Local two-wheel legend logs big miles for a cause
IF you still ride the bike you bought for yourself 65 years ago, then guess what, we’ve found someone just like you!
Evan Elliott’s Sturmey-archer 3-speed hub gear bike was top of the line in the 1950s and it’s still serving the 81 year-old bike riding enthusiast.
Clearly, they just don’t make things like they used to.
“It’s still got the original pump but that’s more of a dog deterrent these days,” he told Dubbo Photo News.
The pump in question is a little rusty, along with the bike frame, a by-product of its early life on the coast.
“The first ride I did on this bike was between Taree and Forster, about 21 miles. I was around 16 years old,” Evan said.
Since then, Evan has loaned his legs to raising money by riding for the Bible Society in an event known as Bike for Bibles. Since 1990, he has logged a massive 382,000 kilometres for the cause. (Yes, that’s three zeros after the 382). For the record, 125,000 of those were done after Evan’s 2008 hip replacement.
The former Dubbo school teacher (this writer’s fifth grade teacher) is obviously no slouch in the saddle and averages around 250 to 300 kilometres a week.
“I ride five days a week and do around 50 to 60 kilometres per day,” Evan explained.
All those training miles paid off on August 23, when Evan attended a Bike for Bibles event to mark the 200 anniversary
th of the Bible Society in Australia.
“This makes it the longest continuous organisation in Australia,” Evan said.
At the event, he did laps of a 3.8 kilometre circuit at Sydney’s Centennial Park for seven and-a-half hours, riding 204 kilometres.
With the help of some local sponsors, including Ben Braithwaite of B&C Caravans, Kathy Furney and David Little from David Little Engineering, he raised $1300.
“I thought I’d done my last Bike for Bibles ride in 2013 with a 7200 kilometre ride from Broome to Sydney via Perth,” Evan said.
“However, I find it hard to resist a challenge which I think I’m capable of completing, and as the saying goes, ‘there’s no fool like an old fool’. I certainly qualify for that,” he said.
Each Bike for Bibles ride raises money for a particular cause and this year’s effort