A real hectic start to the month and the weekend. On Friday had tea with "Titch" Morris (H.R.Morris) the famous frame builder. We got out all his old photo albums and scrapbooks . These go back to the early 1920's and feature all the crack rider's of the day. Some you might know are Maurice Selbach, the Stott brothers and Dave Marsh who the bars are named after. I showed him some 1920's & 30's Official Route & Handicap Cards that I had recently found. These were mostly from the Kingsdale CC. which brought back many happy memories for him. He is now in his 92nd year. His brother-in-law Jack Rossiter is featured in most of these. Jack Rossiter of the Century CC was a very famous cyclist's. He broke the Land's End to John of Groat's record in 1929 riding a Raleigh fitted with a 3 speed Sturmey. This record is called the End to End and is the Blue Ribband of all British distance records (866miles). His record time was 2 days 13 hours 22 minutes. He used gears of 59, 78 and 102 up to Carlisle where he lowered his ratios to 55, 72 and 94 for the real tough part of this ride. His record was all the more remarkable because he used no ferries in this attempt plus he had the added physical disadvantage of a badly damaged hand. This was the result of an injury sustained in the First World War. How on earth he coped with punctures with only one good hand is a feat in itself and he had plenty of tyre trouble on this ride. In the Summer of 1930 Jack once again made headlines by breaking the 1000 mile record on a Raleigh bicycle. I am not sure but I believe Raleigh introduced the Record Ace shortly after this event. This model had a radical spoked front wheel and pretty twin fluted cranks.
While I was visiting Titch I heard that a cycling comrade of ours from the North Road CC. Had sustained a fractured back and was very poorly in hospital. George is a well known time keeper and he also rides and checks the mileages of all successful road record attempts for the RTTC & RRA. Yes that's right he rides the course on his bicycle checking the distance, not to bad checking the 50 miler but the End to End at the age of 72 takes some doing. He rides everywhere by bike which is equipped with a 67" fixed. Can never remember him owning a car and would you believe he fractured his back not on the bike but as a result of a fall down the stairs. We are all hoping that's its not to long before he is back spinning his fixed gear again. Went out for a ride around Rutland Water on Saturday with my autistic son. Rutland is a 26 miles circuit and is one of the biggest reservoirs in the UK, over 3100 acres. The route is all off road on traffic free paths. Mostly of good surface. Mark managed this on his single speed BMX, he is only twelve and did really well to get around. Me on the 60 Elrick with 6 speeds. Started in glorious sunshine and finished in the pouring rain. There were thousands of Widgeon on the water. Wish I had a twelve bore shotgun with me. Could have kept the Cambridgeshire Chinese restaurants in aromatic crispy duck for the year. Rutland is the smallest of our English counties and well worth visiting, lots of lovely villages and quite lanes, excellent pubs with very good beer. Oakham Ale Mompesson's Gold is an absolute must to try at 5%ABV. Not the ideal lunchtime bevvy if you have lots of hills to climb later. The beer is named after Sir Giles Mompesson the first Chancellor of the Exchequer who introduce licensing for inns and alehouses. The chancellor has been taxing it ever since! Sunday rode the Veteran Cycling Club time trial. This event is called the "Boot & Back" and the and is one of the most popular in the clubs calendar. The time trial is short circular hilly route from a pub and back. Distance is about 5 miles. I rode a 1950 Rensch Champion du Monde and did a reasonable time for me. Hilary Stone, Peter Paine and Ray Etherton were also there. Loads of classic bikes from ordinaries through to 1970's lightweights. My favorite of the day was an American Pierce with beautiful sprung front forks. Guess this would have been from the turn of the last century. The pub was absolutely stacked with real ales miles too many to throw a stick at. It's the normal custom in a good traditional British pubs to give you a free taster of what's on offer, but this landlord was a bit of a tight fisted b---er so we had to take pot luck. Wonderful day and event in the peeing rain and just full of classic bikes a bike nuts dream.