My Pedaling Career, Part 3: 10-Speed

At some point, I think it was after 2nd grade, I outgrew the coaster bike. Like my older brother, I then got to pick out a new one. Not 'new' new necessarily, but a replacement within a budget. My brother's blue dirt bike was new and within budget. My choice was to go fast rather than to jump high. I went with a used, purple, 10-speed road bike.

Hand brakes! Shifters! Tube Socks!

I had that 10-speed until I headed off to college, although it was used very little once I got a driver's license. Most of the time the shifters barely worked which made riding it less than enjoyable. Unfortunately I've never had much success tinkering with anything mechanical, and this was no exception. I traversed my suburban neighborhood quite well when it was working, but I may actually have spent more time on my brother's dirt bike than on the road bike. The dirt bike was definitely more fun on the bmx tracks made by older kids in the empty fields.

My enthusiasm for the bike waned after riding it to junior high a few times. Somebody smashed the little odometer I had installed on it the summer before, when I would take it out for long-ish fun rides through the neighborhood. And I seem to recall being taunted for having a bike that was ugly or old. I was made fun of for all sorts of things in junior high, so why would my bike have been spared? I ended up walking to junior high a lot even though it was far enough to make riding reasonable (3/4 mile). The winters in the city where we lived were pretty harsh and cycling wasn't always possible. But mostly I think it was a combination of the bike not working very well, and the ridicule.

High school was given over to cars since I had a driver's license all four years. I didn't get to drive much for the first two years, while my brother was still at home and had dibs on the extra car. My final two years, though, that car was mine. Even so, during the final couple months of my senior year I started walking to school whenever I could. It was a mile and half by the shortest walking route (two and half miles by car), so it wasn't at all unreasonable to walk. 

I'd like to note that, contrary to most understanding about the suburban pedestrian/biking experience, the subdivision I grew up in was an incredible place for kids to get around safely. While proponents of connectivity today rail against circles & cul-de-sacs, in my neighborhood walkers and cyclists had the upper hand on autos because every one of those isolated streets had at least one sidewalk that cut through to the next one over. Many configurations were such that it was quicker to walk to a place than to drive. Looking at a map today's planner would be appalled at the lack of direct road connectivity, but I want to attest to the fact that, done right, circles, loops, courts, & cul-de-sacs can be great for pedestrians & cyclists.   

The barely functioning purple 10-speed was sold around the time I headed off to college. For several years I went without a bike, but that was just a passing phase...(to be continued).