From the archive

by schmalz

Photographer:

Mr I.

 We have these photos from the Issendorf archive, and for giggles, we’re not captioning them. Can you guess the racers in the pictures? Can you name the locations? And what about those sweet bikes?

45 Comments

Wheelsucker

The long gone Stuyvesant Bike Shop on 14th St was the importer for Atala, Bottecchia, Simoncini, Scapin and Somec (in top pics) among others. Beautiful Columbus tubing with chrome in all the right places. I remember going there around 1990 and seeing a poster of the Italian Atala squad of like 20+ guys with support vehicles but they wore exactly the same blue striped jerseys as George and Charlie in the 1st pic.

Ray Alba

I remember that. I was at that race with my twin – doing the intermediate race as we already past midget racing. Hard to think I have raced against Charlie since the 70’s.

Wheelsucker

The team is wearing the sunglasses made famous by Greg Lemond during the 80’s in photo #3.

Old Fart

JLO and his Bro, Chris Lo! w/Charlie and Richie H., somewheres in latin america I’m guessing?

Patrick

Pic #1 is Cedar Creek Park
Pic #2 is Bridgehampton Raceway
Pic #3 is ??? Fraysee house?
Pic #4 is Oyster Bay (maybe)
Pic #5 is ???
Pic #6 is Kissena
Pic #7 is (and I’m totally reaching here) Bridgehampton (taken looking down from the old starter’s tower?)

Wheelsucker

Who else in that pic?
One of those crazy Affinita bro’s! That gang always had the sweet gear.
-Haig

NT

Stuyvesant Bike Shop on W 14th St. was also as “Corso” distributors – the major importer of Campy in USA in 80’s – That’s why you will find no Shimano on any of the groups on the bikes in pics 1-4 and 6 (early Campy Chorus, C-Record and Croce D’Aune)

Toni

the field in pic 5 looks too small to be US crit champs.

These are great pictures. I used to have an Atala back in the day.

Photo 1 looks like a 5 man crushing crew. Perfect size for a bike team, not these 15 person local teams we have now.

Wheelsucker

I believe that person in the center of picture 1 is Pete Castaldi, Chris from Wheelworks brother.

Wheelsucker

@11:12 – those aren’t Eyeshades in #3. I think they may be JT’s or something. They are etceterini sports glasses.

Wheelsucker

The sunglasses brand in picture #3 is AME.
Also, the person 3rd from the right is Chris Young.

Wheelsucker

does anyone think racing has gotten faster in the last 20 years?
bikes have changed a lot, training/nutrition etc…does it make a difference? hard to tell but that video of the DC race looked pretty comparable.

Wheelsucker

hey that’s not nice. kinda cool we have a celebusandbagger that’s posting good stuff here.

it must’ve been a disgruntled jeff macke writing that kind of dribble. hey macke, how’s the lithium going? any little space monsters comin’ to getcha? funny noises coming from the attic, eh? boo!

Chris Castaldi

I’m not sure if it is my brother Pete or George H. I’ll ask Pete to look at it.

Chris Castaldi
Wonder Wheel Cycling Team

Wheelsucker

Now that the guessing is over, here are the official picture descriptions:

PHOTO 1

YEAR: 1986
LOCATION: Cedar Creek Park (site of the Tour de Parc race)
IN THE PHOTO: (left to right) Charlie Issendorf, John Loehner, George Hincapie, Rich Hincapie, John Affenita.
ABOUT THE PHOTO: This was the first year for the KCC-Atala Junior Team. George was 12, Rich, John Affenita and myself were 16. John Loehner was 17. This was one of the first sub-teams in NYC as we were actually part of the Kissena Cycling Club. Corso Distributors supplied us with free Atala road frames (Columbus SLX tubing) and free clothing.

