A Mans Shed is his castle

Well I have mentioned my father in law Bill often in this blog and after spending 10 days on holidays with him and Shane I have learned a lot about cycling. In a nutshell, if you spend a lot of time with an 80 year old who has stories to tell going back decades, of bikes of all descriptions, of the diets the riders used to get by in long races, the clothes the tactics and the life of a cyclist. In brief Bill has won a big race here, The Melbourne to Warrnambool and a big track race, the Austral and has won two world titles in Austria and has a huge trophy collection from racing in Europe.

Having said that, spending ten days with Bill was educational. We heard lots of stories (and I mean a lot...like a lot....), some of which we have heard several times before. But I think one thing that makes Bill just typical of his generation, is his passion for junk....more like just keeping things..."just in case".....I dont think Bill has ever thrown out anything. Having read One Story of someone who has accumulated too much stuff in five years...imagine how much stuff is accumulated in a cycling life of around 60 odd years and I have included three quick photos.

The Overview of the shed.......Bill is also a builder...so there are lots of bits of leftover wood and stuff...if you click on the pic, you can get a better look

Bike frames and tubes.....and some wheels

Some handlebars from his track riding.......

Bill has got just about everything in the shed and on our trip to Adelaide, we actually gave Bill a luggage limit which was "one bag" mind you he brought a bag that was HUGE!!!!!

PS There are a couple of other smaller sheds which have other stuff in them............never ever throw anything out.......