Ron Rides His Bike

Me, around 12 years old on my paper boy bike (the only picture I have of me on that sturdy bike)  1954

My first bicycle ride was when I was about ten years old. My Mom got me a paperboy job and I needed a bike to deliver those newspapers. 

I have very few pictures of my first bike unfortunately - this one taken by my brother Christmas Day 1954

I never had trouble riding a bike when I was that age. I was a paperboy for five years, quitting when I was fifteen years old because I thought I was too old to ride a bike. That notion seems quaint now doesn't it but back in the Fifties, only kids rode bikes. Adults didn't ride bikes. Oh sure, I saw those newsreels of adult Europeans and Asians riding bikes but hey, they were too poor to own cars.

My trusty paperboy bike 1954

From fifteen years old to my forties I didn't ride a bike. I had no need to. 

Then came a time when I lived in center city Philadelphia and bike riding by adults because socially acceptable. I bought a bike.  Most weekends weather permitting I would ride my bike from our townhouse in center city Philly to the Art Museum and do the Kelly Drive Loop. I thought nothing of the traffic I had to ride through to get to the Art Museum.  And oh how I enjoyed riding my bike on Kelly Drive around the Schuylkill River. Great exercise and the feeling of freedom one gets riding one's bike.

Me riding from Art Museum Philadelphia, PA 1976

Four four years (1976 to 1980) I regularly rode my bike in center city Philadelphia. When I vacationed every summer in Provincetown, Mass. 

Me in Provincetown, Mass taking a break from riding the National Seashore Bike Trail - 1980

I always rented a bike for my whole stay. However, when we moved out of Philadelphia to East Brandywine Township on our 7.875 parcel of hillside wooded land, I no longer had the need of a bicycle. I sold my bicycle to my boss.

Then we moved to Delaware. Nice, flat Delaware. About three years ago I saw an ad on the NextDoor app on my iPhone for a bicycle for sale. I responded to the ad to discover my neighbor right around the corner was selling his bike. I went down to take a look and a test drive and bought it for one hundred dollars.

After almost forty years I resumed riding a bike. Only now I was doing it with a much older body, an arthritic body. 

It wasn't too long until I fell off of my bike, seriously bruising the one on my lower left leg. Thank God I didn't break my leg. 

I was now unsteady on my bike. No longer was I the limber teenager or thirty-seven year old man hopping on my bike and hopping off with ease. Now I had to gingerly swing my leg over the bicycle seat to astride my bike. Once on my bike I'l all right but if a vehicle goes by too closely to me I'm afraid I'll lose my balance. I no longer have the confidence I had when I was much younger. The reason for that is that my arthritis (lower back, neck, hands) prevents me.  

But you know what folks, I'm still riding. 

Larry Rides My Bike

Larry on his bike (about 1955)

Last week when my old friend Lar was down for his annual birthday lunch, I invited him to ride my new bike.  

Back in the day, when Larry and I were teenagers, we used to bike everywhere in the small town where we live, Downingtown, Pennsylvania. The photo above is of one such trek on the outskirts of Downingtown that we made on one of our "adventures."  At that time in the Fifties you only had to travel a short distance outside of Downingtown and you were in "the country."  Nowadays in Downingtown everything is so developed that you would literally take your life into your hands to travel the congested highways and byways of today.  And bicycle helmets?  That was in the future my friends.  Back in those days the only "protection" we had on our noggins was our worn and sweaty baseball caps.

My brother John and I took one such trip to the "wilds" on Skelp Level Road.  Pictured above is Brother John on his bike, standing next to my trusty bike which I used for my paper route.  Oh how I wish I had taken more pictures of those times.  Too many of my photos of those days were of scenery, which is now of course totally useless. Where was my head?  I should have taken more pictures of people and asked people to take pictures of me but I was too shy back then. Painfully shy. Practically scared of my own shadow but that's a subject for another whole blog posting now isn't it?

Picture of a tree 1955

Above is one of my many "scene" photos that I took with my Kodak camera back in the Fifties.  Hey, I know I'm veering of the subject of "Larry Rides My Bike" but you know how I am when I start my stream of conscientious blog writing.  My (scatter) brain to my fingers and I just let it fly.  But seriously folks, I took so many photos like this back in the Fifties whilst riding around on my bike.  Well, you have to admit that even then I had an eye for composure.  Lot of good it did me though (HA!)  

Back to the subject at hand. Where I started this blog posting.  Is your head spinning now?  

So anyway, when Larry visited me last week I asked him if he wanted to take a ride on my new bike.  Here is a video of that episode of A Day In The Life Of Ron (and Lar).

As you can see from this video things have changed greatly in the ensuing fifty some years since Larry last rode a bicycle. Heck, I even have trouble getting on and off my bicycle now.  Ah for the times when we used to hop on and off our bikes Lar without giving it a second thought.