stronglight's photostream  

I was born in 1950. Recently, without a current wife or girlfriend I've been able to selfishly indulge myself in my oldest passion - Bicycles! This is probably the subject of 99% of the photos which I've now uploaded.

I try to keep my herd small, but it's often difficult and the temptation of well, just this one more bike... sometimes prevails over common sense. So, I currently have some 18 bikes, mostly vintage lightweight steel and ranging from the 1950s to the 1980s. And, almost all are ridden regularly.

After a girlfriend (quickly EX-girlfriend) had totalled my Honda Prelude, I temporarily began commuting by bike. Time passed while looking for a new car which I would really want to own. I gradually noticed that I did not truly need a new car and didn't even miss not having one. Occasional car rentals are far cheaper anyway, so I simply stopped looking. That was more than 10 years (and many bikes) ago and I'm still perfectly happy zipping around town on just two self-propelled wheels. I commute to work daily by bicycle, year round and regardless of the weather.

I am comfortable sharing the roads with motorists, but steep narrow trails through nearby sections of the Southern Rocky Mountains are something which I will never risk my life and physical health traversing. So, I own not a single MTB (VTT).

I do enjoy riding out away from the city noise and congestion. So, many of my aged steel road bikes are now set up for stable and comfortable riding down unpaved fire roads through the local National Forest. That's really sufficient adventure exploring for me these days.

I live with four house cats who meander through the maze of vintage bicycles and components which currently fills my small apartment. They view my obsession with inscrutable interest and patience. I open cans for them and change their litter box... they bring me mice and birds.

Fidei Defensor

I am truly fascinated with bicycle history and technology. I am now increasingly photographing many of my own interesting and sometimes seldom seen old components to share with others through Flickr. I hope this may help people with similar interests to identify odd components which they too may own or might occasionally find and which they may want to know more about.

For this reason, I specifically chose Flickr to host my photos. As Yahoo's dedicated photo site, Tagged or Titled photos are quickly located through Yahoo and other search engines. I was pleased to discover that my choice was indeed a good decision. I have now received encouraging e-mails from cycling enthusiasts around the world - sometimes from quite surprising and distant locations such as Russia, Japan, Greece, and India.

It is very satisfying to discover that a shared love of bicycles can be truly a unifying factor in our "Global Village" of the Information Age.