Yesterday the Tour de France was won by Carlos Sastre of Spain, but the news -- here, at least -- was that he won it riding a Canadian-made bike, designed and manufactured by Toronto firm Cervélo. This made me think of a recent visit to Toronto's Centre Island. After arriving by ferry, picnicking and snapping some swans, I went wandering looking for a view of the coming sunset. Instead, I saw this guy with a high-end racing bike, who waved hello and clearly wanted to talk. I was reluctant, because if a stranger is friendly in Toronto, it usually means that they are trying to pick you up, convert you to their religion, or sell you something. But sometimes it just means that the person is from elsewhere and/or is genuinely friendly. In this case, the guy just seemed to be extremely damned proud of the bike, wanted to talk about it and show it off. He saw me with the camera and wanted me to take a picture of him, and -- more importantly -- the bike. He talked about how great it was; light enough to be lifted by one finger (he demonstrated using the middle finger of his right hand); the frame alone was worth many thousands of dollars; it was being used by the Canadian cycling team, and was sure to win medals in Beijing... and so on. He worked in assembly for the maker, Cervélo, and had borrowed one the better units for the day. I dutifully snapped some unremarkable pictures that went into my huge pile of unprocessed photos, and I forgot about them completely. Until Sunday (July 28), when I heard that the most famous cycling race in the world, the Tour de France, had been won with a Toronto-made Cervélo bike. So I dug around for something to post from that chance encounter on the island, and this was probably the best of those photos. BTW, the card in the spokes of the front wheel, partly obscured, says "Fuck off, I'm racing". Another friendly greeting. :) --- Here is Carlos Sastre on a bicycle similar to the one I snapped. And here (AP / Bas Czerwinski photo used in CTV story) is Sastre doing a victory lap on his Cervelo bike after winning the 2008 Tour de France. And here's an interview with Phil White, co-owner of Cervelo Cycles (if you can tolerate the preceding commercial).