Biography of Malcolm Archbald Smith - First racing bike

Malcolm Smith's Family History Archive

Vehicles of

Malcolm Archbald SMITH

[Ref. S.1]

Racing bicycle

After he left school, Malcolm took up cycling as an alternative to running and, towards that end, he purchased this ready-made racing bike. He enjoyed cycling and mostly used this machine to commute to and from work. Initially, that was to London, travelling up on a Sunday evening loaded with food and clean clothes to his digs in Barnes and home again on Friday evening with his washing. On the weekdays in between he used it to cycle to work at Hammersmith. Some evenings he would walk one of the typists back to her house then stand a nd chat for a while. She had a habit of pulling at th erubber covers on his brake handles and picking off pieces.

When Malcolm moved back home again he continued to cycle to work in London, making the journey of 30 miles each way on the same day. This had the added advantage of saving Malcolm the coach fare of 7/6d a day. He made the journey summer and winter alike and in winter would have several extra layers of clothes. There was a cycle path along the Great West Road but that was more dangerous than being on the traffic as motorists disregarded it. The journey could be hazardous and all the accidents he had on the bicycle were on journeys to and from London, luckily, none with consequence of injury.

The first was in Chiswick when a van pulled out directly in front of him. Malcolm ran into him and was thrown off into the path of an oncoming trolleybus but unhurt. Luckily a lady seeing the accident apprehended the driver and insisted on taking him to an adjacent police station to which he was quite indignant. A policeman looked at Malcolm's bike and was satisfied that it was safe for him to continue. Malcolm just had to put the handlebars straight. He never found out the result of the drivers prosecution.

The second accident was when Malcolm was cycling home through Ashford. A car overtook him then immediately pulled in to park consequently squeezing malcolm's bike into the kerb. He decanted aver the bike but managed to remain on his feet. The driver could not see the accident as his fault at said "That was a silly thing to do". Malcolm attempted to point out that it was a silly thing, but by the driver himself.

The third was when Malcolm was turning into his road at home. A car was waiting to pull out and Malcolm saw the driver look at him but the car pulled out anyway right across his path. Malcolm stopped in time then the car suddenly came to a standstill 50 yards down the road. The driver got out and came back to Malcolm and just said "I am normally a very careful driver". On some days Malcolm would join up with another cyclist whilst coming out of London. He was a far more aggressive rider on the road and admitted to having an accident every couple of weeks.

Malcolm was cycling through Farnborough towards Aldershot at a good pace one day and, to his surprise, someone caught up with him. The rider commented on Malcolm's style and speed and asked if he belonged to a cycling club to which Malcolm answered that he did not. The rider suggested that Malcolm went to a meeting of Camberely Wheelers Cycling Club one day to see if he would like it. Malcolm did just that along with his brother and they both joined. The club held regular time trials of either 10 miles or 25 miles on the road between Camberley and Reading in which the brothers frequently took part. It transpired that the club was ranked high in Great Britain and had amongst it's members a man called Frank Colden who was the first man to complete 25 miles in under one hour.

Malcolm and his brother Stewart undertook two lengthy rides together. The first was to cycle from Camberley down to Selsey and back in a day. If that wasn't enough, they had already completed a 25 mile handicap time trial earlier the same day. Malcolm returned his best time that day. The total distance was in the order of 150 miles and Malcolm had to get off and walk on the last few hills on the way home. The second was a family holiday in Somerset. Malcolm and Stewart made the journey down to Holford, spending the first night in a hostel in Salisbury. Whilst on the holiday, they took several substantial rides in the area. At the end of the week when their parents and sister drove home, they set off on a tour of the South Coast. They spent hights in Youth Hostels firstly in Seaton, secondly in Weymouth where they lost a race against a couple on a tendem and lastly on the Isle of Wight. Having come back to the mainland via Portsmouth, the last leg of the journey was made in a thunderstorm. Their days along the coast were hot and sunny and, as a consequence, both were sun-burned on the right sides. Malcolm suffered a rather painfil boil in a tender place resulting from the ride.

The cycling club held an annual hill climb on Red Road Hill, just a short way from home and Malcolm entered just once. It only lasted about 20 seconds but Malcolm's knees were on fire by the time he got to the top.