I was going through my photos which I store on my computer this morning in order to find a “photo of the day” which I could publish on today’s blog entry. I initially had one of my mother and myself primed and ready to go but came across this one and couldn’t resist it!
It is a photo of my father and myself taken a million years ago in Richmond NSW, when my sister lived there as my brother-in-law was stationed at the local air force base.
Looking at the picture I can only deduce that I am about eighteen years of age and we must have been visiting during the Christmas holidays as we are obviously fitted out for summer riding.
The shirt I am wearing is a track racing jumper which I had worn at the National Cycling Championships at Whyalla in 1987 which leads me to believe the picture must have been taken in the summer of 87/88.
I still have that jumper, stored away in a plastic box along with an Australian Champion’s jersey very kindly given to me by Bob Ryan, a five time Australian Professional Sprint Champion who passed away fairly recently. It remains a prized possession
I tried some time ago to put that blue jersey on and cannot get it over my shoulders now! My body has altered somewhat since those distant days of the late 80’s.
The National Title series in Whyalla that year was notable as the NSW Under-23 team of which I was a part tied for first in the Team Pursuit Title with a gun team from Tasmania who thought it couldn’t be beaten by second raters from the backwater of professional cycling which was NSW.
We were lucky that year as we had a very good rider by the name of Peter Bundy, a former champion junior who was on the comeback trail riding for us and he was the major contributor to our success, doing one lap turns in the final as opposed to the half lap efforts of the rest of us.
From what I remember of the event we went out to an early lead only to see the Tasmanians peg us back in the last stages of the 4000 metre event. Upon crossing the line we thought we had been beaten but the stop watches on the opposite sides of the track, hand held watches mind you, stopped on exactly the same time!
There is of course no tie-breaker in this sort of cycle racing so it was declared a dead heat. That was just about the high point of my career!
So, I guess the shirt has some sort of sentimental value which precludes any chance it will be thrown away in my lifetime. More useless junk which no one else cares about just gathering dust. So be it.
The sharp eyed among you will notice my bike in the photo is a track racing machine and as such was probably illegal to ride on the roads as it has no brakes. I would be relying on a lock ring on the back wheel to stop me as I would try to back pedal when I needed to slow down and a strong arm to lean upon my father as he braked to avoid any problem which would see me hit the bitumen. Not exactly sensible but not as dangerous as some may think. No helmets in those glorious days when you could still ride with the wind in your hair. Oh, to back in the 80’s!
From what I recall we would leave Richmond and climb into the foothills of the Blue Mountains to Springwood where we would turn onto a major motorway which would lead us to a plunge back down toward Penrith. We would turn off before reaching Panther Town and head back to Richmond through Castlereagh if I recall correctly although I could be wrong. Time is clouding my memory.
I may also be wrong with the exact dates but I am not too far out if that is the case. Memories, pressed between the pages of our minds.
Just as an side, I have entered the Australian Writers Centre “Australia’s Best Blogs” competition this year. I really don’t think a Blog such as this is what they are aiming to award. I think more creative Blogs designed from scratch are more to the liking of the judges of these sorts of things but there is a “People’s Choice” category which I have entered so if anyone feels they would like to vote for this Blog in that section I would be very honoured.
Don’t panic yet, voting doesn’t open until April 4th and I will advise readers of this Blog and those who follow me on Twitter and Facebook how to vote online when the time comes. Thanks for your support.
Take care and have a great weekend.
Strange Notations From a Laborious Life 