The Larz Anderson Bicycle Show!

Today was the14th Annual Larz Anderson Grand National Bicycle Super Meet in Brookline, Massachusetts and I am pleased to report that I was able to attend.



I intended to take documentary-style photographs of the show... But that did not work out so well, as it was just too crowded with too much going on! Nonetheless, here are some shots of bicycles that I especially enjoyed and you might too.



Having seen pictures from previous years, I expected the Larz Anderson show to be full of antique roadster-style bicycle, but this year there were only a few. This one is an Elgin loop frame.



Wooden fenders, wooden chainguard and netted dressguards on another loop frame!



And dramatic upside-down North Road handlebars (or are they track dropbars? a hybrid of the two?) on a Sterling roadster.



A Columbia truss bridge bicycle!



I examined it up close, and it is definitely welded, not lugged - though I am not sure whether this was true of all early truss frames.



A Dunelt Roadster with baby chariot. These look so much nicer than the modern Co-Pilots! But are they road legal?



An unusual Concord mixte in a beautiful shade of slate blue.



The lugwork on this one was gorgeous and it was in exactly my size. What strength of will I have!



I was told that Concord was a Dutch manufacturer [edited to add: looked it up on bikeforums, and it is actually Japanese].



Could that explain the atypical spelling of "mixte"?



And how about this fully equippedRaleigh Sixteen? - a folding bicycle like the Raleigh Twenty, only with 16" wheels.



Green frame, fat cream tires and dynamo lighting! I am envious of who ever ended up taking this beauty home!



The star of the show was this enormous, forest green, originalDursley Pedersen bicycle.



Dursley Pedersenheadbadge.



Crocheted saddle (or seat in this case?).



Wooden grips with inverse brake levers.



And, of course, an antique headlamp! This bicycle was truly a spectacular sight.



My personal favourite in the show, however, was this stunning bicycle from the 1960s, which belonged to the wife of Cino Cinelli. To my dismay, I was not able to get any good full-size pictures that capture its glamour to the extent it deserves, but maybe some hint of it will come across here!



Ever seen a step-through Cinelli before? This one was apparently Mrs. Cinelli's personal ride, and it is exquisitely made. I am wondering what is the history of this particular style of frame; is it specifically Italian? I have been admiring similar designs from Abici and Bella Ciao, and would love to learn about their vintage origins.



The colour is just the right mix of pink, beige and champagne to be feminine and glamorous, yet understated. The lines are curves are as graceful as can be.



One piece handlebars and stem, with cream grips.



Cinelli crest on the stem! Just stunning.



There is a "his"model as well, and these bicycles were displayed as a pair. Riding these around town must have been a sight...



In addition to the exhibiting and selling of bicycles, there was a brisk trade in components, accessories, and vintage clothing. It was enough to make my head spin. This time around, I neither brought a bicycle to exhibit (I was trying to be incognito), nor, thankfully, did I purchase a bicycle. But next year perhaps I will plan things better and spruce up one of my vintage beauties for show and tell.TheLarz Anderson Bicycle Showis a must if you are in the Boston area and love vintage bicycles.

Cynthia Rowley Bike on Newbury Street

Including bicycles in shop window displays seems to be the new thing, and some fashion designers are even making their own. Cynthia Rowley beach cruisers are now available for sale in her shops, including the one on Newbury Street in Boston.

Cynthia Rowley clothing has a flirty, girly, 1950's-era feel to it, so the beach cruiser seems an appropriate complement. I wonder how many people out there are buying designer bicycles. The Rowley cruiser is certainly a more affordable alternative to the Fendi Abici!

Leaf Motif

More autumnal shots as the season progresses. Autumn has been particularly picturesque this year, and cycling in New England is a real treat right now.



Fallen chestnuts are everywhere. I noticed how perfectly they match my brown Brooks Flyer saddle, including the colour variations.



As an aside: I like the Brooks Flyer, but for some reason mine is taking a long time to fully break in. I have been riding on it for months, but it is still quite hard and has not done the taking the shape of my butt thing yet. This has no impact on comfort levels during shorter rides, but after longer rides (20 miles+) my butt and tailbone sometimes hurt. I am hoping that it will break in soon and this will stop.



Cycling home through a network of small side streets before reaching my house, I roll through this magnificent carpet of colour. Too bad this only lasts a month before bleak November sets in.

A day in Zandvoort

This month, June has been such a terrible weather month. It is supposed to be summer now but it’s been raining non-stop for days and weeks already with low temperatures between 10C and 15C by day. It feels like we are stuck in a time warp, like we are still in spring or have fast forwarded to autumn.

At the beach we rented a pair of sunbeds and a wind cover. I am sure this book is great, a bestseller in the Netherlands but I could not finish it. I am not into tear-jerking, overly romantic and sentimental storylines, and that goes as well with music . I honestly thought I could read this to improve my Dutch (book was referred to by a friend) but helaas I am not motivated to read further. I will just stick to reading newspapers and business and travel magazines, in Dutch.

What I would like to share to you is a trip to Zandvoort aan Zee, one of the Netherland’s coastal villages in the North Holland province. We went there on a Monday last month, May. Mondays are always busy days, traffic on the highways, meetings at work, doing the necessary administrative stuff, etcetera but it was such a fine feeling, quite liberating in fact, to be at the beach instead. It kind of gives you that ‘I have finally retired’ or ‘I have won the lotto so I don’t bother with working’ feeling. Well, at least for a day.

The weather was not really that warm but it was warm enough to sit outside in a bikini and drink a glass of chilled rose.

Zandvoort also has a nice little centrum with amusing shops and appealing café terraces. All in all, it is an enjoyable little coastal town and we had a very relaxing Monday.

Not busy on a Monday here at the beach.

Zandvoort beach. There were quite a number of kitesurfers that day.

Nice little centrum of Zandvoort.

Did some people watching while sitting on a cafe terrace.

The Zandvoort aan zee train station is actually pretty. This train station was opened in 3 June 1881 and is connected to Amsterdam via Haarlem.

Residential part of Zandvoort aan Zee.