Mark, sounds to me like the mushrooms in that chicken Saturday night might have had a delayed effect, eh? I know Richie Sachs and this isn't Richie Sa chs. I know you were being humorous, but let the facts speak for themselves . Richie didn't enter his bikes in the show, although he had them there for people to see. I think that speaks volumes. It implies that the only reas on one would register a bike is in hopes of winning something, even if it is a nondescript bike. Or, perhaps people are just lemmings and since that is what is expected, they follow. Regardless, Richie is a winner in my book. When I talk to people, they want a Richard Sachs bike. They may express th at they would like to own someone else's bike too, but most seem to want a R ichie bike. There were four people in my car on the way up/back. Among tho se four, they either own or have on order eight Richard Sachs bicycles. I h ang out with a few other people at Cirque, most own Richard Sachs bikes. Ri chard doesn't have to discuss prizes, he already has them in the people who ride his bikes and his friends, one of whom is his pal Peter. My guess is t hat Richard was the first to congratulate Peter Weigle for winning Best of S how and would be the first to defend him among the experts should they chall enge the award. I can't imagine the conversation you humorously offered ev er taking place. I don't know why Richie didn't register his bikes, althoug h it could have been purposeful and it could have been an oversight. I only know what I know and that is that Richard Sachs is a humble man, a great gu y, and an awesome framebuilder. He's also not a bad bike rider. And, Mark, you're my pal too. Lou Deeter, writing from a hotel room in Albuquerque NM , will hopefully sleep in Orlando FL tonight.
-----Original Message----- From: Mark Poore <rauler83@yahoo.com> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Sent: Thu, 15 Jun 2006 19:30:59 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [CR]re: cirque judging, feelings & a humorous tale
Having attended my first Cirque about six years ago I know the feeling of no t winning a BEST award. To me my Rauler was a sure winner; Best Italian was in the bag. No one had ever seen this Italian bike with fancy lugs. Fancy chrome lu gs just isnât Italian. To watch folks walk right by my bike to another Italian marquee that literally thousands upon thousands were made just didnâ t make sense when this one was so special and different, beyond the norm. Well I got over
that crap in a hurry; things just donât bother me for long. On the w ay home was when I realized that like so many other interests in life the bikes are only
what brings us together. Over the years and many Cirques later I have develo ped an appreciation for what Peter Weigle called a grandfatherâs bike. T he fenders and lights held no interest for me until about my third Cirque. Chris Byers âs bike was the first one of its kind to catch my eye. Chris was kind enough to do the driving around Greensboro for several of us and in the car I questioned him at length and back at the Battlegroun d about those kinds of bikes. At the present time I donât own a bike l ike that, but maybe someday in the future.
Reading all the post about feelings that might be hurt and taking things w ay too hard, criticisms and all I thought about Richard and Peter driving back to Connecticut. For years Peter has come away with some kind of an award for a bike he brought to the Cirque and Richard hasnât that I recall. Richard h as won awards at other shows that I know. Anyway I thought about what kind of scena rio would play out if Richard and Peter had those kinds of personalities that wo uld be hurt or take offense to not winning an award when they thought they shoul d have. Well here goes:
Upon loading up the Ford F-350 van with some of the most desirable bikes i n the world our two heroes head up the road for the long drive home. After man y minutes of silence and on the outskirts of Greensboro Richard say, â ya know one of my bikes should of won the best of show, after all Bicycling magazine cla imed that I was the best frame building in the world and it is about time that I won the Best of Show at the Cirque.â Peter responds, âIt was cle ar that the judges picked their favorite and it was my bike. And it doesnât matter that I win year after year, no matter who does the judging they like my bikes.â Rich ard, âThey just donât have a thing for race bikes; they are old and like bikes like their grandfather rode.â Peter, âI am not a grandfather and it wi ll be years before I am one!â âThat isnât to say you donât have a mindset like a grandfather,â Richard blasts back. âSo you think I think like the old folks do? â Peter asks. âWhen did we start building frames? It wasnât yesterday and we are getting long in the tooth Gamps!â Richard replies. âYo mama!â Peter says. âYa better keep my mama out t his boy!â Richard snaps. âBoy? We arenât southernersâ man. Donât be u sing that boy crap with me.â Peter argues. Following this exchange there is a long period of silence. And then with ample time to reflect on their exchange Richard shoots at Peter, âTh e reason that you won is that the judges just have been in touch with their feminine side a little too often and they go for the pastels that you paint your bikes. â âOh my listen to this now.â Peter says, âIf your bikes didnâ t resemble some cheap harlot with Red lipstick and Red rouge they might be attracted to your work. â âWho are you calling my work cheap like a harlot. Ferraris are red, fire engines are red, Cinelliâs choice color was red so donât go and give me any of the cheap shzxyisz! And besides, I did have some of my frames painted other colors and
some of them were a light blue. Make note I didnât say a pastel blue!â Richards say. Another lon g silence and by this time we are across the Mason Dixon line and their Yankee blood is start ing to boil. Richard says, âYou know if you knew anything about bikes an d lights you would have reflectors on âem just like some cheap Wal-mart bike! And if ya wanted to ride a bike that long into the dark ya outta start now!â R ichard yells as he slams on the brakes and ads. âGet your bike out and take a ped al stroke or two pal!â
Fortunately our two heroes are the best of pals and small trivial things s uch as awards at shows donât bother them at all and certainly hasnâ t gotten in the way of the friendship. When one looks at the time and labor of love that the se two craftsmen put into their work you would think that an award would mean m ore to them than folks like us who just shell out some bucks and some time polis hing parts to make them look pretty for the show. I know that I am very glad not ever to have been asked to judge, not that I have the expertise to judge, all the
bikes as far as I am concerned are winners. With that being said I do want t o ad that I was so glad to hear the Kenâs Carpenter won itâs cate gory. When I was a young kid racing in the Washington area Bobby Phillips had what I thought wa s the prettiest bike in the world. It was an all chrome Carpenter with the sam e lugs that Ken has on his bike. About seven years ago I decided I would start
searching from my dream bike with fancy lugs like that in mind. I always rode Italian bikes and knew that the y had either long point or short point lugs and some had cutouts. Nothing fanc y, just straight up race bikes. Then low and behold within two months of my sea rch I found the Rauler. Doesnât matter that is has never won an award. T his year Karen Rauls made my day when I came in to the Battleground lobby in my cycli ng duds and asked, âWhere your Rauler?â âOutsideâ I answered. She proceeded to go out and bring it in and she sat at the table holding the bike and looking at it for a very long period of time. She got pleasure out of just looking at my b ike and that was enough of a reward for me. I do hope that all on the list not o nly enjoy riding there prize bikes, but enjoy the pleasure other list members receive in viewing the prize bikes.
Mark Poore Slatyfork, WV
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