A Tribute

Michael Wilkinson (The girlfriend's grandad) in action!

The date of this week was much anticipated; a break from training, a break from revision and the dates for a french road trip. Although camouflaged as a holiday the primary aim was to pick up a shiny carbon beauty that belonged to my girlfriend's grandad. Unfortunately for him, he didn't gel with his new steed meaning that reportedly he would rather reach for his trusty hand built racing cycle rather than his new purchase. This meant he was only able to log a few miles on his new bike before he suddenly and sadly passed.

Michael and Marie (The 'Grandma')

As a result his bike has been hanging in his garage at his house in France, only glimpsing the sun drenched hills of the dordogne through the garage door. A sad situation.

Last year however, on our visit to 'The Grandma' and the Tour de France, I was pre-informed of this situation and in hot anticipation packed up my Lycra, peddles and helmet with the aim of releasing this steed from its gloomy resting place.

After the mandatory tour of the spectacular 'maison' and an interesting fish supper, the garage doors were flung open and the bicycle lifted from its hanging place and into the sunlight. What a beauty!

But like any beautiful woman, she needed some preparation for her outing. A thorough wash, a bit of oil, tyres inflated and a little tightening and adjusting and she was ready.

And boy did she fly!

With performance matching her looks, she destroyed the local hills; sweeping down the descents and eating up the inclines with her rider clinging on in pure glee. In fact the only inhibiting factor was the rider!

A few days of hitting the miles in glorious sunshine around the beautiful scenery soon came to an end and the bike was carefully wrapped up and sadly returned to its perch in the garage, to await its next release into the wild.

With the return of the bike to its resting place, a longing to again fly along on its saddle grew in the rider. A longing that grew deeper with every month, until one day in November when 'The Girlfriend' turned to me and announced 'my Grandma liked that you enjoyed the bike and liked the fact it was being enjoyed, she would like you to use it more.'

And it is from the deck of the dieppe to newhaven ferry that this post is penned, with the steed carefully packaged and transported. It sits ready to be unleashed on the shores of England and ready for its journey from London to Paris.

A clue... its not the girlfriend in the bag.