FRANK WESTWORTH

MALLORY PARK, TRANSATLANTIC Trophy races, sometime in the late 1970s:

“What tyres are you using, Barry?”

“Round and black. Not as good as Kenny’s.”

Kenny’s voice then sang out over the PA system: “It’s good to be on Goodyear…”

I’d been entirely unaware that Goodyear made bike tyres until that very point. A sheltered upbringing, plainly. And from this plainly memorable experience I learned… what?

Nothing, apart from that thing about Goodyear and bike tyres, which is not entirely earth-shattering stuff. But all the way home – I was riding a 250 MZ, trying hard and failing dismally to keep up