That Was the Year That Was

Every year comes with its highs and lows.  And 2013 was no exception. One low was meeting Wolfgang in Beaverdell.  The backslapping, joking fool who ended up spraying us with gravel and dust when he passed us in his car while we were riding our bikes on the Kettle Valley Railway.

While nearly everything I do on a bike is enjoyable, being able to rent a bike in Portugal and visit the historic sites like the old fort pictured above, was most definitely a cycling high.

2013 brought the news that the landlord of our community bike shop wanted our space to themselves which meant moving BikeWorks South to a new location.  My reaction to this change was one of optimism - here was an opportunity to make an even better bike shop and use some of the lessons learned from building BikeWorks North a year or two ago.

It was with great luck that when my cycling friend Roy and I cycled up to the Biker's Rest Stop in Rhone, British Columbia while on our "Best Of" Tour, that we met with Paul Lautard, a legendary cyclist of the Kettle Valley Railway.  The year before, my daughter and I had stopped in at the Rest Stop but Paul was nowhere to be found and it made our visit rather lonely.

It would be an exaggeration to say that I struck it rich in 2013, but while panning for gold in the North Saskatchewan River after a pleasant bike ride, I did find some gold dust in the bottom of my pan.  Almost enough to pay for the cost of the gold pan itself but priceless in memories.