Sheldon Brown 1944-2008

Sheldon Brown, of Harris Cyclery in West Newton, MA, passed away last weekend at home of a heart attack.

Many bicyclists have benefitted from Mr. Brown's website which is a treasure of technical and historical cycling data and humor he'd been keeping up since 1997.

I read he dutifully would personally answer each of the 500-1000 daily e-mails he received from fans across the 'net.

I'll leave you with a tip of Mr. Brown's that's appropriate for the time of year and climate: "One of my ways of dealing with cold weather is to cover my helmet's ventilation holes with tape. This really helps a lot, and I highly recommend the tape trick for winter cycling."

Mr. Brown leaves behind his wife, Harriet, daughter, Tova, and son, George.