In the BBC Only Fools and Horses episode Heroes and Villains, Trigger wins an award for owning the same broom for 20 years. He reveals that it has had 17 new heads and 14 new handles, but insists it is still the same broom. This has given rise to the expression “Trigger’s broom”

Well thats exactly as my old Le Monde road bike feels. It was a 40th birthday present from my husband which served me well for getting fit, back out on a bike after years being stuck in various offices that were connected by hours spent on an aircraft as I flew around the world bouncing from America to Europe to the Far East and back and forth. Far too many airline gold cards held for my liking, but thats history in my career.

The trusty Le Monde helped me complete my first triathlons from super sprint to Olympic open water distances riding 40km. As it aged and the miles clocked up, not quite sure how many the bike computer has gone around the clock a few times as resets at 999 miles ! I have had to repair, replace or added components.

This week after the Cotswold winter Sportive I realised I need some new sticky rubber to help reduce my slips & skids so bought and wrestled with some new Gatorskin tyres. These were the latest in a long line of replacement components.

Wheels, brakes, gears, tyres, handle bar tape, inner tubes, saddle, lights, bike computer batteries, handbag tape, cables, chain and pedals have all been changed. Unlike Triggers broom one main origional component  has survived – the frame and carbon forks. But component percentages it’s very similar to Triggers Broom.

This tough little racer has survived falls, slips, crashed, being dropped in transition on the rear gears. ridden through snow, floods, torrential down pours, battled gale force winds, been on farm tracks more suited to a mountain bike or cart horse, all gears utilised on the hills of Wiltshire, brake pads worm out descending the same hills, survived overnight outdoor stays in transitions, been carried in cars and with company in vans as its been transported across the country to various rides and events.

Well with plenty of TLC and keeping my local bike shop in business this bike has been given many new leases of life. The latest replacements bar tape, tyres, brake pads and addition of mudguards. It is now my winter training bike with the view that when I get on my carbon tri bike I will be stronger from hauling the Le Monde across hundreds of mile in winter training. Being a heavier beast than my FELT it can only make me stronger. The long serving Le Monde will be my main work horse for ironman UK training. I’m sure that what I have spent keeping it serviceable and on the road I could have bought at least one if not two new bikes, but that just wouldn’t be the same would it ?!

Unlike my trail shoes that I had to retire last week as they were well beyond repair, the Le Monde can keep riding with repairs.

So while its core is still the same my Le Monde is very much my own Triggers Broom. Heres to many more years of service, you never know I may even match Triggers 20 years 🙂