My Bike Then, My Bike Now

David Hogan
Leeds, Al

I got my first bike later than most kids as we simply didn't have the money to buy bikes for four kids in our family. So, I walked, and I walked a lot, from the time I was in first grade, all the way up to about age 12, when I got a bike from money I saved cutting grass in the neighborhood.

Pretty soon I realized those walks I used to make in the summer from near Belcher Lumber Company in West End, over to Legion Field and other "far off" places to an adolescent, were now just a bike ride away. 

The bike to me at the ripe old age of 12 was independence and freedom!  It was also a way I cleared my head in solitude, as well as being a way to meet up with friends.

I recently read an article with the writer lamenting their feelings on why everyone doesn't "ride the right way" anymore.  Hmmmm.

Fast forward 46 years later and my bike(s) are still independence and freedom to me.  Additionally, they are a means to hook up with others and share a bike ride with friends. What they are not, is something where someone is going to tell me what I can ride, how I am supposed to ride, when I am supposed to ride, and who I am supposed to ride with.  To do so would be to spit in the face of the freedom and independence my bikes have brought to me for almost half a century!

You enjoy your ride, and I'll enjoy mine, and just maybe we'll have some great rides together too.