Re: [CR]being sick in german > now aussie-isms and a little Proust (sans madeleines)

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Date: Mon, 06 Jan 2003 07:41:38 -0500
From: <wspokes@penn.com>
To: Classic list <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>, Ben Kamen <benkamenphoto@nyc.rr.com>
Subject: Re: [CR]being sick in german > now aussie-isms and a little Proust (sans madeleines)

Ben and all,

You wanna pic! I can send you a blown up 8x10 of Phil Anderson in a perfect pose that I got from the 1992 or 1993 Tour DuPont. I have some of Gianni Bugno and Laurent Fignon too, I can probably hit Walmart and get a double of any of them if you want! Full Motorolo Garb for Phil and Gatorade garb for the others. Anyone else want a pic, let me know.

on another note, in Vermont some years back at the Grundig WorldCup races,, we stopped at a ice cream place. The girl got finished stacking on the layers and turned to me and asked "do you want me to put a jimmy on it before you get started?" NOW, where I grew up. Jimmy means condom. re-read the sentence. We laughed so hard, I quickly said, "heck yeah! You guys sure are friendly in New England."

Walter Skrzypek Falls Creek, Pa

On Mon, 06 Jan 2003 03:30:42 -0500 Ben Kamen <benkamenphoto@nyc.rr.com> wrote:
> 1/5/03 3:06
> PMclassicrendezvous-request@bikelist.org
>
> > Would you mean the 'Bugger' ?
> >
> > Steven Maasland
> > Moorestown, NJ
> >
> > PS: My sister was asked if she wanted to be
> 'knocked up in the morning' by
> > the gentleman at the reception desk the first
> time she went to Britain. Can
> > you imagine the same comment here in the US?
> The same sister had problems
> > when she asked her future sister-in-law which
> team she should 'root' for
> > when she went to see a rugby match in
> Australia (Ben can undoubtedly explain
> > this one!) And, we all thought that we spoke
> the same language.
>
> true steven,
>
> hmmm ... root? it would be akin to me admiting
> i "bone" for the NY Jets.
>
> one thing that always has me laughing is how
> the term "fanny" differs from
> here to abroad. close but yet so far.
>
> sitting around and getting "pissed" with your
> mates would be getting drunk
> where in american-ese it would indicate getting
> ready to throw blows. most
> antipodeans would concur its good to be
> "pissed" even though nobody in OZ
> actually drinks Fosters.
>
> but bike related ..... i grew up riding a
> *Push-bike* - meaning powered by
> pushing on the pedals and not by a motor as
> mention of just bike could mean
> for most. i guess saying bicycle sounded too
> formal. i still love that term
> and for most of my pre-facial hair days (and
> definately pre-rogaine) it was
> not uncommon to spin round the neighbours on my
> "pushie" and head outta
> town. another offshoot on this wordism is
> "treadlie" as in tread on pedals
> (i guess a little older slangese in style). i
> dont use the term here
> stateside as nobody really gets my drift but i
> still love saying it given a
> chance. proud to be a pushbike rider still
> ....... well lacking much of that
> lately - blaming the weather ;-)
>
> ..... so, same words different meanings
> depending on geograghy and time -
> makes the world more funl; then again maybe
> 'coz im from downunder my vision
> of a mermaid has a fish top half.
>
> aussie, aussie, aussie (pronounced Ozzy as in
> Osbourne)
>
> to this day im still super proud and in awe of
> that man Phil Anderson - if i
> had to choose an aussie rider that had the
> respect of all pushibike riders
> and those on treadlies - he's the man. class,
> pure guts and spirit. if any
> of you know of any good pics on the web or a
> detail of his palmares i would
> appreciate a heads-up.
>
> if/when i head back to OZ i will chase up some
> details and pics of frames
> built by Ken Evans, Geoff Scott and more
> locally to my area Jim Bundy. All
> used reynolds tubing, were established before
> the CR cut off and made the
> frames that we could afford and were proud to
> ride. Im not sure if any of
> these downunder masters are still active or in
> business but i sincerely hope
