The History of Bikes From My Perspective

Laura here. I’m not quite old enough to know when the wheel was invented, but you can see from my picture that colour was just coming into existence. I’ve always been a cyclist; mountain biker, road rider, and bike commuter way before most people took up cycling. I was a competitive skier back when the mountains were forming, sponsored by K2 Canada, and biked hundreds of miles for dryland training every week. I also competed in the World Master’s games in mountain biking almost 20 years ago. When I woke up from a coma while writing my pharmacology finals in the early 80s to a diagnosis of MS (multiple sclerosis) , getting back onto a bike helped me keep my neurons firing, cycling and getting more education along the way.

One of the reasons we started the swaps was to provide a safe place to buy, sell, and donate bikes. But we also pledge cyclists that cycle for a great cause: Branch Out Neurological Foundation, Tour Alberta for Cancer, and the Alberta Children’s Hospital Foundation.

We are truly honoured to be a conduit for bike donations to great charities like CP Kids and Families and You Can Ride2 who adapt bicycles for their clients, and Two Wheel View and Sport Central in Edmonton who help youth in so many ways.

We also fund safe cycling, validate that every bike that’s sold hasn’t been reported as stolen through our fit-for–purpose patented software (I’m a woman in tech), and we help over 55 other strategic alliances that you’ll read about over the next few months.

Bicycles have always been part of my life and every bike bought, sold, and donated helps us at Alberta Bike Swap help others.