Well, this time last week I was sitting down to a table full of pizza with all my friends and surrounded by amazing bike frames at beautiful and serene Brookside Park. Day One of a three day "full immersion" vintage lightweight bike luvfest!
Each year has gotten bigger and better and I thought this year's Velo Rendezvous was the best ever. Saturday's Symposium was sublime, with Ted Ernst, Peter Rich, Brett Horton, Mark Petry and Dennis Crowley. Sunday's turnout was the best showing of vintage lightweights I have ever seen; my personal favorites were the 1927 Automoto TdF, 1932 Gloria la Garibaldina, and late-40s (Hans) Ohrt Lady's.
And as always, the success of the event was due to you, the participants, with the main credit going to my wife and best friend of 35 years, Sherry (our anniversary's today!), without whose help there would have be no Velo Rendezvous I, II or III!
This year's event, with more than 80 attendees (closer to 90 if you include the attempted gate crashings), is pretty much the capacity of the current venues, and I wouldn't really want to attempt an event any larger than that. The only announcements for the event are on Dale's Classic Rendezvous web site, the CR list and my Velo-Retro web site so the show attendees tend to be a pretty knowledgeable group, which is the way I want the event to continue. I was contacted by the Los Angeles Times newspaper about a free announcement of my event in their weekend events section and I asked them not to.
Next year's event (October 1,2 & 3, 2004, mark your calendars!) will have some small changes that will be announced closer to the event time. One addition will be a choice of rides on Saturday, the usual 25 mile social ride or one that will head into the San Gabriel mountains and top out at 8000 feet of elevation for those of you who requested a more challenging ride. (Finally! Right, Mark Petry?)
Once again, a thank you to all who drove and flew long distances to make the event the success that it continues to be.
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Tom Truong photos:
http://members4.clubphoto.com/
Jay Van De Velde photos:
http://photos.yahoo.com/
Dale Brown photos:
http://www.classicrendezvous.com/
Chuck Schmidt South Pasadena, CA
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