Bikin' in the rain

These days we see a lot of bikers along Park Ave. No. and, especially, Lake Wa. Boulevard. They have vivid color- coordinated outfits, safety helmets, multi-geared machines and aerodynamic pants. Back in the good 'ol days we biked around Kennydale without any special gear, either on our persons or bikes. I don't think I ever saw a bike helmet (or car kiddie seat for that matter) 'til I was 40 years old.

Our youthful adventure in the bull pasture apparently didn't discourage us from doing stuff together because several years later - 1956, maybe, when I was 14 - Oan, Jimmy Chapman and I decided to try a long bike ride on a showery spring day. Our destination was Snoqualmie where my paternal grandparents lived. Oan had a Schwin "Tiger" that actually did have two speeds; he loaned a bike to Jimmy and I rode my "route bike", a wide handle bar baloon tire Schwin that you didn't shift, but "pumped".

We went up the I-90 alinement - as you can imagine, not what it is today and made it to Snoqualamie, where grandma let us dry out and gave us some lunch. We returned via Fall City, Woodinville and roads that would later sort of link up to become the locally infamous I-405. I believe we measured it at 58 miles total. It was dark and we were soaked and pooped when we got safely home. Now, 58 miles in a day is a fairly easy ride, but what we did on that trip in those conditions was a real achievement even if, as our parents noted, a "crazy thing to do".