A Link to the Past

At Christmas of 1991, when I was in 9th grade, I was really excited to receive a new set of wheels. Not a car, my first of which was still over 2 years away, but a new Huffy Canyon 10-speed mountain bike.



I'd finally had somewhat of a growth spurt, and I was outgrowing my trusty Kent BMX dirt bike that I'd had since (probably) third or fourth grade.

My golden age of, biking, when two neighborhood friends and I would ride all over surrounding neighborhoods and trails and build ever more dangerous bike ramps, was over, but I still got a fair amount of use out of the bike during high school and on trips home from college.

In June of 1999, shortly after graduating from college, I moved away from parents' house to Philadelphia, and left the bike behind, relying only on my feet, my trusty Neon and some not so trusty SEPTA buses for all my transportation needs. I moved three more times since then, including back to the York area, but the bike stayed in my parents' garage until they sold their house in 2006.

Since then, it's languished in our basement, tires dry rotted and brakes squeaky from disuse. Until this day.

My wife, Chris, is training for the Keystone Warrior duathlon in June, and so had gotten new tires on another 1992ish mountain bike that had belonged to my mother or sister. She's gotten new tires, and gone out riding several times over the last two weeks, and I decided I'd join her (on some rides, not the duathlon). We picked the bike up from the shop on Friday, and today after sitting idle since at least 1999, it rides again.

Having not ridden a bike in over a decade, I was not fast, and the bike does not shift well or have front brakes that work very well (which is my fault), but it was fun to discover that something I loved when I was much younger is still fun today.

I rode 5.3 miles, if Garmin is to be believed, in 33:46. I guess my next ride should be scheduled for 2023, but I'll probably try again later in the week or early next.