are sometimes smooth and silky, and other times tired and tight.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

T-Shirt Time Capsule

Yesterday I was bored and curious, so I did what everyone with a computer does when they're bored and curious - I started googling. What was I googling, you may ask? The first race I ever did - the Durant's Downtown Danbury Criterium.

This is what I found:
Danbury Bicycle Races

Last year 500 bicyclers participated in the Downtown Danbury Criterium. This year, with nine races scheduled from 8 A.M. and 3 P.M. today, up to 900 participants are expected. No more than 100 cyclers are permitted to race at any one time.

The start and finish lines are on Main Street near the Public Library. Entry fees, due at the starting line, are $5 to $8 depending upon the age of the cyclist and length of the race. The course runs down Main Street onto White Street, Ives Street and Liberty Street, and back to Main Street.

Distances range from 10 to 50 laps; each lap is seven-tenths of a mile. The last race begins at 1 P.M., with awards ceremonies scheduled to begin around 2 P.M. Cash prizes of $10 to $60 will be awarded in numerous categories, including children, novice, United States Cycling Federation members and seniors.

No one will be permitted to race without a helmet. All involved downtown streets will be closed to traffic from 10 A.M. to 3 P.M.
Considering that my race lasted about a lap, I don't recall much from it. As a matter of fact, I really only remember two things. The first was that I was the only guy with toeclips. That was far from helpful, and a convenient excuse for the brevity of my race. The second thing was the t-shirt I got for signing up. For some reason (probably the color - florescent pink) I actually wore it for years.

Being a pack rat when it comes to t-shirts, I started to wonder what happened to it. After a recent move, i had access to boxes whose contents hadn't seen the light of day for years. I hoped to find that old t-shirt, if for no better reason than nostalgia. Unfortunately it was not meant to be.

Nope. No hot pink t shirt faded to a dull salmon, but to my surprise I did find a t-shirt from my second race, the Tour of Holland (New Jersey, not the Netherlands).

That one didn't go down much better than the first, but the toeclips were not to blame: the steep climb and a poor choice of gears on the other hand... well, let's just say it was a memorable experience. The teal T-shirt, with its early desktop publishing font of choice - futura - may not have the clumsy caché of the Danbury shirt, but surprisingly it still fits.

What more could I ask for?


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1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ahh yes. My old club put on that race. I was probably organizing race marshalls for the corners that day. - Homebrew