A general round of thanks is due here.. first and foremost to Ken Sanford for organising another thoroughly enjoyable (and twisty and bendy) tour through some of the Washington area's priciest residential areas. All that primo English iron felt right at home. Second to Duncan Granger for recording the bikes on camera. And also to Harvey Sachs for his comments.
It was gratifying to see so many folks taking up the "theme" of the ride and for once I wasn't the only one astride a classic English lightweight around here. But, surprisingly, I was the only one running a Sturmey-Archer hub gear (a 4.49 dated FC).
The real treat of the ride wasn't ridden (it's a fact of life that it takes two to ride a tandem) was Duncan's exquisite 1950 Hobb's Blue Riband. This originally came from Portsmouth, Hampshire. and her original owners did time trials on her apparently. Just magnificent in original paint (an unusual olive colour with deep yellow head tube and seat tube band and amazingly ornate lining... this thing must have gone through the lining shop four times!). And the lugwork...! Great stuff. Duncan you need to post some pix of this Queen Mary of the bike path.
And it was nice to ride and chat with lots of familiar CR list names. My apologies to David Irwin for not bringing and riding my '80 Raleigh Team Pro to compliment his '82. We could have managed a mini TI Raleigh team time trial! But my '48 RRA enjoyed a day out with the lads even if I felt 'orrible as Paul Raley still covets what will always be HIS bike. A guy with an Ephgrave who still wants a Raleigh... who can argue with that?!
Peter Kohler
Washington DC