New bike day is always special, it doesn’t matter if it’s your first, or just one more in your long journey of n+1, and it’s no different for Alex (and this Trek Procaliber certainly isn’t his first bike). Alex dropped into the Buttermarket shop to pick up his bike and give us a short history of his life through cycling, and Triathlon, and his long time friendship with the Pascoe family and the various bike shops.

My journey with Bike Chain (Ricci) started almost 40 years ago, when Bike Chain HQ was nothing more than a shed in the bottom of a garden in Albany Road, Redruth. My Uncle, who had ridden with Len (The Legend) Pascoe, put me in touch with Ricci when I expressed an interest in joining a cycling club when I was 13, in 1986. After that call, my Saturday mornings consisted of being in the middle of a pack of riders, with Ricci teaching me how to sit on the rear wheel of the bike in front or sitting in the shed in Albany Road. It was no ordinary shed though. For a 14-year-old boy, this was a gleaming Aladdin’s Cave of Italian treasures, with curious names such Campagnolo and Colnago. Although competing in many local races, compared with the other lads, I was never a strong cyclist. I enjoyed it none-the-less and remained a member of local clubs, was one of the first customers in the Mount Ambrose shop in 1987, and loved watching the Redruth town races in the late 80’s.

Over the following years, I continued to focus more and more on my swimming and naturally progressed into triathlon. After a couple of seasons of hovering just oﬀ national AG (Age Group) times, another conversation to Ricci lead me to a triathlon coach, Ian Taylor who was developing a team with Bike Chain. The next chapter started with racing for Bike Chain and being coached by Ian. The following season I qualified for GBR AG and was proud to wear the Bike Chain logo racing in Kitzbuhel, Austria the following June. Now I’m much happier to riding the local trails on my Trek Procaliber, and staying oﬀ the roads as much as possible, and teaching Bikeability sessions to lots of local children.