Wheelbase Party at Staveley

"taywood" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Did I miss anything by not going on Saturday?

No response, thats surprising.
Surely someone from this group went to the weekend bike fest.

I was told the bread shop would close to allow their forecourt to
be closed for bike demo's etc and that extra staff had been booked
by Wilfs Cafe to cope with rush.
I'd had visions of the Kentmere valley and hillsides being taken over
by bike riders.
Comeback someone, anyone.

"taywood" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Did I miss anything by not going on Saturday?

So I went.
After lunch with friends on Sunday we took them for a
drive in the country.

My wife came out of her doze when she realised we were
heading North on the M6, at speed. I explained we could go
to a farm shop and get a cuppa somewhere. There was no comment
but she had that look in her eye, confirmed when we got there.
The two ladies went to Wilfs caff to sit by the river. I wandered around
with my friend even older than me, he'd not been on a bike for
over 65 years.

There was bike jumping going on outside, riders collapsed on the tarmac
in the heat, riders coming in on demo bikes and the trade stands almost
all packed up, and the bands had all gone.
I had to explain about road bikes, suspension, hydraulics and so on.
His eyes glazed over after a while and I left him to go look at the sales
offers.
When I found him he was in earnest conversation with some guy about
weld beads on the head tube on ally frames. I went and got a tea for him.
By then he had an audience and was explaining about the skill and
expertise which had produced a Cannondale frame with oversized head
tube, salmon colour, dont know the model.
As a former sheet metal worker he'd turned to industrial welding and had
just about every British welding qualification prior to retiring.
He said he'd worked on everything from jewellry to large industrial storage
vessels but he'd never thought to put together a bike frame.
97 miles round trip just for a cup of tea. Well, he enjoyed himself.