John is somebody we met today whilst out cycling. We were just parking the bikes outside a cafe at Glasson Docks when John stopped to admire the bikes and engage us in cycling related conversation. It turned out that he was no mean cyclist. He owned a geared road bike, a fixed which he has been using almost exclusively throught the past winter and a Dahon folder of the racey variety. He regaled us with tales of time trials and road races, his trip to Connemara last month, and his many accidents, including going under a car after crashing on a descent. We exchanged points of view on various bike designs and the mysteries of fixed and why it is so appealing and we played guess how much we paid for this second hand Longstaff with him. All in all it was a very pleasant exchange, even if he was a little insensitive to our needs to go and get a cup of tea. He was a thoroughly nice chap. Who happened to be recovering from bowel cancer, 73 years of age and also had to look after his dad who is 97. Well I was impressed.
His parting shot: I'm doing a ten mile time trial on Tuesday, I'm hoping to get inside 30 minutes.
Go John, go.
