Thanks so much for your post, David. Great to hear of your experience. Now that you mention it, I do recall seeing and hearing about the Somerset Wheelmen back then.
So many beautiful, colorful bikes there, as I recall. A feast for the eyes. And, yes, the riders were SCREAMING around the course, all bunched together. A very fast and competitive race it certainly seemed to me. I was amazed that there weren't MORE crashes than there were. It was just an astounding experience for me.
Cheerio,
Peter Jourdain
Whitewater, Wisconsin, USA
> From: David Neuhaus <david@neustudio.com>
\r?\n> Subject: Re: [CR] Tour of Somerville,NJ
\r?\n> To: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org, pjrogers@rogers.com
\r?\n> Date: Friday, July 9, 2010, 11:01 AM
\r?\n> Peter -
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I didn't race in the '77 ToS, but competed as a Junior in
\r?\n> 1974 & '75. That
\r?\n> was a tough, extremely fast race - I didn't finish either
\r?\n> time. I rode with
\r?\n> the Somerville based Somerset Wheelmen/Schwinn team, who
\r?\n> were the sponsoring
\r?\n> team of the race for years. I still have my team jersey
\r?\n> (too small for me
\r?\n> now!), my race numbers, and even the Peugeot PX-10 I raced
\r?\n> on.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> I also have a pictures of Sue Novarra on the start line in
\r?\n> her '75 track
\r?\n> sprint rainbow jersey from 1976.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Distant memories!
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Dave Neuhaus
\r?\n> Fanwood, NJ, USA
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > Message: 8
\r?\n> > Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 17:21:27 -0700 (PDT)
\r?\n> > From: Peter Jourdain <pjourdain@yahoo.com>
\r?\n> > Subject: Re: [CR] Omelenchuk on ebay (120593108115)
\r?\n> & Tour of
\r?\n> > Somerville, NJ
\r?\n> > To: Amir Avitzur <walawalaoxenfree@gmail.com>,
\r?\n> > classicrendezvous@bikelist.org,
\r?\n> Ted Ernst <ternst1@cox.net>
\r?\n> > Message-ID: <549788.88631.qm@web33006.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
\r?\n> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > Hi, Ted---
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > Ah, the Tour of Somerville, NJ. The 1977 edition was
\r?\n> the first genuine bicycle
\r?\n> > race I ever saw. Home from college in May, I was on a
\r?\n> bicyle tour from my
\r?\n> > native Massachusetts through the Pine Barrens of New
\r?\n> Jersey and stopped for a
\r?\n> > day to visit a college friend in Somerville, who had
\r?\n> implored me to catch the
\r?\n> > race. It was a wicked criterium on a short city street
\r?\n> course as I recall with
\r?\n> > too many riders for the alloted space and several
\r?\n> tubular blowouts and
\r?\n> > flesh-ripping crashes. It was the first time I had
\r?\n> ever seen bikes like Basso,
\r?\n> > Ciocc, Cinelli, and it really opened my eyes to a
\r?\n> whole new world of
\r?\n> > competitive cycling. Wish I had owned a camera back
\r?\n> then!
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > Anybody on the CR List ride in that year's event or
\r?\n> any edition of the ToS?
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > Cheerio,
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > Peter Jourdain
\r?\n> > Whitewater, Wisconsin