Someone said to me today that they felt 'triumphant'.
What a sonorous word and how evocative.
Two nights ago, a man 10 years my senior, told me he'd recently crashed his Triumph Thunderbird, writing it off in a roadside ditch but surviving the accident unscathed himself. He was happy to have lived to tell me the tale. I bet he didn't feel triumphant though.
2 comments:
Ah; the old Triumph; the quintessential British motorcycle. I never owned one, but have ridden a few, and was tempted when I saw the new versions in a motorcycle shop late last year.
Were you a biker Rob; a latter-day Burt Monro?
Yes Inv2, I was. At 15 I bought and rode a 500cc Triumph SpeedTwin. It's sprung hug is not famous for it's featherbed-like qualities and the bike leaked oil in the traditional manner but I was smitten. I was smote also, by a car and though I rebuilt the bike, felt I needed something with better features (like brakes) and bought a 650cc Bonneville which I rode more carefully than I had the previous bike, until my thinking greened and I traded up to a bicycle. My first was a Cenelli racing bike with stitched-in tubes and a high value, but once I'd settled down to a pedestrian pace, I began my career on 28"-ers - now I have another Triumph, a BSA, a Royal Enfield and so on. They all sound like classic motorcycles and they are, only motor-less. My suggestion to you Inv2, as you pass the bike shop, keep going.
As for being Burt, I was never a speed-freak. I just liked the big bikes for their grunty sound and aesthetics (the smell of burning oil, the leather saddle, the feel of the grips, the chrome, the British-ness and the attention they grabbed as you thrummed through small towns :-)
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