FAST GATER

I for one am grateful for your sterling work in keeping us well informed many thanks

Sit on the bottom step of a set of stairs and keep your legs as straight as possible ,then pull one foot at a time to stretch the achilles (gently and hold for 15 seconds twice) .

John Jackson in the mid 70's broke/held track records in the old NL on a regular basics

It seems to me some riders coming to the end of their career's fall for no good reason ,one that springs to mind was PK in his last season he did it a few times ,when he was one of the safest neat riders I have ever watched .

Never understood Wilson he was a good solid fast rider without needing to be over the top .

RIP ONE THE SPORT'S GREATS

Always great to see icons of the sport in retirement still sliding a bike in anger as it were ,I believe Simmo ( long into his retirement )used to treat the track staff at Kings Lynn by having odd sole blast after track prep they say he was still very fast and smooth as ever .

Perhaps a catch fence could be installed to a greater height or maybe the airfence being higher would save the riders reaching the supports ,no one will be standing there( so will not impinge on viewing ) I am sure in this day and age a safe solution can be found .

I do feel for you but we had a floristry business that had traded for 70 yrs we shut up shop in 2014 as the industry had been on the slide for years before that , Brexit may have been the final nail in the coffin but certainly not the root cause of the demise of the industry in this country . IMO the supermarkets entering the market place was the death nell of our business ,we looked at setting up group to grow the products in this country ( which we are more than capable of doing) but just like the farmers the supermarkets just took over and called the shots all but killing "Interflora ".

Every rider that has mentioned or said they are considering retirement immediately lose something IMO and once they do stop riding no matter what happens they are never quite the same again , as if something is switched off that can't be turned back on again . I would say it is easier for gaters than "from the the back riders" to continue longer or make reasonable comebacks ,I am still amazed that Hancock (love or hate him) was not just a race winner but a possible GP winner at nearly 50 yrs old .I for one was pleased he left the sport in tact personal reasons aside .

I remember a top old National League rider having a second half ride with few other former riders about two years after he retired at Stoke ( instigated by Tom Owen) ,he said he was scared to death by the end of the race and never touched a bike again .

Had the good fortune to meet Gerry a number of years ago when my wife and his were having laser eye surgery ,a true gent and extremely friendly person RIP a sad loss .

That thought had crossed my mind now 30 yrs old , serious back injury ,three titles ,young family and I would have imagine not badly off either who would blame him .With Bart & co he really has to go out of his comfort zone to beat them ,not something he has had do that often before or he can adopt the Hancock approach and play the safe long game .

I thank my lucky stars I live in the countryside as I do feel we are effected less by the whole issue ,I would agree that face coverings are the biggest imposition but the law is the law .

To me the greatest pass I have ever seen too thought TG was going to go through the fence ,Bart could well be one of the all time greats injury allowing .