by Corona Man » Sat May 23, 2020 9:53 am
Following on from the things that you rate thread, where a few of us were reminiscing about the old days, and some of the things our dads got up to back in the day.... The following is a cycling story my Dad told me a few times with much mirth, although I bet it wasn’t funny at the time.
Dad was born in Rosewater in 1935 and was a sickly kind of kid. As a teenager the doctors discovered he suffered from a collapsed lung. In other words he was operating on just the one functioning lung. The doctors advice back then (1950’s) was to not take up smoking (Dad was always very anti smoking) and to consider taking up cycling for the health benefits. This he did, after spending 12 months or so living in Melbourne and going to see the Veledrome cycling which was a big attraction back then. On his return to Adelaide, and before being conscripted into National Service, my dad joined the Kilkenny Cycling Club, based around Woodville.
My father trained hard with a group of other young blokes, and was coached by a local legend Perce Beare.
I can only assume he rose through the local ranks quickly, so much so, he was invited to ride in an Olympic selection race. The outcome being, perform well and your around the mark for selection.
So to the selection race, Dad found himself in the breakaway of the day with another 5 or 6 riders and all was going well. This is an 80 mile road race by the way. So at the half way mark of the race is the feed station....anyone who has watched a bit of Tour De France over the years knows what this is... riders slow down grab a bag of food and a drink and keep going.
Dad had arranged for his older brother George to look after him for the feed. Just one problem, the feed station was located directly opposite a pub! It’s a Saturday afternoon, the races are on the wireless (no doubt) and when the break away group gets to the feed station the only rider not to get a feed was dad. George was in the pub listening to the races!
The story goes....that Dad battled on but hunger got the better of him, and he couldn’t keep the pace in the final 10 miles and was dropped.
Very different times, he forgave George years later!
1961, 1971, 1976, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1988, 1989, 1991, 2008, 2013, 2014, 2015.... And don't you forget it!