Veteran - LVRC

Point of View
Iseem to have rattled a few cages
with my recent article about race
tactics, judging by correspondence
received – including that of the
venerable Dave Orford! It’s good of
you gents to put pen to paper, but
you must calm down a bit. You’ve all
assumed that my article was written
as a personal testament, when in fact
it wasn’t – it was made up from
numerous conversations I’ve had
with members over a period of time.
I agree with you totally that a rider
who wilfully does not contribute to
the workload in a break should not
contest the finish. In fact, my whole
ethos of road racing is to be fit
enough to be competitive, to to get
in a break if possible, and to contribute
to the work-load, in the hope of
a good placing at the finish. These
aims cannot be much different from
those of most racing members.
The one point I will make, however,
is that, due to the uncertainty
of road racing, things don’t always
follow a standard pattern. That is all I
intend to say on this subject, and I
promise not to mention it again – at
least not this year!
Let’s move on to more mundane
matters, like the necessary pre
season training that most of us are
trying to get on with in the face of
WANTED
purchase or
loan.:
A set of
Cycling Weekly
from 1942 to
1968
Will collect.
Maher
inclement weather. Down South,
we’ve had only a smattering of snow,
but there has been plenty of cold,
wind and rain to contend with.
However, there is one thing that has
always puzzled me at this time of
year – when I am out training, my
left foot always gets cold before my
right one – when I get home and
head for the shower, they are often
quite different colours, and the left
one takes much longer than the
other to thaw out. This in spite of
using woollen socks, thermal insoles,
and decent overshoes. In the Summer,
I do not experience any difference
in sensation between my two
feet – it only happens in cold
weather. Additionally, when it is
raining, my left foot always gets wet
before the right one. I use mudguards
of a decent width, and they
are usually properly aligned. Both
the above happenings are a mystery
to me, and I’d be interested to hear
from others with similar experiences.
One thing that caught my eye
recently was the letter in Cycling
Weekly from Keith Richards –
apparently an LVRC member –
although you’d doubt it from the
uninformed content of the letter. I
was pleased that CW at least had the
Tom McCall
decency to print a concise reply from
Ray Minovi the next week.
Mr Richards must have lived in a
closet for the last year to be so
unaware, although he obviously
reads his Cycling Weekly – that is
where he has picked up the information
about the SGM which made him
get up on his soapbox. He has since
written another letter in which he
says his intention was not to be taken
too seriously. However, it does give
me the opportunity to talk about the
importance of veteran competitors in
today’s sporting world. Seniors’
activity, and the relevant public
interest, has mushroomed internationally
in Golf and Tennis. Vets have
the right to be competitive in Cycle
Racing too if they want, and if they
bring home International honours as
Ian Hallam, Mick Ives and Clare
Greenwood have, it is no less
glorious than when they were young.
They don’t look or act old at all, and
they still race hard. If you were to
get out there with them, you’d really
find out for yourself!
Even if he doesn’t read his Veteran
Leaguer, I would have thought that
he would at least have picked up in
CW that we were now two-time
£1,000 donors to the David Rayner
Fund.
J.Scott
39 Montrouge
Crescent
Epsom
KT17 3BP
Telephone:
01737-352025
Page 4 Veteran Leaguer: Winter 2002