Club-ing

I would love to start a club.  To start with, I just need one person.  I’m sure when word gets around—in 15 years or so—that Velopen & Co. ride each week, our little club would start seeing new additions, then drop-offs, followed by complaints from parents of adult children, then more additions.  One of my faithful bike buddies chuckled when I asked her to go for a ride Sunday afternoon. She replied how funny it was when at the mention of the word “ride”, she and her sister would drop everything just to come with me, and now it just doesn’t stir their bones at all.

So I’m composing this Form with the hope that my whole 1 reader (whoever he/she is) may be nudged to join me in pedaling the great outdoors on nice Sunday afternoons.  (The statistics say 2 readers, but I don’t think GoogleBot counts in this instance.)

Fill out the following, choosing the most appropriate word or expression.

Hi Velopen

1.       I, ___(your name here)___ , am ___________ joining your club.

          (a)  excited about

          (b)  interested in

          (c)  fortunate to be

2.       Yes, I am __________ on Sunday afternoons for a refreshing ride.

          (a)  available

          (b)  free

          (c)  divorced

3.       I have a __________ bicycle.

          (a)  useful

          (b)  red

          (c)  well-maintained and properly-working

4.       And also a ___________ which I promise to wear at all times.

          (a)  helmet

          (b)  basket

          (c)  Pekingese dog

5.       Yes, I understand that we will be riding on _________.

          (a)  and on and on…

          (b)  the rims

          (c)  the road

6.       I’m comfortable with the terrain and _________ the club’s first ride!

          (a)  look forward to

          (b)  insist on

          (c)  will carry out

7.       If it’s fine with you, may I bring _________?

          (a)  money

          (b)  a friend or two

          (c)  a bike

There, I think these seven questions are enough for new recruits and they pretty much cover all the bases.  If you think I’ve left anything out, I’ll be happy to fit it in and re-post.

So!  Looking forward to a new club on around the block...just like this one!

Found Art

These age-old pictures are interesting to see.  I found them while looking through my father's collection of photographs.  The first one was taken around 1940 perhaps, and the second one, in the 1930's.  They are most likely pictures of one of my aunts and one of my uncles.  I don't quite understand what's going on with the bicycle in the first photo, I can't recognize the front of it anywhere.  The second pic shows a really sturdy child's tricycle.

 

Footage

This is some beautiful footage of behind-the-scenes in Montepaschi - Strade Bianche. Great, great quality video!

Gifts!—The Sequel

After putting up the last post which was about novelty gifts, I got an idea to search for miniature bicycles by brands, such as Trek and Pinarello. I didn't find any such things, but what I did discover made me just have to do a second post about what's out there! Such gorgeous stuff, such little money!

Take a look at these miniature bicycle clocks—made by a company called Bulova.

The company's history is interesting. It was founded in 1875 by a Bohemian immigrant named Joseph Bulova. They didn't just produce watches, they continuously made innovations with an emphasis on precision and developed tools of the watchmaking trade. Three years ago, the company called Citizen bought them over.

They have a number of other gorgeous timepiece designs—an antique telephone and stove, a rocking chair, cannon, porch chair, to name a few.

Now, brace yourself for this one—a silver miniature said to be a replica of a bicycle presented to Japan's Emperor Hirohito in 1923 for sale on eBay ... for US$18,518.50. When you get up from fainting, you can take a look at the maker's explanation for this. I find the detail on the tyres are impressive.

Finally, here are some really nice-looking miniatures which are on eBay presently. Type in "miniature bicycle" in eBay's search field to see much more, some of which are surely worth adding to anyone's collection.

Novelty Gifts For Cyclists

I love this bicycle timepiece! My sister bought it for me about seven years ago while on vacation in California. She related that she was walking with a friend in L.A. along where the names of actors and the shape of a star are embedded in the pavement (or sidewalk - in the Caribbean we refer to the pedestrian walkway as the 'pavement'). They ventured into one of the stores and on seeing this miniature bicycle, she bought it for me. I'm beginning to wonder if my love for biking is obvious....heh heh.

I think it's gorgeous. It's solid and sturdy. A kick-stand keeps it upright on the shelf, and both of the wheels turn, as does the front fork. The pedals and brakes are fixed.

I got to thinking about what interesting gift ideas for cyclists there are out there. Digging around on Google didn't turn up the results I anticipated, however, I did come across some nice stuff.

In 1888, two notable cycle engineers named C. M. Linley and J. Briggs, together with several others (who went on to become noteworthy designers), produced one of the world's most practical bicycle frames that actually seems to be the world's first full-suspension bike. The spring-frame design of the bike prevented any road shocks from impacting the rider. The bike is called the Whippet.

An artist who made two Tour de France trophies also crafted a sterling silver miniature Whippet plated in 18-carat gold. It was auctioned on Ebay in 2008 with a starting figure of US$8,500.00. I couldn't find out how much it eventually sold for. Here's a video of it:

Other very nice miniatures are found on this website. Click on 'Bicycles Continued' to see the wide variety of miniatures they produce. This other site sells replicas as well.

I found just one other bicycle timepiece, which serves as a pendant at the end of a necklace, with the clock placed in the front wheel. I wonder if I have a one-of-a-kind, then! Or perhaps only three of these were created by some famous artist before his death in the year 18-something and my sister bought one of the three in a small shop in L.A. whose owner hadn't a clue of its true worth! Heh...I'm dreaming of course, but even if it's so, I'll never, ever part with this lovely gift.

Read Any Good Books Lately?

My bookshelf is filling up slowly, but surely! The latest acquisition is the Tour de France for Dummies, which I bought at Amazon.com. This book covers every aspect of the Tour thoroughly and while doing that, provides an insight into the techniques and methods of how teams compete. Some sections detail the Rules, Race Strategies, Where to Watch the Tour and the Bikes. And that's just a fraction of the table of contents.

Compared to the couple other Dummies books I own, there are two notable differences with this one. The dimensions are far better than the larger traditional size, which makes it very handy for carrying around, and the attempts at humour (which I find they are so good at) is much more scaled back. This makes for very comfortable reading! I love humour when I'm reading and though they're witty with it, it had become cumbersome due to the amount that they'd put into the text. These new changes are just great!

From Lance to Landis is another excellent book. David Walsh is an excellent journalist and presents facts learned from interviews. He never mud-slings his subjects and pays compliments where they're due, giving the reader confidence that the book is not a vendetta, but simply a presentation of corroborated incidents.

The Official Tour de France Centennial is very interesting. I'd say it's more of a reference work than anything else. It's a re-print of the newspaper reports that appeared in L'Equipe and covers every single Tour ever staged (no pun intended, heh...) And it's packed with photos which alone are a treasure in themselves.

And Bicycle, The History is a fine, fine read! Fully illustrated, it gives the history of the bicycle and the countries that it grew up in. (I'd raved about this book before.)

So there it is, a whole four books in my collection! That's a good start. I can't wait to add to the bottom shelf of the [photoshopped] bookcase. Got any recommendations?

Road Race

This photo shows the start of a road race, in 1896! Nice glimpse into the past.

Drawing With Words

You have to take a look at this drawing closer! Go on and click the image to see the original size. Click it!!!! ... I'll wait until you're back to continue with my post...!!

Isn't that some fantastic artwork!!!!! Didn't that just blow you away!!! What a novel way to teach the anatomy of bike. I'm not going to say much more than to provide this link to the artist's site, because I know you're dying to click that image again and browse through all the components. Happy reading!