First Input to Swami History

This is the collection of emails I received when I started asking about Swami Lore...

John Howard:
Per John Howard he says the lore and legend of the club is rooted with Mark Lathrop, Ron Smith and Gary Hooker -- that is his memory but he has no stories to tell the tale.

From Brett Clare - Hi Dave-
How about Jenny Eyerman winning this NRC race around 2000? Sarah Hammer (2 time world champ), Pam Schuster (ex National Champ), and Therese Nugent also on podium.

From Jim Durbin - I started riding in 1990, joined swamis 1995, 1st jersey design 1996 (McDonalds):

Daniel Tout won or placed in the top 3 in every race he entered. He was Canadian National Champion and went from cat4 to cat1 in 1 season. Won Manhattan and La Jolla Grand Prix many times.

We have a picture (Lance.pdf) that shows Lance Armstrong with the Women Jane Team. Mark Lathrop says that Lance started out as A tri guy on the Swamis rode team in Carlsbad and graduated to strictly road and left Swamis

Hylton Murphy:
Here is my recollection on the origin of the phrase “Gurus of cycling”.

Mark Thomas was an early member of Swamis and was good friends with Dougie Pomeranz. I could always tell where they were in the peloton because they would be always be chattering away and chuckling and giggling. We used to have monthly meetings and one night (probably in 1993) we were sitting somewhere in Solana Beach (at least I remember that much) and Mark looks around with that big smile on his face and said “You know what we are? We are the gurus of cycling”. We all laughed and laughed. That is the first time that I remember hearing that phrase.

On early Chris Horner stories you have to contact Matt Hoffman. He used to go racing locally with Chris and had some really funny stories about them being real bike bums and doing bike bum stuff.

On early Swamis history you have to contact Mark Lathrop. He started the club back when he owned a bike shop with Dan Rock that at one time was very near Swamis in Encinitas.

I think it is great that you are trying to accumulate history and artifacts for the club. It is a great club having gone (so far) through three distinct and interesting eras. Those would be the Mark Lathrop, Howard Katkov and, of course, Dave Callender eras.

First Gurus of Cycling
Here is what I recall: The wavy primarily blue and white jersey I gave you was from 1993. I think the next year was McDonalds (1994), which I think of as the Adam Livingston jersey, and the year after that was the AMC jersey (1995). I think that the first Jane jersey followed that in 1996 (it was the red, white and blue fader) and I just looked at it (you didn’t expect me to give you ALL my old Swamis stuff, did you?) and it has “GURUS OF CYCLING” with a golden temple on the upper left hand chest area.

We need someone like Bryan Miller or Mark Lathrop to verify this. I am getting really old and my memory is fading fast.

Actually my buddy Rob Cohen joined the year of the AMC jersey if I recall correctly. Is that true Rob? What year was that?

Maybe that first Jane jersey was 1997 because I have this evidence (from Nov 1997). You can see the Gurus of Cycling temple in the photo.
Hylton


Steve Hughes:
I still have the 2nd and 3rd issue jerseys from Swamis, year 1991 and 1992. I had the first issue, which was all white but I lost it over the years. I still have the T-shirt that looks identical to the jersey if you want to see what the first swamis jersey looked like, or for the Swami's Museum.

The bike shop where Swamis spawned was Moonlight Bike Shop. A furniture shop now occupies the old shop, which is directly North of Swamis Cafe and just South of Hansens; it used to be an old gas station in the 50s-60s, I am told by my dad. Jim (CAT 3), who moved out from the Mid West to further his development in cycling, worked for Mark Lathrop and was very instrumental and provided some of the impetus behind gathering sponsors, I know because I was a sponsor back in 1991. I last ran into Jim at UCSD when I was an under grad and he just got accepted into medical school there.

Hope this helps add some background to your search.....
Steve

Bryan Miller:

I served on the board a few years and even published the newsletter in the pre-internet era. I joined in 1992 and remember the Horner, Meeker, Brydon trio. I am also the proud owner of a Buda Trophy, that yes, Mark Lathrop made! I will dig in my old computer and see what stuff I can find, and I kept at least one kit from every year.