PHOTO 2

YEAR: 1988
LOCATION: A park in Farmingdale, Long Island (don’t know the name)
IN THE PHOTO: (left to right) Charlie Issendorf, George Hincapie, Rich Hincapie.
ABOUT THE PHOTO: This was the first year for the KCC-Somec-Stuyvesant Bicycle team. Rich and I were first year Cat 2 seniors (18 years old). George was still a Junior racing in the 14-15 age group. We felt so pro on this team. Sal and Louis Corso (owners of Corso Distributors and Stuyvesant Bicycle) supplied each of us with complete Somec road, track and time trial bikes with full Campy Super Record on each. We had a ton of clothing and yes, those are Maresi shoes.

PHOTO 3

YEAR: 1990
LOCATION: Grand Prix Cycliste de Beauce (now known as the Tour de Beauce) Quebec, Canada
IN THE PHOTO: (left to right) John Loehner, Charlie Issendorf, Chris Loehner, Christian Young, Rich Hincapie and Amos Ottley (masseur/soigneur)
ABOUT THE PHOTO: Looking back at this picture I realize how young we were for such a difficult stage race – we were between the ages of 19 and 21, I think I was 20. This was one of the most difficult races I have ever done. Canadian riders are tough as nails and the courses were unrelenting – up and down for hours. I think only John and I finished the race. Lots of suffering. We were racing with Mike Fraysee’s “America’s Cycling Team”. We rode Bottecchia bikes with a mix of Campy Chorus and C-Record parts. Hard-shell helmets were mandatory in the U.S. but not in Canada so we wore our leather hairnets. Our sunglass sponsor was A’ME. Our soigneur, Amos, was legendary in the sport having accompanied the U.S. National Team in the 80’s to numerous World Championships. He was also a former racer and speedskater. My dad raced against him in the 50’s. He passed away years ago and is now relatively unknown. A shame –he has a great history in the sport.

PHOTO 4

YEAR: 1979
LOCATION: Tour of Nutley (Nutley, NJ)
IN THE PHOTO: Me
ABOUT THE PHOTO: That’s me racing in the Midget Category (8-11 year olds). The Tour of Nutley was a big criterium held the day before the Tour of Somerville.

PHOTO 5

YEAR: 1999
LOCATION: Poughkeepsie Criterum (Poughkeepsie, NY)
IN THE PHOTO: Me attacking (the next lap the pic caption would have probably been “me dropping out”).
ABOUT THE PHOTO: Don’t remember much about this race. The course had a super steep climb and I sucked on any crit with a steep hill in it. I’m pretty sure I dropped out of this race. I was riding for CRCA-Breakaway Courier and we were sponsored by Aegis frames.

PHOTO 6

YEAR: 1984
LOCATION: Kissena Velodrome
IN THE PHOTO: Me in the “B” .
ABOUT THE PHOTO: I was 14 and racing with the Senior Men in the “B” race. The ages of 13 and 14 were tough years for me and about the only thing I was competitive at was the track. I was racing for the Kissena Cycling Club and I was not sponsored. I’m racing on a Bianchi track bike (loved that bike!). Columbus tubing. Gipiemme components. Gipiemme was an Italian company that was a knock-off of Campy. Good components at a good price. I was probably using a 48×15 gear (86” I think). Skinsuit was made by Kucharick as was my leather hairnet. This was a deluxe hairnet – extra padding in the front and back.

PHOTO 7

YEAR: 1978
LOCATION: SUNY-Old Westbury Campus, Long Island
IN THE PHOTO: Me.
ABOUT THE PHOTO: This was my first year racing. Can’t believe this pic is 31 years old. Vito Perucci promoted races at the SUNY-Old Westbury Campus on Tuesday and Thursday nights and Sunday mornings. It was awesome! Depending on if you used the long or short course, the loop was 3 or 4 miles and rolling with a tough uphill finish. I was training on the course a few weeks ago and was thinking maybe I should revive the races there. I usually raced against 3-5 other “midget” riders at each of these races. The bike in the photo is a Witcomb (English frame with Reynolds 531 tubing) with 24” wheels. I believe it had SunTour parts. Pretty sure my top gear was a 46×15. 155mm cranks. I raced for the GBSC team and we were sponsored by Windsor Bicycles of Mexico…but they did not make a 24” bike. I was wearing all wool clothing (adult men’s sizes washed in hot water and shrunk to fit me).

– Charlie Issendorf

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