The Bicycle With A Past

     

          It is funny how some words acquire an abominable feeling about them even when you mean them in a very positive light. I, and I'm sure you do too, always equate the word "past" with a very dubious feeling that means that many years ago, so and so, did some bad things that some people still know about and whisper about to their friends when they see them slinking around pretending to be better than they used to be. However, that is not what this post is about, but the bike this post is about does have a past, but not in that it used to drink, or do drugs, or cheat, or be in a ska band way of thinking. 

          The bike in question is a 1982 Huffy Bay Pointe 3-Speed cruiser; back when Huffy still made good steel framed bikes in the great city of Dayton, Ohio. Strange to think that less than 30 years ago, most bikes were made right here in the US of A. I wish they still were, but I digress as usual. The Huffy was purchased at Sears in Fitzgerald, Georgia and was used very heavily during the years 1983-1985 on the streets of the Colony City. I know all this because I found this bike in the rafters of my in-laws' storage building at their farm. They used to ride good ole' Sweet Melissa around when she was a little tike. This little tidbit of information makes my use for the bike even that much sweeter for me and us. 

   

        Over the past several months, I have been doing a lot of reading about bikes and bicycle components and have been doing my share of plotting on trying to get my palms on an older American built, steel framed bike, but it seemed like I was only finding three options (1. It was very, very expensive. 2. It was rusted out so much, it wasn't worth trying to remodel and it was still pricey. 3. It was somewhere like Chicago and it was pricey) when I found a bike that I thought might do the trick. And so when I saw the Huffy sitting there all by it's lonesome there in the dusty rafters, I made a mental note of it when the time came for me to need a bike perfect for a copilot. 

         When Father's Day was coming around this year, I knew that this was the time I had been waiting for since April 26th of last year. As I have said before, there were two things I had been looking forward to ever since Melissa told me that we were going to have a baby and those two things were 1) Putting FH in the jogging stroller and heading out and 2) Putting FH in a baby bike seat and heading out. The latter is something both my parents and Mel's parent's did with both of us and I knew it was something I wanted to do with Ford. I asked Mel if she and FH had any plans this year as far as gifts go and they said they didn't, so I sprung at the chance to rescue the bike from the rafters, clean it up, take it to the miracle workers at Cherry St. Cycles for new tires and a tune up, find the best baby bike seat within our price range, and then ride off into the sunset with my Krewe. 

        Baby bike seats are a tricky and semi-controversial subject these days. I didn't know that till I went to start doing my homework on them. A lot of bicycle shops don't and won't carry them because it makes their business insurance go up so much. And Dick's Sporting Goods is phasing them out for much of the same reason. You can find them freely on the internet, but then again, what can't you find freely on the Net? The new trend in carting your offspring around by bike is the bike trailer. It reminds me of a roller coaster seat and when I borrowed one from a friend and tried it out, it also reminded FH of one too, but he has yet to enter the gates of Six Flags. He looked like he was terrified when we would come to a stop even when we were going a blazing 8 mph. 

        So, we decided that no matter how many nasty looks we got, we would go with the baby bike seat. We all did our research and we decided the best bang for our buck lay in the Bell Classic Bicycle Child Carrier. Once this was decided upon, we loaded up the car and headed out to see what we could see in the great city of Maconga. After several stops at stores who let us down, we bottled up all our shopping courage and found just what we needed at Academy Sports. We took the seat to the register and gave them the cold hard cash and made a quick stop by Target for a baby bike helmet and then headed home to get things going. 

        As soon as we got home, I grabbed the bike, FH's wagon, some tools, some toys, and some cold waters, and we got to work. The directions were very easy to follow, which is and was a change for me, and between Mel, Ford, and myself, we got the seat on in about a half hour. As you can see from the pictures, the whole family came out to see what exactly was going on. We had dogs milling about, chickens nosing around, a baby banging tools and toys in the metal bottom of his wagon, and two college grads working through some amateur sketches from the Bell company. I am sure it was quite a scene. And then came the time I had been really waiting for: time to ride!

       I got my helmet out and Mel put FH's new helmet on, of which he was far past skeptical of, and we slowly walked down our little driveway with great anticipation and great caution. I have been riding bikes for a long time, but I am not the best of riders and I had a very tough learning curve back when I was first learning to ride in the first place. I acquired the nickname, "Clyde Crash-Cut", back when my dad was pushing me and trying to get me to not run into every other mailbox on Lois Drive. The exact day I earned my nickname, my family was doing a youth group bike ride and I proceeded to ride down a very steep hill while shouting back to my parents, "Where are the brakes?". I did not want the sequel to this moment to be made with FH on the back and if you would have scene the reservation in the eyes of our sweet Melissa as we headed off, you wouldn't have either. 

     Once we hit Hines Terrace, I got on and we rode to the end of the our street and back and knew things were going to be just fine. The Bay Pointe was a great ride and FH was a hesitant, but amicable co-pilot. Mel got her bike out and we went for a little two or three mile family bike ride and it was and is something I will never forget. They couldn't have given me any better Father's Day gift even if they would have tried. 

     Since that day, FH and I have ridden close to a 75 miles all around Macon and we have had such a great time. We ride for a little while and if we see something worth stopping for then we just stop for a while. We hit the parks, bookstores, fountains, and other great little pit stops. We have even ridden a time or two to breakfast. Mel joins us on occasion and we turn it into a real family affair. We started out with some short rides and have now stretched them out to a couple of rides of 10 miles and then 15. We always take it slow and easy. I added a basket to carry our things in and that has gotten us a couple of laughs from a few youths near our house, but that's okay because they don't have cold waters and some Cheddar Bunnies and we do. Our main goal is to just ride and look around and I'm pretty fine with it always being the goal. 

Happy Slow and Easy Riding,

    David