[CR]Yet Another Small Cirque Report

(Example: Production Builders:Tonard)

Date: Wed, 09 May 2001 12:38:25 -0400
To: classic list <Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
From: "Jeff Slotkin" <jeffslotkin@home.com>
Subject: [CR]Yet Another Small Cirque Report

Hi All, Just got home to SC, after spending a couple of post-Cirque days in Marion, NC, riding a little but mostly sleeping.

The 2001 Cirque was fabulous, no surprise, and here are a couple of the highlights.

Saturday's seminar was a lot of fun, and I was amazed (flabbergasted?) by the bikes of Brian Baylis which were on hand, finished and otherwise, and the way his work seems to funnel inexorably towards perfection, even when he has to deal with a toothless hacksaw blade and a vise attached to a platform with the rigidity of a traffic cone. Mike and Alan gave very nice presentations, and their love of bicycles was evident and eloquently expressed. I learned earlier that day that Mike looks a little out of place on a brand new aluminum bike though, sort of like Crocodile Dundee in New York.

The various rides were a great way to renew acquaintances and make new ones. This was my second Cirque and I am still thankful for name tags. Perhaps after several more I'll not need them. I managed to miss buying Chuck a beer, owed for a favor done me by one of his fellow Californians, so I suppose he'll have to return next year. John and I found that Greensboro, being a college town, provided ample variety in quality brews and lovely co-eds, the brews actually accessible to us. Lotsa cool bikes on hand and many were being ridden, always a good thing. It was especially good to see Chris riding his formerly-a-hot-potato Meral, a nice minty green bike and no laughing matter. I continued in my bad habit of checking the alignment of other peoples bikes while riding behind them, but in this group it was all just crooked wheels. Whew! Someday somebody will say to me,"Hey Mac, your bike is going down the road crab-wise", and I'll deserve it.

I went to Greensboro with a mental list of things to find, and I came back with all of it, and more besides! A wool jersey to fit my extra-manly shoulders (thanks Harvey, sorry Mike), more super-fine Suntour Power Shifters (thanks Larry B, Superbe Pro no less!), a good triple crank for my tourer (thanks Wayne, and with a pretty cool bike attached!), etc, etc.

Russ and I, and welcome squatter Linwood, managed to land a table right next to Jill and Larry, a great place to be since Jill seems always to be bubbling over with joy and both she and Larry were buying everything in sight. I think Larry's bubbling over with joy too, but he manages to mostly conceal it under a fine, dry wit. We were right next to Wayne too, important since he had the C.I.D. that was apparently destined to be mine.

Take heed, all ye who missed it: When you go to the Cirque you're allowed to come home and post off-topic ramblings, like these, once, without incurring stern words of warning (or worse) from our listmeister and guiding hand, the inestimable Dale Brown. Hats off to Dale (who reminds me much more of Churchill than that other guy with the odd facial hair and the bad tailor).

Jeff Slotkin
TheLocalSpoke
Goose Creek, SC