sat. I decided, last minute as usual, to do the tour de grace 50 miler up in franklin county. I usually do these type rides on my lightweight '89 paramount, but this time I decided to take my '80 mclean "perfect pleasure", complete with fenders, rack, brooks swift, period campy, etc. I figured rather than to do the ride aggressively on the paramount, I would ride it more leisurely on my mclean. Of course, arriving late didn't help with that plan, the mass departed as I was still getting my bike ready. As they left I heard one rider let out repeated cowboy yells...robbie?
So I set off about 5 minutes after the pack left, knowing I would eventually catch the slow riders, mtn.bike riders, etc., and hopefully catch up to robbie at the first rest stop. Eventually I passed one rider and noticed he was riding a nice cinelli w/ chrome lugs, and I complemented his bike. It was robbie's brother in law? on a robbie-built cinelli! We chatted and I pressed on. Finally ran into robbie and his cinelli equipe at the rest stop, also frankie, who was riding a robbie-built centurion. From there we rode together on and off to the end, the last 10 miles were a bit tough for me, I had the proper gearing but probably should have eaten a bit more during the ride. I was probably the only rider with a fendered bike, and definitely the only one wearing a wool cinzano jersey! Great ride.