Hi! I'm from Victoria, BC, Canada.
ignoring bicycling to school and back, and playing something we called 'bike polo' on an outdoor basketball court, my riding history started when the girl I was living with won a 10 speed Raleigh in a contest at work which she gave me.
I rode it around for a few weeks and thought, oh, I like this game... and promptly started shopping for something better.
I was fascinated by the emerging trend of oversized aluminum tube frames and test rode a Trek initially and was very impressed with the stiffness. So impressed that I ended up getting a Cannondale instead, much to the Trek dealer's chagrin. It was a 1987 SR500 with 105 with *gasp* biopace! White with pink cables... it was edgy at the time, don't judge me
That didn't last too long because in 1990 I upgraded to the SR800 with Shimano 600, the precursor to Ultegra. I rode this bike a lot... Anyone who's from around here is familiar with the Malahat which is a stretch of winding road with a 356 meter climb... I used to love riding to the summit and then racing the cars on the way down.
Then this new fangled mountain bike thing showed up... hot damn! Better try this! I got a 1996 Trek ST120 and did that for a while.
A few years later I got into motorcycle racing and the bikes sat neglected for many years.
There was a flurry of activity a few years back when the fixie craze happened.... I knew I didn't have the chops to ride one but I loved the super clean look so I built what I called a faux-fixie around a SRAM two speed automatic coaster brake hub. The thing was gorgeous (if I do say so myself) with not a cable to be seen, but the auto hub meant that (by that time) a 55 year old could actually get going from a stop sign.
The novelty of that wore off after a bit too and there were now 3 bikes collecting dust in the shed.
Then suddenly last summer a group of friends approached me and said 'hey you used to ride, we're putting together a team for the Tour de Victoria, wanna come with?' and in a moment of weakness I said 'yes' and there it was! I dusted off the old Cannondale and trained for the race all summer, did the race without passing out and decided that it was time to dive back in!
Accordingly I overbought myself a new 2021 Trek Madone SL6 which I shall underutilize spectacularly as I ride off into the sunset!