Bringing the past into focus
Rick gets out and about, shines a light on motorcycling history and mourns the passing of a dear friend
AS THE NIGHTS and the weather are both closing in, they indicate the close of the fun-riding season. While pandemic disruptions meant few of us had much more fun this year than last, things looked up for me toward the end.
X-rays in October suggested that my leg fractures are now healed, so although it’ll probably be a year or more before I’m as good as I’ll get, I was able to ride in a few events. I also managed a visit to Kempton Park autojumble – which I was pleased to find starting to feel more ‘normal’ than ‘new normal’ – and then up to the National Motor Cycle Museum open weekend, where I conducted a few museum tours.
The huge range of exhibits at the museum can induce a sort of ‘snow blindness’ as you walk from hall to hall, and I try to dispel this by concentrating less on individual bikes than putting the exhibits into context of their times – motorcycles offer a surprisingly good reflection of 20th century history – and the place they occupy in the timeline of motor cycle design. Thanks to everyone who came along – some even had a few technical queries, so this month is a bit of a ‘Fixes on Tour’ special!
However, it was far from all good news this month. I was saddened and shocked to hear that my former employer and friend, Paul Smart, was killed when his Ducati was in a collision with a car. (see our tribute to his life and times on page 50). I worked for Paul for over ten years, from when I was 19 years of age. More recently, we caught up at various shows where he was often representing Ducati. Paul was a great guy and I feel very sorry that we both had bad accidents this year, but only one of us survived. God speed, Paul and best wishes to Maggie, Scott and Paula.
‘THE HUGE RANGE OF EXHIBITS AT THE MUSEUM CAN INDUCE A SORT OF ‘SNOW BLINDNESS’