". . . how many of us owned a Cinelli or Masi at age 17-21."
Me for one\u2014it's all about desire, not money. At age 18 (1957) I was importing Cinelli SC into NYC. In fact I rode one of those bikes to college. Then one day it was stolen while locked up on campus.
I cried like a baby. By 1962 I bought my first Masi Special when I went to Europe that year. My bicycle tutelage came
from expatriates, former Euro domestiques, living in NYC after WW II. Those older guys would ride about 50 mi. everyday in Central Park. When
I met up with them in the park, they would all shout, "at the back kid." I started riding because I was a nationally ranked speed skater and cycling was the off-season sport of choice. Those days in Central Park's 10K course was virtually owned by cyclists. Not much traffic and
few people. My parents, especially my father, were pretty upset with me
about the bike riding. I think they thought I had regressed. Once my father said, "When are you going to grow up and stop riding that bike."
What my father said when I shaved my legs is unprintable here. The movie "Breaking Away" was a joy and revelation, like my life on the big
screen. But it would have to be set in the housing projects to be accurate. Boy the kids in the hood sure let me have it when I came out
of my building decked out in wool cycling kit, proudly wheeling my bike. "Look at that fag," they jeered or something like that. But I'm still riding and they're probably in prison or dead from a drug overdose or whatever. Like the character on SNL used to say, "cycling has been very very good to me."
Michael Allison
New York, NY