> Wow!! As a retired *bricklayer* I would *LOVE* to own a bike once raced by
> Eddy! How to explain someone who can obsess over a Lambert (!! go figure!)
> rear derailleur but profess to be utterly uninterested in one of Eddy's
> bikes....? That attitude defies reason.
As someone who spent 20+ yrs. in the masonry trade and has been
riding the bike for half again as long as that, I can assure you that we
tradespeople don't need guilt-stricken petro-refinery drones to stoke us
with this kind of nonsense. My (hard)hat's off to any and all bike racers
because it's an incredibly demanding profession that demands dedication the
likes of which very few other "professions" ask. And I for one am thrilled
to be the proud owner of the tool of one of them, Hans Kaenel, whose Puch
bike ridden in the '82 Tour gives me a vicarious thrill every time I throw a
leg over it.
>
> I don't even get excited about ones owned by famous racers. The older I
> get, the less I'm inclined to hero worship. I do admire a rider like Edd
> y Merckx, who was the best at his profession, but I've come to see that as
> no more important than being the best carpenter or plumber or machinist.
> Less important really, as pro athletes are really just entertainers who me
> et no real fundamental human need, unlike carpenters or plumbers or farmers
> who do. So while it would be kind of neat to have a bike once raced by
> Eddy, that doesn't make it a better bike than one of the same model and equ
> ipment that he never touched, and I'm certainly not going to pay the kind o
> f price that provenance would command. Maybe if I happened to get a bike
> that turned out later to have outstanding provenance, I might keep it rath
> er than sell for a profit, but I wouldn't pay big money for one with known
> provenance. So these phoney pro bike scams are no threat to me, as I
> would never go for one.
>
> Regards,
>
> Jerry Moos
> Big Spring, Texas, USA