RON BEAMS
Tony Hadland reports:
"I have just been telephoned by Roger Taylor who tells me that our venerable friend Ron Beams died a few days ago. He was 99 years old and still regularly riding his power-assisted recumbent cycle until shortly before his death.
My wife Rosemary and I first met Ron via the Moulton Bicycle Club, when he was a mere 73 or so. He, like us, was also a member of the Fellowship of Weybridge Wheelers and of the Veteran-Cycle Club.
I well remember riding the North of Scotland Moulton ride with him and a dozen or so others 'aged from 8 to 80 back in 1987. He was the "80" and did very well on his low-geared AM, including the legendary ride from Durness on the dirt road to the Cape Wrath lighthouse and back. I recall being impressed when Ron told me he was having 12 cycling holidays that year. He had, I believe, been widowed about the time he retired from a long career in insurance and certainly got good value out of his pension - about 34 years!
Roger Taylor, who knew Ron very well and thinks he lived something of a charmed life, does not wish to write an obituary for 'The Moultoneer'. In fact, Roger - a great friend of his - disputes that Ron was even a cyclist, saying 'all he wanted was a Ferrari with pedals, so that he could claim still to be cycling'. However, having seen Ron on the North of Scotland Ride at the age of 80, I would disagree.
Here's to you Ron! We'll always remember that cheeky twinkle in your eye, especially when chatting up the ladies. Oh, and the traffic jam behind you on the way into Weybridge, with Rosemary's godmother (the wife of the CTC's erstwhile development director) cursing you for holding up her car journey!"
Ron will be sadly missed.
"I have just been telephoned by Roger Taylor who tells me that our venerable friend Ron Beams died a few days ago. He was 99 years old and still regularly riding his power-assisted recumbent cycle until shortly before his death.
My wife Rosemary and I first met Ron via the Moulton Bicycle Club, when he was a mere 73 or so. He, like us, was also a member of the Fellowship of Weybridge Wheelers and of the Veteran-Cycle Club.
I well remember riding the North of Scotland Moulton ride with him and a dozen or so others 'aged from 8 to 80 back in 1987. He was the "80" and did very well on his low-geared AM, including the legendary ride from Durness on the dirt road to the Cape Wrath lighthouse and back. I recall being impressed when Ron told me he was having 12 cycling holidays that year. He had, I believe, been widowed about the time he retired from a long career in insurance and certainly got good value out of his pension - about 34 years!
Roger Taylor, who knew Ron very well and thinks he lived something of a charmed life, does not wish to write an obituary for 'The Moultoneer'. In fact, Roger - a great friend of his - disputes that Ron was even a cyclist, saying 'all he wanted was a Ferrari with pedals, so that he could claim still to be cycling'. However, having seen Ron on the North of Scotland Ride at the age of 80, I would disagree.
Here's to you Ron! We'll always remember that cheeky twinkle in your eye, especially when chatting up the ladies. Oh, and the traffic jam behind you on the way into Weybridge, with Rosemary's godmother (the wife of the CTC's erstwhile development director) cursing you for holding up her car journey!"
Ron will be sadly missed.
posted by Mike at
5:33 pm
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