Side Glances and Leanings
Peter Egan is another one of my favorite moto-journalists. His column "Side Glances" appears monthly in Road and Track, and "Leanings" is a regular feature in Cycle World. Both columns have been collected in book form over several volumes, and make great reading.
Here's an excerpt from Egan's "Side Glances" in Road and Track from September 2005:
When I came into the house from the garage the other night, I looked at myself in the mirror and realized I had a raccoon mask of fine golden dust on my face, like a Wells fargo stagecoach driver who'd just come skidding into Tombstone with an arrow through his hat.
Alas, I hadn't been doing anything so exciting as driving a stage in the Old West. Instead, I'd been upside down under the dash of my 1953 Cadillac Fleetwood trying to discover why the instrument panel seemed mute on such important topics as oil pressure, fuel level and water temperature. I also wanted to know why the wipers operated at a level of lethargy usually seen only in southern climates where rich people wear white suits.
The great thing about Egan, beside his writing style, is his wide range of interests and his great passion for anything with an engine and some wheels. He's always in the middle of some harebrained restoration or vehicle swap — there's usually a British car and an Italian bike involved. Egan seems to spend more time in the garage or at coffee stops with the Slimy Crud Motorcycle Gang than he does actually riding or driving, but it makes for great storytelling and compelling reading.
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