Once in awhile it is good to remember where we came from; to not forget our roots so to speak. Randall was kind enough to give us a little look into the past with some photos of him and his wife on a 1200-mile bike tour in Oregon and Washington in 1981. For me personally, I don’t remember 1981 as I was only a year old at that point, but a great year nonetheless.
What I find personally interesting is, although the photos are almost 30 years old, the bikes and setups really haven’t changed that much. Randall and his wife were riding Fuji s-10s LTD’s with Blackburn and Eclipse bicycle racks. The gold panniers are Kirtland Tour Packs, and the red panniers are by Eclipse. Some of you in the cycling world might be familiar with the name Blackburn. But as Randall pointed out, Kirtland and Eclipse are no longer in production. To bad. They look like they were quality panniers. And to reinforce that, Randall still uses the panniers for bike commuting. Now that’s what I would call getting you money’s worth. I have to comment on the Bell Helmet that Randall’s wife Carol is wearing. Some things have changed in thirty years, and certainly for the better.
Thanks Randall, for taking us back. I wonder how many bike tourist have followed in your footsteps, and taken photos at the same spots along Crater Lake and Crescent Lake. As the popularity of bike touring grows it is good to see that there are those that have been way ahead of the curve for a long time.