The day of reckoning has arrived,I am up early ready for the off,pannier bags packed,bike spick and span,but the old adage of laying out what you are packing and leaving half of it behind somehow has not been adhered to,as I have five kilos packed into each bag.I feel I need it all.I am starting this journey a week early,my wife was going with her sister Judy to Canada,to see their brother,but complications with Parkinsons disease which she has had for nine years,meant that her doctor would not pass her fit to fly.
My wife has another sister to look after her while I am away,and as I have to cycle to the station,and they are both coming to see me off,I put my panniers in her car,my wife does not drive.I push my bike out of the drive,mount it and I am off,It does not take me long to get to the station,as it is only a mile and a half from home,they are both waiting for me when I arrive,my sister in law carries my pannier bags up the stairs quite a feat in itself,as they are heavy,while I carry
my bike,it is only nine fifteen and my train is not untill ten so we kiss goodbye and off they go,shopping is on there minds no doubt.
The train tickets for the journey to Penzance were bought on the internet.A big
saving money wise and my printed tickets were in my pocket ready to be presented to the ticket collector should he wish to see them,my first time trying to get a bike on a train was quite a feat but luckily I was helped by a member of staff who assisted me with my luggage,the wind is blowing a gale something to do with the gulf stream I believe.
I park my body on a seat on the 10 am train from Leamington Spa to Reading,I have time to reflect on the last year,and why this journey was not on my bucket list of things to do before I partake of another journey ie depart this immortal coil.I am 77 years old and have two hip replacements.One to my right leg 13 yrs ago,and the left 4 yrs ago Mr Binfield the surgeon who did my first opperation when asked the question "could I ever ride a bike again"said an emhatic "no".Ah well life is for living.My passion for riding took over,I bought myself a mountain bike and gently eased my way back into cycling.My mile a day walk with and without crutches for a year must have got my leg muscles in good condition,I did the same four years ago with my second operation.
An eventfull year started with the purchase of a sports bike on a days shopping at Merry Hill centre Birmingham,where there was a Decathlon sports and leasure shop.It was August 2010,I had read a few cycling magazines and came across a bike that to me was a snip for the price of £269 and at just over 10 kgs was up there with bikes costing nearer £1000. It was a Btwin red and white sports bike.I was indeed pleased withy my purchase and when my wife and I had finished shopping,I collected my new purchase took out the front wheel and gently caressed it into the back of my car and we made off home.
This love of cycling began when I was a child.When I was twelve years old and all I wanted was a bicycle to get me to school.Walking a mile to school and the same back home was a chore.It was just after the war 1946.My parents could not afford to buy me a bike,so there was only one thing to do,I found a job after school,a grocery round humping groceries on one of those bikes with a small wheel at the front,with a cavernous basket above for four or five boxes of groceries,to be delivered in the area adjacent to the shop.It was hard work,but in all the time I did this job I never once spilt any of the boxes.I can' remember how much I got paid,but what I can say is that it was a deposit and weekly payments on a spanking new Raleigh semi sports bike.
When I finally got my first full time job as a painter and decorator at the age of fourteen,I earned thirty shillings a week,£1.50 in todays money.One pound went to mum for my keep,and I kept ten shillings,much of which was spent on improving my bike,such as dropped handlebars, a respray to racing e
My wife has another sister to look after her while I am away,and as I have to cycle to the station,and they are both coming to see me off,I put my panniers in her car,my wife does not drive.I push my bike out of the drive,mount it and I am off,It does not take me long to get to the station,as it is only a mile and a half from home,they are both waiting for me when I arrive,my sister in law carries my pannier bags up the stairs quite a feat in itself,as they are heavy,while I carry
my bike,it is only nine fifteen and my train is not untill ten so we kiss goodbye and off they go,shopping is on there minds no doubt.
The train tickets for the journey to Penzance were bought on the internet.A big
saving money wise and my printed tickets were in my pocket ready to be presented to the ticket collector should he wish to see them,my first time trying to get a bike on a train was quite a feat but luckily I was helped by a member of staff who assisted me with my luggage,the wind is blowing a gale something to do with the gulf stream I believe.
I park my body on a seat on the 10 am train from Leamington Spa to Reading,I have time to reflect on the last year,and why this journey was not on my bucket list of things to do before I partake of another journey ie depart this immortal coil.I am 77 years old and have two hip replacements.One to my right leg 13 yrs ago,and the left 4 yrs ago Mr Binfield the surgeon who did my first opperation when asked the question "could I ever ride a bike again"said an emhatic "no".Ah well life is for living.My passion for riding took over,I bought myself a mountain bike and gently eased my way back into cycling.My mile a day walk with and without crutches for a year must have got my leg muscles in good condition,I did the same four years ago with my second operation.
An eventfull year started with the purchase of a sports bike on a days shopping at Merry Hill centre Birmingham,where there was a Decathlon sports and leasure shop.It was August 2010,I had read a few cycling magazines and came across a bike that to me was a snip for the price of £269 and at just over 10 kgs was up there with bikes costing nearer £1000. It was a Btwin red and white sports bike.I was indeed pleased withy my purchase and when my wife and I had finished shopping,I collected my new purchase took out the front wheel and gently caressed it into the back of my car and we made off home.
This love of cycling began when I was a child.When I was twelve years old and all I wanted was a bicycle to get me to school.Walking a mile to school and the same back home was a chore.It was just after the war 1946.My parents could not afford to buy me a bike,so there was only one thing to do,I found a job after school,a grocery round humping groceries on one of those bikes with a small wheel at the front,with a cavernous basket above for four or five boxes of groceries,to be delivered in the area adjacent to the shop.It was hard work,but in all the time I did this job I never once spilt any of the boxes.I can' remember how much I got paid,but what I can say is that it was a deposit and weekly payments on a spanking new Raleigh semi sports bike.
When I finally got my first full time job as a painter and decorator at the age of fourteen,I earned thirty shillings a week,£1.50 in todays money.One pound went to mum for my keep,and I kept ten shillings,much of which was spent on improving my bike,such as dropped handlebars, a respray to racing e
