Spring, 1980 I was the new kid in College Park that had just ripped apart a bombed-out laundromat to bring a bike shop to town. Busy day, no help, working on a junker rr-ringggg I answer "Black?" "Yeah, it's me" "Hey, Mike Fraysse here from Paris Sport" (and USCF at the time) Get a passport,you won the trip to the Worlds in France." "huh?, oh yeah, the licenses...., Betsy (Davis) didn't get it?" "No, you signed up more"
Betsy Davis was one of the country's better riders who, like many women in those days, received little compemnsation ans was always hustlingsomething- from Competitive Cycling (which had recently broken away from VeloSnooze after a lawsuit) subscriptions (for a small but legal commission) and she was also going for the first prize of the trip-to-the-worlds for getting the most people to sign up for recing licenses. I thought for sure Mike's good buddy (I was an OK friend of his too, having bought Paris Sport and other bikes from his familyo'er the years) Betsy D was a shoe-in.
I got some customers and some employees to take over the new shop, College Park Bicycles, biked doen to DC for a passport, and drove to Paris Sport's globalheadquarters in Ridgefield Park, NJ, to meet Mike.
We was working the warehouse frantically until his wife drove us to JFK. As an orthodox workaholic,I grabbed a tape gun and joined in.
On the way, he was driving while his wife took notes of everything to tie upin his absence.
At the Swissair terminal it was a who's who. The six best women in the US were standing among their cases and bike boxes. Karen Roy, Beth Heiden, Sarah Docter, Heidi Hopkins(I remember her custom Ritchey with early 'quill-less' stem) and someone with whom I'd rubbed elbows in the National 'Crash' Open in DC before- Miji Reoch of Filly. there were a total of 6 on the '80 team - the other one I can't remember.
Miji (Mary Jane) was one of the early pioneeresses to ride in and to hold her own in an occassional gent's bunch.
Miji had an amazing method of packing her Hill (Brand) Cycle. No box, no bag. Pedals off, bars twisted sideways and rolled under the tt. Wheels off, de-skewered, taped neatly astride the fuselage. foam pads strategically placed and a roll of packing tape and Saran wrap. A just-big-enough lightweight plywood pallet kept the unit in an upright position as it stopped nearly all passers-by, cyclist and non-cyclist alike. Very compact and obvious. How could any semi-respecting luggage gorilla get nasty with that beautiful sculpture? Against Mike's original suggestion, I packed a bike for personal play. Probably my P13 which I fitted with one of those super-size Brooks (maybe Karrimor) bags under the seat.
After holding our privaste mini bus at the French border for an hour and causing the women's team to almost miss the races, I finally found my passport (ALWAYS look under those stiffening flaps in the base of your duffels!!- I found some old money too and if you have anything of a questionable nature- make sure you remove it.
so we get through , get to Sallanches to prepare for the road race, and the team goes out on a ride. That afternoon several of us were in the van scouting dozens of towns and numerous shops for cogs larger than the 21's and 22's most of them had. Most were Maillard and we finally found enough.
These Yanks were used to the more friendly gently graded slopes of the US.
Every day while the team was out doing their prep, i took the bike a different direction, making it home by dark. On the day before the women's event (there were also amateur and pro men's) I decided to stray into Italy across the White Mountains toward Aosta and Turin.
Those hills got the best of me and my clement 50's. One was soooo long a descent that the front tub was oozing oround the rim and causing a crooked valve. Halfway down I removed the wheel and reversed it and the braking on the rest of the hill equalized the tire again.
Anyway, i pilled an all-nighter and stayed in a flop house in France, actually a nice room. I zoomed back in time to catch the last few laps of the race. Only it was the Mens' amateur.I had my schedule mixed up.
People were camped for days to get a glimpse ofthe packs going by just a few times- these were some looonnng circuits.
At one of the summits after the pack had gone by I noticed a USA support station wagon going by slowly and hopped in for a ride back to town. Two of the women were in there and farther down the road a bit later we picked up smilin' George. He had abandoned or maybe never entered (check the books, I am vague) He hopped in and starting throwing packs of Benotto tape at us. "This is the latest stuff! The pros love it and it's cheap.They're sponsoring me, take some, it was free" I was thinking of Plastilac, Raleigh Records, Hunt Wilde and Schwinn Varsities,but it took and became the trend.
Whoa, I've just got to the George part and have gone through a few sheets of virtual paper.
The women's road race was by the sister of my roomate-for-the-week, Eric Heiden. Beth was the heroine of the country, ambraced and 'adopted' by the French as if she were, well, their own runner-up, Jeanne Longo!
Heidi Hopkins took an imporessive fourth place after a basically long, unsheltered solo. Beth worked a break and was relatively fresh for the final dash.
Men's pro- this was worth the admission price. 'Ber-nah-Eeno' stole the home event from Guanbattista (johnny) Bartonchelli.
This was nothing short of a grandstand-toppling World Cup,but the Franch held their composure and the celebrations were truly enlightning.
A few days later it was off to Besancon for the big track Worlds'
I remember Sue Novara almost getting the sprints, but the East German and Soviet Women (some had question marks here) were the high performers. One DDR 'girl'was about 17 and medaled.
Daniel Morelon of Fr, ? Nakano, of Jp, and Czech Anton Taxc(sp?) were the men's dominators. Our own Jonathan Boyer, riding a Puch for Gribaldi''s appliances (a shop we got to see in town) did so-so.
Since we are more of an equipment forum here in CR-ville, there were some great innovations mixed in with the classics. The East Germans and Soviets had some of their pursuit bikes outfitted with the handlebars attached to the fork, along with thin tubes, aero shapes,and other new experimants. The Japanese track machines features Araya's newest ADX aero rims which we'd seen, but they had tubular skins wrapped around the outside of the rim and glued in place, so the inner tube was still sitting on top of the rim, but the rim was encased within the tire skin, sidewall, and tread. This, when inflated to near 200#, provided what seemed to be a nearly flex-less arrangement, The Besancon track was cement and oversize, about 400m and not as steep as some shorter tracks. The tire casing, being cemented directly to the rim over the ADX's large aero skirt, had none of the thread holes to compromise the hyper-pressures. Why didn't I think of that?
Back to George, Did he make the VeloSport 40th party last March in Berserkely? I was there but there were so many illuminaries that it was a bit of a blur to an aging vet.
One more for the road- Was George one of our four boys in Montreal '74 Worlds? John Howard was one. We have some great Montreal '74 and '76 stories for another time
Larry Black
memoryville, USA