Princeton Cycling - Alumni Stories

Alumni Stories

From: Leighton Chen '66

So for those of you who don't know about the real early days of Princeton cycling, let me fill you in ......

It really got started with Leif Thorn-Thomson (I think Class of 63 or so) with the active sponsorship of Fred Kuhn, who owned Kopps Cycle, but unfortunately died a few years ago. He recruited John Allis '64, who in turn recruited a bunch of us who carried on the tradition of winning (after John graduated) what was then the National Collegiate Cycling Championship (team) between 1963 and 1966. John has to be considered one of the country's best road racer ever- he was on 3 Olympic teams (always finishing as the top American at the Olympics), won the National Road Race once, and set numerous records, including the fastest time in a 50 mile time trial. He's in the Somerville Bicycling Hall of Fame.

We used to learn the finer points of sprinting tactics by training then with Alan Bell, who was also on multiple Olympic teams (track), and is also in the Hall of Fame. John, of course, taught us about dedication and suffering. The team was somewhat unique at the time because we were almost alone in really working team tactics (although the argument was made by the competition that we had to because none of us, with the possible exception of Mikk Hinnov, were outstanding sprinters), and the hard core amongst us raced in Europe (even winning races there). As a result, we really controlled open races in the East, and we vagabonded around the country in John's Volkswagon bus. It was not unusual for us to race a collegiate race on the same day after doing the early Sunday morning race in Central Park. Those were also the days before categories and qualifications. Those of us who started cycling with the team got our feet wet right away by racing events like the Tour of Somerville - it was an incredible learn by being thrown to the wolves experience. We also got wonderful support ($$) from the Dept. of Athletics, because of our notoriety, and received varsity letters in recognition of our national championship team status.

From: David Sacks '76

Sounds like collegiate cycling competition is a bit more organized compared to 25 years ago. Our team was started by Frank Quinn, who was employed by the food service at the university (DFS) who organized a bunch of us recreational riders into a racing team. I started out riding the Schwinn Continental that I had purchased as my first 10 speed from Kopp's Cycle from Fritz himself. On the Sun AM training rides that used to leave from Kopp's I used to pray that the guys on sew ups would have a flat so I could catch my breath and keep up. Riding that bike was like training tossing a medicine ball. Before I bought my racing bike I used to train on a track bike with a gear in the mid 60's without a brake (we were nuts) and hope I could spin fast enough to make it down the hills without losing control. Races were informally set up by Frank by calling friends at other colleges and setting something up. We had one long road trip up to West Point in the back of a food service van while I tried to read James Joyce for my literature class.


		Alumni Stories
Home Ride Calendar Schedule Roster Sponsors Archives Rides Standings Membership Alumni Links	From: Leighton Chen '66 So for those of you who don't know about the real early days of Princeton cycling, let me fill you in ...... It really got started with Leif Thorn-Thomson (I think Class of 63 or so) with the active sponsorship of Fred Kuhn, who owned Kopps Cycle, but unfortunately died a few years ago. He recruited John Allis '64, who in turn recruited a bunch of us who carried on the tradition of winning (after John graduated) what was then the National Collegiate Cycling Championship (team) between 1963 and 1966. John has to be considered one of the country's best road racer ever- he was on 3 Olympic teams (always finishing as the top American at the Olympics), won the National Road Race once, and set numerous records, including the fastest time in a 50 mile time trial. He's in the Somerville Bicycling Hall of Fame. We used to learn the finer points of sprinting tactics by training then with Alan Bell, who was also on multiple Olympic teams (track), and is also in the Hall of Fame. John, of course, taught us about dedication and suffering. The team was somewhat unique at the time because we were almost alone in really working team tactics (although the argument was made by the competition that we had to because none of us, with the possible exception of Mikk Hinnov, were outstanding sprinters), and the hard core amongst us raced in Europe (even winning races there). As a result, we really controlled open races in the East, and we vagabonded around the country in John's Volkswagon bus. It was not unusual for us to race a collegiate race on the same day after doing the early Sunday morning race in Central Park. Those were also the days before categories and qualifications. Those of us who started cycling with the team got our feet wet right away by racing events like the Tour of Somerville - it was an incredible learn by being thrown to the wolves experience. We also got wonderful support ($$) from the Dept. of Athletics, because of our notoriety, and received varsity letters in recognition of our national championship team status. From: David Sacks '76 Sounds like collegiate cycling competition is a bit more organized compared to 25 years ago. Our team was started by Frank Quinn, who was employed by the food service at the university (DFS) who organized a bunch of us recreational riders into a racing team. I started out riding the Schwinn Continental that I had purchased as my first 10 speed from Kopp's Cycle from Fritz himself. On the Sun AM training rides that used to leave from Kopp's I used to pray that the guys on sew ups would have a flat so I could catch my breath and keep up. Riding that bike was like training tossing a medicine ball. Before I bought my racing bike I used to train on a track bike with a gear in the mid 60's without a brake (we were nuts) and hope I could spin fast enough to make it down the hills without losing control. Races were informally set up by Frank by calling friends at other colleges and setting something up. We had one long road trip up to West Point in the back of a food service van while I tried to read James Joyce for my literature class.