VIDEO: old-timey bike in Kingsley

Whoever saw Blaze Faber on the route invariably pointed in his direction and uttered something along the lines of “Whoa.”

That’s because he was perched way up on an old-fashioned bike, with a 48-inch wheel in front and a smaller wheel trailing behind.

The first-time RAGBRAI rider from Phoenix decided to buy the bike – online, from a company on the East Coast – during a cross-country ride on a more conventional bike a few years ago. He figured the old-fashioned bike would be a good challenge and rode it a few months ago from San Francisco to Seattle.

“The hills are the hardest,” he said.

But getting started and dismounting are surprisingly simple – or at least he made it look that way during a quick demonstration in Kingsley. He stepped onto a small step built into the back of the bike’s curving frame, hopped on as if mounting a horse and made a graceful lap in a parking lot just off the main route.

Faber is a member of the Wheelmen, one of the oldest cycling clubs in the country, which promotes the restoration and use of old-fashioned bicycles.

— Michael Morain

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