Comes a Time revisited
I had a sad phone call recently when another friend broke the news that he had decided to sell his motorcycle collection. I had heard it all before and it immediately triggered the Neil Young song ‘Comes a Time’, again to mind. The sad thing is that it is another reminder that we will all get to a point in our life when our ageing body can’t ride any longer and I for one very much dread that day.
Glenn and I grew up in the same little old North Queensland town and went to High School and then Uni together. It was at Uni (circa 1976) that he bought his first motorcycle – a little Ducati 450 Desmo. My best memory of Glenn and the Desmo was when my younger brother Mark came down to visit the big smoke (Brisbane) and we needed a few beers to celebrate. Glenn suggested my brother jump on the back of the Desmo and they rode off to the pub. Imagine sitting on a rear fibreglass hump, no foot pegs, with a carton of XXXX tallies, trying not to fall off while Glenn rode in his normal exuberant manner. One of Mark’s joggers was melted into the RH exhaust while the left was smoking along on the bitumen. Amazingly, not a drop of blood or beer was spilt. Ah, them were the days.
I only have one photo of Glenn on the 450 which I took at a Lakeside track day. From that time, I wanted a littlea terrible state but very original apart from some after market bits. My dream initiated by Glenn’s first bike was realised after a bit of negotiation and both of us were happy chappies.
