Our
Best Pursuit Race By Bill Paul
Our son called round to see us and as he walked
in he handed me a letter he had received from an ex-neighbour of his when he
lived in Kingsthorne, Hereford. This neighbour belonged to a Hereford cycling
club and he knew of the Addiscombe C.C. and also about Ernie and myself.
Recently he had been staying in Lincoln and while he was there he paid a visit
to the National Cycling Museum and one exhibit he noticed was the tandem Ernie
and myself used to ride and a photo of us riding on the road. He took a photo
of the two exhibits and sent it to our son together with the letter and when
it was passed on to me it made me think of the first ride we had on that
tandem and I thought that it would make an interesting article for the Club
magazine.
It was the Wednesday before Good Friday
1937 when I called in to see Charley Davey in his shop in Lower Addiscombe
Road. When I walked in, I noticed on the counter a set of tandem tubes, hubs
and brackets. While I was examining them Charley walked in from the back of
the shop and said "Do you like them? They are for the new tandem I am
having built for you. It's a double diamond frame and should be much more
lively for you than the one you are riding now and I hope to get it built for
you as soon as I can"
On the Good Friday we were riding in a Tandem
Pursuit race at Herne Hill track, matched against L. Inns and W. Thompson from
Yorkshire who had beaten the Lands End to John - O'Groats tandem record at the
end of the 1936 season, C. Melhuish and H. Chapman of the Norwood Paragon CC
and G. Birtchnell and C. Taylor of the Dale Park CC., both pairs former
holders of the British National 1 hour record. At that time I was living at
County Oak, Crawley and I had arranged with Ernie to meet him at his home and
have lunch before going up to the track for the meeting. But while I was
eating my breakfast, I had a phone call from Ernie asking me if I would meet
him at Charley Davey's shop an hour earlier than arranged, as Charley had been
able to get our new tandem frame built and was getting it assembled and we
would be able to ride it that afternoon. If I was early it would give us time
to adjust our positions if necessary and to have a ride on it before going to
the track.
When I arrived at Charley's shop Emie was
already there and Charley was just finishing assembling the new tandem and as
soon as he had finished we checked our positions and made a few adjustments
and then had a ride on it down the road and back and we were satisfied with
our new mount. We went round to Ernie's home where Mrs Mills was preparing
lunch for us and it was not long before there were only empty plates and
dishes left on the table and then a few minutes rest to let the meal settle
down and then we made out way to Herne Hill track. We arrived at the track
with plenty of time to spare before the meeting was due to start.
Charley was already there with the tandem
all ready for the task ahead so we quickly changed into our track gear and
managed to get in a few laps before the meeting. The starting positions for
the event were as follows: Station 1 - L. Inns and W. Thompson (Vegetarian
C.& A.C) Station 2 - G. Birtchnell & Taylor (Dale Park C.C.) Station 3
- E. Mills & W. Paul (Addiscombe C.C.) Station 4 - C. Melhuish and H.
Chapman (NPCC)
It was not long after the start that Inn and
Thompson were caught by Melhuish and Chapman, who then went on in hot pursuit
of Birtchnell and Taylor which they were doing with great success. While all
this was taking place we were fast gaining on Melhuish & Chapman but just
before we were about to catch them Ernie called out to me to go easy and let
them catch Birtchnell and Taylor which they were just about to do as they were
only a few yards away from them and soon as they did so, we went past both
pairs to win the event. The distance and time given was two miles in three
minutes fifty three seconds and I think that ride must be one of our best for
a pursuit race.
Bill Paul
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