TA EAST E-NEWS – 11^TH SEPTEMBER 2013 
To TA East members and friends
From Ferg Muir
Please come along to the TA EAST AGM which is this Sunday – 15th SEPTEMBER, at Morley Village Hall, starting at approximately 12:00 noon – that is after the finish of the CC Breckland 50 (there was only one trike entry, so no separate trike event this year)

Morley Village Hall is on Golf Links Road, Morley, Wymondham NR18 9SU- Grid ref: TM074977
I will provide more detailed instructions of how to find the hall below.

Several of our usual attenders will be at the Stan Spelling Weekend – so we need every head to help make a quorum.

Three weeks on from that, on Sunday October 6th is the last time trial of our 2013 season
TA EAST 25 on E1/25b, (near Bishops Stortford and the Lea Valley CC Clubhut) Entries £8.50, Event Sec Mike Keen 13 Benn St, London E9 5SU 0207 253 2370
Accommodation available at Hut.( Bring your own breakfast – or go for the bacon sarnies at the Event HQ).

The Captain will be away that Sunday, so any clubrun will be informal, unless anyone volunteers to organise it.

A Brief Ride on an Edwardian Tricycle

In the “Tricycles on the Trudge” article in the April 30th TA East E-NEWS I mentioned our Chairman’s Edwardian Swift tricycle, the one that came from the bottom of a river like a Rhinemaiden.
Well, I got to ride it recently, though only briefly. Martin was going on a League of Ordinary Gentlemen ride for mainly pre-1914 machines in Suffolk, and offered me a lift. Having got permission to attend on my merely 50 year-old Higgins, I tagged along, saying to Martin that I hoped he would let me have a little go on the Swift.

Lunch was at the museum in the control tower of the former Parham aerodrome and as we started to cross the airfield, Martin said I could ride it to lunch – presumably figuring that not much could go wrong on the flat.

So I handed over my Higgins without a thought and climbed up onto the Swift – I’m getting a bit better at ladders since volunteering on Gipping Navigation building sites – and we set off.

However the first squawk came from Martin. “Ow…I’ve got to re-learn riding one-wheel-drive” he cried out.
I thought – Is it quite so strange?, while finding the Swift with its Abingdon differential seemed to rather waddle along with the drive going first to one side and then to the other. This was a surprise to me – I was aware people new to double freewheel drive sometimes mention this, but I imagined a diff would even things out smoothly.
I suppose everyone gets used to what they have.

Anyway we got rolling along OK.
Now, I must admit I was concentrating on appreciating the Swift’s stately Edwardian features, its upright position, huge saddle with tension springs extending far below and so on. Perhaps I should have been thinking more about practical points, like…it’s a long time since I have ridden fixed.

It suddenly became apparent that the way to the museum involved joining an old runway round a turn much tighter than a right angle.

Now, being a cautious sort of chap, I would usually have my fingers on at least one brake lever in a tight situation. However the only brake lever was hanging languidly about eight inches below the handlebar – which I was gripping tightly – and I wasn’t sure to what extent back pedalling was OK with a 100 year old transmission. Anyway, for all I knew someone could be right behind me riding an Old Ordinary, worth thousands and with little stopping power.

“I’m NOT going round the corner” I shouted, very loud, and put my left hand out.

Fortunately there was no clatter, or swearing behind. Regaining my calm, I turned the Swift round – with the diff you can do this either way, and proceeded gently and uneventfully to lunch.

Thanks to Martin for letting me ride the Swift – and hope he will let me have another go soon.

Time Trials on Trunk Roads

Norfolk Police (and I believe the same applies in Suffolk and elsewhere) have started sending out letters to event secretaries as described in this excerpt from a note to entrants from a club chairman recently:

We have received a strongly worded letter from Norfolk Police stating that they do not support the running of TT events on Norfolk trunk roads and that for safety reasons Norfolk Police objects to the holding of this event. We have also received a similar letter from the Highways Agency stating that they do not recommend holding time trials on trunk roads on the grounds of safety and risk. 

As I understand it, CTT have discussed matters with their legal advisor and the view is that clubs and associations should continue as before, though taking particular care to observe the law and CTT Regs.

An Astonishing Memory – from the Mersey 24

And it’s not just Jane and Arabella’s 349miles on tandem trike……

I was ordering an all-day breakfast at the Raven Transport Cafe, the hub and night HQ of the Mersey Roads 24 hour I found Lyn, the proprietor saying “It’s no tomatoes, isn’t it?”

She was right, I’m not keen on tomatoes with a breakfast, and sometimes remember to say so.

But the last time I had been in the Raven was for the same event a whole year earlier.

It strikes me as just awe-inspiring that anyone could remember at all in such a huge and busy cafe, let alone for a once-a-year visitor.

The Raven Cafe is described as being at Prees Heath, the junction of the A41 and the A49, just south of Whitchurch or, on a larger view, about half-way from Shrewsbury to Chester.

It is part of a collection of transport cafes, pub, (formerly pubs), and petrol stations whose character has something in common with Red Lodge, Suffolk, before the A11 bypass was built.

Finally – further words on how to find the East AGM Venue:
Morley Village Hall. 
Location:
From Thetford on A11, follow A11 around Attleborough by-pass and take first left after the Shell service station. At roundabout soon after leaving dual carriageway take first exit (London Road) and then first right into Golf Links Road. Village Hall is the first building along Golf Links Road.

From Norwich on A11, take slip road signposted to Spooner Row, turn right at junction to roundabout; take second exit (Right) on bridge over A11 and first exit at the next roundabout. At t junction turn left onto B1172 and proceed to next roundabout; turn right along London Road and the first right as from Thetford above.

I hope to see many of you there
Ferg Muir 01603 615000 fergusmuir@btinternet.com