Today’s post is brought to you by Costante Girardengo -
Costante, as you’ll learn by clicking through the image above, kicked some serious booty in the early part of the 1900’s (wow - is that really “the last century” now…?). He was the first Italian rider dubbed “Campionissimo”, which was news to my Fausto-centric understanding of the term. Costante also won the Milan-San Remo 6 times, a record which stood until Eddy nicked him by one. He was in short, very fast for a long time, recovered from a serious illness and had some of his best years trampled upon by WW1. Tragic and heroic in the best sense.
I was nudged into this mini-research on him by an email sent by a happy t-shirt customer, who shared a story about growing up with a Girardengo track bike, the same as a childhood friend. As with all good kids-with-bikes stories, they rode the piss out of them, helmetless and not-knowing-any-better, and somehow lived through it. But, I’d never heard of the name before and prowled around to see what was out there.
The wikipedia entry references a line of motorbikes with the Girardengo name, and as with most things of that era, they either had a less-popularized line of bicycles, or some other enterprising fellow decided to cash in on the name. I don’t know. Anyone else have or heard of these?
In other quick topics -
The Be Good Tanyas played in San Francisco last night, and despite a slightly odd and separating-from-the-audience stage placement (a problem with the venue) and slightly muddy sound, it was a great, great show. Jolie Holland was in the audience, and hiked out from the wings (and up from the seats) a couple times to join in for a few songs. (Her mic was a bit low in the mix, too). The Tanyas may be the happiest band I ever cried to, or the only band that I can’t understand but always know what they are saying. Or both. They are (obviously) touring right now through selected cities.
I’m off tomorrow to the Rivendell Weekend. Excited to go ride on Mount Diablo, which is actually somewhere I’ve never ridden. Expect some photos and a bit o’ reporting. Of course, it will be biased as heck, as the first part of the weekend involves getting the implant. (And Gallery Submissions will sit in the inbox until my return.) Anyway, everybody play nice this weekend and get a good ride or three in.
May 18th, 2007 at 9:16 am Well, if you enjoy the Riv Weekend (and I’ll go one of these days), consider coming up to Portland for the — I’m not making this up — Grant Petersen Ride (really) on June 10. I did not make this up, the ride is listed here: (from the PedalPalooza calendar at www.shift2bikes.org) GRANT PETERSEN RIDE N Ainsworth & Borthwick (Peninsula Park, steps to Rose Garden on Ainsworth St) June 10 4:00pm Calling cyclists of Bridgestone, Rivendell, and similar lugged-steel steeds with a taste for tweed, shellac, cork, and francophile tires… the Grant Petersen ride will be a rolling bike show with plenty of interesting discussion. Good natured curmudgeons gladly suffered. Grouchy know-it-alls will be dropped. No lycra.
May 18th, 2007 at 9:47 am Yeah, I saw that listing - cracked me up significantly… ;^)
May 18th, 2007 at 5:47 pm Have fun there on Diablo, watch for tarantulas and rattlesnakes and those bitey retrogrouches.
May 25th, 2007 at 8:53 am No tarantulas - guess that’s later in the season. Rattlesnakes were not in evidence, but someone saw a Alameda whipsnake. Bitey retrogrouches behaved themselves quite well, and even took us on some trails… Photos here.