Gift Verses for Great Cyclists and other good people here

Merci to Eddy of 1973,
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=For Eddy=

He's as Belgian as a spring

upon a bike we cannot catch.

He's as fresh and young again

as the dreams we chase for light.

Gustavo Walder & Eddy Merckx & Gustavo's wife
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=The Trek Lime Lite Writes For Gustavo=

"Gustavo Walder fixed my flats

And saved me to give back to Reid.

I am a Lime, I am not limon.

God does love you, super-champion,

And all the racers you help score,

You win for them and are adored."

Thank you for the recovery of my bike, Highgear Cycling of Coconut Grove,
and thanks to to the good cops of MPD for informing me of the recovery.

This space is for Amir's verse, which I wrote six years ago,
but I only met Amir a few months ago. He is sixteen
and he works part time at Highgear. He fit my Trek Lime
with a lock, but, one day, I forgot to use the lock, oh no!
The bike vanished for two weeks, but Highgear Cycling,
they recovered the Lime.

=For Amir, Typewritten by The Juvenile Futurist of 1905=

[B]I[/B]

Were I a man of 2005

I'd wear an amazing parasol hat

with propellers fluming air from that.

With this I would fly in 2005

to visit the Emir of New Calcutta—

my landing, his palace—not a mud gutter.

And in that year of 2005

I would re-greet Great Grandfather

who is still alive, for he still is me

when all of loss is erased forever.


[B]I I[/B]

Death is now naught so we of the future

move on and up and over all pasts

with our parasol hats—our aerial rafts.

A wish for the living—to be alive

in the year—two aught aught and five.





Notes for the puzzled readers:
the author of this whimsy is a, um, a teenage boy
writing from the year 1905, speaking to the year 2005, hoping
for immortality to come. And he's using a typewriter, and so,
he uses typewriter marks. "aught" is an old fashioned way of saying "zero".
He did not know then how we would pronounce "2005",
how could he know? He is a boy and he's still trying to help you.

The original was written on a typewriter,
a Smith-Premier, an antique of 1898,
in purple ink, original ribbon...
poetrycritical.net61417Open ↗

Typewriters like this below are alien history to youngsters, OK, just look what you missed out on!

He's a boy and he's still trying to help you

Dear Jerry Lewis,

you are so vital, it

would be remiss

to forget a living kiss,

thank you, sir, for all of you.

And this is also typewriter related, as you will see, for my daddy, gone now,

He gave me my life and he bought for me my first bike, a used Huffy, 1963

=Saturday's Child=

Help me unload the car, son?

It was Saturday and I was watching TV.

OK, daddy. OH. And it has a tag, lot #6, $10,

He got it from the Police auction of unclaimed bicycles.

It is a little bit used, but we went to the hobby shop and chose

two cans, one of silver spray and one of Testor's Candy Apple Red.

It looks like new again, and I have a bike! I am nine and happy on a Huffy.

=For a Future Superman=

"How much does height factor into cycling?

Being sixteen, 3 years older then when Lance

Armstrong started racing in Triathlons, how

behind I am in the sport?"

Yoda-Reid has reply, this:

You are not behind in sport,

Sport will be behind you soon,

As you leap ahead, race in!

young man, an aside, serious: the harder you train, the sooner you may wear something out.
Look up the lives of great athletes? I do not think they live particularly long, many of them.
Or are you to be a Roman Candle? Vigor in youth, moderation in the middle, for conservation of age.
When I was...forty three, I could still train, and did, like a youth. I can't do that anymore at fifty seven.
I won't dare to push myself so hard now, for I do not want to die, and am already past my expected allotment.

Let me add a point more, you say that Lance was virtually a "pro" athlete at thirteen?
And what happened to him some years ago? Testicular cancer is not that rare, but...
In my "watching" of peoples' lives, the more intense they are, the less long they tend to live.
I am an intense personality, and am paying a price for that now in my latter years,
my blood pressure goes high, my heart slows to a crawl, I feel like I wore myself out, a bit.
Look up the life of Zimmy Zimmerman? And, so, you want to be a super athlete, and can be,
but...think about the long years ahead, and "don't burn your wick at both ends"?
Is Lance really a super-healthy guy? Ask Jim Fixx about longevity and hard training?

Ernie's dad never exercised a day in his life. He lived ninety seven years, all but one were perfect health.
My mother was an athlete from childhood, played tennis, mostly, taught. Her heart wore out last month, shy of eighty four.
Her mother never exercised a day, ate eggs and sausage and buttered grits every morning, lived ninety years.
"Bird Brain Brown", our bird-like, wizened, fifth grade teacher, tried to control the unruly class, but we ignored her,
"Students, settle down? Don't you know, the heart has only so-many beats built into it, and you will use them up!"
((what a load of bird-lime, that was...but...extreme stress on any machine wears it out faster. My mother's heart failed her.))

=Recalling Old Tom=

Old Tom, creaky, wrinkled old man

Pedaling on your Schwinn with its rear side baskets

Up and down Hardie Road, daily, year after year,

So slowly, so determined. We used to get The

Miami Herald, Sunday, but often the delivery failed.

Old Tom, the paper guy re-delivered many dozens

Of times, and I cursed his unreliability.

Old Tom, pedaling up and down Hardie Road,

So slowly, that one day a neighbor saw you

Stealing our Sunday Herald, plopping

The News into your basket. You

Crusty old Christian Scientist.

You don't pedal by anymore,

You don't dare, for, you died.

: )

Hi Robert Reid,
Eddy Merckx confirmed you as a friend on Facebook.

Robert Reid Welch thank you very much, you all are very kind. The verse again, for Eddy and for you all (for you are of him too)
((link to this page, see the verse for Eddy up above?))

Gift Verses for Great Cyclists and other good people here
www.cyclingforums.com
Would you like one for yourself? Send me a picture and profile.
If I get a "feel" for you, I can make a little gift for you, gratis.... discuss items and meet...

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He is as hardcore

As a wire

Of guitar,

Put to pitch,

To perfect tune.

Hear the wind

Sing Accord

http://www.cyclingforums.com/forum/thread/485791/people-verses/285
bottom line, I love you all so much I can't die

BikemanforU, thank you.

• bikeman, you are such a beloved legend...it's great to be able to say
  "we love you" to the Great Pyramid, and be heard. ( :
  (much love always from the bike community)
  
  ampdavolts 6 hours ago ((reid welch))
  
  
  
• @ampdavolts I think i'm gonna cry ...Thanks alot you made my day...
  LOVE YOU GUYS TOO
  
  BikemanforU 42 minutes ago
  
  
  Dear Bikeman, it is so much work to make all those videos, all so uniquely helpful,
  and so often, all you seem to get is, "help me out, I need help!". Bikeman? we love you.
  Bikeman, no one else, ever, has been so helpful so many times in video. You and your family crew,
  you are the best of us all. Thank you again.