http://www.flickr.com/photos/75524220@N03/6787841858/in/set-72157629099422920/
A CR lister's portfolio of his father's racing days in Addis; he would have been about my age if I calculate rightly. This tickled me no end since at the time (I am guessing, but the bikes, kit and background seem to support my estimate) in the early '70s I myself was flogging my half-stepped, drop bar'd, Delrin drivetrain'd Raleigh Sprite and various home-builts around greater Nairobi, Kenya (lovely, long afternoon rides up to the Rift and back through the southern England green White Highlands; never occurred to me to carry water or food). My father handled all of East Africa for the L of Congress including the offshore islands -- Mauritius, Reunion, Madascar -- down to Tanzania and spent a lot of time in Addis -- this was pre-Mengistu Haile Miriam and the Coup. The racing scene is very odd, since Addis Ababa was a backwater hicktown compared to very cosmo Nairobi (which in 1973, when I left for college, made even present-day Albuquerque, about the same size within city limits, half a mil, look like a provincial backwater -- well, except for Kibera which, in thoze daze, was merely a small pustule on the body politick and not the size of Chicago); yet while N had all other kinds of racing up to and including a major international rally, it had no organized bike racing and the only rd I could find circa 1971 in a local shop was an old Benelux rod type -- God knows how *that* turned up there! Too bad cell phone cameras weren't invented in those days; now it is probably all gone to hell with destroyed roads (in 1973 the govt had just built a new, wide asphalt from circa 5 miles of our house on the old Limuru road to the very lushly English town of Limuru -- and no traffic at all except during the morning and evening commutes) thanks to almost 40 years of govt klepts sending the infrastructure monies to Switzerland. The Muthaiga Mini Market, where I used to buy Crown Bird cigarettes! Now they have a 150-store shopping/entertainment/mall spread!! Patrick" Nairobi: Altitude, Alcohol and Adultery" Moore -- Patrick Moore Albuquerque, NM For professional resumes, contact Patrick Moore, ACRW http://resumespecialties.com/index.html -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
