Happy 69th To Eddy!

Sometimes I can't believe I'm in late middle age. It seems like I did my first multiday bike tour (at age 20), first century (same year).  foreign bike tour (age 21), and race (age 25) all last week.

And it seems that Eddy Mercx's legendary exploits happened a month before that.  He was the first racer I'd ever heard of, and I followed his career passionately. That might be the reason why, in my mind, I still hold an image of him as a young man with long dark hair and an almost-Latin kind of flair that belied his Flemish heritage.

And, of course, I always remember him on his sunset-hued bicycle.  I still think of that color as "Mercx orange" or "Molteni orange", in homage to him and the Italian team with whom he had his greatest professional achievements.

Call me sentimental, but I still think he's the greatest cyclist who ever lived (or, at least, who competed).  In contrast to more recent Tour de France winners, Mercx won hundreds of single- and multi-day classics in addition to his five Tour victories.  (Only Jacques Anquetil preceded him. and Bernard Hinault and Miguel Indurain followed him, in the five-Tour club.)  And he was a superb track rider who set an hour record that stood for twelve years--a geologic age in the world of cycling records.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, he is one of the four athletes who competed during my lifetime (and I had the privilege of seeing) and thoroughly dominated his sport.  

Happy 69th, Eddy!

(Aren't you glad I didn't mention a certain low-speed "chase" that happened twenty years ago today?'-)

Required: A Single Wheel

As a cyclist who teaches--and as someone to whom odd facts seem drawn the way flies are attracted by --well, you know-- I'm surprised I didn't hear about this sooner.

In St. Helen's  School--a parochial kindergarten-though -8th-gradeinstitution in Newbury, Ohio--unicycling was a required subject for many years.

No, not an elective.  Not an extracurricular activity.  A required course.

So, kids passed each other in the hallways, astride their single wheels.  From all accounts, accidents were rate.

That should come as no surprise, given the level of expertise St. Helen's unicyclists developed:  They were asked to perform at events from Worlds' Fairs to Super Bowl halftime shows--and Jimmy Carter's inaguration.

I could find no explanation of why they unicycling requirement was dropped.

I must say, though, that I am surprised that a school in Ohio rather than, say, California had such a requirement!

A Ride To Point Lookout And A Father's Day Mystery, Almost

Today I broke a promise to myself and rode to Point Lookout.  It's not that I have anything against PL or the ride; i just figured traffic would be heavy on the way to the beach on a warm, sunny Father's Day.

Well, there was some traffic going over the bridges from Broad Channel to the Rockaways and Rockaway Beach to Atlantic Beach.  But it wasn't as bad as I expected.  I guess people had backyard barbeques (I saw a fair number of those) or celebrated in other ways.

It's interesting to see couples , usually middle-aged or older, who raised kids who've moved out.  I guess once a parent, always a parent.  I often see such couples on Mother's Day as well:  On that day or Father's Day, it's common for one spouse to take the other out for lunch or dinner.

I wondered if one such couple was at Point Lookout when I got there:

For a moment, I didn't see anyone else, let alone a couple who might've worn those shoes.  Could they have wandered out into the water only to for one of them to have a heart attack, or a memory lapse?

Fortunately, I saw them walking on a sandbar.  No kid was anywhere in sight.