In 1994 MrsT suggested that instead of getting some useless trinkets for our Silver Wedding we get bikes instead. She got what MBK called a
Vélo Tous Chemins - all-trail bike rather than all-terrain - and I got a hard-tail/hard-nose MTB. She was doing pretty well for someone who hadn't been allowed a bike as a child when a car crowded her into a ditch, and though she tried a couple of times more the fun had gone out of it. I kept it up, though later I had an MTB triple fitted to my old Raleigh "demi-course" and went back to road cycling.
I still have the frame, though. In 2011 I rebuilt it for the road...
... as a sort of "apprentice piece" before building a Surly LHT. In doing so I would seem to have invented the gravel bike, although in this set-up it was too long for me so I didn't ride it much. Most of the gear in this pic - with the notable exceptions of the murderous SMP saddle and the suicidal cantis - went onto the Surly, which in turn got sold on because I couldn't push it past a 23 kph average over 100k. Happy days.
The MBK frame now lives under a bench, and I still occasionally catch a foot on it when I'm fettling.