When I get some time I will gladly help assemble some Lore and Legends. FYI -- I believe Gurus of Cycling was either Mark Lathrop or possible Jim Durbin. I do know that Jim Durbin cemented the idea/logo one year when he created it and stuck it on our jersey.

Bryan Miller

John Roesch:

This is what I know of the history...

I have known Hylton for years... Since about 1988. I would ride at lunch in Penasquitos Canyon. Every once in a while, I would see a group usually led by this big helmet-less blonde-haired guy on an old mountain bike with running shoes. He would just hammer away at the trails with a big smile on his face... Yep, it was Hylton. When he saw me or my little group, he would stop just to say a big friendly hello.

Over time I started meeting their group and riding with them. We would always have friendly competition and would host underground races in the canyon quite a bit. As he says, I was responsible for getting him on the road. I would always tell him he was a horse and should try road riding/racing. His usual response was: "Nah, I don't want to be a road-weenie!" Well, eventually I talked him into it by giving him my old Klein race frame and he started there.

We had met Mark Lathrop and some of his buddies when they came out to ride some of our underground mountain bike races. I also knew him from the road. If you have never met Mark, he's definitely one of the "good guys." In the late 80s, Mark started Moonlight Bike Shop. The shop was located on Hwy 101 across the street from the Self Realization Center and the Swamis surf spot. When he started a small club out of the shop with a few buddies, they named it Swamis Cycling Club. Hylton had Mark build up the bike I gave him and he became a Swami soon after. I was not part of the initial cadre. I was a loyal member of Celo Pacific at that time. A few years later (late 1993 I believe) I was given an invite to join the 35+ Masters team. That's when I became a member. I have jerseys from 1993 and 1994. Do you have either/both of those?

Andrew Lee, the owner of Adams Avenue Bikes was an early member. He might be able to give you some info too.
http://www.aabikes.net/bios.php
See you on the road!
John Roesch

Vince Pandes wrote:
In case you didn't know..... IBR has Swami's roots. Rob Coronel, Peter Plaisance, Jeff Trevino and I were all Swami's before deciding to form our own Hui. Not for your history book, but just another connection to your great club.


Gary Emerson:
I opened The Chart House in Cardiff in 1978. One of the Chart House owners, Ron Smith, was an original Swami. I believe they started up in the late 70's, early 80's. I believe it was a very small group. 8 or 10 riders...

Geoff Doyle
No it wasn't Mike Bryd, the guy the New Years Day ride was Doug Pomeranz. Hylton had mentioned him in one of his e-mails relating to early Swamis. Doug lives in Atlanta now, but he has a condo in Carmel Valley and was out here training this winter. He has that rare but envious combination of traits, his sense of humor and ability to laugh while riding is as good as his excellent hammering skills.

My first remeberence of Swamis was sometime in 1987 or 1988. Charlie Meredith and Dan Jenkins I think were some of the charter members, and I know it was Charlie that started what is now the Swamis ride. Does anyone know what Charlie is doing these days?
Later,
Geoff

Chris Daggs
This is not the first time Cannondale has sponsored Swami's. Back when Swami's main sponsor was Jane Cosmetics, Swami's obviuosly had an awesome women's team. Members included Jenny Eyerman, Shelley Orem (sp?), Rebecca McClintock, Jessica Haddock (now Jessica Quesnell), Cheynna Treto (now Cheynna Frischkorn), Julie Hudetz, Erin Mirabella, Rhonda Quick, Stacy Spencer, Marie Holjer...the list goes on! Basically a lot of WORLD CLASS ladies rode for Swami's. ANYWAY, Cannondale was a sponsor from 1998 thru 2001. Ryan Cady, owner of Cycleworld, helped arrange the sponsorship as his shop was the sponsor. I rode a red CAAD5 with the Jane squad back in 2000.
Chris Daggs

Gary Flynn
Re the "Horny Toad" name...
Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but the Horny Toads were an organized group (maybe "clan" is a better name) of runners, triathletes, cyclists, etc. that were strong in the late 70s and 80s. The Toads put on some races, including "The Horny Toad Triathlon." Some members met regularly to get in some miles, and the Swami ride evolved out of that. As for the name "Horny Toads," I don't remember but use your imagination.