Great fun! Hot day. And it appeared to be a good time had by all. My only regret is that these things are over way too early, the time just seems to fly. Of course right now Barb is asleep in bed with a book propped up in her lap, two cats around her ankles and the Tour just having finished up in front of a non attentive audience.
The people from farthest away always seem to be the first to show up, with Mike Schmidt from New Jersey and Paul Raley of Southern Maryland rolling in first around 9. Paul brought out an early fifties Raleigh RRA? w/ AW rear and front generator hub in original patina. Great looking bars, and original brakes. I got a short test ride in and was finally able to see how well the finger shifter next to the brake lever works, not a great combination with my large hands and more modern (GB) levers on my Sturmey set up. The Black Market Bikes truck with Wayne Bingham showed up right after, and more cars as people started to unload. Then Larry Osborne from near Morgantown, West Virginia showed up shortly after, unpacking his Eisentraut Limited.
John Barry was to ride the freshly restored Raleigh Pro that he displayed at this year's Cirque for the first time. He assured us that it did get a shakedown the day before. Harvey Sachs drove in with Ken Sanford and Peter Kohler. They were riding respectively Harvey's old Cinelli w/ bivalent hubs in that old school, no more than a fistfull of seat post style, Ken's brand new looking Tom Kellog? (Jim Redkay?, I get those two mixed together both being local guys from waay back) in a candy yellow/gold color that was just stunning, and Peter's 1967 Holdsworth Super Mistral in really cool green/orange club colors from it's original owner's Horwich Cycle Club.
Tom Witkop showed up with his son Will, and friend Tom Rounds. Tom W. threatening to ride bent, showed up instead with an old friend, a Raleigh ? he'd had for years. Will had a Nishiki built up with a smattering of nice parts. Tom Rounds had an old classic Motebecane with a really nice selection of touring parts, and was fairly spinning up hills I was grinding on. With all those Raleighs out today, I rode my Raleigh Pro.
I pumped up tires on my California Masi ~ 1975 or so to let Tom W. give it a shot. It's just a bit big for me and he's got one just a bit small for him, Tom being about two inches taller. Of course his is a twin plate fork crown in Dave Stoler orange and mine's the standard crown in silver. Both bikes have their share of patina and try as I might I just can't seem to convince him to trade!!!
Gabriel and Rita Romeu arrived, bringing a Moser, and Rita a yellow Ron Cooper with lots of patina. Locals Gary Gentry (not riding today), Bill Spangler on his primary ride, a repainted 70's Italian Masi, and Jim Sheridan riding an off topic Fetish Irrational Devotion (how's that for a modern name?). And Shawn Downing with friend Elisabeth, both racers w/ the Chesapeake Wheelmen. Shawn hosts the Retro Ride on the first weekend of November at Oregon Ridge North of Baltimore each year. Gary had to explain to his wife why he'd want to come to our event even if he couldn't ride. We're honored that he wouldn't have missed it.
The ride got off to a bang surprising the newbies with it's first hill not quite out of sight of the house. And then the second hill less than a quarter mile away. We live in a valley so all rides start out with a bit of work. I got to finally see the bright red Cinelli that Mike Schmidt was riding while grinding up that second hill. The roads flattened a bit and the ride got under way. Hills always seem to split the ride into groups and today was no exception. Heat may have been a factor as the predicted 90 degrees became what seemed more, and spots to regroup seemed short on shade. But the quiet roads and farm country seemed to win over most of the riders.
We had a rest stop at a local bike shop just above the Pennsylvania line, air conditioning and a big cooler of ice water at the door. Most were resting in the shade of the building while Tom W. had to change out a slow leaking tube on his bike. Tom Roberson appeared with his brand new Palermo mixte framed bike, beautiful paint with a really nice looking combination of parts, a triple with what looked like half step and that long cage, last edition of Campy Rally rear derailleur I'd never seen before.
With only 12 miles to go from the rest stop, we cruised along country roads and no one missed any turns (that I could tell). Finally along a ridge for about three miles followed by the two mile downhill to our home with my screaming downhill hairpin just before the finish.
The house was cool, the table was laid, and the grill started. Hot dogs were blackened, and everyone dug in. Peter Kohler popped a DVD of the 1962 Tour de France into the player and The vintage race was on. Harvey had his Paramount hung on the railing with the bivalent wheel removed for display. Wayne Bingham had a bunch of bikes, frames and parts to help make space for CR member Robert Claire. Rita and Gabriel went home with a Jim Redkay fixed conversion to "try out". Pretty nice loaner. Barb was being vigilant to see that I wasn't buying anything. She shouted something from the porch as I was trying out Tom's Palermo in the road out front (I'll depend on getting what it was she was shouting at me from a witness). But then late in the afternoon, Larry brought out a Specialized Expedition frame in my size that I'd been interested in. It's a loaner for me now, though Gabriel seemed pretty interested. You've got to just jump in front of Gabriel or it's gone!!! Barb's placated for now. She still hears about other's much larger collections.
I saw John Barry taking pictures. I hope others were documenting the ride, because as many pretty bikes as were around, I was having too much fun to take photos myself. The last Cirque demonstrated that others are more talented photographers than me besides. I'll look forward to seeing anything I may have missed.
It seems that you can never talk to everyone as much as you'd like in one afternoon. Thanks so much to all who showed up and rode with us. And to those who couldn't ride but wouldn't be left out of the adventure. And sorry to those who couldn't come. I was looking forward to seeing everyone again.
Happy trails,
Dan Artley in Parkton, Maryland USA