This morning as I was warming up for my morning ride in Key Biscayne, I spotted two cyclists headed for the bridge hill, and one reached down to downshift for the long bridge ascent! Imagine my astonishment to see a cyclist with downtube shifters, amongst all the monster tubed Sti mega cycles that are the norm around here in Miami! I immediately finished up my one legged exercizes to join up to form a three man peloton. At the turn around the leader was the tall one on his carbon flubbered buycycle and he led me by about 30 seconds. The Classic bike was 30 seconds behind me and bringing up the rear. We re-assembled for the ride back, but this time I held the wheel of the rider on the Carbon flavored bike until the last bridge hill. I had to drop back because my deep breathing had turned to gasping, and we finished again in the same order, with me in the middle. My favorite part of any ride is the chatting and bike discussions that inevitably follow a ride, and so the three of us gathered under a tree for that. I had to fake any interest in the carbon based mega buck model, but I was facinated by the classic. The owner was from Mexico City and was touring the states having tasted the hills of San Francisco last week. It was a mid 80's Benotto with a humble Shimano gruppo, but definitely the entry level race ready bike. I thought the low level Benotto's were actually made in Mexico ( no coincidence). The owner had ridden this bike sufficiently to start some major rust in the top tube, and had managed to rust out two of the brake cable braze ons. All the decals were long since decayed away, but yet you could see the short point lugs had some careful attention payed to them. The rear brake bridge had triangular cut outs that I have seen on other Benottos. The owner must have been supprised in my interest in his bike, but the thought of some laborer having skillfully brazed this frame a decade and a half ago, and the owner having piloted it the equivalant of several times around the world since he first bought it, just lit me up. I guess through this list, and my gradual understanding of what these bikes really mean, I have developed a true artistic appreciation of even the most well worn examples.The Benotto owner admitted to a real affection for his bike and agreed to strip it and have it repainted to preserve it for another future trip around the planet. He did let on, however that he was saving up for a Kestral. Sigh. Garth Libre in Surfside