Friend of Rivendell Maynard Hershon in LA Times

[cyclotourist]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-upended-campaign-week-20121104,0,4564508.story

Third to last paragraph. Sounds like he's putting in some mile-high miles!

--
Cheers,
David
Redlands, CA

**
"Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it." -Mark Twain

[Jim Cloud]

It's 15.2 miles from Denver to Golden, not so many mile-high miles.
Maynard Hershon once lived in Tucson, until he dissed the place and
moved on. He hasn't been missed here to my knowledge...

Jim Cloud
Tucson, AZ

On Nov 4, 11:26 am, cyclotourist <cyclotour...@gmail.com> wrote:
> http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-upended-campaign...

>
> Third to last paragraph. Sounds like he's putting in some mile-high miles!
>
> --
> Cheers,
> David
> Redlands, CA
>
> **
> "Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby

> can't chew it." -*Mark Twain*

[cyclotourist]

Well, they're still mile-high!

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Cheers,
David
Redlands, CA

**

"Censorship is telling a man he can't have a steak just because a baby can't chew it." -Mark Twain

[Joe Bernard]

He "dissed the place" for multiple run-ins with maniac drivers. I'd be pissed, too.

 

Joe Bernard

Vallejo, CA.

[Jim Cloud]

Since you haven't lived in Tucson, I don't think you should judge what
our conditions are regarding cycling. I've lived here since 1978,
Tucson is definitely a very good place for cycling (I've also lived in
Boulder, CO, by the way). Tucson is rated a Gold status as a "Bicycle
Friendly City" by the League of American Bicyclists.

If you happen to know any city in the U.S., of a size approximate to
Tucson (roughly 1,000,000) with drivers who never behave in an
aggressive or discourteous manner to cyclists, please let me know
where that city is located.

Jim Cloud
Tucson, AZ

[Phil Brown]

Plus, he was hit on his motorcycle there.

[Brewster Fong]

On Sunday, November 4, 2012 3:37:43 PM UTC-8, Joe Bernard wrote:

He "dissed the place" for multiple run-ins with maniac drivers. I'd be pissed, too.

 

Yeah, I recall he was almost run off the road by a driver.  Then he "chased/follow" him and when he confronted the driver, the guy basically threatened to kill his butt and MH freaked out. After that, he supposedly went into some sort of depression and couldn't/wouldn't ride until he fled to Denver or whereever else he went. Never understood why he decided to challenge the guy....Good Luck! 

[Peter Morgano]

I honestly have no idea who this guy is (dont hate me) but if I stopped riding because someone tried to run me over and/or threatened me I doubt I would ride at all here in NYC.  Its all part of the experience, so to speak, hahaha.

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[Joe Bernard]

I made no such judgment. I reported why Maynard wasn't happy riding there.

 

Joe Bernard

[Christopher Murray]

I lived in Tucson and I would say that it is one of the best places to ride in the country. I have lived in NH, MA, CA, OR, and WA and the drivers were no better and worse in most cases than in Tucson. The fact is cyclists have issues with cars in every big city. Maynard is semi-famous so his voice got heard and published. I actually wrote to Grant after MH wrote those things about Tucson to say that it seemed totally unfair to Tucson without printing a pro-Tucson piece too. Obviously that did not happen. Even now after moving away from Tucson I still feel like what MH wrote and GP published was unfair and not right.

I actually met MH just before he moved and thought he was very nice. It turns out we have mutual friends.

Cheers!
cm

[Jim Cloud]

I was actually a little surprised that Grant published the article in
the Rivendell Reader. There are a number of Rivendell owners in
Tucson. Several of us even got together on one occasion to display
our Rivendells and distribute Rivendell catalogs during a GABA
(Greater Arizona Bicycling Association) swap meet a number of years
ago (Greg Yares, who coordinates the swap meet, pulled us together)
I guess Maynard is a FOG ("Friend of Grant") with certain
prerogatives...

Jim Cloud
Tucson, AZ

On Nov 5, 7:53 pm, Christopher Murray <chrispmurra...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[Jim Mather]

I remember the Maynard article, but I thought it showed more about
Maynard's known grumpiness than it did about Tucson. I never feared
riding a bike in Tucson because of the article.

jim m
wc ca

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[PATRICK MOORE]

There was considerable flak somewhere (boblist? thislist?) about what many people seemed to see as MH's misanthropy; and wasn't that essay his last in the RR? At any rate, to my eyes, from the half dozen or so pieces of his that I've read, he does seem touchy.

