A cycle shop, Spokes
And Saddles, is mentioned in my book, Racing
Start. I had to dream up that name when the book was written in the late
1980s. A few years later we used the name when we opened our own cycle shop –
and this is where the Giggle part of the blog comes in. We had a silly
competition to see who would be Salesperson
of the Month. The guys always seemed to win because customers preferred to
buy a bike from a bloke. However, one month…
Every Saturday a special needs lad would come into the
shop and ask about prices. Every Saturday I would write down the prices of
bikes, saddlebags, bells, pumps, puncture repair kits etc for him. His dream
was to, one day, own a bike. One day when he came in and we were going through
the prices, again, I told him about a very special offer we had on some Muddy
Fox pumps. I wrote down the price on his list and watched as he reached into
his pocket and came out with the cash. He wanted a pump and he hadn’t got a
bike!
I tried to tell him to save his money for a bike but
he insisted so I had to sell him a pump. He went out of our shop delighted. And
I received the award of Salesperson of
The Month. I think it was given me because I felt bad about letting this
boy spend his money on something useless so imagine my joy when a girl with
problems came in and asked if someone could ‘punch’ her tyres up for her
because she didn’t have a pump.
One boy with a pump and no bike. One girl with a bike
and no pump. How I itched to bring them together. Sadly, Dear Reader, I never
managed it.
You weren’t looking for a happy ending were you?