Cycling club huts

There are not many of the things left it is fair to say. The famous De Laune cycling club had one at one time but sold the land for about 10 trillion groats and are now the richest cycling club in the UK.

The Ayr Roads Cycling club still has theirs thanks to the good work of the members and especially Vic Posse to keep the thing in goodish order.

The Great Man- VIC POSSE - looks out of the club hut onto the rabble.

Yes, Mr Posse had his 75th there- and great fun it was too even though we did not get to play pass-the-parcel while we were there. It rained though, not long after this shot was taken.

I have friends

Not many friends. Just a few here and there. People who still talk to me in the main.
This is the back of Vic [and Eve]. We took a stroll from Vic's gaff in Ayrshire. Proper lanes and everything.

Oh, there he is again. Walking and all that. Must have got a snap of his mush somewhere!  Look here if you must!

Vic

 

Sad to say our great pal Victor Posse died yesterday.

Think this picture sums Vic up - always up for a challenge here riding a tandem criterium race with Evelyn some years back. 

A fine fellow, he will be missed by everyone not least his wife Gwyneth and the rest of his family.

Rest in Peace Sir

I'm doing something

Not sure really why I am doing this but have just been grovelling round in the loft for a bike. I found it too.

Eve has entered the Eroica Britannia cycle event in England next year. One has to ride a bike from 1987 or earlier. Eve will ride Vic's Dutch Eroba which is also in the loft. It's a classic 1960s machine - 531 tubing, Campag chainset and gear and Mafac brakes. Even got some Michelin Hi-lite tyres [from the 1990s]  to finish it off.

I'm going to be going too - and if we can squeeze it in the tiny car we have I shall take the Argos that has been in the loft. This was it last time I used it. Isn't it lovely eh? All light tubing [Ishiwata] , fag paper clearances, 28 spoke wheel and 5 or 6 speed. I know, I know, it has a double clanger on here but not now - going back to it's original guise when it propelled Graham Wilman to time trial brilliance. Not sure if it will go down with us and if it does, not sure if I will be up to riding it but hey!

A once fast table

I used to work at the National Cycling Centre in Manchester before I was 'saved' and got a life. The old track surface, down since the Velodrome opened in 1994, was being replaced just as I was leaving so, as a parting gift, a wonderful carpenter called Alan Whitworth - who also works on the track, made me a fantastic table from the old surface. Here it is complete with scratches, track-lines and probably a bit of Craig Mcleans skin, now located in the summer parlour of our little abode in the Isle of Lewis. This huge table - at which I sit now typing this - finally got here due to the good auspices of Vic Posse who was up visiting recently to bring up his two dogs for a hol. Nice init?

still love this

 

I mean tandems and everything - what's not to like.

We owned one for a few years - hung the Christmas lights on it as it had to grace the lounge in our tiny Lancs home. And tandems were a large part of my working life at Manchester Velodrome. Somewhere I have a snap of eight tandems in my works office - such as it was. They were ready for one of the Tandem omniums I ran.  Oh, and lets not forget The [two] Fuji tandems we managed to get made for Ellen and Aileen for the Athens paralympics where they won gold. [and again in Beijing].

Then Eve raced a few times on tandems with Paul Hunter and also Vic Possee, the latter in a tandem criterium I organised. She almost raced on tandem with Michael Hutchinson but the weather made the course unrideable which was a pity.

See here for more tandem posts.

Then up here in the windy cool north west Eve rode a 100 hilly and wet mile cyclosportive with Mr WInndy from which I'm not sure Mr WIndy has ever recovered from.

That's why I am attracted to images of tandems. Does that make sense>

Ongoing

 

Another snap from the recent Perkeo roll of Foma100 shot in a day or something. Love this little camera even if it's a bit battered these days. 

