No space, no matter

There are few standing rules in the Gabrion household, but there is one that my lovely wife sticks to like glue — despite my faint opposition. Here it is: If there is to be any cycling memorabilia put on display, it can only be placed within the confines of my upstairs man cave. No ifs, ands, or buts when it comes to this directive.

Truth be told, most reasonable folks would judge this to be a fair deal — especially when you consider the fact that I have a basement full of bicycles.

However, I have what I would call a "double dilemma." First, I'm running out of space and, second, I'm continuing to acquire stuff from the two-wheeled world. Despite my acknowledged predicament, I just cannot help it. And to seemingly prove my utter lack of control, I've scored some real treasures over the past couple of weeks.

Two items were obtained through the Horton Collection, a San Francisco-based dealer whom I've utilized on previous occasions. This time I splashed out — but not spending too much money — on a collectible pin and an autographed postal card.

Collectible pin from Horton Collection.

The pin is from the 2001 Six-day Vlaanderen (Dutch for Flanders) Gent races. The word Kuipke, which appears on the pin, is the name of the indoor velodrome in Citadel Park in Ghent, Belgium. Because the track is so short and unusually steep, it is called Kuipke, which means "little tub." To be honest, my only reason for this purchase was because of the week I spent in Ghent during my Trek Travel cycling vacation this last spring.

The pictured postal card is of French professional road racing cyclist Louison Bobet. He was the first person to win the Tour de France in three successive years, from 1953 to 1955. He died in 1983, at the age of 58. A justifiable investment, in my opinion.

The remaining two acquisitions were totally unexpected — and free. My friend Mark's daughter, Olivia, was performing her job duties with EF Education First at a company summit in Berlin. It might be remembered that she kindly secured an autograph and team hat for me at last year's Tour de France, and took it upon herself to add to my cycling collection during her recent trip to the German capital.

Alison Jackson and Lachlan Morton are members of the EF professional cycling teams and they were part of the presentation at the Berlin conference. And you guessed right — Olivia, bless her, got their signatures for me. Alison, a Canadian, captured the Paris-Roubaix Femmes race in 2023, the biggest win of her career. Lachlan, an Australian, won this year's Unbound Gravel competition — the premier race of its kind in the world — and just finished a lap around his home country, covering the 8,823 miles in a record time of 30 days, nine hours, and 59 minutes. Beating the old mark by seven days. It's been speculated that this has served as a warm-up to an around-the-world attempt in the near future. Thanks again, Olivia, for thinking of me.

So yes, I have more goodies that express my deep passion for riding a bicycle. Now, I just have to find some more room. Stay safe!

Autographs of cycling stars — past and present.