RE: [CR]New list member profile

Hey Matt, Welcome to the CR List! (otherwise known as "Dale's Living Room") 1. Don't put your feet on the coffee table. 2. Don't spit on the floor. 3. Don't cuss. Those are the three rules we must adhere to. Well...there are a couple others, but I forgot them.

I really enjoyed reading your profile. Following in the vein of "Roadside finds", it would be interesting and fun to start a thread, for everyone who is interested, to complete the same profile for themselves. Reading about your experiences at Spence Wolf's shop brought a tear to my eye. He was a great great man. Someone should write a book about those early years of Cupertino Bike Shop. How many hundreds, maybe thousands, of neo-cyclists did he turn on to Cinelli, Vittore Gianni wool, Clement Tubulars, and Campagnolo components?

Here are a few of my 'vitals':

Name: Jan (Causey) Johnson Birthdate: March 11, 1958 Place of birth: Salem, Oregon Philosophic note #1: Uphill BAD: downhill GOOD. First cycling memory: falling off my trike at age 3 and cutting a gash into my calf. I still have the scar. Cool! First bike: Huffy Girl's Stingray, with banana seat and sissy bar. Plastic basket with flowers on chopper handlebars. 1968 First good bike: Schwinn Varsity, Lemon Yellow, 25", $99.00. Purchased at Scott's Schwinn Cyclery in Salem, Oregon with money I earned working at my brother-in-law's gas station, pumping gas, the summer of 1973. Philosophic note #2: Fixed gear bikes RULE! First really good bike: 1978 PX-10, 25", that my boyfriend Peter Johnson won in the Senior 1-2 race at the Davis, CA Criterium on the 4th of July, 1978. (Our first real date.) Site of my first sewup purchase: Sugden and Lynch Bike Shop, Menlo Park, CA Site of my first fitting of cycling shorts: Peter's bedroom (wink-wink...!!) Next really good bike: A custom lugless 63cm PETER JOHNSON racing bike, painted midnight blue with all Campy NR. Favorite job ever: Mail Order Department of Avocet, above Palo Alto Bicycles. Summer of 1979. I loved slipping in free packets of E.R.G. Gookinaid into the orders and writing fun notes to customers all over the U.S. Next really good bike: A lugged 63cm PETER JOHNSON racing bike, painted by Brian Baylis a bright yellow (same color as Jobst Brandt's bike). Favorite bike of all time: 1954 Masi 'Speciale Corsa' in the Vintage Velos Museum in Cham, Switzerland. Mamma Mia! She's a beauty! http://www.vintagevelos.com/masi1954.html Philosophic note #2B: guys with shaved legs RULE! Heros: Eddy Merckx, Patrick Sercu, and Capt. (Ret.) Lindsay Crawford of Woodside, CA - 61 years old and still winning races. He has been a guiding force throughout my cycling career, for 24 years. Favorite moment on a bike: Getting to ride stoker and set a flying 200m time on the back of the track tandem with Leigh Barczewski at the 1981 World Track Championships in Brno, Czechoslovakia. WOW! Favorite moment off a bike: getting my ass pinched by three members of the Italian National Cycling Team in the elevator at Hotel Voronez in Brno, Czechoslovakia in September, 1981 at the World Track Cycling Championships. Oh yeah, and getting to meet Eddy, Patrick Sercu, and Daniel Morelon at the 1983 Track Worlds in Zurich. Sweet! Favorite bike part: my very first Campy NR 52 tooth chainring, drilled out by Peter. Favorite bike shop: Sugden and Lynch Bike Shop, Menlo Park, CA in the 1970's; Palo Alto Bike shop in the 1980's and The Bike Nook, San Francisco, today. (It has 'that' smell that drives us all wild!) Favorite frame builders: Peter Johnson (I HAVE to say that), Roland Della Santa, Brian Baylis, Richie Sachs, Jim Merz, Chris Kvale, Albert Eisentraut, Brian Spitz, Brent Steelman...have I forgotten anyone? I love 'em all. Philosophic note #3: The road from Sarnen, Switzerland up to Melchsee-Frutt and over to Engstlenalp is quite possibly the most beautiful bike ride in the world. It just does not get much better than this, folks. I'm guessing this is what heaven looks like. Philosophic note #4: never leave home without a patch kit, tire levers, and/or a spare tubular. Most embarrassing cycling moment: Cheering for Peter at Davis Criterium (see above), jumping up and down at the finish line, screaming...he exits the final turn and into the finish straight in the lead, with a pack of racers right behind. He uncorks his patented "Johnson Sprint" and annihilates the field to take the win. Watching all this, I got so excited screaming, I wet my pants. Philosophic note #5: A little bit of Fausto lives on in each and every one of us. Favorite Cycling Movie: Pee Wee's Big Adventure.

Ciao!
Jan Johnson
Portola Valley, California