Who Rode It? Who Owns It?

 Sometimes collectors pay hefty prices for bikes because of who rode them. 

I imagine that if you want to own anything Eddy Merckx or Bernard Hinault pedaled to victory, you would need to win a lottery jackpot or two—that is, if such machines are available. 

Nearly three years ago, a humbler mount—a 1970s Raleigh Traveler—ridden to work by a young woman named Diana Frances Spencer fetched 44000 GBP (about 62000 USD in the exchange rates of the time) at auction. The young lady had a change in her life circumstances and was advised that riding her bike to work—or, for that matter, her job itself (nursery school teacher)—would be “unbecoming” for someone in her new station.

I am referring, of course, to Princess Diana.  Even if she hadn’t ridden the bike, it probably would’ve gone for a lot of money just because of its association with her.

Similarly, another bike up for auction won’t go cheap because of who owns it: Jorge Mario Bergoglio. To the best of my knowledge, no one has seen him riding it. That’s understandable when you consider his age (87 years) and the vestments he’s expected to wear.

He is, of course the Pope. The Pinarello Dogma (Can you come up with a better name for a Pope’s bike?) has a starting price of 9000 Euros.  Experts expect the price could go as high as 25000 Euros. That it probably won’t go for as much as Diana’s wheels has less to do with the Pope’s or Diana’s popularity than with how the bike market has softened since the early days of the COVID pandemic.

Egan Bernal giving Dogma to the Pope

It’s ironic that the Dogma derives more of its value from who owns it than it does from who gave it to him:  Colombian 2021 Giro d’Italia winner Egan Bernal, who is reportedly a devout Catholic. Bernal actually had it made for the Pontiff and painted blue and white to honor his Argentine heritage.

That got me to wondering:  Would the bike(s) Bernal actually rode command such a price?

Sold!

I gathered up the change from my sofa cushions.  I begged friends and relatives who hadn't heard from me in years for their penny jugs and spare change. I even started to put together a GoFundMe page to "preserve a piece of history."

That GoFundMe page never went online.  No one surrendered their loose or jugged coins to me and the money I found in my sofa, alas, wouldn't buy me a spare inner tube. So I tried use my charm, wit, erudition and looks as currency to bid on the bicycle Lady Diana rode to work before she became a Princess.  You can guess how well that worked.

Anyway, somoene bought the 1970s Raleigh Traveler she pedaled to the nursery school where she worked until she was told that bicycling to work was unbecoming for a would-be royal. 

The bike, dubbed the "shame bicycle" by the British tabloids, was expected to sell for 20,000 GBP.  It fetched more than double that: 44,000 GBP, or about 62,000 USD at current exchange rates.  Burstow and Hewett auctioned the bike on 28 April; the identity of the buyer was not disclosed.

Given the recent revelations of the Royal Family's and British tabloids' mistreatment of Meghan Markle, comparisons between her and the difficulty shy Diana had in living in the royal fishbowl were inevitable--and probably piqued interest in the bike.  So...while I didn't get it, I wish its new owner well.

If nothing else, Diana was safer on it than in at least one other vehicle she rode.  Riding it tarnished the repuatation of the Royal Family, at least in their imaginations.  A ride she took one night in a Mercedes-Benz W 140 had far worse consequences.

(I'm not a conspiracy theorist, so I won't say that the Royal Family was behind it. But the thought has crossed my mind.)

So She Goes

 Today I am going to do something you probably hoped I wouldn't do:  Talk about an event you've surely heard about. To do that, I will invoke the Howard Cossell rule.

The event in question is, of course, the death of Queen Elizabeth II.  It was reported yesterday but, according to some rumors, she had already passed when her illness was reported and the news was withheld because of the transfer of the Prime Minister's office from Boris Johnson to Liz Truss. (I never could get away with giving a name like that to a character in a novel!)  While I don't normally truck in conspiracy theories, I think there may be something to that one--or the ones about Lady Diana's death.

Anyway, what does "the end of an era" mean, exactly?

Well, I have to say there is something to be said for someone who stays in the same job for 70 years.  Never mind that she didn't have to post her resume on Linkedin or subject herself to a committee interview on Zoom (or much of anything)—or that she got her job because of, shall we say, her connections. (A wise guy— I mean, a sage—once said, “Nepotism?  Keep it in the family!”) Even if I live as long as bicycles have existed and work until the end, I won't achieve such a milestone.

Then-Princess Elizabeth (r) with her sister Margaret, circa 1945.

And it's true that she met, probably, hundreds of world leaders.  It's fair to ask, though, how much influence she actually had on them.  On the other hand, it's also fair to ask how much influence she had on the ways the world changed during her reign.  Britain entered and left the European Union and lost colonies during that time. But she can't be blamed or credited for those events if for no other reason than, as I believe George Bernard Shaw quipped, the sun never sets on the British Empire because it never rose over it in the first place.

Some might argue that the reason why she's so important is simply that she's been the Queen through all of my life and those of most people living today. In fact, on the occasion of another anniversary of Elizabeth ascending to the throne, my mother told me that her coronation was one of the first things she and her family watched on their then-new television set. 

Her longevity might be, paradoxically, the reason why I never thought much about her.  Of course, being American and therefore never having been one of her subjects, I have an excuse.  Still, because I speak English, have a British relative, studied English Literature (yes, with a capital L) as an undergraduate, ride bicycles from one of the last traditional British builders (Mercian), and count among one of my most loyal readers an English woman who lives in Scotland,  one might expect that I'd think more about the Queen.

Oh, and  one of my favorite bands has long been Queen and I live in, yes, Queens.

So will--or should--I mourn the death of Queen Elizabeth II?  The answer to both is "yes," if only for two reasons: King Charles and Queen Camilla.

King. Fucking. Charles.   Queen. Fucking. Camilla.

Well, it's not as bad as having Trump for President, I guess.