Oh Dad !

[RR-M]

Hi Everyone Ruby here,
My dad has joined the club, bought a club jersey and shaved his legs ! He is very proud of the Ridley TB he built and had his first ride at Tempe on Wednesday. The last time he rode a velodrome, Malcolm Fraser was PM. Not the best of debuts for his new club, I'll let him explain.........

Wed Sept11 2013
12 years ago today, sadly, buildings fell in the greatest city in the world. A dozen years on and I fell. Dumb. I knew the front tyre was suspect yet I soldiered on with sadly misplaced trust and optimism. There were nerves, some apprehension and a great deal of concentration. I mounted by the fence, track clear, roll out.... Movement strangely familiar, a teenage memory flared in a much older head. Balance, speed gathering, banking approaches, in the blue now ease up to the black line. It slid away, slowly but definitively and the track came up to kiss my shoulder and slap my helmet. All stop.
Down, tangled, embarrassment flooding my cheeks, a moment of clarity as to why. I knew why it happened. I had ignored my inner knowing man, "this tyre is shiny and very very smooth"..... my first impression now in tatters.
What now ? Get back on of course. Swap out the front wheel with the flawed tyre for one clad with a tyre of integrity. To the bikeshed, find another front, make the change. Believe.... Remount, roll out... better.... like it should be, it sticks, it steers... lap completed, confidence dented but lesson learnt. Never ever ever compromise on tyres.
AlanM

[utopia]

Wonderful news Ruby!
And, go go go Alan!