Englishman visits ABC

A visitor from Great Britain, Peter Levene, joined ABC members last April to ride the Crows Loop.

Peter lamented riding a mountain bike on the road, but was glad to have a bike to ride at all. He would have hated to have returned home without riding a bicycle (and appreciated Paul’s Bike Shop for making it possible)

Peter and his wife were in Arkansas for two weeks to visit their son, Simon, who is a nurse at University Hospital. Peter is in quality control for a firm making circuit boards for the aerospace industry.

They took time to visit Mountain View, Heber Springs and Hot Springs. Being a country-music fan, Peter looked forward to traveling to Nashville (Tennessee, not Arkansas). Being out of shape, it was all I would do to keep up with Peter on a road bike. Ken Gould easily took the lead on his recumbent, even on the hills.

Peter commutes to work, and rides a longer 25-mile route home when daylight allows. He has been an avid racer, but hasn’t had much time to race since a job change two years ago.

We stopped at the Crows store, and a local yok... oops, citizen, asked if Ken’s bike was two-wheel drive. Ken patiently explained how it works. I think Ken has to answer a lot of questions about his wei... oops, unusual bicycle.

We had plenty of questions for Peter.

The distances and remoteness of northern Saline County are in contrast to England, where one can’t ride 5 miles without coming to a small community. Peter’s bicycle club uses 3 wheat sheaths as its logo.

Framebuilding has long been an English tradition, and Peter has several exquisite bikes made by a local craftsman.

Peter’s group starts rides from a pub so that, you guessed it, the ride ends at a pub, and the riders can imbibe in refreshments. As we relaxed after the tour of Crows at the Riverside Grocery, sipping coffee and soda pop, I thought that’s not such a bad idea (coffee and soda pop, that is).

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