Like so many children, five-year-old Cannavino found herself overcome with excitement when her father, John Cannavino, presented her with her first bicycle, an old pink model he found at a tag sale. But since her first bike lacked training wheels, she adopted a trial-and-error approach to learning to ride that resulted in more than a few frightening falls and bruised knees.
“I remember when I finally stayed up on my bike I was riding down my family’s driveway, which happened to be a quarter-mile long,” Cannavino said. “I realized what was happening, so I started to scream and my entire family came running thinking I had fallen again.”
Only this time the bike remained upright and the squeals were of delight. And with that, Cannavino’s love affair with biking was born.
Cannavino grew up in rural part of Connecticut without sidewalks – hardly an ideal situation for a developing cyclist. Still, her devotion to maintaining biking as a hobby remained steadfast. If she was not forging biking trails around her neighborhood, Cannavino was attending a summer camp complete with a mountain biking class.
While her interest in biking waned during high school when she focused instead on running track, it was renewed when she journeyed across the country in 2005 to enroll at Arizona State University. It was while in Tempe, Arizona that Cannavino inherited her first road bike.
“At Arizona State the campus is a square mile, so to get anywhere it takes forever if you’re walking, especially in 110-degree heat,” said Cannavino, who also took up spinning while in college. “I used my bike out there nonstop almost every day. I road to class and to the gym. Biking became a staple of my life in the desert.”
Today Cannavino resides in Cleveland’s West Park neighborhood with her boyfriend, Mike Roush. The couple ventures to Roush’s hometown of Akron regularly to visit Blimp City Bike & Hike, participating in Moon Rides and seeking enhancements to Cannavino’s Specialized-brand bike.
During one recent and memorable ride, Cannavino and Roush rode 25 miles on the Towpath Trail from Independence to Blimp City Bike & Hike and back, taking in the Cuyahoga Valley National Park’s spring scenery along the way. In addition to visiting their favorite bike shop, the couple’s trip included a bald eagle sighting in Brecksville, lunch at Pub Bricco in the Merriman Valley a pit stop at Indigo Lake and a ride of the Cuyahoga Valley Scenic Railroad.
“I’ve always just really enjoyed biking, but especially when you can turn a bike trip into an adventure,” Cannavino said. “I like to find a new route and make a trip out of it. When you can make it into event, like a picnic or self-exploration, that tends to lead to the most fun and the best experience.”
That adventurous spirit continues to propel Cannavino forward, both on a bike and in life in general, which for Cannavino has included being raised in a family with seven siblings and moving across the country multiple times.
Full speed ahead, no training wheels necessary.
The Cate Cannavino File:
Hometown: Wilton, Connecticut
Current Town: West Park Neighborhood, Cleveland, Ohio
Birthday: September 16
Family: Father, John, mother, Christine and seven siblings
Employment: Business Development Coordinator at Jones Day
Alma Mater: Arizona State University
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