Original Paint

This one's for Slow Your Roll. I apologize, I know you're supposed to always photograph a bike from the drive side, and being too lazy to put pedals on it and take it outside, well, there is no excuse for that. The stylish stock fork still has a stem stuck in it too. More accurately, a stem quill, as I took a hacksaw to it to get the fork out.

There's a little bit of a story here. At my very first race, the "D" event at Wells Ave in 1986 (next week will be the anniversary), the appointed "rider/coach" was the then young BRC Cat 2 captain Ted Richards, who was charged with instructing and policing us newbies. Ted's was waif thin then, and he was resplendent in his Brancale helmet, Duegi shoes, and zebra striped lycra jersey. As race director Jim Clarke-Dawe lectured us on the starting line, while some other guy checked the glue job on anyone with tubulars, Ted sat chuckling astride a red SL Rossin. I'd never heard of one before, but figured this must be the bike to own.

Fast forward two years. I'm now a hotshot Cat 3, and thinking it might be time to upgrade my Specialized Allez SE for something more, well, European. I went into IBC, which was then across the street from the present Brighton Ave location, in the low, flat building that is now a Toyota Parts store. One of the best of the local racers, and future National Masters Cyclocross champion Tommy Masterson was working the floor. He wasn't really an employee, he was actually the rep for a distributor, Ten Speed Drive Imports. TSDI had a big domestic team then, with guys like Kent Bostick. They handled Masi, Guercotti, Rossin, and maybe a few other makes. Since Harold was already a big high end dealer, Tom would occasionally come in and push the bikes.

So I'm looking for something nice, and Tom is trying to persuade me to buy a Masi that is on the floor. I thought about it, don't remember the model, but the blue paint just didn't do it for me. We talked racing a bit and then I told him I'd have to think about it. A few nights later, I see Tom at Wompatuck, and he's riding a Rossin, with an awesome and wild paint job. That's it; I'm getting one. The next week I went back and worked out the order with Harold. All Chorus, tubulars, but I wussed out on getting the multi-shape Ghibli because it was $100 more and at the time I'd been advised that in the event of a crash, with the round tubed SLX model it would be easier to replace a tube. I walked out $1895 1988 dollars lighter. This was pre-Euro and the dollar was a tad weak then...

So here it is. A few years later I ended up in a break with Tom in the 30+ race at Optical Ave and we finished 1-2. What was he riding then? A Concorde. Thanks for reading.