In 1965, when we lived on base housing in Duluth, Minnesota, I would ride my tricycle around the inner courtyard sidewalk. My mom said I took the corners so fast that I was on two wheels. She was afraid I would tip over, but I never did. When we later moved to Luck, Wisconsin, it was hard to ride my tricycle in the dirt driveway.
In 1967, my parents bought me my first bicycle when we lived on base housing in Tucson, Arizona. I was 6 years old. In the first week I rode it around the block and ran into the back of a parked car. I got a cut on my knee that gave me a scar that I have to this day. I remember my dad yelling at me all the time I was crying. My mom said he threatened to take my bike away from me until I learned how to ride it. (Do you see the irony in that?!)
In 1968, my dad retired from the U. S. Air Force and we moved permanently to Luck, Wisconsin. My parents bought me a one-speed, coaster-brake, straight handlebar bicycle. It was a Schwinn ‘Deluxe’. I remember I could barely reach the peddles even with the seat as low as it could go. I removed the front basket because when you turned the handlebar the basket turned too. I replaced it with two saddlebag baskets that were stable and deep.
In the early 1970s, my parents bought me an orange Schwinn Scorcher, 10-speed, with drop handlebars and pad brakes. I think they bought it from Sears. My dad had to assemble it himself. He got frustrated putting it together. I rode it around the local community to visit with friends or to ride one mile into the town of Luck to see the sites.
Cut to 1989. I am 28 years old. I live in St. Louis, Missouri. I am dating a woman who is an avid “road bike” (meant to be ridden on pavement) rider. She would take multi-day trips with a biking group, but I was never interested in doing that. I bought a Trek 800 18-speed mountain bike (meant to be ridden off-road). We would do day trips around the area. One favorite spot to start was “Airport Road” in Chesterfield, Missouri. It was an old airstrip that was now abandoned.
Twice, we rode in the annual Moonlight Ramble event through downtown St. Louis. It didn’t start until after midnight. There were so many participants one year that we didn’t start riding until 30 minutes after it officially started.
I eventually bought an Omni Vega 14-speed road bike. The first time I rode it I got two flat tires. Because the tires were thin, the ride was rough. And the dropped handle bars were hard on my wrists and neck.
I was living in an apartment and hung the bike in the living room from a hook. Needless to say I rode my mountain bike much more and eventually sold the road bike.
In 1991, I got in the habit of riding my mountain bike through the suburbs after work and on weekends. I was fearless – rode with the traffic, hopped curbs and rode sidewalks as necessary. On these trips, I always rode solo. I would have a general idea of where I wanted to go and then improvise the route on the way. By the end of the year, I had over 1,000 miles logged. I lost a lot of weight. I kept track of all my rides until about 1996. I would write down the date, mileage, weather, and my mood in a spreadsheet.
I began dating a woman who had two brothers in their 20s who liked to ride mountain bike. Joe, Marcellis, and I would ride the off-road trails in North St. Louis County, mostly along the edge of the Missouri River. I had no major spills or accidents. A few minor ‘end-overs’.
On July 3, 1991, I took a 2-day trip by myself to Rend Lake, Illinois. There was nothing special about it regarding riding a bike. It was somewhere I had never been and I wanted to get away from the usual scenery. The first day I rode around the perimeter of the lake, then across the 1-foot wide concrete barrier that ran from one side of the lake to the next. The second day I rode some of country roads near the lake. Nothing exciting, but the fact that I was on a biking adventure was all that mattered.
In 1993, I visited my parents in Luck, Wisconsin. My dad bought himself a Huffy 10-speed bike, but hardly ever rode it. The first day I rode it to Cushing, Wisconsin, then up highway 87 to Bass Lake. I got back to my parent’s house a few hours later and realized how quick and easy the ride was.
Elaine (now my wife, but girlfriend at the time) bought me a Garmin GPS III GPS receiver for my birthday. It had a handlebar mount. Whenever I rode my bike, the GPS receiver came with. It would record the ride mileage, as well as create a digital map track that I could later overlay on a digital map, annotate, and save.
My next mountain bike was a GT Tequesta. It was 21-speed, thick tires, straight handlebars, and front shock absorbers. Elaine and I started to ride together more often, but only on terrain was flat and were graded or paved trails.
I ended up selling my Trek 800 on Craig’s List for about $50. It was still a good bike, but was pretty beaten up and now I owned a better one.
We rode on the KATY Trail a lot. It is a rails-to-trails project near St. Louis, Missouri that is actually a State Park. I converted the Tequesta into a hybrid because I was now riding in a more relaxed, upright position. I put on skinnier tires, softer seat, upright handlebars, and a rear fender to hold a travel bag. Since Elaine’s lung operation, we only ride a couple times a year and have to make sure she doesn’t get too tired out.
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