Slump

I didn’t really notice until the other day that I was floating along in a motivation slump.  Since completing the 600 qualifier I just haven’t felt much like riding, or even looking at our three project machines.

Still, we’ve managed a fair bit of talking and planning, and even some booking of flights and accommodation - but rides ?  Aside from the couple of days a week grind to work – constantly broken by the weather – and a fabulous off-road session at Tolosa St, followed by a lonely but satisfying jaunt to nearby New Norfolk a week later, not much has been going on.  Looking at the date of posts on this site – it’s obvious that my mind has been elsewhere…

Well, Saturday changed all of that around once again.  Thanks Lynne and Gav.

On Saturday morning the most amazing co-incidence re-fired my enthusiasm for our period machines.  A school friend of my wife’s mother called to visit while holidaying from QLD.  Lynne and ( Husband ) Kevin had been hearing a little about our exploits in the car on the way over and were keen to see inside the shed.  While Kevin asked very sharp questions ( for a non-biker ) about equipment, clothing and the riding, Lynne fished about in her handbag and produced a small bound family photo-album.  There amongst the early black and white images was a young man poised above Malvern Star track bars – Lynne’s father Bob Prosser, a 30’s track champion.  According to Lynne, the Prosser brothers loved their bikes and racing, venturing as far afield ( from Southern QLD ) as Melbourne to compete.  A couple of other snaps showed them preparing for a fishing trip, rods and bikes to hand – the bikes so obviously ingrained into every facet of life in an era before the rise of the automobile.

What a treat to see these treasured images ( I’ve been promised copies so will post them up soon ) and to hear little tales about a cycling family deeply affected by the sport.  Kevin and Lynne, such warm-hearted people left me buoyed with their well-wishes and enthusiasm for attempting to make something of our old machines on this adventure.

A couple of hours later and I was hanging about in Gav’s shed, watching him prepare a spare mount for the Kellevie 8hr the next day.  Needless to say I was reluctant to put myself through 8 hours of twisting muddy track and battering rocky climbs and descents and had neatly avoided any conversation around actually entering.  While Gav cheerfully wrenched away on his bar setup, I was poking about and eyeing off his expanding stable, including the first mock-up of a single speed to play about on.  Slender Steel road frame, deep curvaceous track bars, delectable polished Thompson stem and shiny Gippiemme aero wheels.  Though pieced together with relatively prosaic bits, the bike will look lovely once completed and - as Gav is our ebay guru – it will have cost very little, and he will have learned such a lot about what fits together. 

I love this kind of hot rod ethos.  It reminds me of earlier times and why I have always enjoyed bikes so much – besides the pleasure they can bring in actually riding them, they are accessible and can be pulled down into individual pieces and then carefully put back together with new or different bits, and then tested in the great out of doors.

( In case you are wondering, our man motorcycle managed 20-something out of 50 riders.  Not a bad effort considering that his Stumper has hardly turned a wheel this year and about half an hour was lost in fixing a mechanical ).