Audacious? You can’t make this up!
Bill Humphreys reflects on “The Magic Carpet Ride” that has been his life. Back in 1967 when I was 23, and driving a truck over the road, before C B radio’s, movies and country western songs made the drivers into folk hero’s trucking regulations were not enforced the way they are today. I was a […]
Racing in Quebec back in the day
My dream of making this Raleigh “A” Team has become a reality and I am feeling sick to my stomach with the pressure surrounding me and the team as we ride some prep races in Montreal a few days before the actual Tour de L’Est stage race starts. I am trying not to flash back […]
Bicycle Bill before I became Bike Guy
They used to call me “Bicycle Bill” in Sugarbush Valley It’s a long story that includes my bike ride across the USA into Canada at Sault St. Marie and then on to Ottawa, Montreal and up to Quebec City where I entered and finished the longest one day race in North America…..Quebec/Montreal….172 miles. I limped […]
This is what it has come to:
I’ve had a great life, a crazy life, no regrets, came close to making the big time a few times, and I had lots of success along the way. Now I’m 72, with a great wife and a great 18 year old son, living in a house that my Dad built with his buddies back […]
That Travelling Bug
Travelling Bug Where did this urge to “Hit the Highway” begin for me? I often joke that at age 18 I raised my hand at the dinner table and asked to be excused for the highway, but when did it really start for me? Was it those train trips to Washington D C as a […]
A Horse With No Name
“I’ve been through the desert on a horse with no name” After a year and a half of riding my bike everywhere and trying to break into the racing scene in California I was totally discouraged and ready to quit racing. I still loved riding but there was no available coaching that I knew of […]
Could be Chapter One?
This might be: Chapter 1 Opening Page When I first heard about an upcoming reunion of my old teammates on the Raleigh Team to be held July 4th weekend it was mid December and I knew then that I had to lose 20 pounds before all of us old farts from yesteryear got together for some […]
Diary Notes from trip 72/flashforward to 73
Bike Guy’s Notebook from Ride Across USA & Canada Day #42 August 11, 1972 Sleep on picnic bench in Trois Rivers which is the half way point of a race I am going to ride in one day, 172 miles from Quebec City to Montreal Up at 6am on the road at 7:15am legs are […]
Spent my last $/Off Season Job
Determined to stay fit this off season and get a head start on making the Pan American Games team later that summer I had managed to escape another winter as a ski bum in Vermont and got myself back out to San Diego where this whole odyssey started. It had been a tough season with […]
Meeting “Fritz”….South Africa
I met Fred Kuhn on that fateful day, 2 years ago when Dave Chauner the two time Olympic track rider who worked at Kopp’s gave me a ride to Princeton. “Fritz” was the grand padrone of the Century Road Club of America and owner of Kopp’s Cyclery in Princeton NJ the oldest bike shop in […]