HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Goderich Signal-Star, 1951-12-06, Page 3Advice from.Famous Harley Da•dson
PP
O
roves Decisive In Close Victory
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(By Mex. McIvor,, 'Winnipeg)
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Continuing my iiic c1e articles= board, winning three races by a big.
In my last article I had ,Inst won, margin. Latex*,' in August,1I left
an . important road • race at 'Brant- Goderich to atteuipt to brook the
n a Go erielvbuilt. 100 -mile Canadian road ford, `•mounted o d d record
•
'bythe which then was la -round b 1/3;: hours.
McCready. Flyer loaned me I reached' Stratford (47 miles) in
factory. I presumed they would 2 hours And 5 minutes and seemed
show some appreciation of my sue- on aa;' fair way to .take quite a slice
giving cess in ivith their new 1898 models off the record: Three miles Mut of
a boost. Iowever; it olid not exact-
ly turn out that way. Instead, the
offer I rereived was so unbelievably
poor" I jtist .left the bike there -and
walked bout.. I luilgh yet when I.
think of it. This action of -the
company ' manager didn't • make
much of a hit in town and no doubt
when later successes came my way
he probably realized he had pulled
a boner.
Riding a 'Red Bird
Sothen took
advantage .of the -
.00ing
Canadian
championships s
in
Winnipeg, ._offer of President .,Gaold of the �'in, includin g the great Oar -
large Red Bird " factory at Brant- ley ,I e...vidsou, eyclistand-ice skater
ford. They were very pleased to of international :fame. Harley in-.
furnish me wit% fine;- of their up- •vited me to •help in his training by
to -date racers: On Jtt'ly -1 I went manning a tandem with one of the.
up to.: Wroxeter and swept the Brantford 'boys, so I was there affair; twenty miles, starting and,
Stratford, however, bearing trouble
dei eloped and" I wars (arced to quit. Sidence in myself than 1 .had lead in
1 could ride.the bike slowly, so I the Brantford race. , But of course
. o make for Brantford or this big R:Q.T; attracted ,all the
decided, . t a stars' of the road racingfarternity,
repairs. President Go.o�ld was inueh
pleased, with my; recent on their many professionally trained and
wheel so far and they advertised'
the 2.05 time Goderich to Stratford On the Winnipeg Track.
in the c1'elingcoached.
journals 'of the day. There were 180 entries from all.
Getting' into Big Company part$ of Canada and some frown •the
Quite tw►•large bunch of riders 'MS.'"'So with Jack Williams, who
were training in Brantford for the was also .entered but not• expecting
to do anthenm
sensational,
1 took
the train for ToFonto . Friday,
Septembelc: 9. The rate was for
Saturday the 10th, so we did not
have a•. look over the course: The
:race was of course a handicap
about. a Pwgek with • expenses paid,
Harley,. -gave ',enc many training
pointers and told we I was, over-
doing it by those long road rides,
I found his advice very profit ;Crle,
He told inc, to go home and rest
for a few days; then to ride moder-
ately fast for ten miles • and gradu-
i nee
apse ' n
d to
tact. d
al in es e
iY. u n I � �
es race day 'approtu he i, The big
20; mile road' race" was only
about ten days off. I"faithfully, fol-
lowed Harley's instructions and as
the big .day arrived I felt in tip-
top shape and "raring to go." By
this time X' *bad a. lot 'more .eon -
finishing on the big Woodbine. track.
Racing was' still quite a leading
sport, but showing signs of de -
Creased. popularity. :*We learned
our handicaps Saturday morning.
Jack, had eight minutes and -I four
7niiii, tes, • I knew. full well: buy bid
for • fame would have to be for
one of the time piiizes, of which
there. were ten. In a race of this
:Wilber there were always many
,good riders given over -generous
'handicaps --riders with no racing
records and nothing for the hapdi-
caiters .to work en. One of such
always won the place prize. There
*were, 100 place prizes in all. On'
Saturday, September 10, Jack and
I, fortified by a big steak dinner,
(cost 35 eents), went our way to-
ward. the Woodbine. , Somewhat
awed by the size of the track and
grandstands and a • crowd of ten
thousand spectators in the stands,
we lined up. My4-minute handl-
'cap was of no benefit, rather a
detriment, It meant that 1 Would
have t6"ride ttlaue probably,
unless
some good rider starting from . the
same mark had class enough to be
of mutual benefit. But the few.
that started with me didn't have
that clash. • The scratch men of,
course were dwell -known riders with
great previous records and experi-
ence and they knew the value of a
pace -maker in a race. The read
used was the Kingston toad and
that day it- was in . a deplorable
condition, full of dus-t,eo'vered ruts
and 'plenty ofloose gravel, -and
there were many spills. _
Good Wishes from Two Codec icli
Men
Started off by Geo. Emerson, who
and Ben Jiebinson were our only
well-wishers, I knew we had our
wore. cut out 'for us. The first two
guiles were on the track, then out.
to, this horrible road. In the .two-
mile track stretch I' had overtaken
the, 4% -minute men and was reach-
ing out for the 5 -minute ,men when
I hit foY --the road. Out - on the
road I cciuld see clouds -of dust
Ahead raised by• the. bunches of
riders, fend.already there were same
spills. I was taking chances, and
.although I had many close calls I
managed to escape without:it t spill.
I overtook Jack before the turn and
eve wished each other well and
attended .0, our knitting. At the
turn I knew from the -riders I
had passed I°was going places • and
with good luck would be well up
in the running. 'So far no rider
had hung on when I passed. I was
hA ih •'to.fi d someone with classs
p g
enough to art n nate in pacing for
our mutual bendfrt. About half-.