Eve and I were strolling along the harbourside in the sunshine and we noticed that the repaired wall was nearly finished. it's been going on for years and now other bits are collapsing. Did you notice I said the sun was shining! It had been for days although the rain is now back,

We did our cleaning stint at the bowls clubhouse today and treating ourselves to brunch out. Mending the infirm campag rear derailleur on the Late Vic' Posse's  Euroba bike today as well. The lower spring was not functioning and I thought the cage tension spring had broken. I spent ages sourcing and buying a new spring then found today that the thing was gummed up despite outward clean appearances. A little bit of tinkering and cleaning and now the thing works fine.

A year or two ago

 

 A couple of scans of slides belonging to The Pirate [aka Vic Possee ] seen here in a continental race a year or three back - when he was in the Forces. He's in the grey jersey and on the Euroba that currently resides in our loft for some reason. 

Vicotor appears on his wife's excellent blog ook.

Visitors

We don't get many visitors. Maybe it's because we have a very small house. Or there's too many snaps hanging around the place or something. But when visitors do turn up it is rather lovely.

We had a visitation from Villager of the the year 2013 - or it might have been Villager of the week, Anyway, Mrs Up Yours called in for a chin wag which was grand. Dot came and met GZ and Vic who are up from Ayrshire for  a week or so. How's that then ? Eh?

No, this is not GZ and Victor rather it's Gemma, William and Ben who also came on a very welcome visitation to the gaff the other day - all the way from Cromor. I notice here that Ben seems more than a little concerned about Gemma's marine-broomstick. Well, it worked!

See, we were down here towards the beach. Sand down there, a fantastic landscape that never ceases to amaze me up here!

Then we met the nice Mr Four Tractors just checking we are not pinching the village's beach or, flying round on a broomstick. Gemma wasn't, it was a marine broomstick after all.

Thanks everso for looking here in 2014. I shall be back in 2014 with some more masterpieces and lots of snaps. Plus some accompanying drivel.

I wish you all the very best for the year ahead.

Around the place

 Alison

Alison is now in France. No idea where but we think she is enjoying herself before flitting off to NZ for Christmas where Vic and Gwyneth already are. Cyclists get about a bit. She was here a few weeks back on a whistle stop visit from t'mainland. She used to be Mr Brailsford's PA at the Manchester Velodrome [where I was coach taking opportunities to take snaps of people like Graeme Obree ] till a few weeks back - then she was saved :-)

The sea is still here looking cold and steely. The clouds are here too but we have no snow. It's on the mainland mountains; I can see from here some 40 miles away.

Textures on the snaps come from the commercially developed film! I rather like it; you know, some people add this to their pics to give them more authenticity!

Last of the colour for a while! Yep, it's Rodel harbour.

A Rural Guerilla rests

Rocky, the Rural Guerilla from Ayrshire is no more. Rocky passed away peacefully at his home after a long life terrorising the locality in his younger days and warming hearts of others as he got older. Born 16 human years ago, this little Patterdale terrier was a working dog with a turn of speed and sharp teeth. Banned from his home, the local pub for acts of minor terrorism, Rocky was adopted by Vic Possee who brought him to his home to accompany Frank, the soft and warm hearted black Labrador who was to be his faithful companion for the rest of his life.
Rocky took a holiday last Christmas time for 4 months on the Isle of Lewis and enjoyed his regular strolls along the beaches of North Tolsta. Once the sand was between his toes he would get really excited and bound along throwing his paws forward - until the exertion got the better of him, usually after 20 yards - on account of his dodgy heart.
He leaves Frank, his long-time partner-in-crime and his step-dad Victor.
Will be much missed by all who met him.
No flowers please

Flambe' fun !

Eve taking in the Christmas airon The Big Beach on Lewis. Me using Perkeo WITH FLASH!!! Forte 200/Fotospeed FD10
Vic managed to flambe' the back of head after first marinating himself in The Golden Liquid. Luckily, he was unhurt!

not the best but lovely

 

Not the worlds best shot but a lovely snap of Eve racing a criterium with our great friend Vic Posse who is a tad unwell at the moment. We wish him all the very best for his recovery.

Back in the the day the racing club we ran promoted quite a few tandem races both on the track and on road circuits like here. Great fun but I did rather have my fingers crossed at time - tandem crashes are not fun. Having said that we never had one during all the promotions thank goodness.

