I still have that bike, and it’s still in great shape, mostly because I so rarely ride it. We take it out on a couple of (flat) trails, and I ride it around the neighborhood in the evenings from time to time. I am the very happy owner of a silver 1999 Trek 800, which still has the knobby tires for gripping the dirt but a somewhat more upright position which is better for my weak shoulders. After throwing myself off the bike twice (and with great flourish), and feeling the pain of a beyond-empty wallet, I sell the Iguana for a piddling amount of cold, hard cash and pay a phone bill with it.Ī few years later, my then-boyfriend secretly joins forces with my dad to buy me a new bike for Christmas. I ride it to and from the supermarket on occasion, and that’s it. At the time that I move to Colorado, my dad and his wife bequeath to me one of their two Giant Iguanas, with the statement that “I think it’s the law that you have to have one of these if you live in Boulder, right?” I am blissed. At that point in time, the only adults who rode bikes did it for sport and I was no athlete.ġ971 Schwinn Hollywood: “Graceful styling and a delight to ride.”įast forward a number of years, and mountain biking has taken off. I eventually outgrew the Sprint and on the very rare occasion that called for a teenager on a bike, I’d borrow my sister’s semi-abandoned Schwinn Collegiate. It didn’t have the pizazz and style of the Hollywood, but having gears was a bonus. A perfectly serviceable bike, and I rode many miles on it. This was moving up in the world! It wasâ€¦okay.

Again a Schwinn, my silver Sprint had a full 10 speeds.

When I was in 6th or 7th grade, I got my very first New Bike. Every spring I would sit in the driveway with a bottle of chrome polish and a shop rag, and my tiny fingers would lovingly polish the fenders, the wheels, the spokes. When my knees started hitting the handlebars, I graduated to a (hand-me-down) violet Schwinn Hollywood with coaster brakes. When I was wee, I had a (hand-me-down) red Murray tricycle.

Raleigh catalog 1972