Road warrior just keeps clicking along
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If, in January or February, members of the Reh-Fit Centre on Taylor Avenue, spotted a man riding a fat-tired bicycle around the parking lot, it was Lindsay Gauld. Investigation by Memories of Sport confirmed that the honoured Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame member was just getting in a few extra kilometres before he went into the Reh-Fit for his regular exercise class.
A few extra kilometres was nothing much for the Fort Garry septuagenarian, who reached the one-million kilometres mark on his bike in 2013, having kept track of every kilometre he rode since he began cycling at age 18 in 1966. On Feb. 27, Gauld said he had planned to stop keeping track at that point, but he’s too compulsive so he reported that he’s now at 1,243,000 kilometres.
When Gauld was inducted into the HOF in 1997, he was honoured as a multi-sport athlete for his accomplishments in cycling, speed skating and cross-country skiing. His bio didn’t mention hockey, but he was the captain of a Silver Heights Community Club peewee A championship team and continued playing up to the juvenile level while winning Manitoba and Canadian speed skating races.
Winnipeg Free Press file photo
Cyclist Lindsay Gauld marked his one-millionth kilometre in the saddle with a ride along the Assiniboine Trail in 2013.
In February 1962, the Winnipeg Speed Skating Club member demonstrated his versatility. Skating at the Crescentwood oval, Gauld won both the 440 and 880-yard races in an international meet against Minnesota skaters. The Free Press reported that he didn’t stay to compete in the 220 because he had to leave to play hockey.
A highlight of his cycling career came in 1972 when he made the Canadian team and competed in the road race at the Summer Olympic Games in Munich. After mountain bikes became popular, he won Canadian masters titles in 1993 and 1994. Gauld, who continues to cross-country ski, won the provincial masters championship in 1994 and also won several masters competitions in the USA.
In a sporting life full of challenges, Gauld took on what he called the longest and hardest winter bike race in the world in late February 2012. The annual Iditarod Trail Adventure across Alaska begins in Knik, northwest of Anchorage and runs 563 kilometres to McGrath. Forty-nine runners, skiers and bikers, who began the race on Feb, 26, faced difficult conditions with heavy snow and temperatures that dropped to -34.
On March 3, Gauld was just one of nine bikers and 12 runners to reach the Rohn Cabin where he had hoped to rest. Dealing with frostbite on his nose and facing another 224 kilometres, Gauld made what race organizers called a “wise decision” and scratched himself from the race.
The following winter the cycling legend went back to Alaska to prove that he was up to the challenge. That he was, as he completed the 563 kilometres in four days, 14 hours and 45 minutes. Fifty-five competitors started the race and Gauld, who was the oldest competitor, finished tied for 18th with a Minnesota skier. Gauld, along with Winnipeg cyclist Phil Roadley, entered the Trail Adventure again in 2021 but it was cancelled owing to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pair entered again in 2022 and their Alaskan journey will be told in detail in a future column.
When Gauld received a lifetime achievement award from the Manitoba Cycling Association in 2017, he was described as an Olympic athlete, shop owner, trail builder, Hall of Fame inductee, advocate, courier and true living legend in Manitoba cycling. They could have added class act to the list.
T. Kent Morgan
Memories of Sport
Memories of Sport appears every second week in the Canstar Community News weeklies. Kent Morgan can be contacted at 204-489-6641 or email: sportsmemories@canstarnews.com