Allo Allo, do you ride tandem?

I have a lovely friend. Several of them in fact, not all who we see on a regular basis more's the pity. Why they don't move up here to the island is beyond me!

We did catch up with some of these dear friends while on the mainland recently. Angela, a bike racer from our old cycling club was there and keen to get back on a tandem. Angela raced a few times on the track and road on tandem - including an International in Ireland. How good is that? Very since you ask.

Brendon was there too. His daughter is riding the Commonwealth Games on the track this week and he is a fine chap and cyclist as well. So it didn't take long for Angela to persuade him to get on a bike made for two. The tandem was an ancient but lovely Hobbs of Barbican.

Can you actually ride a tandem Brendon?

Ooh, Lovely

Brendon and Birthday boy Vic fettle the tandem

Playing with vandyke

 This could almost be Van Dyke and family, only it's not. It's a VanDyke print of a neg of Vic's, a cycling pal from doon soof [ish]. The neg looked like it might print nicely in this form so, since the sun is out from time to time, I went ahead on cheap watercolour paper. The emulsion I had already made up some time ago so it had matured well. Since the neg above was 6x9 cms it only required a small piece of paper.

This one is 6x6 cms and taken in the Perkeo camera. It's here in the village don't you know.Both were slightly bleached back and then dunked in sepia - it seems to increase the contrast. How does that happen?

I like them anyway.

awake

 

Recently had a visit from an old friend from the mainland. Mrs OOK came and we revisited places Gwyneth and her late husband Vic  had previously been. Here's Gwyneth going up to the sculpture on Bhaltos peninsula the other day. Twas lovely.

Now she's gone home the weather has closed in - wind and rain. 

Walking to the Iron Age

See, Vic and Gwynneth enjoying the mild weather to walk back into the past. Down the path to the beach and then to gape into the abyss which is the entrance to the Iron Age house.

Down there and everything.

Pirating

Pirate Vic and Eve racing the tandem

Yes, I had a modicum of doubt last night after returning from work. My esteemed colleague Jonathan set me wondering if I had given young  Connor some wrong information. You see, when young Connor grows up, he tells me he want's to be a Pirate. Fair enough you might say. Fair enough although certain personages who reside in war-torn Somalia have rather given the profession a bad name. I suggested young Conor check out the exploits of of Capt'n Pugwash who, I seemed to remember was a good Pirate.

Now, I have the utmost faith in Jonathan's judgement. He's a fine workmate who keeps me on track as we trail around the island late at night. So, when he suggested that Capt'n Pugwash wasn't a Pirate it set me a wondering. This morning, I set about a little research and if you follow the link above and below you can see he was a Pirate - just not a very good one. Or perhaps a 'good' one in that he did little Pirating. Unlike Cut Throat Jake who was a real bad-un. I mean, check this out!

Pirate's on tandems

I shall return to life and snaps in the near future. In the meantime go and have a look at the first post from the Oiseval Gallery in Brue in the island here where you can see some fine snaps - including my own [blush ].

Have I told you?

We, that's Eve and I plus others attended the marriage of Gwynneth and Vic the other weekend. Oh what a lovely affair it was. Sunshine, friends we have not seen for a few years and bicycles. What's not to like? The above snap was not there. It was before.

On the other hand, below was there and is the happy couple. I know it doesn't actually loook like it but this was the moment when something happened - other than me snapping them up with my £1 Kodak Cresta camera. One has to have the best you know.

Look here, proof if proof was required that we were there basking the glow of all the lovely peeps there - even if all the pixels had been sucked out the air for a few moments.

All for £1

Snaps at The Wedding in Ayr with my £1 Kodak Cresta camera and HP5 film. Nothing but the best for this wedding.

 A few of the guests. Many years of cycling experience between them I can tell you.

 The Boy Vic - who was married up, with Kommonweath Games Kate.

 Eve and Tanwen

Beryl, Annie, Paul and Eve.

Ooof.