The Veteran's Song - by John Leeson - Potterers Cycling Club

The Potterers Cycling Club

Pottering in Kent for 50 years !

The Potterers Cycling Club

Pottering in Kent since 1971

Words > Poetry

The Veteran's Song - by John Leeson,

An extract of a poem of much greater length, which begins:-

"The time has come, the veteran said, to talk of many things:

Of thirty-four tooth sprockets and twenty-six tooth rings:

Of bicycles and bikers, of barns and bridleways,

Of back roads and of bridges we knew in yesterdays:

Of handlebars once popular, in shapes no longer seen:

Binda and Capo Berta, Ventoux and Azureen:

Of curly stays by Hetchins and curly forks by Bates;

Of chromed and convoluted lugs and sleek bilaminates;

Of Taylor's touring tandems and Higgins' racing trikes,

Of sidecars and Rann trailers on vintage family bikes:

Of youthful window-gazing at rows of gorgeous frames -

Arrays of chrome and colour crafted by famous names;

Of frames by Russ and Rotrax, Claud Butler, Ellis-Briggs,

Frames brazed with fancy lug-work or welded in bronze on jigs:

Track frames with angles seventy-five, road frame at seventy-two,

Road-track frames double lives, and short-based specials too.

Frames with orange, heavenly blue, or purple flame with j'sade:

Diamond-panelled, barber's poled, chequered and blended fade:

Heraldic badges, stylish script, chevroned Olympic bands,

And lugs picked out by sable brush by dedicated hands;

And canopied by pendant frames, pictures from magazines

Of continental heroes in sun-drenched racing scenes;

Of Coppi's blue Bianchi with Campagnolo gears,

Of proud Bartali's triumphs and Rene Vietto's tears;

Of battles on the pave and tactics by the team,

Of frantic tyre changes and sprinting for the prime....."

usque ad mortem bibendum