Cycling History

bayrunner

Hello all , Just thought i would share this little story with you, Hope you don't mind.I live in Brisbane Australia and do landscape maintenance for a company on the northside. Today i was pulling down an old fence for a couple that live next to one of our estates and happened to get onto the subject of cycling. The guys name was Patrick, and he was from NZ and he is 72 yrs old, man hope I'm as fit when i'm his age!!!, Anyway he told me that he used to race in NZ , he also told me stories about the wooden rims he had on his bike at one stage and showed me his cycling shoes he used back in 1956 when he came 3rd in a tour that was on from Wellington to Auckland,man those shoes looked to be really hard on the feet, lol It was a six day tour, he showed me old photo's his mother had taken along the way as well as in his track racing days , he had old newspaper clippings as well as the official tour competitors book he had to fill in with times etc at the end of each days ride , Man , i could have sat there all day and listened to him , very interestng stuff!There's something about the old black and white photo's , they look great! He told me about some of the old champions that he had come in contact with and some of the old tricks of the trade these guys used while racing , He he, It was great to hear about this stuff! Man those guys did it TOUGH! anyway tnx for your time ,
Bayrunner