Thanks Dale,
That's all extremely cool and interesting. I think that many of us kinda / sorta knew about your background but it's nice to fill in the blanks... And how thoughtful of Don for asking you. Well done.
Jamie Swan
Northport, NY, USA
>
\r?\n> Ha ha! Thanks Don, but no one will be rocked back in their
\r?\n> chairs by this story...
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Of course as a child I loved cycling, being a country lad, I had
\r?\n> a Raleigh "racer" as we called them, which was really 3 speed
\r?\n> roadster. Friends and I would ride the 3-4 miles into the
\r?\n> village (Yorktown, VA) and spend the day catching & selling
\r?\n> minnows from the York River to the bait shop, using the entire
\r?\n> day's proceeds to purchase a milk shake or ice cream cone at the
\r?\n> Tasty Freeze.
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> It was not until the late 1960s that I got back into bicycles. I
\r?\n> had a motorcycling period both on and off road, which resulted
\r?\n> in some nasty crashes and serious concussions. My new wife
\r?\n> pressed me into abandoning that sport and I turned to bicycles!
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Upon returning from duty in VietNam, I bought a another 3 speed
\r?\n> (Sears) to commute to classes as I renewed my college work. But
\r?\n> hilly Charlottesville, VA (Univ of Va) pushed me into a "10
\r?\n> speed". That was another Sears Puch, rather like those talked
\r?\n> about on this list lately while I taught for a year at a Junior
\r?\n> College...http://tinyurl.com/24nv7dk
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Then on to Greensboro for Graduate School (Masters degree in Art
\r?\n> at Univ of NC) http://tinyurl.com/
\r?\n> and my first "good" bike, a 1971 Raleigh Competition with Zeus
\r?\n> dropouts & crank set. White enamel with Lagoon blue head tube
\r?\n> and seat tube panels! Soon it was upgraded with Campagnolo
\r?\n> derailleurs and 1st gen Phil Wood hubs...
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Then it became a consuming avocation with some racing, a lot of
\r?\n> touring, a sidetracked career into bicycle shops, more bikes (a
\r?\n> Mercian Superlight was next after the Competition) then (in
\r?\n> 1975) becoming a partner in the new Toga Bike Shop, which
\r?\n> became cycles de ORO and totally my own in 1983. Then working
\r?\n> with McLean Fonvielle, of Silk Hope and McLean frames. Etc., etc.
\r?\n> http://tinyurl.com/
\r?\n>
\r?\n> The vintage interest dawned on me somewhere in the middle 1990s.
\r?\n> Bikes were less made by hand, less craftsmanship at play and
\r?\n> more automation. "Popped out like waffles" My art background
\r?\n> pulled me to the craft and even artistic sensibility in older
\r?\n> bikes.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I had become a Retro grouch! The Classic Rendezvous was born!
\r?\n> http://tinyurl.com/
\r?\n>
\r?\n> http://cyclesdeoro.com/
\r?\n> http://cyclesdeoro.com/
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Dale Brown
\r?\n> Greensboro, North Carolina USA
\r?\n> http://www.cyclesdeoro.com
\r?\n> http://www.classicrendezvous.com
\r?\n> http://www.carolinacup.com
\r?\n> \u201cLife is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must
\r?\n> keep moving\u201d A.Einstein
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> -----Original Message-----
\r?\n> From: donald gillies
\r?\n> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
\r?\n> Cc: oroboyz@aol.com
\r?\n> Sent: Mon, Jun 14, 2010 6:19 am
\r?\n> Subject: Dale's First Bike?
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I have started to wonder how Dale's cycling career began ...
\r?\n> what was
\r?\n>
\r?\n> his road first bike? What was his second (more telling, imho)? When
\r?\n>
\r?\n> did he realize the on-topic era was ending? And how did he end up
\r?\n>
\r?\n> starting the CR website and mailing list?
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Dale, could you (re) introduce yourself to the list?
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> - Don Gillies
\r?\n>
\r?\n> San Diego, CA, USA