Don't forget Springhead Saints
Yer now you mention them. There is a web site and I am on it! Which is a real surprise.
I remember that we started out on a piece of ground between St Michaels and Elizabeth playing fields, in front of 8th Ave. I was a bit of a dumpy kid then, but honed my skills (he he) riding my bike round and round our garden in 33rd, until I wore all of the grass away. I joined the Army in 72 aged 15 and didn't do many league matches. After 6 weeks basic training, I came home 2 1/2 stone lighter, fit as **** and with loads of stamina. The unit I was in had a rule that during your basic training you either marched or ran, 7 days a week for 6 weeks, certainly works. I got home and was asked to race in a cup match. I pissed my first heats, but the other team kept getting 2 and 3. In the last heat we needed a 5 point win. I held back a little and just kept the inside line, at the end of the straight, before the last corner, instead of sticking to the line, I drifted out, they went with me and John Culver, the other Black Knight came through on the inside, I cut in and passed him on the line. Maximum points and it felt as if I had been peddling for Great Britain.
I went back to Norton Manor in Somerset, full of myself, cuffed to ****. One of the training staff asked us all what we had been doing and I told everyone of my win. Ten minutes after he came back into the spider billet and asked if there was anyone good at riding a bike, of course my hand nearly went through the roof. Get your tracksuit on and report to me outside in five minutes came the order. I was still beaming when I got to the camp stables, to be given a wheel barrow, shovel and broom and told to clean out the Regimental Mascot's stable. "As you are so full of ****, maybe you should shovel some lad!"
There is a Cycle Speedway team in Southampton and the British champion rode there. Years after leaving the Army, I was working nearby and saw a couple of rider practicing. I asked them for a go and pissed all over the bloke I rode against. Their bikes were lower geared than what we raced and the handle bars were higher, but I had fast legs and really good balance. I went home and thought about giving it another go, but in the morning I couldn't ****ing walk!