Weird! Bought my first race bike in 1974 and raced that and a number of others until 2016. The bikes changed on a regular basis over those years, but one thing that didn't was where I bought them from, my local bike shop. Or not so local one when the first closed it's doors.
I was fourteen when I walked into that shop with my paper round money and started a life of cycling. And now just about to turn fifty nine I'm back in the shop, another shop, only on the other side of the counter.
I had three local bike shops to choose from back then. Don Farrel, he had a shop full of lovely bikes, glass cases full of exotic Campagnolo, the latest leather shoes and rows of colourful trade team tops. Then there was Shorter. A great builder and a lovely shop to just look at. Plus he was in favour with some of the big names of that decade...….the big boys shop. Finally there was Birds Of Colindale. Small, a bit messy but it had this fascinating workshop. The other shops didn't seem to have one of these mysterious little rooms, and though you couldn't pass the counter you could often glimpse a chrome spoke or a Super Record hub in this little room. But the big thing for us two scrawny kids was that this man, pockets in the hands of he's brown shop coat actually spoke to us. We felt abelonging ha ha.
Terry asked us what we wanted to do with them bikes, 'race' we said. 'Right then, you need to get the next model up'. 'Then You'll need to join a club'. 'And you'll need to see this man....Gino' I left my cash and saved for two more months. Then one Saturday morning two months later I walked into Birds to collect my Dawes, I handed over my notes and change and just stood there smiling, just gripping the top tube like the pros on the postcards.
'Like it? well I've got something else for you' Terry disappeared into the workshop and re emerged with a set of race wheels.....Fiamme rims on Campagnolo Tipo hubs with Wolber tubular tyres, the old training wheels of the then current Pro Nigel Dean. I was hooked, loyal and raced for the first time that spring.
I don't race and I hardly ride nowadays. My main link to the world of cycling now is working in the local bike shop. Dorvics who have been there trading in bikes for over eighty years.
And wow, how cycling has changed. How the people have changed.
But the one thing I love to try and do is make every new or beginner cyclist feel that feeling I got when I bought my first bike. And like Terry back then, pass all I know onto the folk that walk through the door. But it's a tough shout now, and a teeny weeny bit sad in my eyes. Of course the passion for cycling is still there, though you see it more in the middle age lady who really loves her retro town bike and uses it every day. Rather than the sports cyclist to whom bargains discounts and looks matter the most.
So it's a pleasure when you can engage with someone, and get them on the right bike in the right size and send them out into a life of happy cycling. I want them to feel how I felt back then, and how I felt for all those years after. I want them to simply wheel their bike out and ride and be content, not to say I'm out early to get it out of the way.
Just like Terry helped me forty five years ago.
I feel I've gone full circle now, and I'm seriously as happy as a pig in shit.
As it turned out, Terry in his little shop was a bit of a player. Apparently he was taught he's building skills by the likes of Claud Butler and the other big names in British post war frame building. And later went on to manage a shop rider in the UCI team Birds Of Colindale. Funny how the little shops always turn out to real gems
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