I believe that was the first year of maybe 8 times that I rode the T of S. Just to be in it was sweet. Along the way I got dropped and DNF, crashed, and occasionally finished...always out of the money however. The T of S topped off a weekend of racing that began with the Gothem Cup in Allentown, the Tour of Nutley, in New Jersey, and then Somerville. In the the late 70's a whole bunch of us drove down from Toronto for the races. We got on Motel room, put the mattresses on the floor and then had room for 8 guys. Two on each mattress and two on each box spring. And, of course, bikes everywhere. The one guy from Toronto who travelled by himself was the great Jocelyn Lovell. He would arrive in his green Carmen Ghia convertible. In 1978 he won. Jocelyn once was second in the Worlds in the kilometer and I remember seeing him mark out that distance from the finish line back. On the last lap he reached his mark and rode a Kilometer.....no one could come near him. His prize was a full Campy tool kit which he had sold before he even got back to his car. Man, those days were fun.
Edward Albert Chappaqua, New York, U.S.A.
On Fri, Jul 9, 2010 at 11:01 AM, David Neuhaus <david@neustudio.com> wrote:
> Peter -
>
> I didn't race in the '77 ToS, but competed as a Junior in 1974 & '75. That
> was a tough, extremely fast race - I didn't finish either time. I rode with
> the Somerville based Somerset Wheelmen/Schwinn team, who were the
> sponsoring
> team of the race for years. I still have my team jersey (too small for me
> now!), my race numbers, and even the Peugeot PX-10 I raced on.
>
> I also have a pictures of Sue Novarra on the start line in her '75 track
> sprint rainbow jersey from 1976.
>
> Distant memories!
>
> Dave Neuhaus
> Fanwood, NJ, USA
>
>
>
>
>
> >
> > Message: 8
> > Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 17:21:27 -0700 (PDT)
> > From: Peter Jourdain <pjourdain@yahoo.com>
> > Subject: Re: [CR] Omelenchuk on ebay (120593108115) & Tour of
> > Somerville, NJ
> > To: Amir Avitzur <walawalaoxenfree@gmail.com>,
> > classicrendezvous@bikelist.org, Ted Ernst <ternst1@cox.net>
> > Message-ID: <549788.88631.qm@web33006.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
> >
> > Hi, Ted---
> >
> > Ah, the Tour of Somerville, NJ. The 1977 edition was the first genuine
> bicycle
> > race I ever saw. Home from college in May, I was on a bicyle tour from my
> > native Massachusetts through the Pine Barrens of New Jersey and stopped
> for a
> > day to visit a college friend in Somerville, who had implored me to catch
> the
> > race. It was a wicked criterium on a short city street course as I recall
> with
> > too many riders for the alloted space and several tubular blowouts and
> > flesh-ripping crashes. It was the first time I had ever seen bikes like
> Basso,
> > Ciocc, Cinelli, and it really opened my eyes to a whole new world of
> > competitive cycling. Wish I had owned a camera back then!
> >
> >
> > Anybody on the CR List ride in that year's event or any edition of the
> ToS?
> >
> > Cheerio,
> >
> >
> > Peter Jourdain
> > Whitewater, Wisconsin