Veteran - LVRC

One of the most talented roadmen Britain ever produced is now riding LVRC races just for fun, and
still giving everyone a kicking.
Life in the old West
Jim Golden
Those of you over 55s who have been
given sore legs by Les West over the
last few years have his son Paul and
another former top rider Phil Griffiths to
thank.
When Paul, now 26, decided to give
road racing a try four years ago, Les decided
he ought to return to the bunch, just
to keep an eye on his son. It was then that
Griffiths, who has always regarded ‘Westy’
as one of his heroes, stepped in to provide
bikes and clothing.
‘I’d been a Tunstall Wheeler all my life,
but Griffo said “why don’t you race for me”
and to be honest I thought if he was going
to take a lot of the expense out of cycling,
why not,’ said the twice Milk Race winner
and all round cycling legend.
At first Les, Potteries born and bred stuck
to what were then BCF events making it
up to second category on the limited training
he is able to do as a full time worker –
the morning after our interview he was
going to be literally up the pole out in the
Peaks wiring a telegraph pole for BT.
The silver fox, now 58, rode his first
LVRC race at Bridgnorth where he was
fourth (the editor won).
Les told me: ‘I really didn’t know what
to expect. I was really impressed. I was
going well, and you know I don’t often say
that, but I could not get rid of the others,
many of those in the race I didn’t know.
‘I thought I would just wait for the climbs.
I did not press too hard and I’ll you why.
They were making my legs hurt and then
ripped them off in the sprint finish.
‘That first year I really enjoyed my racing.
The funny thing is though, these days
I worry that so many of the others can train
when they like, I read about their training
and think hang on a minute at the moment
I am only getting out on Sundays.
‘Even in the season I don’t do what the
others seem to do and that plays on my
mind. Yet when I was younger it didn’t
bother me. When I rode the Milk Race
against the Russians, I was going out with
the chain gang on Tuesday, rode the track
league on Thursday and raced on Sunday.
But you don’t think about those sort of
things when you’re a young lad.’
Everyone who knows Westy has his own
stories about the great man. For instance I
can remember on chain gangs more than
20 years ago, out with him and other top
Potteries riders, flagging on a hill after more
than 30 miles of through an off – and suddenly
flying to the front of the group courtesy
of Les holding on to my saddle.
When I took up marathon running Les
decided to give it a try because his daughter
Joanne was a good runner. Even as a
runner, he used to come out with his immortal
words ‘I anna fit you know’ and ‘I
anna going well’ before effortlessly easing
away. (The ed knows all about this as he
and Les rode their first international together
in the Tour of Holland ).
In 1970 when he finished fourth in the
Worlds at Leicester, while the continentals
were preparing on a diet of hard races, Les
was hunting for people to train with and it
was a mutual friend Rhod Davies who accompanied
him on his last big ride from
the Potteries to Llangollen, over the Horseshoe
to Chester and back a good 120 miles.
When I reminded Les of this, he said:
‘Rhod was really going well that day – made
my legs hurt.’
Rhod, I have to say, remembers it somewhat
differently. So imagine his feelings
when early in the Worlds he watched Les
come round off the back. It turned out he’d
got bored with the circuit and it was only
when a continental train bringing a star
back from a puncture, came by that he regrouped.
What a man!
So when he says he likes riding with the
older vets, you have to take notice. He
says: ‘Unlike so many of the youngsters the
older vets never give up, I know from the
way they have chased me down. They certainly
go harder than in open 2/3 events
where when a break goes, that’s it. Yet in
our races it’s never say die.’
So will he be giving up some pain this
year? The answer is yes. First of all he plans
to ride the Peter Fryers he can drive to,
where he will look after the interest of
Team Afford-Rent-a-Car team-mate Ian
Hallam.
‘I have no chance of doing anything in
them, so I will help Ian out and having
dropped down to 3 rd cat I shall ride some
races to get back to 2 nd .’
He only dropped down after an accident
at home left him with damaged ribs. Then
it’s as many LVRC races as he can fit in,
which will include going for a hat trick in
the tough Woodbank Trophy.
Les’s wife Pat seems to remember the
details of every race he has ridden. For Les,
his only real regret is that he ended his
pro career at 35 and did not go into the
80s when he might have had a crack at an
open Milk Race.
‘The trouble was we were riding on a diet
of town centre crits. There were probably
only about six races a year that were suitable
for me. I liked the hard races but it
was difficult to be up for those 100-mile
events when you were normally racing for
only about an hour.’
Winning the Vaux in 1966, the year
of his second place in the World’s.
Veteran Leaguer: Winter 2002 Page 7