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-------------------------
Patrick Moore, Albuquerque, NM, USA
For professional resumes, contact Patrick Moore, ACRW
http://resumespecialties.com/index.html
-------------------------

[R Gonet]

I read some of MH's stuff in the Riv Reader years ago and couldn't understand why it was ever published by Grant. It was sour, negative, even mean.  He came off as a cranky, bitchy old man.  I remember reading one Reader with a very inspiring article about an amputee who was getting back on his bike and I found this to be a very heartwarming, inspirational story.  Then I came to MH's piece and I went looking for eyewash.  I wrote GP to inquire why he even considered printing this dark prose but he never responded.  Since then I have refused to read any of his stuff because it is so down and depressing. 

[MKahrl]

Maynard Hershon used to write for Winning magazine and later Velo News.  A compilation of his articles appeared in his books Tales from the Bike Shop and Half Wheel Hell and Other Cycling Stories.  Well written.  Stories about the bicycle racing scene in the 70's and 80's and the support young racers received from older bike shop owners.  I recommend them.

[Joe Bernard]

He's well known in motorcycle circles, too; wrote for a free monthly motorcycle paper, City Bike, out of San Francisco for many years (I haven't seen one in a while). He has a downbeat style of writing that fit the paper well, but seemed a little off in the Readers. His last couple Reader pieces about aging, and aggressive drivers, were more "down" than most. It was clear that several forces coalesced at the same time in Tucson to create a less than lovely moment in his life.

 

Joe "yeah, that happened to me in Clear Lake a few years ago, too" Bernard

Vallejo, CA.

[Jim Thill - Hiawatha Cyclery]

I contemplated a Tucson trip for this winter, but Maynard's negative impressions swayed me in another direction. Now that I've heard a more positive perspective, Tucson is back on my mind. Also, I have no fear of death, which helps.

[Toshi Takeuchi]

I rode through Clear Lake this year and had numerous people shout indecipherable babble out the window, presumably yelling at me to get my bike off the road or some other drivel.  The closest I came to a physical threat was when someone threw a half eaten sandwich at me (other riders have had beer bottles thrown at them). Luckily no life-threating aggression with their motor vehicles.

Toshi

On Wed, Nov 7, 2012 at 10:45 PM, Joe Bernard <joer...@gmail.com> wrote:

[...]

[Joe Bernard]

Clear Lake consists mainly of drunk people in pickup trucks, especially since the recession. Stay away.

 

Joe

[Toshi Takeuchi]

I did get a couple thumbs up and encouraging waves while I rode through that area, but the obscenity to friendly wave ratio was probably 5:1 :(.

Toshi

[Stephen S]

In my experience the roughest time is right about now. Angst is high with El Tour de Tucson and then you have the snowbirds. If you are biking outside of the city it isn't so bad though. Lots of folks stop riding once the winter monsoons happen. 

I lived in Tucson when Maynard's anti-Tucson article came out and the city was not as bad as he was making it out to be. I'm not saying there never was a time when someone didn't get angry at me when I biked around just not as crazy as Maynard's experiences.

Stephen

[Jim Cloud]

The most intense level of bicycling activity in Tucson declines
considerably after the El Tour de Tucson (always on the Saturday
before Thanksgiving). Many of the snowbirds are themselves cyclists
and they're active right up until they return to their home roosts
around late April!

One of the better books, recently published, that shows some of the
routes in the immediate Tucson area is "Desert Journeys", written by
Jerry Rosen (published by the author - http://www.jrphoto.org/journeys.htm
). It's nicely illustrated with photographs on a glossy stock paper.
The most active local cycling club (for non-racers) is GABA (
http://www.bikegaba.org/ ) they have a variety of rides in the area,
including some with support.

One of my favorite day rides is from Amado (south of Green Valley) to
Arivaca. A ride that includes some climbs and roller coasters and
ends up in Arivaca, where there is a small market and some decent
restaurants. Return is back to Amado (46 miles total with the
opportunity for some side rides in the area). I first heard about
this ride from Colin Laing, the British custom framebuilder (now
retired) who had apprenticed with the Taylor Brothers. He once had a
shop in Tucson and built a triplet for my family with a kiddie-crank
conversion in the center position.

Jim Cloud
Tucson, AZ