> their tradition, skills and quality lives on
> and their frames are being
> ridden as intended.
>
> In Sydney (where i grew up) we would enter the
> chapels of euro-cyclisme at
> Clarence Street Cyclery (still in business) and
> also Europa Cycles (italian
> wonderlust - not sure if they are still
> around). but to this day i have
> SOOOOO much to thank an ex-bmx pro Dave Marsh
> who at the age of 22 (10 years
> my senior) opened a small dinky bicycle store
> offering bikes for mums and
> dads yet would build up and order any exotics
> we dreamt of as he would get
> as much a kick from a beautiful race bike as we
> would. often *no money down*
> - so long as we regularly rode on all our local
> club rides and track meets
> we attracted a little business and profile for
> his store and we could pay
> him off weekly a few dollars at a time for what
> must have been forever. we
> all worked for him assembling "pays the rent"
> bikes from boxes, building
> wheels, any service and repair work - cleaning
> and maintaining his shop was
> something we would automatically do whenever we
> stopped by - he taught us
> all whilst he was teaching himself and we were
> one big family aiming to
> improve his business. his shop closed every day
> at 6pm but we would be there
> till very late most nights. i know he barely
> scraped a living, and even his
> girlfriend was mostly embarassed at his chosen
> field but he adopted a bunch
> of us "cutters" and none of us would ever
> forget him for it.
>
> if i had to recall the best days of my life it
> was those afternoons hanging
> around his shop where we would all drool at the
> catalogues and turn up like
> a flock of seagulls on his "delivery days".
> tools, frames, parts, clothing,
> 'zines - it was pure heaven and we were all
> addicted. those of us that had
> part time jobs after school sunk all our monies
> into bici and those of us
> that didnt blindly and unashamedly pilfered
> from our mums purses and our
> siblings piggy banks to fund our delirious
> drives. Olmo, DeRosa, Cinelli,
> Colnago, Casati, Bottechia, Ciocc, Gios as well
> as the local guns Kenevans,
> GefSco and Bundy (columbus vs. reynolds,
> italian vs. australian). nothing
> less than Record, Dura-ace or Superbe Pro and
> but one with full Mavic
> something ....... you name 'em our crazy gang
> rode em - yet most of us were
> barely 15 or 16 at the time. road, track and
> even triathlon - we lived for
> bikes and to ride them. cant recall a purer or
> more obsessed mindset ever to
> overwhelm me to this day. it was all late Cr
> list specific but it seems so
> long ago .... Dave Marsh was closer to me and
> more of a gaurdian than my
> father. he just wanted the best for us as he
> quietly admitted that his short
> pro-career was stiffled by lack of money and
> sponsorship needed to have
> given it a real shot. if i go back - priority #
> 1 is to track Dave down and
> thank him. his most often said words were
> "don't worry about how much it
> costs, we'll figure it out - lets get you
> sorted out and riding first". we
> all knew that if he would mark up above
> wholesale cost on our bikes it was
> something paltry like 5% which is nothing
> considering half of us would trade
> in our bikes for a new one with money still
> owing.
>
> and sadly, im not sure when it all ended but by
> the time we finished high
> school, started driving and bought cars,
> started working or went on to
> university, worshipped drinking, drugs and
> chasing chicks our best days
> slipped past and we all forgot Dave Marsh and
> our love of bikes. no moral to
> the story, just an unnerving shame at how i let
> my best friend, mentor and
> hero slip past and out of sight like a cloud
> covering the sun. everything he
> offered was goodness and from the heart and he
> never asked for a thing. in
> that same time (seems like a millisecond) fat
> tubed aluminium, shimano sante
> and MTB's slipped in there somewhere and it was
> just memories. regrets,
> hindsight and failing a friend firmly etched
> ....
>
> still learning

>

>

> ciao,

>

> ben kamen NYC