Up-Cycles founder Chris Foggin holds a little blue and white carbon frame Trek Madone road bike that belonged to the 99-year-old father of Doug White. PHOTO: DOUG WHITE

I looked at the little blue and white bike forlornly sitting in the corner of the shed as I contemplated another bout of decluttering.

Most sheds have special objects that are kept for sentimental reasons but tend to lie unused between each bout of spring cleaning. My large collection of ancient skis in the rafters are kept only for the memories of some great days in the hills. It would now be beyond foolish to strap on my ancient fluoro yellow 200cm Attenhofer skis and pretend I was 20 again.

The little blue and white carbon frame Trek Madone road bike belonged to my 99-year-old father. He gave up riding it only 10 years ago with his "Magpies" group of elderly cyclists in Christchurch. That bike could tell a few stories, like the time dad was competing in a race around the Port Hills when he overshot the last corner descending into Sumner from Evans Pass, ricocheted along a paling fence before bouncing to a stop metres from the back door of an ambulance! It was after his family became quite insistent, some months before, that dad started wearing a helmet. Our wisdom was confirmed when the A&E doctor at the hospital said it had undoubtedly saved his life.

This month in Alexandra I found the perfect home for dad’s little blue bike.

Up-Cycles Trust is an Alexandra charitable organisation founded by local bike guru Chris Foggin, aka "Foggie". Up-Cycles had just been awarded a Merit in the Recreation Aotearoa Te Whai Oranga Outdoors Awards 2026. Foggie’s passion for all things bikes and the way they can enhance wellbeing was obvious to me when I joined the Central Otago Community of Bike Ambassadors programme which has now been running in schools and the wider community for three years. To date 60 adults and 100 rangatahi have completed the programme and are now out there riding our trails ready to lend a hand if required.

I found Foggie working on a very wintry Saturday morning with an enthusiastic group of volunteers on a "Bike Fixation" session at the Up-Cycles workshop in Boundary Rd. They were working their magic on bikes of all sizes and styles so that they could be sent out the door to a range of deserving new owners.

The little blue Trek was gratefully accepted and will hopefully find a home with someone who’d like to give road cycling a try.

I showed dad a photo of his little blue Trek at Up-Cycles. He couldn’t wipe the smile off his face.