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Aahh, The Smell Of Nostalgia |
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Having been out biking all weekend, there’s no doubt that the hot topic in the sport – at least where I go – is the no-stop discussion, which has been well and truly dissected in the forums. As I said last week, my head is spinning and I certainly shan’t be devoting any more space to it in this column – though I’m sure I will return to it in the future!
As I’ve said, it’s been a busy weekend biking, as up in this neck of the woods, the Kendal Classic Club’s Nostalgia week has been taking place, which is a week long extravaganza glorifying old bikes, old men, old events, old trials, old scrambles and old subjects of discussion. So whilst it may well be of less interest to the younger set, for the older folks – and there’s many of them, it is one of the top weekends of the year.
The week’s events lead into the Nostalgia Run, which took place last Friday, which attempts to follow, somewhat loosely, some of the course that featured in the 1913 ISDT. Starting from Hayes Garden Centre in Ambleside, the 122 mile route takes in many Cumbrian mountain passes, which whilst they are tarmaced and easily traversed these days, some 96 years ago would have been formidable obstacles for the machines of the time.
The bulk of the 70 strong entry were old road riders on old road bikes, but there’s a smaller group (16 this year) that ride more modern machinery which this year included such well known past masters as Sammy Miller, Barry Briggs, Bill Brown, Terry Challinor, Pete Remington, journalists Chris Hallam, John Dickinson, Tim Britton and myself, together with other old bikers who I confess I didn’t know, led on the run by David and Robert Gates, perhaps one of the reasons it is known as Gates Gallop.
Great fun, on a nice day, it was a good opportunity to enjoy wonderful scenery and some great company and one of the perks of being in the older generation.
But for the trials men, Saturday was the big day, with the Nostalgia Trial at Holme Farm, Middleton, just south of Sedbergh which is deep in the heart of what used to be Westmorland, an event that attracted 200 entries on pre 65 and twin-shock machines. Riders travel from far and wide to enjoy this trial, certainly from as far distant as East Anglia and Scotland.
Whilst I have been to this trial as the Results Co-ordinator for three years now, it still fascinates me as to the huge variety of machinery that is dragged out and battled round three laps of 15 sections. If you think there’s a big value in machines at a modern trial, it pales into insignificance when compared to the value of the machines used in the Nostalgia. Modern machines are easily replaced, but immaculate, good as new James, Francis Barnetts, Ariels, Cubs, Enfields and Greeves and others have a value that is immeasurable, simply because the bikes cannot be easily replaced.
The biggest problem with this event is simply the huge number of riders that want to take part (40 entries were returned) and the difficulty in catering for them, but I’m assured by Pete Remington that future events will be planned to accommodate such a large entry, though inevitably, on a closed course, there will always be an element of queuing.
The weekend comes to a climax with the Nostalgia Scramble, a real, old-fashioned short course scramble that attracts some big names from the classic scene. Jimmy Aird, Bill Brown, Terry Challinor, Andy Roberton and many, many more – all fast men on big rorty four strokes, have some real close racing that attracts decent crowds for a “proper” old fashioned scramble. However, this event clashed with the Gerald Simpson Memorial Trial, organised by the Ricmond Club, so it was to there that I travelled on Sunday morning.
My first Gerald Simpson ride was 29 or 30 years ago on a sidecar, when it was exclusively a two day, sidecar only trial. Unfortunately, those days have long gone and sidecars are no longer featured in Richmond trials as they were in the early ‘eighties when I used to ride the three-wheelers with TMX production Editor Mannix Devlin.
However, sidecars are about to re-enter my life for a brief period when, together with Andrew Scott as my passenger, we tackle this coming weekend’s Manx Two Day Trial on a 330 Gas Gas, kindly loaned by Mike and Cynthia Ryde, against whom we rode all those years ago.
Andrew and I have absolutely no idea how we will fare. It’s 26 years since I last competed regularly in the British Sidecar Championship, 15 years since I last had a one-off ride on a sidecar and 17 years since Andrew last rode with his brother Phil. We had a brief try-out last weekend to try and get the hang of it again, and on that form, a finish is probably the best we can hope for!
If there’s no column next week, you’ll understand why, for as Jack Mathews told me when he first showed me how to ride a sidecar, “remember Rappers, when it stops, it’s still on wheels”.
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