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The cycle race on Saturday
It often happens that the annual Rando Cyclos at Sars Poteries coincides with the Fête des Mères. When this happens, there is a small fair in the square at Felleries, just across the road from the Bar de Moulin, the nearest bar to the municipal camping site where many Rando Cyclos riders stay for the weekend. While the fairground rides hold no particular interest for the mopedists, the same cannot be said of the fair’s chip van…
Another feature on these occasions is a round-the-town cycle race on Saturday afternoon. As well as the excitement of the racing, there is the added spectacle of moped riders, returning from a morning out, trying to get from the edge of town to the campsite before they are swamped by the—considerably faster—peloton of cyclists.
Race over, a return to the campsite found a small crowd gathered around two mopeds. One was British (David Stevenson’s Bown) and the other Dutch (an Ilo-engined model whose make I’ve forgotten).
Spot the Difference
The ensuing game of ‘Spot the Difference’ found that, although they differed in several details, the main frame pressings were identical.
On Sunday morning everyone congregates around the bandstand in Sars Poteries … but not this year. The usual meeting place had been torn up ready to be resurfaced. It took a few circuits of the town to find the new meeting place. No doubt the joining instructions would have told us about this … but no one reads those, do they?
As always, there was a wide range of under-powered exotica to look at:
Bianchi Aquilotto
Victoria FM38 cyclemotor
Simson Duo
Gitane-Elf
Itom and, behind it, a Motom
Flandria, the Cadillac of the moped world
In front: a VéloVAP, next: a VéloSoleX and,
in the background: a Peugeot Bima -
all roller drive.
All sorts: Gitane–Elf, Peugeot County, VéloSoleX, Motom, Honda,
Kreidler, BSA Winged Wheel, Mobylette …
The Simson Duo again
Derny
The morning gathering is followed by a slap-up meal in the Salle des Fêtes. When everyone is full of food there's a prize draw where one of the participants wins a moped, then the riders are unleashed on to the rural Avenois roads. This year’s draw prize was a Motoconfort Cady in remarkably good, running condition. So good that the lucky winner, Neil Bowen, opted to do the road run on it instead of his Motobécane Duomatic. Andrew Pattle borrowed the spare Duomatic and thus avoiding having to pedal his Lohmann all the way round.
The run was around the 55km mark with a halfway stop in Sivry.
A couple of pictures of riders ‘somewhere in the Avenois region’
On return to Sars Poteries there’s more food and drink and the presentation of prizes. The organisers seem to award these on a whim of the moment. Out of the British contingent, Andrew Pattle was awarded one for bringing the Lohmann—even though he didn't ride it–and Steve ‘Wally’ Wright won one for his James autocycle. Of the other winners, Michel Humbert deserves mention. It was he who wrestled the Simson Duo around the course; as you can see in the photos above, the Duo is a strange contraption that appears to be made from one-and-a-half mopeds, a small frame tent, and more knobs and levers than the mind can comfortably conceive.