When Christopher Reeves' "Nothing is Impossible: Reflections on a New Life" was published in 2002, I read it that year. (I've yet to be a parent, but for those who are parents, I'd reccommend the book.)
In 2001 I made a pair of Rivendells for Rosalyn and Jimmy Carter that Rivendell Bicycle Works gifted to the former First Lady and President.
After reading Reeves' book the following year, I was truly sincere when I suggested to Grant Petersen that Rivendell should gift a custom bicycle to Reeves, that if Rivendell were to gift bicycles annually, Reeves should be #2. Reading accounts of Reeves progress convinced me that Reeves was just as deserving, or even moreso, of a Nobel, and, a new custom-fitted bicycle. "He doesn't even ride a bike!," barked Petersen. "It's never to late to learn!!," I shoulda barked back, but alas, I didn't. Whether Reeves would have accepted or declined the offer, I don't know, but methinks the offer woulda -- at the least -- been in line with all of Reeves' other sources of inspiration, including comedian Robin Williams' bit when he visited Reeves, butt you'll have to read about that bit yourselves CR-ers.
About the same time that I wrote the following post below on the BOB list, I also sent a letter to Jimmy Carter, about Reeves and his book and his spinal cord injury progress, and I even threw in a Carter/Reeves for 2004 nudge: Superman & Peanutman! Carter returned to me a signed copy of my letter.
So, when's the last time that Jocelyn Lovell has been fitted for a new bike? He's what? Only 60 years old? That gives him up to a couple of decades to report back to the list on how it rides.
http://search.bikelist.org/
http://search.bikelist.org/
http://en.wikipedia.org/
Joe Starck
Madison, Wisconsin USA
> From: Dr. Paul B. Williams <castell5@sympatico.ca>
\r?\n> Subject: Re: [CR] Was: Rebecca Twigg. Now Jocelyn Lovell
\r?\n> To: "Dale Brown" <oroboyz@aol.com>, "classicrendezvous" <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
\r?\n> Date: Saturday, January 29, 2011, 4:13 PM
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Nope still living. I do remember the day he was run down
\r?\n> though.
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Some interesting clips and pics of Jocelyn on these two
\r?\n> sites (check out the video on the second clip where he talks
\r?\n> about training in the winter slush with sand in his
\r?\n> water-bottles):
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> http://archives.cbc.ca/
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> http://www.sportshall.ca/
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> >From what I remember he was not the most likeable of
\r?\n> characters. His feat in 1974 of winning all but one of the
\r?\n> races at the Canadian Championships was extraordinary though
\r?\n> (sprint, 1Km, individual pursuit, team pursuit, team time
\r?\n> trial, road race) - distances from sprint to 200km! 10
\r?\n> National Road Championships golds. 6 National Track Sprint
\r?\n> golds; 2 National Track Points Golds. 4 Commonwealth Games
\r?\n> gold medals (also 1 bronze and 1 silver). 2 Pan-am Games
\r?\n> gold medals.
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Struck down at 33 it is hard to say what else he may have
\r?\n> accomplished - this was the beginning of the reigns of Curt
\r?\n> Harnett on the track and Steve Bauer on the road. Lovell
\r?\n> became a mentor to Bauer.
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> Dr. Paul B. Williams, BAH, MPhil, PhD
\r?\n> Instructor,
\r?\n> Dept. of Geography and Environmental Studies,
\r?\n> Carleton University, Ottawa, ON, Canada
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n>
\r?\n> > To: jameshmerz@gmail.com;
\r?\n> classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
\r?\n> > Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2011 16:14:41 -0500
\r?\n> > From: oroboyz@aol.com
\r?\n> > Subject: [CR] Was: Rebecca Twigg. Now Jocelyn Lovell
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > Yes, in a wheel chair since the early 1980s. He had a
\r?\n> line of high end bikes for a while. Does anyone on our list
\r?\n> have an example of his bikes?
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > I just found this bit of info online:
\r?\n> > << Jocelyn Lovell starting making bike frames
\r?\n> from his own workshop in the early eighties. After his
\r?\n> tragic accident the business was closed. I believe that Mike
\r?\n> Mulholland of Cyclops Cycles bought his equipment. Both the
\r?\n> Lovell and Cyclops bikes have a place in Canadian bicycle
\r?\n> history. Both were reasonably well made.
