On Saturday a bunch of friends did Bike Guy’s birthday ride. Once a year Bill Humphreys summons us to Rogers Lake to pedal his age in kilometers, go for a swim, and reminisce. Bike Guy is one of the original Raleigh Boys, the once Century Road Club of America team that became bigger than life during 1970s. It’s not a stretch to say everything we have now in the sport stands on the shoulders of that era.
I met Bill prior to all this when I was still working at The Ski Rack in Burlington. Bill rolled in from a cross-country ride that began in San Diego. Something on his bicycle was making noise. We fixed it. And he stayed in town for another few days while he and the mechanics made a different type of noise each evening.
He eventually rode off. I eventually found myself in London. When I came back to New England Bill had miraculously become one of the best racers in the region, had hooked up with Chauner, Dale, Allis, Swain, Gromek, Dunn, Phillips, Bare, Gray, Fritz (of course), and others and was now Bike Guy.
In the image, he’s on the far left and I’m in the middle. It’s 1972. On Saturday I got out my 1973 Witcomb team jacket for the ride.
All This By Hand
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