°aiy bn k 1 `did come across erne.
who pr�aposed .ave, beep each otiI ,.
but after . losing preeiofis. seconds
I took over the pacing and lost lbirn,.
although 1 didn't know it . for some
time.' runners on . the roadside
had pails of water With which to
douse riders for the asking, but I
declined, not feeling the need, and
the water ou a dust • and 'dirt -
covered chain would grind: Reach-
ing the -Woodbine, 1 rode the outer
traek going strohg and feeling fine.
Nearly a Disaster
ilTere happened .'something'. that
alniost proved fatal toJ my chances.
Riding head down and- a lithe ex --
Cited, I guess, I missed the, opening
and crashed through a" thin rope
leading tb the inner track, which
meant I' had to sew down, turn
around and lose probably 20 pre-
cious Seconds in this maneouver.
.Frowever, I got going again and did
what I could to make. up "for my
t hundred and din
lapse. About a h nd d S s fr
the finish I caught up with a good
rider and we sprinted home in a
rousing finish. This rousing finish
I believe saved My ,bacon. I couldn't
learn at the time what my finishing
•
position was. Iiow or� , feeling 'tip;
1,
top and:satisfied wi tri; my' effort,' We
went down- town. In an hour ` or
se the evening papers 'were on the.
street and „we learns that I had
iini. nineteenth, with Jack out
sbed
of the money at 124th" But an
examination of the realplts -showed
that I was a strong contender for
the 'highest honor, namely the, tinge'
prize, The time . results had to ,be
figured and checked and would not
be announced until Monday morn-
ing. lir. am,' case, I was. there or
thereabouts, though 1 remembered,
tiie mistake on the track which
<•ould 4 have proved fatal to my
chances. '
It was an anxious time over Sun,-
day—sometimes 'hopeful and then
again : not so hopeful, n ' • '
Champion Cyclist of Canada '
Early Monday we were up and'
looking for a morning paper. On,
the sportingpage the headline' said,
"Dark Ilorse Wins the R.J.T. Time
Prize." 1. knew then who the Clark
horse was. An examination of" the
out b showed I had w
wan time d
ul
Y
and o seconds, a d had broken the
record! -„F,, '
i
As ths article is probably long
enough I will leave, r further ob-
servations to the next if this one
gets , by. There were eei�in coir
plicationla arising utter the
before. x was ..awarded the proms,.
An Arxnerleait soldier spending; bis
leave in: Scotland, dikevered ,ai i.
collie ..dog and decided he needed
it for his farm. in '1.'eatas, die and.
the old. 'shepherd' to s,11:,h'im► . t.e
dog.'
"Wad ye ibe taken' him. to A •
„erica?' the Scot asked,
"Xeab, to, my ranch in '+fix,'” ,;
replied the Gliet • • . , -
"Then .I eoildn,a. ,art. wt' the
dog,". said the, 'shepherd,
Then. 'an , N?nglish oftleer �eame.
along, admiredthe deg, and bougt
it without• g bit -of trouble,
nettled the Texan, who soldt• "RV*
SeottY, ' you told nee you weu, dn't
sell the deg, what's the t ig �adear"
Na, replied the old Scot, '1 Said'
couldna part wi,' him. The dog'll
be .hack shortly from : ngland but.
he couldna swim the • A,tlentic #"
First social service centre im
•
tai rowas the Jesuit mission station
►
St, Marie .on the Wye River betwee*
Midland and Port McNieloll. : Theme
was established the brat hospital,
the first . school, ane; the first ' eZ.
perimental term in the. prov;inee
r ,
be given : FREE to some lucky
person on. Christmas Eve. Enquire
at our .storefor particulars,
%%04;7'.v
y
Lingerie
wea
r
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(71
carfsSilk or wbol in gift boxes. � � • � � w
}
Bioties
silk, crepe, nylon, vnd- wool for l ei s r_-_
`'`Shamrock brand," dinner; sets,', bridge sets,
towels, plaint and embroidered,
Checked and plain glass linen towelling frau" ' .
:or` ladies" and:gents
We are the Iercal representatives for 1VfcBrine and.
`Langmuir luggage and a large assortment in new styles
:and ' color -tones has .'just arrived. Drop in.: and choose
your holiday luggage from our stock of these popular
"lir.
in fine wool:fabrics, plain and •
checked weaves.
a large assortment a
err iular prices.
"or this Christmcts.,...
;; ..,.iiaea l-ni ssortu
tN�,,.yINIM ,
went' . of ' real English
leather bill foldsonanki
Plain colors and fang'
1 - plaids
See the new folding umbrella.
IT'S„PIFFEIIENT.
Imported Scotch lace cloths all the sizes.
,., All
”' colors in
Davis calf, Eng.
“, ,-„., __... lish Morocco,
,M corded. bags;,:
cure sets, shaving sets, "bridge cases,
change ... Also c� purses.othps.;And hair
•
brushes in leather cases. These arti—
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prices* rc •a. ",. 'I '
Nylon Hosiery Special
250 pair of 54 gauge, 15 denier first
quality ladies' nylon stockings in the '.
new .winter shades. Sizes 9 to 11. Reg.
$1.95 pair. -While they 1 ;st, only pr.
Towels,
A large 'assBortrrt to
ta from our.
basement store,
KEN'W'OOD' SNOW S ,TI,T, 6 montes, to 'S: yeaxft.
, KEN -WOOD BLANKETS, DAINTI 1 CARRIAGES and
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•
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