I had the fortune today to meet Ron Edmiston, from just south of Orlando in
Winter Haven FL. Ron drove up and rode with our group this morning. He is
riding in my car with me and Jonathan Greene to Cirque and this was an
opportunity to get to know one another. He showed up wearing a leather helmet and
riding with clips and straps on a gorgeous Bob Jackson that had been repainted
by Joe Bell. NOS Nuovo Record parts throughout, including high flange hubs
and an interesting Fiamme bar and older swallow saddle if I recall correctly.
The bike was from the 70s with clips for the brake housing, green with
cream headtube and seattube panel with red pinstriping around the lugs and
yellow decals and cutouts. It wasn't a color combo that I would have thought of,
but it was very nice. It was interesting that he normally doesn't ride with
the leather helmet and clips and straps but is much more modern in both his
apparel and bike. He made a comment about me needing to help him with the
shifting. That was funny. I told him that on the route we were taking, he
could put it in one gear and that would do for the entire 25 mile course! We
found we had in common that we were both former Army officers, he from the
famous Screaming Eagles of the 101st Airborne Division with purple heart from
Vietnam. We had also both had bike accidents in the past 2 years where we had
ribs broken, but that I would prefer to forget. It is energizing to meet
someone new getting so excited about seeing and talking about bikes. I'm looking
forward to his experiencing Cirque. I hope we have other new folks coming.
As Ron said, "I'm not taking a bike, I just want to listen and meet the
people." That is what it is all about in the end. Lou Deeter, Orlando FL