What do you miss from long ago?

[taximan]

This is aimed at riders of a certain age. When I was out this morning struggling with the wind and the hilly terrain with which we are blessed with in our part of Yorkshire, a couple of young whippersnappers of about 60 or so flew past me as if I was standing still, (which I almost was) and I wished that I still had the energy that I had been blessed with when I started cycling back in the sixties. this set me thinking what else I missed from those early days. I think top of my list was getting home after a long cold ride and having a hot bath while my Mam got a meal ready for me (bless her). Then perhaps it was the fact that the roads were a lot quieter, especially at the weekends, Another thing was finding my way around the country with the help of my Bartholomew's 1/2 inch maps, which I still have although my eyesight is no longer up to reading them now. What do you miss?

 

[gavroche]

Spending week ends and summer holidays at my Grandma's farm when I was only 10.

 

[Drago]

On The Buses.

 

[monkers]

I'm 63 .... 'young whippersnapper' ... I'll take that.

From childhood ... I miss Spangles. Acid drops and the like from Woolworths. I sure don't miss secondary school, but then I bunked off for about half of my secondary education and went out on my bike each day instead.

Cycling-related ... I miss my beautiful blue and chrome Bob Jackson from near 50 years ago.

 

[Sharky]

I think I used the Barts 1/4 inch maps.

I miss some of the long rides I used to do before I was 20. Born on Merseyside and started my cycling there and did many a ride north to Kendal, East to Buxton and South into North Wales, particularly Llangollen. But it all came to an end when my family relocated to Kent and I joined them in 1969. Never stopped cycling, but I miss those long rides I did with my first club and solo.

 

[Slick]

A 32 inch waist.

 

[Baldy]

Hair.

 

[freiston]

I still have my Barts 1985 Midlands edition but tbh, I don't really miss it - in the modern world I can research my routes and make plans a lot more easily; I can use Osmand on my phone to help me out on the road too and my phone is a lot better than me at finding where I am on the map. I still use OS sheet maps on occasion. The roads have changed quite a bit since then - there are a lot of A roads that I used to cycle on that I wouldn't dream of cycling on now, not because of the volume of traffic per se but because those roads seem to have been "upgraded" to motorways without the official status (I think this bears out with accounts of cyclists being stopped by police on major A roads that the cyclist is legally allowed to cycle on and also I have heard people wrongly stating that cycles aren't allowed on certain A roads). I went out on the bike today and it was like lockdown is over - loads of motor vehicles (mainly cars) on all the types of road I went on.

 

[gbb]

Speed.
I always commuted regularly, then at around 40 I started getting seriously interested in cycling and I'd commute daily, just a couple miles but I'd hit it as hard as I humanly could, sprint sprint sprint. Add the more distance rides, add inclines I would attack, sweat sweat sweat.
Age and health have seen it gone now.

 

[Drago]

Diana Dors.

 

[sleuthey]

What do you miss?

Good health.

 

[Drago]

Flintlock pistols.

 

[sleuthey]

...... oh, and my hair.

 

[matiz]

Rod brakes.

 

[Drago]

Public executions.

And kids doing outrageous things on implausibly badly maintained bikes with no safety gear.