A pillar of the local cycling community has passed away.
Jim Davies was 86. He competed at the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne, Australia, as well as the 1954 British Empire Games in Vancouver.
But he’s probably best known in Burnaby as the longtime proprietor of Jubilee Cycle bike shop on Imperial Street. The store, which opened in 1946, is still run by Davies’ son, Neil.
Davies, who won several provincial and national championships, competed in the men’s individual road race at Melbourne, as well as the men’s team road race and the 1,000 m time trial, in which he finished 17th.
Davies also won the very first race held at the old China Creek velodrome in Vancouver when it opened in 1954, and Neil, himself an accomplished road racer through the 1980s, won the last track league race there before it was demolished in 1980.
Cycling coursed through the Davies’ family. His uncle, also named Jim, represented Canada at the 1928 Olympic Games in Amsterdam, where he was part of the men’s 4,000 m pursuit team that finished fifth. He also competed in the men’s sprint event.
Davies’ grandson, Tyler, won gold in the 2016 Canadian team sprint championship and in 2018 he was part of the British Columbia team that set a new national record in the junior national sprint championships in Milton, Ont.
An incident with the driver of a pick-up truck while riding with another son, Gary, in Richmond in 2011 left Davies with a shattered hip and other injuries. But they couldn’t keep him off the bike for too long.
Davies worked himself back into to shape to ride, but stuck to flatter routes as his injuries made it difficult to endure ascents. He eventually acquired an electric-assist bike to further ease the physical toll of pedalling.
Neil Davies said his dad was never the same after the incident, as he had to scale back his mileage from the more than 10,000 km he used to ride annually.
A memorial ride to honour Jim Davies will be held Aug. 3, at 10 a.m., departing from Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver.
