Mike

Whilst visiting my mum today I came across a box of old photos (I always seem to start rooting about on my visits). Many were of my dad during his racing days.
Mike had many interests during his short life: cycling, photography, bird watching, fell walking, stamp and coin collecting. He was a Russian speaker, a good mathematician, funny and witty and was one of the cleverest people I've known. It's easy to put your dad on a pedestal when you are 15 and perhaps, like everyone, he may have had his failings - but I never saw any.
I remember when one of my schoolmate's parents died and thinking how unbearable it must be to loose one.
And then it happened to us - my dad became ill in 1974 and died aged just 45 in early '75.
You never know what's around the corner.
As they say in the cycling world - probably.
I think my dad would have blipped.
Oh, and my uncle John and my grandma seemed to have slipped in there.