Ted, my post was intended to be admiration - please don't be offended. That Raleigh was precious to me from age 12-17. It was my transportation - the South was poor at the time - in Gainesville we didn't have all those Southern California hot cars in 1962 as seen in "American Graffiti." I don't think there were above 20 cars in the "senior parking lot" and most of those were early 50's stick shifts.
I rode my "English Racer" (Raleigh sport) to school from 6th grade to 12th grade. I played bicycle polo with it (we invented the sport using old golf woods and a softball)...we toured N.Florida on them when it was still "cracker" including pushing them in the deep sand in "the big Scrub" east of Gainesville towards the Saint John's river. I wish I still had it;
There's a Raleigh Sport in the Museum of American History on the Mall it was so popular. In no way did I intend to cast aspersions on your bike. It was supposed to be a light-hearted "well done."
This is my bike for the last 13 years. I don't tour on it though the bike trails here run all the way to the Blue Ridge and if you use the C&O Canal tow-path 230 miles up to Columbia, Maryland. I do try to put 10 miles a day when I'm in the country and have a 18 mile loop from McLean, almost to Mount Vernon, then up along the Potomac and back beside Rte 66.
Why a Le Monde? In Brussels in 1986 in February on a cold rainy day my wife and I were sitting in a small cafe off the Petite Sablon when an American walked in; we struck up a conversation; he wanted to buy a cheap sofa - we'd just bought one (we still have it) and sent him to the box store. I was Greg Lemond. I followed his career and Tour de France ever since.
