|
I found that one of the worst seats to try riding were the ones that were for
racing bikes a thin strip of leather not more than two inches wide and not much more at the back for your backside to fit on. Ooh the pain now putting it politely as possible they would be called Nut Crunches if you
miss judged how you sat on them. At this point john admitted that in his teens he to rode on one of these type of seats but now as we have aged a bit since then would like to find one that was built for
comfort not style.
The angle of my seat was set to not only give a comfortable riding position but to allow me to dismount quickly.
Getting off the bike was performed by placing my hand on the seats highest point and pressing down which which lifted me up and propelled me backwards. To mount the bike I stood behind with legs apart and pulled myself into position and was able to peddle away as soon as I came to rest on the seat at least this way your voice did not go up a few octaves if you sat wrong on the seat Here Johns comments were along the lines of it makes your eyes water just thinking about it.
One of the first time I used this way of
dismounting was when visiting my friend in Alkborough. We had set up a tape recorder to record things like cars passing ,children playing in the street but we wanted something different and one of us came up with the idea of something running into the house wall. Been up for a laugh I said that as long as we got it on tape I would ride my bike into it. With every thing set up I road down the road and at the last moment left the bike as it was to hit the wall. With no damage to my bike and the sounds on tape all that was left was to clean the rubber mark off.
Back in Winteringham after the fire at the Railway Dock the bank behind it started to eroded away and when the tide came in it filled the gap with water. When the tide was up one of the tricks or stunts I did
was to peddle as fast as possible from Waterside Rd down the old track bed towards these waterfilled gaps as the bike reached the edge I pressed down on the front of the seat propelled myself backwards away
from it and the gap. I was stood on the bank nice and dry and the bike required fishing out of the waterfilled gap this was done many times until one day as we stood on the bank after retrieving the bike a lad much
younger than me came down the track bed peddling for all he was worth and as he wobbled his way past us he went over the edge with a large splash. I and who I was with at the time dropped our bikes and pulled him
and his bike out. Crying the lad went off pushing his bike back up into the village,only to return with his mum who demanded to know how her lad had ended up like he had. I don't know the lads name so only if he
reads this his pride will be dented . Telling how the lad had come down and over the edge, I showed his mum what I did and then the lad got another telling off, not only for trying the stunt but for
getting wet. We could hear his mum telling him off all the way up to Waterside Rd.
John asked if I remembered the five wooden beams that crossed the haven on the Humber side of the bridge and went on to say that
he recalled seeing some lads riding their bikes over them and asked if I was one of them? I know that I was mad then and still are in someway but I don't recall riding a bike over them but who's to say I did not try
to as its just one of the daft things I would have a go at. I do remember walking over them with the tide in and out, There also was a miniscule ledge sticking out from the stone work on the same side that was just
wide enough to stand on using your toes this was crossed by stretching your arms as far over the top of the bridge as you could for support and then walked along it on reaching the other side my legs felt as if made
of rubber, The metal railings that were on the village side of the bridge were also walked over this would be about two inches wide and then onto the concrete fence that wobbled as you crossed it. The only problem
doing these antics was Tony Buttons mum when she saw what we were up to or heard us she made her presence know and moved us on her house been only a few yards past the bridge.
From Johns remarks if we had all been in a bunch together he would have been at the end of the line to try it out.
With a slight change of height not my self but one of the other lads, I`m not sure if it
was one of the Proctors or Norman Favil but after climbing down into the drain he walked along the bottom of the haven in the stream past Barley's Dock down towards the Railway Dock before getting out saying that
where he had walked was a solid bottom. What Happy Days!
I would like to end this item with a warning yes we had fun doing these things but with about fifty years of hind sight would not recommend what
we did then be tried now we may have not seen any danger in it BUT it WAS and is STILL there.
|
