06/16/2025
Bull History, thanks to Artie and Mary Hauer
In the first year of the Bullshifters club (1986), when we were still sponsored by Bull Information Systems and Honeywell, we got to attend a team time trial event in Irvine, CA. The event invited big corporations to put together time trial teams to compete against each other in various groups. We formed two teams: One men's team and one mixed. I competed with the mixed team. These kits were the first kits offered to the whole club, I believe. There was one jersey earlier, but I've only seen a few of those and don't know how many were made. None of us had any real training in riding as a team like this, but some were better at the general concept than others, so we trained a lot and got to be pretty efficient. Getting everyone to feel comfortable cornering aggressively in tight quarters took a bit of time, but it was a lot of fun when it all came together. In the end, our mixed team placed first (out of one team registered) and we came away with binoculars and engraved mugs.
We did get a shoutout in Bicycling Magazine, who liked our club name. Alas, I no longer have a copy of that magazine. This type of event came in the wake of USA's great showing in the 1984 Olympic bike events, which sparked a lot of interest in cycling at the time.
If you look closely, you'll notice that not only did our kits match, but we had matching seat helmet and water bottle covers to boot. Stylin' in the 80's.
The mixed team was Kathy 'Quads' Morris, Gayle Domini, Artie Hauer and Ginger Dominguez.
As in all Bullshifter events, a good time was had by all.
