Undying loyalty to political parties (and hockey teams) is bad for Alberta
Editorial
Undying loyalty to political parties (and hockey teams) is bad for Alberta
Bob Covey 
Friday, May 26, 2023
Confession time: for as long as I can remember, I’ve been a Calgary Flames fan. It’s not my fault! When you’re eight-years-old and your dad is dancing...
this is a test
GYPSD trustees question Alberta charter schools
GYPSD trustees question Alberta charter schools
Bob Covey 
Friday, May 26, 2023
Grande Yellowhead Public School Division’s board of trustees is speaking out against publicly-funded charter schools. In an opinion piece run in regio...
this is a test

Copyright © The Jasper Local

This site complies with Jasper requirements
Contact us
Privacy Policy
Advertise With Us
About The Jasper Local
Accessibility Policy
This site complies with Jasper requirements
  • Contact us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Advertise With Us
  • About The Jasper Local
  • Accessibility Policy

Follow Us

Advertise with us

Measurable, targeted, local. Email example@thejasperlocal.com

ePaper
coogle_play
app_store

© Copyright The Jasper Local