Chat Room
Hi guys. At last the weather is beginning to warm up, albeit slowly. This may not worry all you youngsters but it does us wrinklies. Although having all the gear for winter riding, it is still a struggle to step out into the cold weather. I wonder what you guys or your readers would suggest about the following. At 79 years I do really wonder if I should be on two wheels, and a Blackbird at that. Gone are the mornings when at 4am I would don the gear and leap on the bike and speed off down to Beachy Head via Tenterden, Heathfield, Polegate and Friston. Roll and coffee at a café, then back along the coast road to home or work. Hardly any traffic, the air was good clean and fresh, dodge a few rabbits etc. Or in the other direction to Margate, coast road there and back. More often than not before going to work, having taken the wife in a cup of tea and a biscuit saying "Have to get in early to organise the workshop for a busy day." I think she twigged it as it was always a fine day that I was having to be busy on! Dare say every one has heard Grandad say "Everything hurts in turn".
He was right.
Painful thumb joints operating levers. Painful elbows leaning forward. Painful knee and ankle joints operating foot pedals. Should I find room for a walking stick in case the left leg fails as I lift the right leg over the seat ? As for the glasses! When both visor and bifocals steam up one has problems. Any one or two combinations of the above happens, thankfully not too often.
Those early morning rides are sadly missed. But what of all those European jaunts? Can I really stop enjoying those traffic free roads, that eagerly downed beer, that wonderful food, those topless birds at the sea side! "Naughty-naughty." Not forgetting one’s mates. Ah yes. "We ought to have gone left at that point. No we should not have, we have not reached there yet. Your sat-nav is not up to date. That says Cul-De-Sac, that is the same in French as it is in English. No it's not. You are reading that map upside down. I am not if you come round this side. Told you so, now I am nearly out of petrol and it's Sunday in France." All is forgiven after a pint which is far more available there than petrol. Then there is the Superior Feeling. My Trusty Nissan, like me getting on a bit, and the grey head of hair often seen by the owners of featherweight Fiats etc. as something to harass and cut up. I sits and thinks, “Silly twit. I could lose you in second gear on the BB”. Could I really give all this up? Na. But should I ?
Regards,
Ron Foreman.
Stick with it Ron!! We had a phone call from an 82 year old biker who had just changed his bike and was loving it! Are you, or do you know, an “experienced” motorcyclist with many years under their belt with many more to come? Get in touch and let us know your thoughts. Who is the South East’s oldest biker?