\r?\n> > After his accident a good number of Lovell bikes were
\r?\n> made by Velosport in Quebec. I believe some of the procedes
\r?\n> went to the Spinal Cord Society. The bikes were of mediocre
\r?\n> quality.
\r?\n> > ...(snip).....
\r?\n> > Mike Barry.>>
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > I also see that Lovell passed away in 2005.
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > Also:
\r?\n> > << Once a grand Canadian marque, highly revered
\r?\n> and sought after by all, the Lovell name has been bought by
\r?\n> a distributor and is now known as Lovell USA. No longer are
\r?\n> these lovingly handmade one-by-one by skilled Canadian
\r?\n> craftsmen, but mass-produced Asian imports adorned with
\r?\n> Lovell decals and low direct-to-consumer prices>>
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > Dale Brown
\r?\n> > cycles de ORO, Inc.
\r?\n> > 1410 Mill Street #100
\r?\n> > Greensboro, North Carolina 27408 USA
\r?\n> > 336-274-5959
\r?\n> > http://www.cyclesdeoro.com
\r?\n> > http://www.classicrendezvous.com
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > -----Original Message-----
\r?\n> > From: Jim Merz <jameshmerz@gmail.com>
\r?\n> > To: CR List <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
\r?\n> > Sent: Sat, Jan 29, 2011 4:01 pm
\r?\n> > Subject: [CR] Fwd: Rebecca Twigg
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > http://cyclingmagazine.ca/
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > I found this story about Jocelyn Lovell. I did not
\r?\n> know he had been
\r?\n> > paralyzed. He raced in the Northwest, I was in at
\r?\n> least one race that he was
\r?\n> > in. Pretty good rider, to say the least.
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > Jim Merz
\r?\n> > Big Sur CA
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
\r?\n> > From: Jim Merz <jameshmerz@gmail.com>
\r?\n> > Date: Sat, Jan 29, 2011 at 12:13 PM
\r?\n> > Subject: Re: [CR] Rebecca Twigg
\r?\n> > To: rdf1249@aol.com
\r?\n> > Cc: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > I did not have much to do with Rebecca, but had one
\r?\n> incident where I saw her
\r?\n> > ride. Have no idea on the year, but one time I was at
\r?\n> the finish of Seattle
\r?\n> > to Portland watching the first finishers. I seem to
\r?\n> remember she was going
\r?\n> > with Jocelyn Lovell at the time, and he was out to be
\r?\n> first in this ride. He
\r?\n> > came in first, some crazy fast time. Then about 15
\r?\n> min. later came a tandem
\r?\n> > team, with Rebecca right behind them. She was not even
\r?\n> entered, just went
\r?\n> > for a ride! Anyway, maybe I am not remembering this
\r?\n> correctly but I do
\r?\n> > remember being impressed.
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > Jim Merz
\r?\n> > Big Sur CA
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > On Sat, Jan 29, 2011 at 11:43 AM, <rdf1249@aol.com>
\r?\n> wrote:
\r?\n> >
\r?\n> > >
\r?\n> > > Well, I don't have any mementos of Rebecca,
\r?\n> except maybe the poster of her
\r?\n> > > on her Benotto bike and 7-11 jersey and white
\r?\n> Duegis, but I have a lot of
\r?\n> > > memories. We were both on the Velocipede team the
\r?\n> summer she started
\r?\n> > > racing, 1977. She rode in the track nationals
\r?\n> that year, a month after the
\r?\n> > > first time she rode the track (on a borrowed
\r?\n> Davidson track bike, by the
\r?\n> > > way), and won her age category. She was just 14,
\r?\n> and living back and forth
\r?\n> > > between her divorced parents. She was just out of
\r?\n> 8th grade, and heading to
\r?\n> > > the University of Washington in the fall. Yes,
\r?\n> she skipped high school
\r?\n> > > entirely. I kept her bikes running, and picked
\r?\n> her up at one parent or
\r?\n> > > another's house and took her to the races. She
\r?\n> was sweet, and naive, and
\r?\n> > > determined. Smart as a whip, but not a lick of
\r?\n> common sense. Guess that
\r?\n> > > had to come with more maturity. We both switched
\r?\n> to Rainbow Cycling club in
\r?\n> > > 1980, when Kolin and De la Rosa moved to town and
\r?\n> started it, along with
\r?\n> > > Northwest Cycle, where I we
\r?\n> > > nt to work. Through their many connections, they
\r?\n> were able to get her
\r?\n> > > sponsorship from Schwinn, who made her several
\r?\n> nice light bikes. Mike
\r?\n> > > hammered at her relentlessly, seeing the
\r?\n> potential in her, and saw her
\r?\n> > > through a couple more nationals until she got
\r?\n> tapped by Eddie Borysewicz for
\r?\n> > > the national team. We followed her along in a
\r?\n> great career, culminating in
\r?\n> > > 16 US Championships and 6 World Championships. I
\r?\n> last saw her a few years
\r?\n> > > ago at a Marymoor Velodrome dinner, kid in tow, a
\r?\n> mature young lady.
