repechage

You are correct. Shows how interesting the series titles were to me.

seedsbelize 

I don't pay attention to those kinds of details.

thinktubes 

Six degrees of separation....

Jeff Wills

William Christopher ("Father Mulcahy" from M*A*S*H) was a regular at the bike shop where I worked. One time I was writing up a repair for him... and I forgot his name.

But then I grew up in Southern California. You couldn't cross the street without getting run down by a celebrity.

Wildwood 

I've told my Craig Calfee story a couple of times, so only a couple of his quiet one-liners.

The first time I visited the Calfee factory (Spring '99), I was riding by on my 1984 Centurion tourer, just before noon. I stopped, climbed the cement stairs around the back of the nearly deserted building and walked into the humble settings with Centurion in tow. Met Craig. Told him I might be interested in a new bike, yada, yada, yada. Next thing I know he pulls out his top of the line bike with Record, just my size. He puts on my pedals, personally adjusts the saddle & bar height to match my Centurion. He also brought me 2 full water bottles to fit the special lightweight cages. And when I asked him, "How long of a test ride do you think I'm gonna take?". He quietly replied, "The longer you ride the more you will like it. We close at 4:30".

Many months later, we were discussing what custom features I wanted on the Tetra. I had already requested a slacker headtube angle and a few other features, finally I asked for a longer chainstay, 'for stability on Santa Cruz mountain descents' - Craig stopped, looked at me for a long second or three and calmly said, "I only build race bikes.".

Since then he has broadened his offering beyond race bikes. I really respect what this man has brought to our industry.

thinktubes 

Only in C&V would a thread entitled "Recently, I met.... " consistently refer to events thst happened 20-30 years ago.

bane

I went to high school with Aaron Piersol Aaron Peirsol - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Esther Lofgren Esther Lofgren - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, and April Ross April Ross - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. All three of them are olympic medallists. The place I rowed out of had a whole gaggle of former olympians hanging around. It was really cool.

I've seen Bruce Willis and Jay Leno out and about. Bruce was on a run with his girl toy and gave us the stink eye. Jay was driving his vintage fire truck and had a vintage motorcycle in the back. Jay looked like he was having more fun.

gaucho777 

If you are still in touch, ask him about Dick Jochums (my father-in-law, aka the Bob Knight of swimming).

Saguaro

I went to a Ray Bradbury meet & greet on June 15, 1990 in Los Angeles (sorry, not recent, or cycling related). This was a book tour for Something Wicked This Way Comes. The man graciously signed a paperback copy of Something Wicked This Way Comes and The Martian Chronicles I had with me. Total brush with greatness!

thinktubes 

Actually, quite cycling related. Ray Bradbury never drove a car and biked almost everywhere.

RobE30

I recently met BianchiGirl, tough negotiator but pleasant person. I've had coffee with Tom Kellog and Jeff Duser from Spectrum. A few years ago I met Bill Auberlen and a few other GT drivers that were participating in the Rolex Sports Car Series. Somehow I was lucky enough to be brought on as a fill in pit crew member for a small Mazda race team based out of Philly. I spent the summer going from track to track with them, no pay but they covered food, drink and lodging. It was a blast. I also had drinks w/ Brock Yates earlier this year when he was visiting my friends race car shop. Fun stories!

rootboy 

Great pic. Probably imposible to tell what he's riding.

miamijim

Cycling: Mr. Miyata back in '92 and I was in the background when Lemond was being interviewed on ABC sports following a tour de trump stage

Non-cycling: A lot fo race car guys just from being in the pits. B.S.'d with Chip Foose while waiting for the valet guy.

miamijim

huret RD, centerpull brakes, cottered cranks. Low end French is my guess.

RobbieTunes

Doc Councilman, no? or was it the same anger management issue....

gaucho777 

No, not Indiana swim coach Doc Counsilman. Mostly the anger management issue (but don't tell anyone: he's really a kind and sentimental guy once you know him, and always the first in the family to get teary-eyed). Dick Jochums coached at Arizona, Long Beach State, Santa Clara Swim Club, among other places. His swimmers have won 12 Olympic medals, and set 25 world records and 60 national records. He plays a major role in P.H. Mullen's book, Gold in the Water.

The first time I met him, I drove his daughter down from college for the summer break. It was after after midnight, and he was in the kitchen cooking a steak--obviously waiting up to see his girl's new boyfriend. I still remember his first words to me: "You want a steak? You aren't a god-damn'd vegetarian are you?"

big chainring 

I got nuthin.

But....
My sister married Babe Van de Velde's secretary's son. Babe would be Christian Van de Velde's grandfather. He's almost a relative, kinda, sorta, maybe, not really.

Wildwood 

Today I met Bill Davidson, framebuilder in Seattle, and he told me it was a full repaint or nothing for my newest C&V - no single tube paint repair jobs. Guess he's still in business because he knows his business. Very nice guy.

ZeRinger

Well, I've met several Hollyweird as well as auto racing types but that doesn't matter much here.

My cool cycling tidbit is that Greg LeMond lives about 10 mins away by bike and I routinely ride past his place on my rides. Not that you can see anything other than a long driveway.

iab

I forgot, I do have a cycling brush with greatness - Eric and Beth Heiden - but before they raced bikes , when they raced on ice. We all skated at the same park. My parents were friends with theirs and I saw their Olympic medals. They were kept in a closet at their parent's house for some time.

I also met Mark Johnson at the Horribly Hilly Hundred. Later, I got his autograph on a jersey. For those who don't know who Mark Johnson is, shame on you. He scored 2 of the 4 goals against the godless commies in The Miracle On Ice.

bane

Don't keep in touch with Aaron, unfortunately.

kc0yef 

Except when he was in his Mercedes 600 Hard Car which is parked at my friends house

Sir_Name 

Ha - great cap - that takes me back a ways. I haven't made the trip in person, but Road America is a beautiful track. Enjoy.

Kobe 

I will never forget the '83 NCAA and him running around the court looking for someone to hug.

I would bump into Joe Paterno regularly on the Penn State campus. He would walk everywhere and was also listed in the phone book but nobody would dare call him. We talked about a lot of things, but never football.

I was early for a job interview in Honolulu at a building they happened to be filming Magnum PI. Tom Selleck came out of his trailer to talk to the pretty girls waiting for him. Unfortunately all the girls were tongue tied so he got to talk to me.

Jeff Wills

My dad taught at USC from 1966 to 2004. His first year, he got a note from one of his student asking to be dropped from all his classes. His reason? He was filming on location in Mexico.
Yep, that was Tom Selleck.