The Granfondo was a great event. It was a pretty challenging century ride as it was on a very hot day and we climbed over 6800 feet! Good times, though. I saw Ernesto at one of his signings at Hi-Tec bikes on Saturday but he was mobbed and looked pretty tired.
Steve Valladolid San Diego, CA
On Sat, Mar 28, 2009 at 7:54 AM, brianbaylis@juno.com
<brianbaylis@juno.com>wrote:
> Garth,
>
> I have long been a fan of Colnago bicycles. My second "good" bike was a
> Colnago Super I bought in 1972, not long after buying a Peugeot PX-10 fo
> r my first bike. By the time I began racing in 1973 the Peugeot had gone
> by the wayside in favor of the Colnago. I also had a 1972 Masi GC and a
> n Eisentraut "A" bike. The Eisentraut was a great bike, but a little les
> s racing oriented than the Colnago. For me, the Colnago had the correct
> geometry and that classy European look.
>
> Only about 3 weeks ago we here in San Diego were treated to a special ev
> ent; the first annual San Diego Gran Fondo fun ride, sponsored by Colnag
> o. Ernesto himself was here! He had been in the area for a few days and
> had been making the rounds of area Colnago dealers and signing all kinds
> of stuff. Rob O got some great photos with him and some great souvenirs
> from one of the bike shop visits. The ride was on Sunday; but those of
> us who were exhibitors got to attend the VIP dinner the night before at
> Po Pozzo restaurant in Little Italy, which was where the ride started an
> d ended. It was Ernesto's 77th Birthday that day, Feb.28. He is in good
> shape for his age. He is know as a man with unlimited energy. Each of us
> was presented with a book about Colnago and his bicycles, the whole sto
> ry! He then autographed each one for us personally. Matt Gorski and myse
> lf each have one. Matty took some photos of us at the dinner also.
>
> Matt Gorski and Charles Andrews assembled an AMAZING display of their vi
> ntage Colnago collection for the Expo on Sunday. Ernesto spent the entir
> e day there and when Ernesto came by to look at the stuff, I could tell
> it really warmed his heart. The respect we have for the bikes was very c
> lear and Colnago responded. He was signing his autograph on the top tube
> s of many Colnagos all day long. We (David Ybarrola and myself) had our
> booth next to Matt and Charles to represent the San Diego Custom Bicycle
> Show. We had our own bikes but I also brought my 1970 Colnago (restored
> by me) and my Colnago replica track bike. I was a little concerned abou
> t what sort of reaction I would get from Ernesto for the replica, consid
> ering an incident I had with Ernesto at the New York Bike Show back in a
> bout 1983. (He was upset when he saw I frame I had on display which had
> a club cut in the bottom head lug, along with the heart, spade, and diam
> ond in the other lugs. Obviously he was mistaken about who has the right
> to use symbols that are public domain, but his lawyers straightened him
> out. I really got a good laugh, when he threatened to sue me.) That was
> then. With Ernesto was his grandson Alessandro who spoke some English a
> nd was taking photos of everything. Alessandro is the heir to the Colnag
> o company as I understand. Anyway, they looked over my replica of a 1971
> Colnago track bike, there was a little discussion as they pointed out s
> ome of the details of the frame (including my embossed knife makers mark
> on the top of the chromed fork crown) and then he proceeded to autograp
> h the top tube! I was really surprised. I don't know if he thought it wa
> s a genuine Colnago or if he approved of it somehow. I didn't want to as
> k. But that was a great moment. I then asked him what year my 1970 (as f
> ar as we know) road bike was. I pointed out some of the details like the
> pattern of drilled holes in the BB as opposed to the club cutout and th
> e smaller sized club in the bottom head lug. He said the bike was from a
> bout 1965! I suspect that may not be correct, knowing the bike was sold
> in Peter Rich's shop Velo Sport no earlier than 1969 and most likely 197
> 0. He signed the top tube of that one also and he seemed to like the res
> toration.
>
>
> Then he examined some of my bikes and took a lot of photos. I told him I
> make a few frames per year completely by hand and he seemed to apprecia
> te that. I handed him this track frame I just completed and he looked it
> over closely, checking inside the BB shell and stuff like that. Once he
> was finished, he did something rather unusual for an Italian framebuild
> er; he shook my hand and said "congratulations", which is Italian for "n
> ice job". That's exactly the word and gesture that Christiano DeRosa sai
> d to me at Interbike when we met there last year and he looked over the
> frame that now belongs to Charles Andrews. That really made my day! At t
> he end of the day when we were all packing up and getting ready to leave
> the Expo, Ernesto passed by one more time and made eye contact and gave
> me one more gesture, using only one digit on his hand. No, it wasn't th
> e extended middle finger; it was a big thumbs up and a wink with a smile
> ! That day was one of the most rewarding days I've ever had. I know that
> Matt and Charles also felt the special glow of having one of our heroes
> enjoy our efforts and the respect we have for the bikes.
>
>
> Colnago signed on for 5 more years of sponsorship of the San Diego Gran
> Fondo. He was that impressed. We are now one of only 4 Gran Fondo locati
> ons worldwide. One is in Italy, one in France, one is held in South Afri
> ca, and now San Diego is included!
>
> What a great experience! I have to admit, Colnago is still one of my fav
> orites, even though I had my training in the other camp at Masi.
>
> Brian Baylis
> La Mesa, CA
> USA
>
> ---------- Original Message ----------
> From: Bianca Pratorius <biankita@comcast.net>
> To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
> Subject: [CR] Colnago movie from Friday night's list
> Date: Sat, 28 Mar 2009 05:03:18 -0400
>
> It's nice that at least one bicycle manufacturer has made enough money
>
> and has the foresight to have constructed a museum. I had not heard of
>
> it before. Beautiful bikes , modern and on topic! It's good to see that
>
>
> Ernesto has kept himself in such good shape all these years. This is a
>
> must see movie.
>
> Garth Libre in Miami Fl. USA
>
> _______________________________________________
>
>
>
> Gz8k822TggPUwBpWfpXKuRzsLGRearO/<http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL2141/fc/BLSrjpTInoK5WgqRyeWBBTIDe4vE%0AGz8k822TggPUwBpWfpXKuRzsLGRearO/>
> _______________________________________________
>
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