I saw Rich a few times over the last few weeks since the passing of his wife Jo, and suffice to say the strain on him has been immense, and that was evident each time we spoke. Every time i think about the conversations i had with him in the last week or two it actually brings me to tears. On a recent visit he turned up whilst Les & Denise Perry were here with us, he was not in a good way and was quite agitated about something which had upset him at the race meeting at Cadwell which he had just driven from. After Les & Denise went i spent a few hours with Rich, getting him to eat some food, drink some coffee and to calm down a bit. I told him that he could spend as much time with us as he wished, and that time spent with us....fettling his race scoot.....would keep him busy, and help him pass time whilst he continued to grieve for the loss of Jo. He said he would come, and did indeed arrive for the dyno day, so i was pleased. This week he was due to come along with an old exhaust pipe of Guy Toppers as he thought it might be good to try it on the Scooterotica Sprinter we are building......sadly Ric never made that journey. Last week was Jo's Birthday and i guess it was all to much for him. Even at this stage i don't know the exact details of what happened, but to be honest i don't want to. All i know is Ric wont be visiting the garage anymore, nor will he be posting here again. I am gutted.
Ric joined us in Jan 2008 and became not only a great moderator, but almost like 'head librarian' of the site. Anyone who knows me, knows that i cannot remember a damn thing....literally nothing. But Ric was like a mad professor, he could find any thread, about anything, at anytime. He kept all sorts of pictures and images of historic scootering value, and always seemed to know something about everything. He was great. Despite being a loner, he was also actually a funny guy......I went to his house once in York and he took me to meet his mate Baz who made exhausts, as i arrived on the street where Ric lived a Police car was on fire, i was shocked....Ric just said "its like that round here, the kids are little shits!"....lol
I was gobsmacked. I wont go into all the 'we did this and we did that' s**t, but one thing i do recall, which still makes me laugh is the day he really wanted to come over and see Sean and I at the garage, so he cycled nearly 20 miles from York to Ripon on a f@@king BMX !!!! 
He arrived and I looked at Sean as if to say 'WTF'?? Rich just sat down at the table and cracked open a beer....i was gobsmacked, he then proceeded to wheelie round the car park and even put his BMX on the dyno. Anyway....after a few more beers, we couldn't let him ride home again, so Sean ordered a taxi for him, paid the taxi driver and put his BMX in the boot! What a lad. That is how i want to remember Rich, and I'm sure lots of people on here have their own memories and stories.....so please share them. Ric was a brilliant guy, he had a difficult life, and didn't cope with it the way other people might. We are all different and that's that. He contributed more posts to this forum than ANY other individual and i have no hesitation in saying that this forum is much worse off for him not being here, fact. I will miss him and wish i could have done more for him to prevent this from happening, but if the lad is at peace now, and is with Jo, then so be it.
I am in touch with Rich's sister and will let everyone know about the arrangements for Richard when i hear from her.
Be at peace Rich, race with the gods. Godspeed Ricspeed.
Dan, Sean & Andy.
40143_168300046530225_2007981_n by Scooterotica Scooter Garage, on Flickr
Never Mind....(Nirvana)
74740_564909006869325_1026834327_n by Scooterotica Scooter Garage, on Flickr
Laughs with his buddy...
163500_10151533924866108_161237177_n by Scooterotica Scooter Garage, on Flickr
538123_411182488908645_351787957_n by Scooterotica Scooter Garage, on Flickr
551179_732191410141083_1433832723_n by Scooterotica Scooter Garage, on Flickr
On the outside...
603934_10151885337356108_1329013655_n by Scooterotica Scooter Garage, on Flickr
A drawing by Ric, the ramblings inside! lol
969677_665664006793824_1045392594_n by Scooterotica Scooter Garage, on Flickr
Ric in Scootering Mag
970827_699839093376315_1244352494_n by Scooterotica Scooter Garage, on Flickr
The Storm Within
1466094_578566568857378_1128530187_n by Scooterotica Scooter Garage, on Flickr
1468724_578566438857391_519910279_n by Scooterotica Scooter Garage, on Flickr
20120322_4562 by Scooterotica Scooter Garage, on Flickr
20120322_5763 by Scooterotica Scooter Garage, on Flickr
DSC09410_zps418b9d2d by Scooterotica Scooter Garage, on Flickr
IMG_9793_zps772efe43 by Scooterotica Scooter Garage, on Flickr
Whilst Rics mind wandered during a Tec Lesson in 1988......
tec88 by Scooterotica Scooter Garage, on Flickr
Be at peace my friend.
383789_310514742308754_1858076954_n by Scooterotica Scooter Garage, on Flickr
