Bob Shaver introduced me to his neighbor, Wayne, because six foot four inch Wayne is one of Bob’s favorite riders to ride behind (hence the nickname).….and Wayne can ‘pull the train’. Wayne may be 74 years old now (as of 6/24/22 , anyway), but ‘back in the day’- when he was in his 40’s, he could climb Lookout in 24 minutes. He worked as a physician’s assistant before he retired and bought himself a beautiful red Colnago as a retirement gift.
He recommends the ride from Pagosa Springs to Chama, New Mexico to anyone who is asking. He has also ridden the 2000 mile journey back to his 50th high school reunion in New Pfaltz, NY. (No other cars- just the engine.)
He is the generational middle of the sandwich between a father who worked for the phone company, IBM and a fiber optic company (pretty early on) and a daughter who is a water engineer in Portland and a son who started the Real Dill Pickle Company.
Just for something else to do, Wayne volunteers for two weeks a year helping to maintain the Colorado Trail.
Thanks for the pull, Wayne. We made it up Lookout- one engine and one caboose.
Wayne didn’t mention when he uncorked those sub-24 minute times that we had already hammered 20+ miles Team Time Trial style, from Denver to the base of lookout on 22 lb steel bikes. (Leaving Denver at 4:00 am, back to Denver by 7:30 at work by 8:00 am)
On the way back to Denver on 32nd, he be in his 53 x 12 (we didn’t have 11 t cogs back then). And Wayne would tow us most of the way back home. Then, he would be on his feet for twelve hours taking care of patients, like the one who kept coming in with scratched arms from her cat. She was at her wits end (and so was Wayne) so he said, “I think the best thing you could to stop the scratching is to take your cat to the nearest (I’ll stop here, and let him finish the story), but suffice it to say, Wayne has been more than a nice wheel to sit on-he is one of the nicest people you’ll ever meet on a bike, with a great sense of humor and humanity.