when riding home a week or so ago, I started thinking about when I first started liking bikes?
Was it when I got my first purple bike at age 4? or when my parents bought my neighbors blue banana seat Schwinn for me! (I thought the bike was blue, but in the pic above it's white, I bet my dad and I painted it blue..I like blue bikes) I remember w/ that bs Schwinn, we needed to get new tires, so my dad and I picked out racing slicks, I figured they'd make me go faster and help beat Mark McDaniel (I'm cracking up cuz I just connected w/ Mark on FB after writing this!) to school...and this was 1st or 2nd grade, at a time when kids got to ride their bikes to school! Such independence!
I had a speedometer and odometer on it (it was huge--tennis ball size!)...I was always trying to go 20 mph and wanted to break 1000 miles, not sure where I was mileage wise when the cable finally deteriorated, but I know I didn't hit 1000, now w/ my road bike, I can't wait to hit 10,000!
Anyhow, I know I endo'd on that blue bike on Potomac (street in the hood), got a bloody nose, but it didn't keep me from getting back on the saddle.
'Motocross' bikes came out, I soon figured out how to change my handle bars and seat..no more cool banana seat bike, I now had a motocross bicycle w/ my slick wheels. Never could use it to jump, but it was fun and looked cool!
In 5th grade I so wanted a 10 speed, the Schwinn Varsity, it was $120 at the Schwinn bike store that my 2nd grade teacher and her family owned (Plano Cycling --it still exists and I saw Mrs. Gurney at Hotter than Hell 4 years ago!), There was an American Heart Association bike-a-thon that November, and the winner would get a new Schwinn 10 speed, so I walked door to door in the hood collecting pledges. I rode 25 miles on my mom's sears 3 speed bike that did not fit, I'm thinking Sheryl Martin, Joni Nelson and someone else rode it w/ me. After the ride I walked door to door collecting the pledges. I raised $120. Turned out the person who won the bike raised $130! ugh! had I donated $15 of my own money, I would have won the bike. Maybe that's why I always make a donation to the fund rides I do now..oh wait it's cuz it's tax deductible.
So, my parents were going to buy me the 10 speed for Christmas, but they decided I needed to learn another lesson about money. They took me to the credit union and co-signed on a $120 loan for the bike. I had to make twelve $12 payments to pay it off, had my own payment coupon book (do they still do those?) I earned money by babysitting 3 kids for $1 an hour (fool) and making ans selling macrame plant hangers while babysitting. Chances are I paid off the loan early.
The next summer, I did a diabetes bike -a thon, but it was only 10 miles and I rode my new 10 speed! There were many prizes you could win based on the level of fundraising, since I raised over $100, I qualified for a whopper a week at burger king. I didn't like bk then and I still don't. My dad enjoyed eating his 50 whoppers!
Next year did the same fund ride, but they only gave a whopper a month away!
As I grew older I was always using my bike to go visit friends, shop and get to and from Wilson (middle school). Stupid things I remember about these rides: If you bring a hermit crab home in a cardboard box, don't assume the crab is going to be all nice and playful when you take him out of the box and put him in your hand. He's going to try and still hang on! If you wear striped panties, they will show through your shorts when you bend over to reach the handlebars, esp if wearing yellow shorts! It's not easy to carry a violin on the back of your bike and sometimes it falls off. Stacey swore she was never going to be able to have kids after riding home on the back of the bike on the 'book' rack, she later proved her comment wrong.
In 1989, I bought a mountain bike (Schwinn) and sold the old green Varsity for $40. The mtn bike is about to become yard art. while I loved mtn biking, it was a hassle--driving to the trails, finding someone to ride with you, keeping the bike clean...
1998 did my first Danskin triathlon using my husband's touring bike (like a road bike but wider wheels) Started to fall in love w/ road biking, summer 1999 stumbled across a road bike a friend was selling, a Vitus. Bought it from her and I've been biking tons since then. I put over 5,000 miles on that bike
2002 Diane signed up for the MS150 from Houston to Austin, she asked me if I wanted to do it. At first I balked, then she said, "you're going to be doing the training rides w/ me, so you might as well do it!" As usual, Diane was right. I will have to say, all that riding was quite the therapy for dealing w/ the divorce!
In 2004 I decided it was time for my 40th birthday present which I purchased a year early! Hope it lasts until I'm 50!
I've completed 4 MS150's (which were actually 170 miles), 1 ride for the Roses (50 miles), 3 Livestrong challenges (74, 42, 70) 2 hotter than /hell (100 miles, 100k), 1 tour de Cure (78) now for Le Tour (ok, at least a very small part of it!
In 1989, I bought a mountain bike (Schwinn) and sold the old green Varsity for $40. The mtn bike is about to become yard art. while I loved mtn biking, it was a hassle--driving to the trails, finding someone to ride with you, keeping the bike clean...
1998 did my first Danskin triathlon using my husband's touring bike (like a road bike but wider wheels) Started to fall in love w/ road biking, summer 1999 stumbled across a road bike a friend was selling, a Vitus. Bought it from her and I've been biking tons since then. I put over 5,000 miles on that bike
2002 Diane signed up for the MS150 from Houston to Austin, she asked me if I wanted to do it. At first I balked, then she said, "you're going to be doing the training rides w/ me, so you might as well do it!" As usual, Diane was right. I will have to say, all that riding was quite the therapy for dealing w/ the divorce!
In 2004 I decided it was time for my 40th birthday present which I purchased a year early! Hope it lasts until I'm 50!
I've completed 4 MS150's (which were actually 170 miles), 1 ride for the Roses (50 miles), 3 Livestrong challenges (74, 42, 70) 2 hotter than /hell (100 miles, 100k), 1 tour de Cure (78) now for Le Tour (ok, at least a very small part of it!
