FROM THE FRONT
I am well aware that other views are available, but speaking entirely personally I have missed being able to get to events. It came as a mild surprise, not least because if asked – as happened a lot – whether I actually still enjoy going to old bike shows, jumbles, ride-ins and the like I would tend to temper my enthusiasm by reminding inquisitors that manning a magazine stand is actually work. This never came as a surprise to those stalwart type who man club stands, but to lots of others it always did.
‘But you get in for free!’ was always a common response, and is certainly true. ‘But you get paid to be here, because it’s work!’ usually came next, and is sadly untrue. Manning a stand is voluntary; we do it so we can say hello to as many folk as possible – and of course to actually encourage those same folk to take out a subscription so we can keep the magazine running. Which makes it all sound a little bit negative – a bit grim, if you like. Which it’s not. Not usually.
However, after more than a year with no old bike events at all – the first for as far back as I can remember – I had almost forgotten about them, out of sight and mind as they were, until Rowena remarked that we’d be having an events page in this issue, and wouldn’t that be good? I nodded and agreed … and then fell into a sort of daydream, with my head filling up with memorable highlights of events past. So much so that I invaded my photo files and jogged my memory even more. Which was oddly nostalgic and quite fun at the same time. All those bargain bikes I somehow resisted; all those awesome club stands, complete with examples of machines even from major marques of which I was almost unaware.
And of course, reminders of the folk, the conversations, the laughter, the exaggerations. The derision and shared amusement at some of the gentle craziness of it all. Like the bemused discussions at a Stafford show when a reader rolled up at the stand… literally rolled up, rolling along a complete front end for a BSA / Triumph of some kind.
‘How’m I going to get this home?’ he wondered, revealing that he’d ridden down to the show aboard his motorcycle. Which immediately reminded me of the time I bought an AJS at a Kempton Park jumble, with absolutely no idea how I could get it back to Cornwall – our little silver van didn’t have the space for a complete bike. A very generous reader immediately offered to take it away in their van and then drop it off in Bude, so long as I didn’t mind waiting a week or two.
Which produced another similar memory, of a time when I bought another AJS (is there a theme here?) at an auction at a Shepton Mallet show, again with no idea of how it could make it back to our then home in Shropshire, especially as it was a non-runner. And once again, an RC reader stepped into the breach. He’d taken a trailer because he was intent upon buying a bike from that very auction (not my AJS!) but had been monstrously outbid.
So! Welcome to an issue with an events page of diary dates. As I type this, it is impossible to predict how many of the events will actually take place, but I for one am dead keen on getting out there once again to sort through piles of rusting, oily junk in search of hidden treasure, of swapping crazy tales while swilling suspect ‘coffee’ and the like. I’ve even booked an assortment of Travelodges so that I can man an RC stand at Stafford in July. And hopefully, I’ll be able to swap yarns and share smiles with you, too.
Ride safely,