[CR]Fwd: More info on The Pauley bike.

(Example: Events:Cirque du Cyclisme)

From: <ABikie@aol.com>
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 2003 20:06:49 EDT
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Subject: [CR]Fwd: More info on The Pauley bike.

In a message dated 8/7/2003 8:06:17 PM Eastern Daylight Time, A Bikie writes:
>
> >> Subj: More info on The Pauley bike.
>> Date: 8/7/2003 6:23:55 PM Eastern Daylight Time
>> From: <A HREF="mailto:tsan7759142@comcast.net">tsan7759142@comcast.net</A>
>> To: <A HREF="mailto:rauler83@yahoo.com">rauler83@yahoo.com</A>
>> CC: <A HREF="mailto:ABikie@aol.com">ABikie@aol.com</A>
>> Sent from the Internet
>>
>>
>>
>> This was just sent me by Lou Deeter. It was Chris I bought it from.
>>
>> Lou -
>>
>> Thanks for answering. Chris Hinds, a manager at one of the local shops,
>> owned it for a few months, until about a year ago. He kept it at the shop and
>> was picked on mercilessly for his "gay pride bike". He was a cool guy and
>> could dish it out as well as he could take it. Heck, we knew it was a
>> wonderful bike, but it was even better as a source of merriment and abuse. A
>> year ago last June, Chris was diagnosed with cancer. It floored everybody.
>> Heck, he was a Cat 2 (not on the Pauley, though) and lived as clean a
>> lifestyle as anybody we knew. At some point shortly after that, I offered to buy
>> the bike (or anything else he wanted to unload), in the event he needed any
>> cash. I already had more bikes and stuff than I could use, but I honestly
>> wanted to help out if I could. A month or so after that, out of the blue, he
>> offered to sell the bike to me, but it was about a week after I'd spent money
>> on something (a Pog, maybe) and I had to decline. I felt awful about it,
>> like I'd let Chris down. It ended up selling on eBay for about a hundred
>> more than the offered price. He passed away in October, only 43 with a lovely
>> wife and year-old baby. The day after the memorial service, I was laid off,
>> so it was probably just as well that I hadn't bought the bike.
>>
>> I'm sorry to share such a dreary story, but Chris was a great guy, and a
>> lot of laughter was shared around that bike. We all loved Chris and we'll
>> always miss him. I still feel badly about not being able to help him out (and
>> I probably always will), but I'm glad that his old bike is in good hands.
>>
>> Tom Nyzio
>> Pawtucket, RI
>>
>> Tom Sanders
>>
>
> Thanks for that story. It and some other info will accompany the bike as it
> hangs in the showroom/museum. In that same line are other bikes with other
> stories, of all timbres.
> A very nice Chris Chance original (OK, a little outa CR) sits in a stately
> pose with a small message from the person that placed it in my care. In
> summary, the Chance belonged to his best friend. They were both under the influence
> many years ago, the survivor perhaps a bit more able to operate the car.
> They went down in a fiery crash and the mother of the one whose life was taken
> gave the bike to the friend. The guys were close. Having ridden beside the
> Chance for many years, my friend couldn't bear to ride that bike ever.
>
> Fortunately we have working shrines to the departed that we can use and
> kindle the memories of our fallen friends of the pack.
>
> Ride on, guys, wherever the pathway
>
> Larry Black
> Mt Airy, Md.