Buon giorno!
I'm back on the list after a three-month hiatus. For those of you who don't know me, I'm Mrs. Peter Johnson (formerly Jan Causey); three-time California/Nevada State Women's 1000m sprint champion; two-time 7th place finisher in the Women's 1000m sprint finals at the U.S National Track Cycling Championships (yeah...it was futile trying to compete against Connie Paraskevin, Sheila Young, Sue Novara-Reber, Jackie Disney, Pam Deem, and others!); and former 'Klein Girl'. Now fast-forward 25 years...I'm now representing Alessandro/Woolistic Merino wool cycling apparel (for six years) and also organizing the 2nd San Francisco VeloSwap, to be held at the Cow Palace in Brisbane, California on Saturday, 13 November 2004.
As fellow CR listee Matt Gorski wrote earlier, besides the big event on Saturday, there will be a couple of exclusive 'CR List On-topic' events. On Friday evening, plan on attending the "Legends of Framebuilding" Symposium, at the Sierra Point Radisson Hotel, just north of San Francisco International Airport. No where else can you meet seven of the best framebuilders in the U.S all in the same room, at the same time. Such notable 'torch-bearers' as Brian Baylis, Mark Nobilette, Bruce Gordon, Jeff Lyon, Roland Della Santa, Ed Litton, and Peter Johnson will be present to share their unique wit and their own perspective on building classic lugged steel frames over the past quarter-century. One lucky attendee will ride away with a beautiful classic Ben Serotta lugged steel bicycle, complete with a new Campagnolo Record group, and a pair of Campagnolo's top-of-the-line wheels. Yes, you read that correctly! New components on a classic steel frame - it just doesn't get any better than that.
In addition, on Saturday, 13 November we will hold the first Vintage Lightweight Expo at the San Francisco VeloSwap event. Attendees are encouraged to enter one or more vintage lightweight bicycles, preferably dating from 1950 to 1980, in the 'concours' event, where entries will be judged on 'Most Obscure' and 'Best in Show'. The bicycle that is awarded 'Best in Show' will fetch a $200 cash prize as well as a one-year subscription to ASPHALT magazine.
Here's where I need your help: to promote the event, we're trying to get as many images of classic/vintage bicycles up on the VeloSwap website. If you go to http://www.veloswap.com and click on the 'SAN FRANCISCO' link, you will see an image of a stunning Masi 'Special' track bike. Click on the link for the 'Vintage Lightweight Expo' and you will see just a few of the bikes that will be in the concours. I need more images, so....if you think you might be attending, and entering a bike or two in the expo, please send me any images you have of your bikes. They can be fairly low resolution - no more than 500k. We are not listing the owner's name with the bike, so it is relatively harmless. No one will know to whom the bike belongs. If you would like to have your favorite bikes featured on our website, please send your images to :
picabo58@earthlink.net
We will also have a vintage bike ride on Sunday, 14 November, departing at 10:00am from CR Listee Bradley Woehl's American Cyclery in San Francisco. The ride meanders through the Presidio and over the Golden Gate Bridge to Marin County for a memorable ride along Paradise Drive. The ride last year was great fun. The local bike shop proprietors love it when 10 or 15 sweaty bike guys wearing wool jerseys come into their stores!
If you have any questions regarding VeloSwap, the "Legends of Framebuilding" Symposium, the Vintage Lightweight Expo, or the Vintage Ride on Sunday, please drop me a line.
I look forward to seeing you at VeloSwap.
Jan Johnson
VeloSwap San Francisco
Portola Valley, California