Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

are the common denominator of language. The scene that morning in the Cafe de I 'Aeroport made my journey well worthwhile and the coffee cognacs warmed the conversation. My to minutes became 30 before I started theSaim and followed Max along the road to Aachen. I have travelled along· it many times since then and'it has been improved but at that time it seemed that it still suffered from the effects of war-time tr<\ffic.- At the border control barrier I said farewell to Max with a promise to see him on the return journey. Ahead stretched the two-lane autobahn built originally to carry the German military transport and tanks into Belgium and I qui"ckly learned that a German driver rarely looks a1 his rearview. mirror before he pulls out to oyertake. There is no speed restriction on the autobahns and a distinct objeGlion to being passed, especially by a mOLOrcyclisl. My thousands of riding miles in Germany have been more challenging than eAjoyable. I repeated the ride LO the Cologne exhibition six more times and always I experienced the same pleasure when cresting the last hill I saw the great twin towers of the Cathedral in the Rhine Valley, but the first time is a special memory. I took the first Cologne exit sign from the autobahn which was a mistake as it led to the west of the city and the narrow, traffic-congested streets LO -the center. I had no idea where the exhibition building ws located and Cofogne is a big place. I did not even know that the German word for an exhibition is Messe and so it meant nothing to me when I saw it. Neither did I know that there are four of five of them but finally I stopped a Police car and got an escort. .As I neared the exhibition building a man ran from the entrance waving his arms like a traffic cop, and I saw that he was the P.R.O. of the British MOtor Cycle Manufacturers' Association. He rushed up as I put the-Saint on the stand and urged me to follow him quickly as everyone was waiting. "Who was everyone and why should they be waiting?" As we wel1l rapidly . up the stairway, I was given the list. The Burgomaster, the President Qf the Association, the Triumph chiefs Jack Sangster and Edward Turner, the Director of the Exhibition and the chiefs of all the British factory exhibitors. I was annoyed with my P.R.O. friend and said that I was the only one who had not been told of this reception, adding that I might well have still been in the Liege cafe. I entered the reception room and was very embarrassed at what I saw. Instead of the expected group at a bar or sitting around at tables there were two lines of V.I.P's with the Burgomaster at ·the far end. Between these lines of well-dressed gentlemen the wet and travel-stained motorcyclist was required to walk and deliver a leller to the chief citizen of Cologne. To make the situation even ·more embarra~sing the letter was at the bOllom of my haversack underneath pajamas and the other things which any long-distance motorcyclist carries. Like a bOllle of scotch which the Burgomaster probably thought was for him. The letter was presented and duly read out LO the audience, I downed a glass of Rhine wine and thought the function was over until my boss Edwa'rd Turner spoke to me. Where was the machine? It was in the car park. Bring it up to the terrace he instructed, so I went back LO the 'Saint, rode it round t01he back of the building and looked up at the terrace. It was 40 feet up a flight of steep After bouncing his Triumph up the steep steps of the Cologne cathedral. Shilton meets the assembled dignitaries. stairs and everyone was waiting at the top. I had never trained for that kind of escapade and it seemed a geometrical certainty that any attempt would end in a loop. Turner stared down and beckoned impati.ently. I looked at him appealingly but knew on the instant that he was quite prepared to come down and ride the machine up himself. Or loop it in the attempt. I had to try bu tthe c) im b could not have been a prelly sight. The crankcase grounded on every step and the audience scallered as I reached the top. The Cathedral ride had ended and the Saint LOok its place on the Triumph stand in the exhibition until I rode it back LO Coventrv a few days later. The Daily Mail anC! other papers gave generous publicity to Triumph and in fact far more than the ride meri ted, bu t as far as I was concerned it helped to promote the image of the Police Saint. The Cologne Exhibition has no\\" for some years been the most important in Europe, and the only British particip.ants are several small concerns seiling components for Japanese machines. Mv last ride there was on the Norton In'terpol poLice model \\'hich I designed and I had hoped that this year the rotary-engined NOrian machine would have been displayed but it was absent. Times have certainlv changed since British products were predominant in the two Cathedral cities. • 27

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