We grew up in Southwest Philadelphia in the 60s and 70s, loads of hills and bumps, only place with dirt trails was across the creek and we weren't allowed to cross the Parkway.

But I do miss riding so very much.

Ignore the odd carpet and please allow me to introduce Max, my first dog who slept with me (every young lad's dream) the first night I met him when I came home for Christmas leave in '79. Little chickensh*t was like terrified of cameras but he was my best bud.

Hi, I had a girl's Schwinn blue bike with a basket and a personalized license plate. Love riding all over, to school the neighborhood, etc.. Still have the plate!

I don't know if I can find a picture, but my grandfather found a second-hand Schwinn touring bike with 2.5" tires, a rack to strap something I was carrying to, and headlights where I would put 6 "D" batteries into the frame of the bicycle itself. I had that thing for years, changed inner tubes and tires so many times, and traveled my world, sometimes riding without holding onto the handlebars. I was very young and had no concept of safety, but here I am none the wiser.

Okay, I may have exaggerated about not finding a picture; I tried, but this is as close looking as to what I had. I was 12-15 when I had it and the memory is quite fuzzy. Mine was also a royal blue with white detailing.

My dad had a habit of hobbin something together from recycled bike parts. He'd repaint it in an ugly color with flat paint. I always wanted a cool bike. I know that I'd live without it, but my dad did that, pretending we were poor.
That embarrassed me!
I made sure that that didn't happen to my kids!
I was sure to give them everything I wanted, yet didn't have back then.

@A MyDepressionTeam Member That bike sounds so cool. I would have loved that bike. I rode my bike, "all over carnation", like my dad always said. We lived 7.5 miles outside of town. When I was younger I couldn't go past our neighborhood but I went a lot further than dad actually knew. I knew my mom only stood in the front door and watched for a minute and then she'd sit down and fall asleep. There were a lot of dirt roads and trails to ride on with a lot of bumps and small hills. I had a siberian huskey and a springer spaniel that I took with me. I tied my huskey's leash to the front of my bike and he took off and that was super fun until he went into the ditch and there were tons of small trees that I got slapped in the face with until I crashed. I am surprised I never broke a bone.

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