It's a good time in history to love bikes

I remember as a kid in the 60's my first two-wheeler was a red second hand standard bike with no chain guard, 20" wheels, conventional bars and seat. Every cycle of the crank the right crank would jump forward because the cotter pin wasn't tight enough. The cyclist's version of walking with a limp. But it did give me the open door to bike repair and ever since fixing that crank I've been right into the guts of my bikes, my kids bikes and my friend's bikes. There is something very satisfying about turning a bike with a problem into a bike working well.

My second bike, my first new one, was a gold department store Mustang look-alike, Banana seat, high handlebars, short sissy bar. I took my bike down to the park everyday and practiced going fast along the paved path, about 4' wide. There was one corner I remember to this day, a tight left hander that I had to lean well into, left knee almost touching the ground in order to make the turn. It was then that I learned about tire pressure, hard tires and I'd go fast but couldn't hold the corner, softer tires and I'd have a little slower top end speed but better traction on the turn.

Later I had a Raleigh Supercourse touring type 10 speed that taught me all about cadence. Finding it and keeping it mile after mile, I did a lot of distance on that bike. Doing track stands with brakes and weight tranfer.

But it seems to me that I missed the fun by a generation, BMX, Mountain Biking, and Cyclocross didn't really exist in my childhood that I knew of, and I'm pretty sure I would have smoked your ass if it did.

Cheers

Don