I have been riding two-wheeled bicycles since I was four-years-old. A young girl at the end of our block on Elm Avenue in Teaneck, New Jersey actually taught me how to ride a bike. Until now, I haven't thought about her. I remember that she had a brother named Peter. Her name was Gail. I don't remember her last name. I wonder if she still likes riding bikes?
Cycling has always been a passion of mine. I loved riding. I begged my parents for a BIG bike and for my eighth birthday, I received an AMF Royal Master.
I found a picture of one on Bing Images... here it is:
It had dual headlights and a horn built-in. It was a single-speed "cruiser" by today's definition, and it weighed a ton. I happily rode the bike everywhere. I honked up hills and coasted down the other side. I was on that bike constantly.
My family moved to Mid Ohio in 1968 leaving New Jersey behind us. I didn't want to move to Ohio, but, I didn't have a choice. We settled into a three-bedroom split level house on Alton Road. Our mailing address was "Galloway" and I came to find out that the nearby town of Galloway was named after one of my mother's ancestors (who just happened to be the first white settler in what would become the state of Ohio).
We were surrounded by corn fields and sod farms. There was not much to do, at first, so, I rode my bike. I started meeting the other neighborhood kids. Most of them rode Schwinn "Stingray" bikes with their twenty-inch tires and banana seats. But Chris Floyd had a Schwinn ten-speed bike. Back in New Jersey, we called that style of bike an "English Racer" and, boy did I want one. I dreamed of having one.
My Royal Master was a tank. It weighed so much more than that ten-speed that Chris rode. So, I took off the console with its built-in lights, horn, and chrome trim. I removed that wide handle bar and added a "ram horn" handle bar. I removed the fenders. I took off the chain guard. I removed every non-essential from that bike and it was still a heavyweight. Had I been able to see into the future, I would have kept that bike exactly as it was when my father bought it for me and could have sold it at an incredible price because the Royal Master was a rare bike, indeed. Oh, well.
My parents bought my younger brother and me Columbia ten-speed bikes. My other brother came home from his part-time job late one night and left the garage door open and the bikes were stolen. Well, they didn't last long. So, I was back on the old bucket of bolts.
I started working and bought myself a Schwinn Super Letour. Twenty-six pounds of chrome-moly frame and twelve-speeds! It had a beautiful smoky gray metallic paint-job and it even looked fast. At that time, the bike to beat in America was the Schwinn Paramount. I just could not afford one.
I rode that bike until I was domesticated. I married a gal who just hated bicycles. I never understood that. The relationship went bad really fast.
I found myself teaching fly fishing in the Catskill Mountains in upstate New York. The West Branch of the Delaware River was the best trout fishery east of the Rocky Mountains. It was a fly fishing Mecca.
One day, I met a guy named Jim. He was a fly fishing nut and a bike mechanic. I built him a flyrod and he built me a bike. It was built around a Tange 900 Chrome-moly frame and had excellent components. Jim got a nice flyrod and I got a nice bike-- it was the best I had ever owned at that time.
Years passed and I found myself in Ohio once again. I still had the bike Jim built for me, but, my son was then twelve years old and wanted to ride with me. I bought Dustin a Raleigh cross-trainer that was almost too big for him, but, he could ride it and would not out-grow it. I also bought a Giant Yukon hard-tail mountain bike with an alloy front fork for me. That way, Dustin could match my pedal stroke and keep up with me pretty well.
I met and married a lady cycling nut from Cincinnati, Mary Rose. She rode her bike every evening-- this was my kind of gal.
Mary Rose had an old UniVega bike --what lightweight riders call "an iron" because it weighed so much. We bought her a new bike... a Giant Yukon. Hers had a RockShox Judy fork on the front. It was just as heavy as the UniVega, but, my new bride thought that it was eminently cooler than her old bike. And so, we rode... and we rode... and we rode some more.
I sold the bike Jim built for me because we had to make room for Mary Rose's bike. I soon missed my road bike. We moved to a bigger place and I had a little more room, so I sold my Yukon and bought a Fuji Newest.
I sold this bike in early 2011 and ended up with a Fuji Absolute2 flat-bar road bike with a more upright posture.
I rode this bike until my wife and I thought that we were moving to Idaho for an in-house copywriting gig that Mary Rose had. I sold the bike, but, the move to Idaho never happened (long story) and I found myself bikeless. Meanwhile, my wife sold the Fuji Absolute that I bought for her.
Not being content without a bicycle-- I started looking online for a replacement bike and I settled on a Fuji Sportif. We went to Performance Bike of Columbus, Ohio to buy it, but they did not have the Sportif in my size (58 or 60cm).
I spent some time in the shop because they were having a big sale and I wanted a bike THAT weekend to take advantage of the fair weather (54 degrees for the weekend and 60+ the following week). I bought a Diamondback Century Disc (as in disc brakes) on sale at an incredible price.
I added my usual choice of aluminum bottle cages and polar bottles. I have since added a TD-1 aluminum rear rack and a Transit bag, and I switched the saddle to a Forte gel-filled seat that is far more comfortable for the long ride. The gel-pad I had on the original saddle (pictured above) is no longer needed. It didn't really add much comfort anyway. The new saddle is priceless!
The Diamondback Century is designed for long rides (what we call Century rides because they are 100 miles in a single day). The top tube is a little shorter than the Diamondback Podium-- which was designed for racing. The shorter top tube, and the taller head tube (below the handle bars), give the rider a more upright and comfortable riding position. It's easier on the back and gives the rider better visibility for commuting, long distance, and recreational riding. Disc brakes give the city rider great stopping power and more control than standard center-pull brakes would provide. They add about a pound of extra weight. Outfitted with the water bottles, the rack and bag, and the new saddle, the bike weighs about twenty-four pounds.
And so it is that my love affair with bicycles continues. Now, I have to ride when it is warm enough to go in comfort. When the weather is cold, like today, I will ride on the trainer in the comfort of my den and think about the road ahead.
It's man and machine. Once a cyclist, always a cyclist. I guess it's like being Irish. You might take the boy out of Ireland, but, you'll never take the Irish out of the boy. Now, I'll dream of my next ride.
