2005 Cirque du Cyclisme

The Big Show, Part Three
Images by Chris Kostman / AdventureCORPS.com, May 1, 2005

Show 1 - Show 2 - Show 3 - Show 4 - Show 5 - Show 6 - VBQ Report

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After having an absolute blast at this wonderful event in 2004, it was certain I would attend again this year. The camaraderie is incredible, the rides fun, the bicycles beautiful, and so much more appeals about the Cirque Du Cyclisme held in Greensboro, North Carolina. My hat is off again to Dale Brown of Cycles do Oro for organizing and hosting it!

The whole event has such a nice feel about it: each activitity, ride, event, and meal just led to the next thing. There was clearly a sense of "I don't want this to end" the whole time, as evidenced by attendees gathered in the hotel lobby and elsewhere at all hours of the day and night, always taking every opportunity to enjoy one another's company and share in our mutual love of classic bicycles and their riders.

A particularly neat feature of the Cirque is that many frame builders attend, participate, show bikes, and, best of all, many of them RODE THEIR BIKES! This was a real treat, meeting and/or rolling down the country roads with the likes of Richard Sachs, Peter Weigle, Ed Litton, Bruce Gordon, Simon Firth of Bilenky, Doug Fattic, Jamie Swan, Darrell McCulloch of Llewellyn, and others.

The final photo of the final slideshow sums up the entire Cirque Du Cyclisme experience: Ed Litton and I stand with his 2005 bicycle which I just took for a spin. Ed's bike is a bridge between old and new classic bicycles; with lugs resurrected from an old Italian bike, plus a Cambio Corsa four-cog gear changer, it appeals to me because it brings alive a period of time long gone by, but not forgotten. This moment wouldn't have happened without the Cirque providing a forum for meeting, hanging out, and riding with friends, peers, idols, riders, historians, and builders: all lovers of the craft and the sport whom I'm very grateful to have met.

Click here for the Cirque du Cyclisme website

Click here to see the first of my three 2004 slideshows

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