[CR]Raleigh Wool Jersey - John Atkins, Amateurs vs Pros

(Example: Framebuilding:Paint)

References: <MONKEYFOOD7oxwCKg0Q00001059@monkeyfood.nt.phred.org>
To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
Date: Wed, 10 Jan 2007 17:23:55 -0500
In-Reply-To:
From: <lemansgtman@aol.com>
Subject: [CR]Raleigh Wool Jersey - John Atkins, Amateurs vs Pros

Whilst on the subject of John and the pic that I linked to:- note that the picture proves the worth of centre-pull brakes both for competition and thus certainly for general riding.

Weinmann c-pulls were clearly good enough for John Atkins at the time when Mafac Driver cantilevers were widely considered 'required wear'.

As a keen amateur 'Cross rider at this time - though usually one or two laps down on the likes of pros Atkins, Keith Mernickle et al*, I also rode Weinmann c-pulls simply because I could only afford to race 'cross using an old Dawes touring bike stripped of mudguards that of course had come with Weinmanns supplied in the first place!

Seeing this image now of John A now makes me feel a whole lot better - perhaps I didn't look such a wally plodding around at the back of the field after all...

*Note that in the 1970s Cyclo Cross was the one of the v.few race disciplines in the UK in which amateurs were routinely permitted to compete against professionals.

Having said that I also recall that we rode against pros at the Reading Open Track Leagues at Palmer Park. Fellow CR-lister Mike Mullet will well recall this league (as the Commissaire) as we battled weekly in a variety of mass-start / pursuit races to build points counting towards the summer-long competition (co-incidentally sponsored by Dave Russell, who until his recent-ish retirement was a KoF builder if ever there was one - now I think about it, just like Mike Mullet himself).

Ian Briggs
LUTON UK