Happy Birthday Dr. Brooks!

[Dr. Doofus]

47 bikes in the basement!

[Climb01742]

good eye, dr doof. douglas...you youngster, a mere 47. of course, 47 years THIS lifetime...how old is your soul? may you and it enjoy this life and many reincarnation beyond!

[Tom Byrnes]

Happy Birthday, Douglas. And many, many more.

:banana: :banana: :banana:
:) :) :)
:p :p :p
(e-richie-style)

[Dekonick]

Happy B-Day...

[Smiley]

such a young guy too .

[va rider]

Happy B-day Doc.

Enjoy the ride.....

[dbrk]

Thank you, all. I should be remiss were I not to acknowledge your kind respects though it is hardly an occasion of any sort.

We visited with that eminent person of cycling Mike Barry of Bicycle Specialties and Mariposa Cycles in Toronto this weekend. Mike is as gentlemanly and good-natured a soul as there is in this or any other world and his knowledge about bicycles is nothing short of prodigious and encyclopedic. Mike and I share a love of the oldstuff and this time I was privileged to ride his old Campagnolo Heroica derailleured Mariposa for a bit. These derailleurs, last made in the early 1950s, require you to turn a lever on the seatstay which literally disengages the rear wheel, at which point a half turn of the pedal in either direction moves the chain up or down the cogs. It's quite elegant and efficient though it takes some getting used to. To watch Mike do it is, well, like watching Sachs with a torch, Ma with a cello, or JB with a detailing brush: it seems effortless, natural, and yet the result of a practiced commitment to excellence. I heard much too about Postals and their pursuits and other things bicycling. If anyone visits Toronto I would rate a stop at Bicycle Specialties as important as, say, Singer in Paris (we left the Louvre early to get there, it was worth it...) or Serotta in Saratoga Springs. The collection of bikes that Mike owns is nothing short of stunning, especially if you have an eye for the most elegant and efficient examples of mechanics of each given era; I believe he owns at least one example from every decade from 1890 or so forward, some even earlier, including a Hobby Horse and that ilk. But my favorites are the old randonneur (Herse, etc.) and race bikes (Legnano, etc.). I learn more in a weekend from Mike than I learn in a year by myself.

Aimee and I also rode through the park in Toronto where deer and other non-urban fauna seem still to flourish in the middle of the city. A most amazing place. Speaking a bit of Tamil at supper brought a more efficient service from the somewhat surprised waiter. All in all, I find Toronto one of the most civilized and fun places in all of North America. Inasmuch as one can be said to love a country or a nation's people, Canada suits me just fine.

I'm working on a numbr of projects that may well be finished before the TdFL. Mike has a Mariposa Racer coming---I saw the bare frame of oldschool 531 tubing---and he is also restoring a Rene Herse which is also nearly done. There is a Nagasawa that is long-awaited and word has reached that a Luigino Pegoretti might actually be at paint. With the Blessing we might see these before the gathering.

Thanks again to Ben and Co. who make this place of genuine friendship possible and to my friends for their taking notice of this day for which I have for my part only my parents to thank for its occasion.

dbrk

[AHava]

In my neck of the woods, flashing a little Tamil at a South Indian restaurant has resulted in blank stares from the Bengali-speaking wait staff. I need to learn to identify folks more accurately.

Nothing makes me giggle more than my 89yo grandmother speaking Hindi to the Mexican stock boys at Patel Bros. Oddly, they always understand her.

Alex

[Kevin]

Happy Birthday.

Kevin

[Black Bart]

Happy Birthday to you, Dr. Brooks...and if I might add, Happy Birthday to me as well. I hope you're too busy out riding those terrific Finger Lakes hills to read all these greetings. I do miss upstate New York...