More Photos Below!Gallery
My brother and his pals — the 3 grumpy old men — drove 14 hours a month ago to Minnesota and did a 2-day vintage 3-speed bike tour near Red Wing with about 50 others. They cycled about 40 miles a day and enjoyed several tea-party breaks along the way. Interestingly, my bro is approx 45, Lenny is 65 and Bob is 95 — give or take a few. What a road trip!
I really like the stylish sociable ride idea but don’t quite have the time or inclination for the ol’ 14 hours. Maybe by train next year…
Ride rules are 3-speeds only and no lycra. I noticed a few tee-shirts in the photos and maybe even some running shoes. My eyes recovered, barely. It’s interesting just how bad that kind of clothing really does look. I mean, it has no look at all. OF course, there’s nothing wrong with winging it and who really cares, but nice clothes really are nice, so there’s that.
And well-crafted bikes full of useful features and pleasing details really do work great, in many conditions, for decades or maybe even 100 years.
Plastic specialty bikes have their place, it’s just far more restricted than a classically integrated design. Really, only when you race do you need to follow the Joneses — unless you’re extra-fit. The more fit you are compared to your rivals the more your bike can deviate from their norm. Also, sometimes time is of the essence, which can bring high-tech back to our aide. But style doesn’t always have to take a back seat even there. Style of SOME kind, anyway.
But for relaxing, moderate rides and conviviality the 100-year-old way still really can’t be beat. It just can’t.
My bro is a lifelong avid photographer, so he took a lot of pics. He posted them over at his Picasa public account, but 250 pics is a fair amount. They scroll thru fast enough, but still. I thought I’d make a punchier distillation of about 25 pics. Too bad I could only reasonably use small screengrabs.
riders
Classy.
Country roads and oldtimer. Looks good, eh?
Romance.
Vivacious!
Nice outfit, nice bike. My bro, Tim, with 1936 Raleigh and outfit he borrowed from me. Ya can’t see it, but the pipe has a windcap, appropriately.
Pastoral. Piscine.
Yum.
A handy picnic table.
Laying out the spread.
Tea party. A reason to ride.
Ladies.
Grumpy. Check. Old. Check.
Snazzy.
Gotta love the pith.
Convivial.
A different value system. Not a bad way to go.
Round ’em up!
Taking a break, and why not. (Note: no known harmful effects of occasional pipe puffing. And, do you fear campfires for their secondhand smoke? I suggest we all relax a bit on something so relaxing.)
Round ’em up!
The bigger picture.
Detail of oldest bike. 1915. So many fine features. Oiler in seatpost. Nice watch on the bars. A nifty lock (cooler than even the old fork-lock).
It’s the vicar! (Oooh, what colors.)
Nice socks.
Here we go! We’re certainly READY.
