ARTICLES/Changes by Quentin Blagg...

A few months ago, we went to see Fleetwood Mac at the MEN Arena. I had always promised myself that if they ever came to England, I would get tickets, no matter how much they cost. I wasn’t disappointed, and it was a good job my Annual Bonus was due! But they were superb, and we had a great night out. Lead female singer Stevie Nicks sang all my favourites, including Changes. It was this one that got the old grey matter working, another article, this is the one I couldn’t remember Eric!
Steve said in his Handicap notes, I hadn’t turned a pedal in anger for nearly 30 years. Hadn’t turned a pedal is more accurate. So many changes back on the bike. Lots of new faces in the Duks from all those years ago, but equally some who seem to have been around forever, (the right formula in my opinion.) The Duk Egg has got better and better over the years, getting it by e-mail is good, as was mentioned, it’s a lifeline to many, and I kept up with a lot of changes via Erics Monthly Mag. I guess the old typewriter and roller copier have moved on. I remember fun nights as the Racing Sec, my wife typing out a stencil on this huge typewriter, then both of us getting filthy running all the start sheets off, on the old roller job. You had to keep filling it up with this special ink, it really was mucky work.
I suppose logically the changes have to start with bikes. I’d kept fairly well up to date with progress, via the DE, and through my favourite Push Off (sorry Start Steward eh Steve) job. As well as having a natter with the riders, it was a good opportunity to have a look at what’s new. Tri bars weren’t thought of in the 70s, but for me, the best changes are brakes pedals and tyres. Weinman side pulls were the norm, they were rubbish under normal conditions, but in the wet, you might as well rub your hand on the front tyre; you just had to hope nothing was in your way. Q. Was that why a lot of riders rode fixed all the time? Hmm. I could never get those shoe plates right and used to end up with my shoes miles short of the end of the toe clip.
You had to learn to do a track riders stand, because often you didn’t have time to undo your toe straps! But the new narrow wired ons have to be the best change. I forget how many nights I spent trying to repair my tubs, man how I hated that job. Unpick em, mend em, sow em up, only to find you’d nicked the tube and had to unpick all over again. I had my first puncture last week and almost cackled by the roadside knowing all I had to do was change the tube! Hee hee.
The new Duks clothes are really good. A nice bright design, and much comfier than the old woollen stuff. Prices have gone up a bit. I think I paid £4 for my last jersey; inflation has gone through the roof or is it that we are used to paying a premium for bright shiny branded gear. Probably both. Most riders out look really smart, even the older riders have nice Club or Trade jerseys on. Skin shorts don’t seem to sag like the old woolly ones. They had a proper Chamois insert in to keep you comfy. If you didn’t keep it soft with Jecovital, (the chamois insert, don’t be awful!) you had awful problems because it crinkled up and gave you crinkly problems where you don’t want crinkly problems! You don’t see plusses anymore. I think the last pair I saw were worn by Jimmy Jones, on a warm Summers day riding home through Hazel Grove. He had style Jimmy did. No one uses a cape anymore. I have a little waterproof jacket but have yet to work out how I keep the bottom half dry. Suggestions please. I liked my Cape. Bright yellow, and it had been my Dads. They lasted forever. You could cover your bike up at home, and you could sit on them while eating your butties out on Club Runs. They could be a pain though on a windy day and you had to be careful not to be picked up and blown across the road. I had a Sou'wester which matched my cape. We must have looked like a troop of lighthouse keepers, all in billowing yellow.
I’m tempted to say that the roads have changed. Having spent the last 35 years on the Motorways in nice comfy company cars, you get spoiled and tend not to notice how bad a lot of roads are. Now, I seem to be forever watching out for potholes that could snap your forks, grids the wrong way round and glass on the road. This latter point is a real problem, perhaps caused by what seems to be good sport nowadays, smashing up the plastic bus shelters. I must be getting old, but I just can’t see what the yobs get out of this. I can’t remember what the attitude to bikies was 30 years, I think overall it was ok, and I have found the same now. Most drivers are courteous, and will wait at narrow spots. I’ve had one close call when a post van dashing to meet the last collections nearly had me off; he apologised and that was that.
I had my first Club run last week. Just in case, I put lunch in my bar bag, chicken and fruit. 40 years ago, I would have been classed as stinking rich to have that! The wise ones kindly reminded me you don’t take grub in with you now; I had expected it. Those were the days I hear you cry, 20 of you piling into a tea room, and all you spent was a couple of bob for tea that you kept going for hours with hot water. Trouble is, its true. Are Club Runs as popular as ever? I see loads out. Ok a lot of the traditional tea places are all gone, as detailed in a previous article, but the bike fraternity seems to have been ingenious in finding lost of other places. The Garden Centre Cafes are nice, me and Dot have been to Ned Yates for the past few years after the Wilmslow Half Marathon. Tea and toasted tea cakes, yum yum. They weren’t around in previous years, a nice development. The meeting place at Twinnies Bridge is good; as Bob said leaving the car there gives you more time to enjoy the quiet Cheshire lanes. I suppose I’ll join the rest when events come around, and put the bike on some sort of carrier. Was it better to ride out at 4.30 in a morning, ride a 50, then go out to meet the Club, ending up with 100 plus miles in your legs. I don’t know, but as one of my previous bosses said, the only permanent thing in life is change!

QB May 2004