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