Many thanks to Wayne and MJ, Dale and all who worked so hard to make the weekend so special. The Best Western with it's great hospitality proved to be an excellent venue for location, greeting old friends, meeting new ones, parking lot test rides and on & on. Thanks to Peter Koskinen setting up the BIG truck for bike adjustments & repair in the parking lot, a real asset too.
Wayne and MJ's garden party was very nice. They've got a beautiful place in the country and Wayne's workshop & warehouse (garage) must be seen to be appreciated. Bikes lining the fence out back and horses just outside the 2nd floor workshop window made for a great atmosphere. They had a nice crowd too, just one of the good reasons to show up on Thursday.
Barb and I had a wonderful time (See Dale's photo of her grinning ear to ear on her Jack Taylor). Though she sometimes thinks of our obsession as a bit silly, she loved meeting all the people she'd heard me talk about, and like most of us, agreed that the people we see are what a lot of this event is all about. So many great personalities. I can't say for sure if Barb will be back, but having Richie Sachs describe cyclocross racing to her, tactics, what makes a good cyclocross bike and his fun with the team, was very cool. And Steven Maasland giving her a treatise at her request of "What's this beauty of lugs all about?", and pointing out details among many of the beautiful bikes lining the hallway of the Best Western for emphasis. Sometimes you just need to hear it from someone other than your husband. And now she knows that my collection is so much more reserved than many of us (not sure that's the word, maybe I'm just limited by space!).
And that hallway was something else, from the Rene Herse look-alike Para Mount to the real ones, and all those other cool bikes, a constantly changing display of vintage and KOF. The auction was a hoot, though I faded before it finished. Johnny P. was in rare form (actually the usual rare form!). I managed to acquire a couple of things at the auction, and picked up an e-bayed frame from Hilary while down there.
There always seemed to be people outside test riding each other's bikes. Funk master Harvey's Allenax lever operated bike was constantly ridden by all who wished, the exercise seemed to bring out it's better (if you'd call it that) characteristics. I got to ride Charlie Young's Rotrax, a frame once offered to me in the past, nice ride! And that Weigle randonneur of Elton Pope-Lance. Wow! An amazingly nice ride ... and THE Condor! (see below)
The rides were hot! and beautiful. We managed a couple of early morning rides to beat the heat, and a lovely cruise through the local village of Waterford, along with some shady riding along the W&OD rail trail. My first ride was spent a good bit w/ Kevin Kruger, who I'd met just the day before. What a collection of bikes, including that Condor track bike I'd fallen in love with the first time I'd seen it on FGG, fancy lugs & lots of chrome. That, a W. B. Hurlow and a very old vintage Bianchi Specialissi ma(?), my kind of collection and way out'a my league.
I had some reservations about the location of the Cirque when I entered the gravel drive of the fairgrounds, but found the hall to be a wonderful display of what seems to be even better bikes every year. I think the swap meet around the perimeter of the hall and in an adjacent building will really expand once word gets out. Charlie Young found a great deal on a Sturmey FW hub, and passed it on to me for my '53 Carlton Internationa l build. Thanks so much Charlie. I managed to find a couple other small things I wanted. The bins are growing in anticipation.
I brought my usual two nicer ones, plus Barb's Jack Taylor ladies bike, a new acquisition for us. I especially liked the display the Via Bikes people had with all the individual maps attached into one long path showing their ride down from Philadelphia, with three loaded 650b KOF bikes lined up behind and all the road dirt. I liked that several bikes throughout were displayed as ridden w/ bags, upgrades & modifications that personalized them, even if not pre '83. After seeing Richard Sach's road bike covered with an inch of mud and displayed in the hallway of the Best Western, I decided not to put the toe clips and Brooks back on my thirty year old daily rider for the show this time. Period correct and original parts are great, but as Mick Butler once pointed out, most of us start to modify our bikes almost as soon as they are acquired. That said, my favorite was David White's all original Spence Wolfe Cinelli SC w/ the modified long cage steel campy rear and alpine double up front, beautiful! (my size too) The Cinelli town bike was very cool, hard to believe how nice it turned out.
I liked seeing all the randonneur and touring bikes. I'm becoming more attached to that style all the time. And the newer builders were showing some beautiful stuff. Some people who couldn't come for the weekend did manage to make it to Cirque'. Paul Raley had a Mariposa randonneur that won a category, Peter Kohler rode in from DC with his blue and chrome Falcon San Remo, all kitted out wearing wool in the heat! I took photos, but light and my camera skills didn't always work out well. I'll post them at my earliest opportunity. I was initially disappointed that the display setup wouldn't allow the his & her aspects of Barb and my Jack Taylor's side by side being built three years apart, but seeing the different periods of bikes was actually very neat. Comparing the vintages and components side by side was a good way of displaying them.
Even with four days, it all seemed over way too soon. I've brought home many wonderful memories. If you live a reasonable distance away, please come to our vintage ride in Parkton, North of Baltimore, Saturday, July 19th and rev this feeling up again soon!
Happy trails,
Dan Artley in Parkton, Maryland USA