At recreation exhibitions, the emphasis is on the newest, biggest, fastest, most expensive toys and hair-raising stunts, with a few health and safety classes sprinkled throughout the schedule.
All that is true of the Group Health Seattle International Bicycle Expo Feb. 19-20 at Sand Point’s Warren G. Magnuson Park in Seattle. But there’s an added element this year: the Classic Bike Show, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 20.
Bob Freeman of Elliott Bay Bicycles in Seattle is organizing the event. Bikes from every decade in the 20th century will be on display, including a 1908 racing cycle.
“We’ll have everything but balloon tire bikes; all the racing, touring and road bikes (that) most of the collectors are interested in. Vintage road bikes appeal to people who ride their bikes, too. They buy them from all over the world and restore them,” Freeman said.
“I have bikes from the ’20s to the ’90s. I’m bringing at least 10. I have 50 of them … probably names you’ve never heard of. I also do some vintage Volkswagens, but bikes are a lot less expensive.”
Fifteen of the bikes are at his home, in a bike room, a garage, a shed.
“My wife draws the line at the bedroom or the living room, but she’s a cyclist, too, so she understands. She has four bikes herself that she rides,” he said.
Freeman’s part of the baby boomer set who now have a bit of money to spend on a hobby.
“Some of us are buying bikes that we couldn’t afford when we were young, and now we can. Most are of the era when I was first riding and drooling over the fancy stuff out there that I couldn’t afford,” Freeman said,
While some visitors will focus on restoration, others will opt for speed and stunts.
The Expo is a chance to hear classical pianist, biomedical researcher and world-class mountain biker Marla Streb speak at 2:15 p.m. Feb. 20. She’s just written “Downhill: The Life of a Gravity Goddess.”
Streb is also in the IMAX film “Top Speed,” wheeling down the world’s fastest Olympic bobsled course in Salt Lake City.
We know Streb’s fit, but are you? If not, check out the fitness presentations, including nutrition and diet for the cyclist, and training and treatment for cyclists.
A $3 ticket ($5 for two people) allows bike-lovers into the Classic Bike Show and the Bike Swap. A separate ticket ($7 adults, age 15 and under free) is required to attend the events in the main Expo Hall in Hanger 27, where more than 130 exhibits of bikes, gears, health and fitness, and bike organizations will be on displayed.
Hours are 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Feb. 19 and 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Feb. 20.
Follow the money. That’s what Olympia officials did when a stream of well-equipped birders found their way to an Olympia neighborhood to add the redwing to their life lists.
The Asian thrush had never been identified in the western United States, and very few people in the country had seen one. Redwings normally winter in Europe and the Middle East, but this one was spotted hanging out with robins, eating berries.
More than 1,000 birders from at least 20 states pumped at least $85,000 into Olympia’s economy over several weeks, said Tamara Garcia, executive director of the Olympia/Thurston County Visitors and Convention Bureau.
Bird-book author Bob Morse said Macklin Smith even showed up. It takes a rare sighting of the totally abnormal sort to lure the University of Michigan professor.
Morse said Smith has seen more than 800 species of birds in North America, more than anyone else. A rare bird for Smith is a rare bird indeed.
Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3965 or www.songandword.com.
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