\r?\n> > > Following along in mom's footsteps, already
\r?\n> divorced. She had been married
\r?\n> > > for a short time to Mark Whitehead, a hotheaded
\r?\n> young racer himself. She
\r?\n> > > had attained a PhD from the UW and was working as
\r?\n> a biologist.
\r?\n> > >
\r?\n> > >
\r?\n> > > Message: 12
\r?\n> > > ate: Thu, 27 Jan 2011 13:49:26 -0800 (PST)
\r?\n> > > rom: Joe Starck <josephbstarck@yahoo.com>
\r?\n> > > ubject: [CR] Rebecca Twigg memento for sale:
\r?\n> > > o: classicrendezvous@bikelist.org
\r?\n> > > essage-ID: <245219.41597.qm@web34302.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
\r?\n> > > ontent-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
\r?\n> > > Laddies, gladdies, baddies, caddies, and daddies
\r?\n> -- who've I left out? --
\r?\n> > > not
\r?\n> > > he Australian framebuilder, who fav's the red as
\r?\n> much or more as I do,
\r?\n> > > ergo,
\r?\n> > > I've had me a half bottle o' cabernet see, just
\r?\n> right nowso -- a demi or a
\r?\n> > > semi
\r?\n> > > onthly occurrance? I forget -- and I also
\r?\n> happened to be a-diggin' amongst
\r?\n> > > me
\r?\n> > > ersonals see, and lo and behold, as I held it in
\r?\n> my hand, the first thought
\r?\n> > > hat entered my mind was, that one o' youse bloody
\r?\n> bike aces would shirley
\r?\n> > > fancy
\r?\n> > > he pleasure of proclaiming, in yer best docent
\r?\n> demeanor, "This here is a
\r?\n> > > letter
\r?\n> > > ritten to Joe Starck, from Rebecca Twigg."
\r?\n> > > It's got flowery borders, and if I knew my
\r?\n> stationary from my Aunt who'd be
\r?\n> > > my
\r?\n> > > ncle if she had balls, I'd cough up some accurate
\r?\n> descriptive details of
\r?\n> > > this
\r?\n> > > etter's paper, but I'll leave that to Ole
\r?\n> Shiffer, cuz I happens to know he
\r?\n> > > nows his crocus from his sharmin better than I
\r?\n> do.
\r?\n> > > Dated "May 26, 1993," this letter is. Yours for
\r?\n> $50. $50.01 if you are
\r?\n> > > Ernst.
\r?\n> > > Joe Starck
\r?\n> > > adison, Wisconsin USA
\r?\n> > > Joe asks the Chief a legal Q:
\r?\n> > >
\r?\n> ttp://wisconsinreflections.wisc.edu/guests/show/28
\r?\n> > >
\r?\n> > >
\r?\n> > >
\r?\n> > >
\r?\n> > > Bob Freeman
\r?\n> > > Elliott Bay Bicycles
\r?\n> > > 2116 Western Ave
\r?\n> > > Seattle, WA 98121
\r?\n> > > 206-441-8144
\r?\n> > > http://www.elliottbaybicycles.com
\r?\n> > > http://www.davidsonbicycles.com