CONTRAFLOW - another momentary lapse of concentration with bobby mcwheeler

Many people ask me ‘Bobby, how come you write so much without making any sense? Surely sooner or later you must say something sensible - yet we’re still waiting.’

Others wonder why I have lasted so long and why the Editor hasn’t ‘lost’ my articles more often.

Others ask me about the ‘Write to Bobby’ Page and why it stopped appearing. Was it true that legal action was taken by Mr Radzynski, Grant Stott, Jim Dunn and lots of others with no sense of humour?

Or was it simply that too much truth was being printed at one time. Or was it just that no-one was reading it? Whatever the reason it looks like Contraflow is going to be just as common a sight as the SmallCar® mania that has enveloped the whole world since I started writing.

Just like air pollution and congestion I like to think it’s a constant part of the CityCycling environment. Look at Contraflow as the literary equivalent of driving in the city. Pointless, full of U-turns and with no sense of direction!

To celebrate one year in the business of writing on bike-related matters (ie cars) my good friend Jack V has decided to paint the portrait featured above.

Entitled ‘McWheeler Incognito’ it is a fairly accurate depiction of an umbrella with a man underneath, on a hot day at the race track beside the sea with his SmallCar®

I did say to Jack that I never wear clothes of the kind he’s clad me with or even own an umbrella and by doing so he’s made me look very much like the subject of his other painting - ‘Rebus Incognito’. Jack has now explained the subtle difference between the two.

Apparently Ian Rankin’s detective could make around £2,000 for imitating me. And that’s without the car. My painting will he thinks get around £50. Anyway he was happy to do it as commercial success means nothing to him. Just like me really!