> I was expecting someone else to weigh in with a ride report for
> yesterdays event and as I did not ride in Davis hopefully someone will
> cover that portion of the day.
Heck, I'm still recovering. Not that I took ride leaders/organizers for granted, but as a first-timer at this I didn't what it would take out of me. Quick corrections first: ROBERT St.Cyr, David TAKEMOTO-Weerts. And Tim Bustos has moved on from his work with the City of Davis and is now working at UC Berkeley. 'Nuff of that.
Here's the ride lineup, at least of those that signed in: A pair of Santana tandems led out, Tim Bustos and David Takemoto-Weerts on a 1978 Santana, number 6 ever built. Mark Perkins and Michael Teller on a 1983 Santana, providing draft for the rest of us. Marc St.Martin on his gorgeous 1971 Rene Herse -- chrome, spotless. Oh my. Dan Martinich on a 1961 Cinelli S.C. Charles Nighbor on a super-clean Battagini Greg Davis on a 1961 Bianchi (celeste!) Robert St.Cyr on a 1977 Aende -- chrome with drillium lugs Earl Laih on an off-topic mount Peter Chu on a 1984 Team Fuji (sweeeet) Dave Clementsono on a 1991 Hetchins (with matching jersey. Dude!) Jim West, local lad, on an orange 1980 Colnago Eric Meddaugh on a Raliegh Competition GS (should be Competition NR, since he's switched out all the GS kit. And we think it's a 1978 build. Maybe '77.) And Eric Norris (the CampyOnly Eric), another local lad, hauling out his 1972 Cinelli after too, too many rides on a variety of single-speed/fixies. (Hey, Eric -- you can put more Campy kit onto a multi-speed bike!) Whoops -- I was on a 1971 Masi Gran Criterium, repainted metallic light green without decals.
Even as Irish as I am (look at those milky-white legs in the foreground of Eric's first picture), my luck couldn't account for the PERFECT RIDING WEATHER. Good golly it was as pleasant as it could possibly be. At one point on the longest straight, Eric asked me if this road went on forever "...because I could ride just like this forever." That summed it up.
Oh -- that cloud of swarming bees? Nobody stung, so no problem, right?
And I'm reliably informed that the Davis Bike Club member who
abandoned his sunglasses in the road at that spot wasn't one of our
riders. Besides, in a valley with as many groves of flowering trees as
we have, we love all the bees and the hard work they do.
> (those that didn't make it really missed out)
Oh yeah. Next time, folks, don't let this ride slide. Make your
excuses elsewhere and show up.
> I should really start with the nice lunch in a downtown
> restaurant in the bike friendly (and bike crazy) university town. Ever
> been to a place where the staff spent as much time checking out the
> bikes as waiting tables? There was a place to display our bikes and in
> between bike talk and lunch, I met many people connected with the
> collection ,the Davis cycle community and friends of friends.
Many thanks to Jim and the folks at Cantina del Cabo. The bit about staff taking time off from work to check out bikes isn't a joke. The food was delicious, as usual, and just what hungry riders want. Best yet, the food was ready and waiting for us when we arrived.
As for "bike crazy" city, it was nice to hear Bay Area folks saying
Palo Alto needs to lay off their claims to passing Davis as "Bike
Capitol." It hasn't, and won't. Davis is going for even more.
> The collection....
It is what it is. Look at the pictures. Mostly off-topic, unfortunately, for being TOO old -- but I'll keep the list updated on our progress. After all, we're accepting donations of museum-quality on-topic bikes and gear....
Lastly, thank you again, everyone who came. Riders, Lunchers, Picture Takers, everyone. Your suggestions on how to improve this first go are most welcome so that next year can be even better. -- Dan Kehew, Davis, CA, USA