Old Retired Guy Blog
March 20, 2009
|
My First New Bicycle!If you think I'm going to reminisce about that new bike I got when I was in grade school, you'd be wrong; I'm going to reminisce about some old bygone bicycles that I used to own before I bought my first new bike ... last week! When I was in grade school I got an old bike that I think was saved from making a trip to the junk yard. It was two wheels and a frame and I saved up my birthday money and other meager monetary gifts to buy some fenders and those hand grip things with the streamers. Boy, I was proud of that thing and felt real grown up when I rode it to Franksville school. One day when I was in high school I came home to find that my mother had given my bike away. She assumed I didn't need it anymore. I was quite upset that she would give away my bike without even asking me, but it was too late. One of my college roommates in my junior year at the University of Wisconsin was named Al Schroeder. He was a year ahead of me and hailed from New Glarus. He owned a 10-speed Schwinn Collegiate bike. When he graduated, his draft board was breathing down his neck so he enlisted in hopes of not being sent to Viet Nam. He sold me his bike for $10. Years later, I gave it away when I moved, but I can't remember where I was moving from or to. While working on my PhD in Environmental Science and Engineering I worked with a post-doc from Switzerland named Christian Leuenberger. He was a big tall guy. I went hiking with him one time in New Hampshire and he just walked right up some of the granite outcroppings without breaking a sweat. Since I had my camera along with I kept stopping to take pictures. I didn't really need those photographs, I just needed to catch my breath. I couldn't keep up with that guy! When he finished up his year as a post-doc and was moving back to Switzerland he sold me his old 10-speed Raleigh Grand Prix for, I think, about $50. Just before we moved from Portland I sold it for $40 to a guy who was primarily interested in it for its leather seat. Last year Eric surprised his mother by having her long unused completely flat-tired 5-speed Schwinn bike fixed up and ready to ride again. As a result, I thought it would be nice to have another bicycle so that we could take rides together. Last weekend, Bike-O-Rama came to Madison and I went to see what was available. As luck would have it, I found a nice red Raleigh Detour 3.0 that seemed like a nice fit. Unlike my previous bikes, this one was brand new.
Here it is. I even got a cool bike helmet that makes me look like I know how to ride and one of those impressive water bottles. What do you think? End of 'My
First New Bicycle' Entry |
