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To: Carry_Okie; WVNan; hiredhand; Cronos
Those were the days! Remember washing your wool ProTogs shorts and waiting forever for the real leather chamois to dry?
Your post brought back some funny memories from back in the day. Good stuff!


79 posted on 08/04/2009 6:42:59 AM PDT by Blue Jays (Rock Hard, Ride Free)
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To: Blue Jays
I remember buying X Ray Specs from the back of comic books, hoping to see naked bike riders, beach walkers, my pretty teachers aid, oh and Becky down the street. What a waste that was. Now I'm 50, and I'm starting a thread on a web site about naked bike riders, and learning from all of you that this trend is growing in many American cities with a loony majority. Who would of thought?
87 posted on 08/04/2009 7:26:31 AM PDT by NavyCanDo
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To: Blue Jays
Those were the days! Remember washing your wool ProTogs shorts and waiting forever for the real leather chamois to dry?

Dry enough that you could rub in the lanolin, yup.

Before I got serious, I was a 10-16 y.o. kid riding in San Francisco. My dad had bought me a straight gauge Legnanao, by Emilio Bozzi (steel rims). I loved that bike. I'd hold my hand on it by my bed (OK, that was weird). But man, were there hazards. I had no helmet. Street car tracks on wet pavement were the worst... After all, who's looking for a 13 y.o. nutcase going as fast as traffic in 1968? Two lanes without drain grates on Forest Hill Drive (THAT was psychotic)...

Don't know how I survived.

I still have a jersey that was from a team in Switzerland, owned by a guy who ran a muffler shop. It's got a picture of the exhaust pipes on the back. Marti Pipes! One does get strange looks :-) I've got this 1988 red 54cm Somec SPX. It's a great bike for hills: with triple butted Columbus Air tubing, short rear triangle, laid back forks with the coolest cut-out crown I'd ever seen, short top tube, internal cable runs, crit-bars... and sew-ups. IMHO, there is nothing like the sensual ride of silk, still; it's lively without bouncing (important when you're wailing downhill on 110"? gears 12-18 X 54-48). The bike's got pearlescent, paint with gorgeous blue and white hand striping, beautiful lug work, full C-Record, Campi rims and sew-ups (still!), with STREAMERS on the handlebars. Man, did that ever irritate the newbies.

It sits in the garage, bugging me. Been there, done that, but, sadly, not any more. After all that... I haven't ridden in twenty years. These days, land is my first love. I'm doing habitat restoration for exercise, and for something more important. Thanks for some wonderful memories.

92 posted on 08/04/2009 8:09:39 AM PDT by Carry_Okie (Islam offers three choices: surrender, fight, or die.)
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