Cycling history is coming to a full circle moment at the Boulder Art Gallery in Fitchburg, Massachusetts on Saturday, June 21, 2025
- Cyrille Vincent
- Jun 16
- 4 min read
Last summer I travelled to Fitchburg-Massachusetts to meet with an Iver Johnson bicycles collector who was recommended to us via a social media post describing my stumbling quest for period accurate bicycles for the Whirlwind Film.
Needless to say, my visit with Pete Cap, who is also the co-owner of the Boulder Art Gallery in Fitchburg turned out to be one of my 2024 highlights.
I spent about two hours at Pete’s gallery, marveling at his art and Iver Johnson bicycles collection. This contemplation was punctuated by great conversations with Pete.
We talked about various subjects ranging from cycling and art to American history.
We even chipped in on the burning question of the Major Taylor’s stem invention and its origins…
However, we did not solve the question as far as I am concerned, because I know that the absence of evidence is not the evidence of absence.
This Major Taylor handle bar and stem subject needs its own article as the debates in the cycling community are not close just yet.
I believe that the peak of my visit at the Boulder Art Gallery happened when Peter pulled out his laptop and showed me two news article clips dating from 1900 that were unknown to me.
In these news clips, reporters claimed that Major Taylor was in town meaning Fitchburg.
Once, as a guest of W.E.Oxford a black Fitchburg’s resident and the other time to check out the bicycle being built for him at the Iver Johnson factory located on River Street in Fitchburg.
Iver Johnson Arms and Cycle Works under the leadership of Fred Johnson sponsored Major in 1900 and 1901, the very year of his first European invasion, as he will call it later in his autobiography The Fastest Bicycle Rider in the World , Marshall W. Major Taylor, 1928.
Since my first visit to Fitchburg last summer, Pete and I have kept in touch and I have been closely following his restoration of a 1900 Iver Johnson bicycle, the same model Major Taylor rode in 1900 marking the beginning of his collaboration with Iver Johnson Arms and Cycle Works.
I have also gone back to Fitchburg a few times to ride the beautiful Twin Cities Rail Trail, a 4.7-mile paved trail connecting downtown Fitchburg and downtown Leominster.
I have had the opportunity to check out amongst many other landmarks and local businesess: the Rollstone Boulder, the Fitchburg Art Museum, the Break Bike Shop and the Arthur J. DiTommaso Memorial Bridge.
Fast forward, almost a year later, Pete has gladly agreed to graciously take in consignment a masterpiece from the Résilience Collection by Louis Garneau created to support the Whirlwind Film Project.
If you are wondering who Louis Garneau is, the rumors say he might be the only former Olympian who broke the royal protocol and hugged Queen Elizabeth, and she laughed it off.
Of course, at the time Louis claimed that :
“I didn’t know I had done anything wrong until later, but she was very graceful and kind, I don’t think she minded.”
In a much more formal description, Louis Garneau is a Canadian born cycling champion, businessman, accomplished artist and philanthropist. He is the winner of Fitchburg's 1983 Longsjo Bicycle Race.
Louis Garneau, who has recently retired from the eponymous cycling empire he created with his wife Monique, is now a full time artist and luxury cycling wear designer, devoting the rest of his life helping cyclists and artists through the sale of his artworks.
To support the production of the Whirlwind Film Project, a groundbreaking upcoming documentary film about Marshall W. ‘’Major’’ Taylor, Louis Garneau created an exceptional collection of 100 pieces of unique and rare contemporary artworks that are being sold with all proceeds benefitting the production and distribution of the Whirlwind Film Project .
One of the masterworks from the Résilience Collection by Louis Garneau will be unveiled at the Boulder Art Gallery in Fitchburg this Saturday, June 21st, 2025.
Accompanying the painting, will be a display of the fully restored 1900 Iver Johnson Racer and of course attendees are welcome to check out other artworks and bicycles in the gallery.
We are beyond grateful to Pete, who also agreed that should the work sell, the gallery will not perceive any commissions as in normal circumstances of business.
History has a strange way of rhyming because I see this event as a full circle around moments, adding a colorful layer on an already complex and dynamic century old history between Worcester and Fitchburg.
We hope to see new and familiar faces for this history in the making gathering at the Boulder Art Gallery this Saturday June 21st.
Doors open at 5:30pm
Adress : 960 Main St, Fitchburg, MA 01420
Free admission & Family Freindly.
RSVP not required but we encourage guests to register and let us know you will attend at :
If you wish to be added to the digital collector preview list for this artwork please email us at : info@worcesterwhirlwind.com
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