Got to hear about more of my old man and his twin brothers exploits on the Budd Bike Works that they’d gotten at Christmas this year.
Uncle Pat has always been a rider and sometimes even more so a collector of bicycles, with so many classic bikes in his stable the fact that the BBW has usurped them as his choice on weekend 50 milers on the beautiful and often empty country roads around their homes in Bucks County, PA is a point of pride for me. That he is dragging my dad around with him on these rides as well is near miraculous, that he is able to get going doing it again at 59 with years of smoking and drinking under his belt since he’d last gotten in to riding back in the mid-eightees makes me feel pretty good about the bike and proud of him as well. The fact that he doesn’t sit for a living and that his genetics are 1/2 the reason I am able to ride on little training help but he loves the stable but fast gravel road bike bike I built to fit his short legged long torso’d frame, he likes it well enough that he saw the value in upgrading to some lighter wheels. I think they are working their way up to a century ride.
Loads of folks that are at the same point in their life are taking up riding this way & I think a lot of them might end up finding it a more enjoyable exploit if they gave up on the idea of straddling the same machine as a pro road rider. Yeah they’re sexy and fast and as tech as your Mac but opting for a little more comfort and versatility can open you up to a lot more riding.
