This is my dad

Bill Baggs Sr. He passed away 5 years ago this August and I miss him every day. I thought I would dedicate this month’s blog to my dad, on Father’s Day, because he was a big supporter of my riding when I was younger.

When I was about 16 my bike was stolen while I was at work at Mother’s Pizza in Kingston, I was devastated. It was a cheap bike but it was my mode of transportation, and I had just put a cool light and speedometer on it. Two weeks after it happened my dad presented me with a crisp $100 bill at the dinner table, it was the first time in my life I had seen a $100 bill. He said it was the money from the insurance company. My dad matched the insurance money towards a new bike. I took the $200 and money I was saving, went to J&J Hardware in Kingston and bought my new bike, a Carleton Corsair. I was so proud to ride my new bike home to show my mom and dad. My dad was very excited to see it and he told me about the riding he did when he was a bicycle courier with CPR in St. John’s NFLD. I didn’t know that about him, that he was a bike courier, and I felt an amazing connection with him.

Back then when I had a day off in the summer, I would ride my bike to Gananoque, or Sharbot Lake, or along the Thousand Islands Parkway. My dad was always interested in my trips when I returned; how the bike behaved and what I saw, especially wildlife. He loved hearing about my trips my friend Mike Jensen and I would take to Sandbanks Provincial Park. We laughed so hard one time when I told him the wind blew me off my bike in Bloomfield, ON. Poor Mike, who was a fair bit in front of me, looked so confused when he looked back to see if I was ok at one moment and saw me cycling along, and the next time he looked I was gone, until I stood up from the long grass in the ditch.

But the time dad really had my back was when my mom was very apprehensive about my bike trip to Kitchener. I was planning to bike to Ottawa for my brother’s wedding then meeting Mike along highway 7 in Sharbot Lake. He convinced her that everything would be fine, and she let me go. He was right, everything was fine, save for a broken spoke and some lost cookware, and it was a great trip. Thanks Dad, I miss you.

Safe ride

Bill