Friday, February 20, 2009

A few copies of Tales from the Bike Shop? Who'd care?

Perhaps you would care to own Tales from the Bike Shop, my first book. It's chock-full of nostalgic stories from cycling's wet-wool-smelling past. I'm informed that Vitesse Press, the original publisher, has unearthed the last new copies known to exist. I admit I thought that none remained.   

Here's a link to the Tales page on the Vitesse web site. 

It's been so long since I wrote those stories, I don't immediately recognize myself as the writer. The stories surprise me and sometimes make me smile. Or they take me back all those years and suddenly I'm the guy who wrote them, feeling exactly as I did then, leaned over my electric typewriter or Amstrad word processor writing about Bob's Bike Shop... 

Order a copy if you don't have one. You might like it.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Still have. In the book shelves. Still love it. Otis. I really love OTIS!! I have everyone who rides a tandem read Otis.

MC said...

I've used "Tales" as a primer on 'howe to be a bike rider" for friends and customers for many many years. I'm down to 2 copies, both dog-eared and faded from being loaned out and (thankfully!) returned many times.

A great read - highly recommended.

Mark said...

Maynard,

Thank you so much for years of insightful observation and commentary. You've contributed a lot to my enjoyment and continued engagement with cycling. And I'm sure there are many others like me who never got to express our appreciation to you.

Live long and prosper Maynard, may you ride and reflect for many more years. And please keep writing us these evolutionary tales.

Anonymous said...

Hey Maynard -
What ever happened to Alan Zulch?

Alan Zulch said...

Gosh, how could I pass up such a query seeing that I'm the one being asked about?

Alan Zulch is alive and well and living in Palo Alto. I miss my friend Maynard and our many Marin County miles covered, oh, about thirty years ago now.

Since I've never owned a copy of Tales of the Bike Shop, I just found one on Amazon and look forward to its arrival in mere days.

My Klein road bike is long gone, as is my Ron Cooper, sadly, but I'm pleased to still have my custom Otis Guy mountain bike. My original Ritchey with bullmoose forks is with my friend Joseph in Inverness. I got that in about 1983 when I worked for Gary Fisher and Charlie Kelly putting bikes together at Mountain Bikes in Fairfax.

Maynard has been on my mind many-a-time, particularly as I've seen a "Hershon" design studio sign in San Anselmo and wondered if it might be his. I guess not!

Alan Zulch