July 24/24 11:48 am - Celebration of Life for Peter McCaffery

Posted by Editoress on 07/24/24
 

On July 14th, the Canadian cycling community lost an important member when Peter McCaffery passed away - see our announcement Here. Peter's son Ben has gotten in touch with us to provide details on the Celebration of Life that will be held on Sunday, August 11th, from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm at the Bee's Knees Cafe, 525 Third St #104, Nanaimo, BC (Map) Light snacks and refreshments to be served.

Please RVSP to Ben McCaffery (wildben@gmail.com by Sunday, July 28th.

Below is statement from Peter's family:



We are sorry to announce that Peter passed away in the early morning on Sunday, July 14, 2024. He was 84 years old and rather expected to live much longer.

Peter McCaffery, the only child of teachers Robert and Eva McCaffery (nee Boulton), was born on January 9th, 1940 in Sumbury, Middlesex, England.

Peter's first 25 years were in England, where he discovered an unwavering passion for cycling, and followed his parent's dedication to community building through education. Essentially, riding a bike and teaching have been the foundation of Peter's life.

Peter joined St. Christopher's Cycling Club as a youth rider and at fourteen started recording miles ridden, a discipline he continued up until a month before his death, logging more than 770,000 km.

Peter attended Wimbledon College and received his teaching certificate at St. Mary's College in 1961.

Other noteworthy occurrences while in England include meeting his lifelong friends Dave and Bernadette Kenny, and his first wife, Shirley Parker.

In 1966, Peter and Shirley and son Benjamin emigrated to Canada, where sons Simon and Joel were born. Peter quickly established himself as a cohesive and encouraging member in the Edmonton cycling community - racing, organising events, and working to bring different riders and clubs together. Over the next fifty years, this would be the trend and Peter would be recognised and acknowledged many times for his contributions to the cycling community - contributions mostly voluntarily and self-initiated.

In Canada, Peter settled and started teaching in St. Albert, the first locale in a list of school districts including Kenora, Lake of the Woods, Pincher Creek, Fort McMurray, St. Catherine's, Welland, Buck Lake, Sandy Lake and Nanaimo. Many of his contracts were on First Nations reservations. Peter had a great admiration for and a great rapport with the students in these schools, and for many years preferred to seek out these contracts. In all of these locations Peter would coach and promote fitness and health as a preferred lifestyle, often by example opting to ride his bike long distances to get to and from schools.

Though Peter's first love was riding, he showed a particular aptitude for the organisation and governance of cycling races and events. Naturally, he was drawn to officiating and started working to obtain his Union Cyclists International commissaire's license. In 1976, Peter was the National Chief Commissaire at the Montreal Olympics and in 1978 an official at the 1977 Track Cycling Championships in Venezuela and at the Commonwealth Games in Edmonton. Peter would take these skills and later teach officiating and also serve as the technical director for the Canadian Cycling Association.

In 1997, Peter met his second wife, Shirley Sylvie and her children Vanessa and Bill, and they moved to Ontario. Initially, Peter taught in Kenora, driving a school boat to pick up the students from small islands scattered around the lake. In the winter, they would use a Bombardier B12 snow bus.

In 1981, they moved to Ottawa, and with Jim Glover he opened Gloucester Cycles, fulfilling his lifelong dream of having a bike store. Peter started a cycling club named after the store, and again started setting up weekly cycling events attracting as many riders as he could from the area.

During this time he also worked on designing a stationary trainer for cyclists to use during the off-season. It was called the Van Fan, named after his step-daughter Vanessa. It never did make it to market but it was quite ingenious. It had a strut on which to mount a bike's front forks and two small rollers for the back wheel. The rollers were attached to a fan with which the more force exerted the greater the resistance on the back wheel. Cleverly, the air generated from the fan was directed to cool the rider. Even Peter's forays into ventures away from cycling were basically about cycling.

In 1990, Peter met his third wife Kit and together they returned to Alberta, where they cooperated with schools as fundraisers for school clubs and trips.

In 1991, Peter and Kit returned to Ontario, and to teaching for two separate school districts in St. Catherine's. At the same time he started the Midweek Cycling Club. It was popular and to help support the club, Peter and Kit attracted sponsors by offering advertising space on the club clothing that the riders wore; 1980 to 1995 could be considered Peter's entrepreneurial years.

In 2005 after another fruitful run in Ontario, Peter and Kit opted to move to Nanaimo, British Columbia where they have resided until now. Save a brief period of tutoring from 2006 to 2009, Peter retired from teaching. With more free time, Peter again generated interest in and formed the Mid Island Velo Association, a club that not only appealed to locals, but one that brought riders up from Victoria. Part of the draw was likely due to the many hours Peter spent driving around Nanaimo assessing and visualising the potential of the city's up and down roads for the purpose of time trials, hill climbs, criteriums and road races. His fixation on all aspects of all things bicycle has definitely been of benefit to many riders, serious and amateur, and for the most part without much effort for that is what he liked to do.

In 2009, while out riding, Peter was hit from behind by a large truck and it was a small miracle and a surprise that he survived only to be riding again within five months. This accident did not deter Peter from riding and he continued along experimenting with electric bikes, recumbent, and a rail-bike on which he had his next accident. But even then, he kept pedalling on. Pedalling and still trying to raise the local profile of cycling in Nanaimo. For example, by asking the local media to post the results and standing of club events.

In 2012, Peter helped to design the jersey for the laid back Slow Spokes, a club that he liked riding with, and in 2015 was awarded the Sports Administrator of the Year for Nanaimo. He volunteered to teach bike repair to students for Operation Generation at the John Barsby Vocational High School. Peter has also been active in promoting roadway and bike path design that integrates motor and pedal traffic. He has been the number one advocate for the building of a velodrome racing track and has been trying to garner support for this project since first arriving in Nanaimo. Maybe one day. Who knows?

Unfortunately, the love Peter has for his career on two wheels, and for teaching and helping people has come to a halt. But it is certain that his effort and passion will carry much momentum for the good of cycling, and his outlook and his luck in discovering early on what made him happy, is a great example for others. If there were anything that you would want to do to honour Peter, it would best not be flowers, or a donation or even a prayer. Those offerings are all good, but the best thing to do, that would affirm the point he was aiming at for both yourself and his memory, is to get on a bike ... and ride. And then again. And some more so. He would like that, and so would you. Allez! Allez!

Peter is survived by his wife Kit, his children, and their spouses - Ben McCaffery, Simon & Shellie McCaffery, Joel & Sok McCaffery, Vanessa, Geoff & Loriann Pataran, Kerry Pataran & Matt Bennett, as well as his grandchildren, Mathias, Layla and Maya, Violet and Flash, Becca, and Matt and Victoria. He also leaves his sister in-law Fran and her husband Rob, and his as good as family friends, Dave & Bernie, Kenny and their children, Andrew, Claire, James, David and Matthew and, of course, Carlos, the last in a long line of really enthusiastic dogs.