Bikes

Wow, two days in a row. I can't stand it. But this was running through my mind last night and keeping me awake, so I want to get shed of it, as they say around here. Actually, I've never heard anyone say that; I've just read it.

DH has been talking about getting a couple of mountain bikes (that we really don't have the money for). Notice I said "a couple." He can't just get one for himself; I have to get one too. Anyway, it got me thinking about my bikes that I've had. There have been four.

The first was a pickup truck tricycle. Behind the seat, instead of the frame curving down to the back axle, it went back and connected to a little two-wheeled wagon. It was a stiff frame, not a trailer, so the wheels of the wagon part became the back wheels of the trike. Really cool.

The next one was a 26", blue, J.C. Higgins. It had a coaster brake and fat tires.
What a clunker! But it got me around. I had already learned to ride on my girlfriend's 24" bike when I was around 6, so I guess my parents figured I'd grow into this monster. I'd ride it to school once in awhile in nice weather. That's when I was at Alfred Reed for 4th thru 6th grades. They didn't have the slotted bikes stands they do now. It was just a horizontal steel pipe. You'd pull the front of the bike under the pipe, then lift the handlebars up and over the pipe backwards so it would hang there. Of course, the kids with the "English racers", as we called 10-speeds then, were out of luck. With those dropped handlebars, the bikes wouldn't hang. They'd have to use the kickstands.

Next came the Christmas that me and my oldest brother (5 years younger than me) got bikes, mine blue and his red. I guess I was around 12 or 13. That bike was forgetable.

Then I got a used, green, 27", 10-speed that I could never shift into any gears except first, fifth and tenth. I would invariably get it between gears and the chain would slip. If I was on a hill, I'd have to practically stop, put it in first, then try to get started back up the hill. At least on the flat, I could coast along while figuring out where the daggone gear was. Longest ride I took on that was from home in Ewing to Titusville, about 6-8 miles. There was a long hill going and coming back, where I'd end up walking the bike up. Even first gear was too strenuous. The final stretch in Titusville was about 2 miles along a two-lane road with not much of a shoulder. Back then the speed limit was probably around 40 and there weren't NEARLY as many cars as are on that road today, which explains why we didn't get killed. Funny, I remember riding TO Titusville, but I don't remember riding HOME, except maybe walking up that hill in Mountain View. We (me, oldest brother, and DH before he was DH) certainly weren't given a lift. We also walked that route a couple of times, a full day's activity.

So bike number 5 will be a combination of the others, but a little different, too - fat, knobby tires; gears; 26" hybrid men's/women's frame. I'll try to stay away from hills.