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These 10 pages are left over from my old Centerport Cycles web site. They seem to be pretty popular, so I guess I’ll leave them up. |
This is Amos Otley giving Paul Deem a massage at Sommerville. Amos was a retired bike
racer and a talented masseuse. He traveled around to the races offering his services for a fee.
Like many of the people in these pictures Amos has passed away
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These are the Gold Medalists from the 1960 Junior National Championships held in Flushing, N.Y. My buddy Craig Roberts is the littlest one. Craig was 10 at the time and the National “Cub” Champion. To Craig’s right is Syl Greco. The first adult to the left (with arms folded) is Joe Hovis who wrote a bike racing column in American Bicyclist.
The age groups back then went like this (youngest to oldest): Cub, Midget, Intermediate, Junior, Senior, Vetran, Masters, Grand Masters.
Here is Richard “Mitch” Minchik being held for his Kilo ride at the 1981 State Track Championships. The guy holding him is the late Henry Seubert. Hank was one of the old guard from the German Club. He was the U.S.C.F. district rep for many years and he did a great job.
These pictures show my first foray into frame building in 1981. I got into it with my childhood buddy Charles (Chaz) Vlasits. The upper shots show our frame and fork jigs and the bottom shot shows Chaz checking the frame alignment on a granite surface plate.
This is my track bike set up to ride the One Kilometer Time Trial at the N.Y. State Track Championships in ’85. Disc wheels were new on the scene and very expensive. I had borrowed this one. The front wheel is a Roval with 16 spokes. This was before aero handlebars were in common use.
I got second place in the Masters 30 – 35 race. I almost got first but the guy (Jerry Malone) who got fourth (no medal) in the Seniors was old enough to be in my age group and he switched entries after we had done the rides. That is against the rules but I let it go. He was legitimately in my age group and he did a faster ride then me. To add insult to injury I never actually received the medal.
This segue is totally random. This is a picture of my dad (center) at 16 and two of his buddies. They are about to embark on a bike trip from New York City to Maine. They camped in grave yards where nobody would bother them. When they got to Boston the other guys had enough and they wired their parents for money to take the train home. My dad’s folks would have none of that so he sold his bike on the street for train fare.
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While we are on the subject of my parents; this is my mom celebrating her 81st birthday. My folks were involved in a very serious auto acident a couple years ago. My mother was severely injured. She has made a miraculous recovery but she doesn’t walk that great. Her balance seems off.
For some reason she got it in her head that riding a bike would be good therapy; even though she rarely rode a bike before. I thought she had finally lost it and did my best to ignore her requests. After a while I could see that she wasn’t going to give up, so my sister and I fixed up an old thrift store bike and let her do as she wished. To our amazement she can ride a bike like she is flying. She now rides every day, weather permitting. What a kook!