Jann,
I just wanted to respond a bit about your tandem on PBP. One of my friends was at PBP on a tandem. I recently asked him if he had seen the Rene Herse tandem. While Josh is not a "classic bike nut" - he does own a couple of classic late 50's cars, and does have an appreciation of classic things. Josh said that he saw the bike, and it was pristine. He said he thought should have been in a museum and was amazed that you were riding it. He noted that as far as he could tell it appeared "original," - complete with the original squeaking brakes.
He also said that he hung with you for about a 100 miles, and then they slowed down a bit to enjoy the ride. Josh was probably one of the tallest riders there at 6' 7" or so, so you might remember him and his wife.
Ben Sanford Falls Church, VA ...
I forgot to mention that the bike we used for PBP was a 1948 Rene
Herse tandem, which also is on-topic (info on my web site).
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Jan Heine, Seattle
Editor/Publisher
Vintage Bicycle Quarterly
http://www.mindspring.com/
Ben Sanford
Falls Church, VA