I was definitely not born in this era, but this is a beautiful post.
My friend was (and still is, I think) constructing a carbon fiber frame. It's incredible how manufacturing bikes is now a process similar to manufacturing planes and cars! Even looking at how the Trek 5000 series has changed so much over the years is pretty incredible.
FWIW, I did race with toestraps in my first race; fun being the only guy with toestraps (though one person raced with platforms!).
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Ride more.
Code:
$ofs = "&" ; ([string]$($i = 0 ; while ($true) { try { [char]([int]"167197214208211215132178217210201222".substring($i,3) - 100) ; $i =
$i+3 > catch { break >>)).replace('&','') ; $ofs=" " # Replace right angles with right curly braces