Appealing to authority, word is Lance Armstrong brings his teams to the Santa Ynez Valley of California, where I live, specifically for the variety and difficulty our roads offer. A riding fanatic I know (the kind who do has done 24 and 36 hour events up in Gold Country) said Lance rates the ride up Figueroa Mountain, across the ridge and down into Happy Canyon as being ideal training for the Alp d' Huez stage in the Tour. It has gravel stretches, also. The nominal elevation is not so high, because rides start not far above sea level, but climbs and grades are quite challenging. And we have at least a six other completely different circuits that are challenging rides, too. We also have lots of hotel rooms and a rich history of cycling. Socal riders know us well. The wine is good. The food is good. The weather is good, except for August and September (90-100 degrees). This year's time trial in the Tour of California will be held here. Frankly, its a superb location for cycling offering something for everyone from beginners all the way up to great professionals. The Heroic Tour would do well to consider locating here and setting up different circuits for different classes of riders, or varying the circuits year to year.
Don Wilson
Los Olivos, CA USA
> Thanks for the nifty historic flics.
> It was almost the same as the old Schwinn factory
> inn Chicago where I worked
> a few times during the '50's as inspector for
> full-time seasonal help to get
> Santa's orders out.
> The thing that made Schwinn far more successful was
> that they had a several
> hundered foot long assembly line.
> The bikes were on seatposts upside down moving
> slowly along and workers on
> both sides of the line assembled the various
> components onto the frame to
> complete the bikes and then they were taken off,
> flipped right side up,
> given a final inspection, then wheeled away for
> packing into cartons at an
> adjacent station.
> Brought back some fun nostalgia memories.
> Thanks again.
> Ted Ernst
> Palos Verdes Estates
> CA USA
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "John Betmanis" <johnb@oxford.net>
> To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Sent: Sunday, September 17, 2006 2:49 PM
> Subject: Re: [CR] Fascination with America, was: Pic
> of the Day - Hungaria
> shoes advert 1950
>
>
> > At 02:12 PM 9/17/06 -0700, Jan Heine wrote:
> >
> >>The French bike industry worried about the
> American bike industry,
> >>apparently poised to take over the world. Rumors
> circulated that the
> >>Americans were equipped to make 10,000,000 bikes a
> year. That easily
> >>would have supplied the French, German, Dutch and
> Italian markets
> >>combined. And with Americans rumored to be so
> efficient,
> >>state-of-the-art, etc., the bikes probably were
> going to be better
> >>and cheaper than anything European manufacturers
> had to offer.
> >
> > And this is how they were made:
> >
> >
>
http://www.webcastgroup.com/
> >
> > (Click to view)
> >
> > John Betmanis
> > Woodstock, ON
> > Canada
> > _______________________________________________
> > Classicrendezvous mailing list
> > Classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
> >
>
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>
>
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D.C. Wilson dcwilson3@yahoo.com ----------------------------------------------------------- Note: This message may contain confidential and/or privileged information. If you are not the addressee or authorized to receive this for the addressee, you must not use, copy, disclose or take any action based on this message or any information herein. If you have received this message in error, please advise the sender immediately by reply e-mail and delete this message. Thank you for your cooperation. -------------------------------------------------------------
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