I'll play, though I note the same place in this case is a quiet small town in South Carolina that can either be the terminus of an out-and-back or a starting point for lots of great back roads rides. It's a few hundred yards away from the site of the legendary
Jackson Station, South Carolina's premier blues and new wave music joint in the '80s, where I learned everything I ever knew about how to be a Keith Richards clone. Apart from that, I think it's only other historical significance was as the site of a Reconstruction-era assassination on a train platform. That said, in the last 20 years there have been successive waves of renovation and improvements, and it's a lovely place to stop and sit on a park bench for a moment to catch your breath.
First, here's my initial foray into the world of Clunker Challenges, a 1975 Motobecane Grand Touring from the last year of generic tubing for that model -
- then there was this year's Clunker Challenge bike, the '73 Raleigh Gran Sport I got from Schreck83 - we will note that in the intervening years, scenic downtown Hodges SC has been revitalized -
- And there's also this one from last year, when I realized that even though I rode this '76 Puch Royal X all over Greenwood County in the early 80s the first time I owned, it, I had never ridden Dragonfly out to Hodges, so I remedied that lapse here -
- and almost two weeks ago I put the '73 Raleigh Competition's Dingle-Drive setup through its paces on a multi-surface ride - but that followed a quick stop in Hodges for pix -
- Last week I returned my much loved 2002 Mercian Vincitore to its original configuration with 28s and fenders and dual fixed cogs. To celebrate, I took it out for a long ramble Sunday, which involved stopping for a moment in the usual space -
- which was a reprise of this earlier shot -
- but the bike that has been to Hodges the most the last five years or so remains the Prince of Patina himself, Maitres Jacques the '71 Gitane TdF converted to fixed-gear. This pic is from before the Hodges renovation and before I swapped out the Weinmann 500s for a lovely set of Weinmann Carreras -
