Back in My Day, I Biked 25 Miles to School, Both Ways, Up Hill, in the Snow, in July

[rcannon100]

@Birdstrike 85303 wrote:

I’ve only been cycling about eight years…started taking the MVT from the trail head to the Pentagon…not very long ago but compared to the activity I see now, long enough to say, “I was cycling in DC metro before cycling was cool…”

Okay, I know DIRT will likely win this competition…. but here is the Back in My Day Competition. What annoying thing can you tell your grandchildren about Back in your Day?

Back in my day, I can remember when all of the Bike to Work Day pitstops could be counted on one finger ~ it was Freedom Plaza.

Back in my day, I can remember when there wasnt a FMR connector from Shirlington to MVT. Ya had to go over that stupid pedestrian bridge over 395 into a residential community, get lost for a while, and then somehow you made it east to MVT.

I can also remember the first time I did the Arlington Loop. I thought I had done the most amazing cycling achievement!

Back in my day, I remember when trains, honest to goodness trains!, ran down the CCT.

Topic

[dkel]

Blue Huffy Omni-10. Treated that thing like a cross bike. I don’t know what became of mine, but I know that my parents’ garage got crushed by a falling tree in a storm last year, so even if it had been in there, it’s gone now! It was a piece of crap bike, but I loved it, especially the matching blue tires.

[KLizotte]

Back in my day bikes had memory foam on the handlebars; none of this tape stuff that has to replaced every year. The foam lasted forever though I dare not think about how much skin cells, sweat, and dirt accumulated over the years….

[cvcalhoun]

Back in my day, bikes had 2 or 3 speeds. Mine had 2. If you back-pedaled a little bit; it changed gears; if you back-pedaled the whole way, it braked. Hand controls were limited to steering.

[JustinW]

Back in my day, if you had a bike, it was your *only* bike, and thus it was an all-purpose steed. Making rubber tracks from fishtailing? Got it. Jumping dirt berms in the woods nearby? Nailed it. Racing other kids downhill? All set. Riding around town to do stuff that kids do? Yup. Riding it on a muddy C & O Towpath such that the space between the fenders and the tires was clogged with mud? Too much fun. Hitting that curb pop-out and going head over heels due to watching the college girls at AU playing softball INSTEAD of watching where I’m going? Loved it…tho my mom was less pleased with the result. How did that bike survive my “care” I’ll never know….

[dbb]

@consularrider 85394 wrote:

We could only dream about owning a Schwinn Varsity.

My Varsity was that lemon yellow color. Because I feared for its loss, I carried a chain and lock that likely weigh as much as my CAAD 10 today. Dreams of that nature today would be classified as nightmares.

[Rootchopper]

BIMD I had a Raleigh three speed that worked great until a pedal snapped off at 20 miles per hour and I had to eat the gravel at the side of the road. Helmets? Shmelmets!

BIMD I had a ’78 Raleigh Grand Prix with Flickstand and downtube mounted Sun Tour click shifters. (They were friction shifters with a little metal ratchet inside.) It saw me through six years in New England, and several Providence to Boston to Providence rides. (Danger, Will Robinson!)

BIMD, there were very few water fountains in the parks around DC. I went for a 60+ mile bike ride on a 100+ degree day with no water bottles (in New England it rarely got hot enough to need water bottles.) I got heat exhaustion.

BIMD Mount Vernon Trail ended with a nasty switch back instead of that long steady climb. Lots of crashes there.

BIMD you rode a road bike with drop bars and suffered, dammit!

[Author]

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