Page 7 - PBCOctober2020

Pickwick Bicycle Club Magazine Volume 17 No.2 October 2020 7

“This is the most exciting thing that’s happened to us in lockdown,” one of the young
women told us, as she unlocked her bicycle from railings so we could place some very much
older ones in its place, including Mr. Pickwick's 1870-vintage Boneshaker and several
newfangled Penny Farthings.

These period bicycles were not for
decoration; they were pressed into
action for a ten-miles-out, ten-miles-
back ride that was reminiscent of a
typical outing for our original members
astride their 60lb. speed machines.
(7mph would have been a good lick for
such iron-tyred beasts on the
macadamised roads of the day —
gravel riding is nothing new.)

Mr Pickwick on his 1870’s Boneshaker

New member Phil Saunders was the instigator of the meet-up. Our gallant organiser
couldn’t be with us for the rendezvous at the club’s first headquarters, but he gamely
caught up as we followed his suggested scenic amble along the towpath beside the Lee
navigation. Members on Penny Farthings had to dismount for low bridges and I had a short
wobble on the 1870 Boneshaker, causing me to admire both the dexterity of our original
members and the bike handling prowess of our very own Mr Pickwick.

Refreshed and refuelled at the Narrow Boat Café at Rammey Marsh Lock, the riders
headed back, thanking some lucky stars that we had been able to gather, albeit in
artificially small numbers, on such an important landmark in our club’s history.
Phil has proposed that the club ought to make this one-off event into an annual Founder’s
Ride, to be staged on the third Sunday each June, with the 20-mile route to change each
year but always on lanes once ridden, slowly but surely, by our original members.

A splendid idea!

Mr Grundy -Carlton Reid