Fifty Plus (50+) - How many?

ncbikers brought up an interesting question. He wondered how many, if any, of us had earned a Bicycling Merit Badge back during their Scouting days.

He did.

I did also, as a Boy Scout in troup #138.

As I recall the requirements were to have completed six 25 mile rides, one 50 mile ride, and demonstrate a basic ability to perform routine maintainance and repairs to your bike. I rode my old Columbia all over the County that summer. Who says you can't tour on a Coaster Brake Cruiser?

I can even remember my Dad driving me to the moderator / counselor's nice stucco house on West Ridge Road between Lake Ave. and the Veterans Bridge. I can remember being a bit nervous about meeting and talking with him. He was swell and I was proud to have earned that badge. I wonder where it is now?

Any other Bicycling Merit Badge holders out there?

Not me. My parents pulled me out of Scouting after Cub Scouts. :fight:
My boys lost interest after the first year of Boy Scouts. I tried beating them and then tried paying them but neither tactic worked. :rolleyes:

Boy Scouts? I got kicked out of Cub Scouts for making (and lighting off) fireworks. Got the ingredients at the local drug store & hardware store, researched how to do it at the library.

Today chemistry is part of my job - hazardous materials and OSHA/Industrial hygeine specialist.

Ironic, isn't it?

I quit Boy Scouts after one meeting, but as an adult merit badge counselor I've taught the Cycling merit badge to around 30 kids. Ride requirements are two tens, two fifteens, two twenty-fives, and a fifty. Non-riding requirements are around safety, on-road skills, and bike maintenance. I typically offer three rides a week (Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday) all summer starting at five miles and working up to the fifty by summer's end. I've never had a Scout start the badge who didn't finish, including some kids who were marshmallows at the start of summer.

I never joined the scouts, ( That I can remember ) but i may have joined the local group informally on occasion.

I also never had a bike until I was about 30 ( Bicycle that is, had mopeds and motorcycles from 16 ) Don't even remember learning to ride as a kid.

Explorer Scout for 6 months.
Swimming and camping. Nothing with bikes.

I was in Boy Scouts for a very short time; got kicked out for laughing during the prayer. Dishonorable Discharge.

I would never laugh at a boy getting a Merritt Badge, however, that was quite an accomplishment.:thumb:

I was a Cub Scout all the way though Webelos, but quit Boy Scouts while still aspiring to Second Class due chronic allergy problems while on camp-outs (my frequent doctor visits were slowly-but-steadily draining my parents' bank account) and frequent hazing by more "senior" Scouts (you'd think they'd want to encourage membership - guess again). My discovery of cycling as an "adult" sport came a few years later in the early 1970s when I was in High School. IF I'd stayed in the BSA I'd probably eventually have gone after the cycling merit badge. Then again, as an atheist (currently posing as a mild-mannered liberal Presbyterian in a great metropolitan city) I probably would have been kicked out before making Eagle since the BSA is run by "believers".

I was a Boy Scout in the late '50s...I'm not even sure they had a cycling merit badge then. I got one for canoeing, though. We had to do a 50-mile trip, which we did in the Sacramento River Delta, camping on the levees overnight. Whole area is subdivisions and strip malls now.
Still a good place to ride, though, if you stay away from the highways.

I was a Boy Scout in the 1960s and though we did a lot of hiking, camping and water sports, no cycling. My brother who is five years younger worked on this merit badge but I don't know if he got it.
I did get my first nice bike while in scouts. A fellow scout sold me his English 3-speed - a Monarch believe - for $20.00 after his parents got him a Schwin 10-speed. The bike was a good buy even though I was only making $1.52 an hour in my part-time job at a grocery store.
My scouting experience has been a big help to my cycling. I recognize trees, flowers, birds and other animals and when touring the camping skills learned as a scout have come in handy. Building a fire, setting up a tent, cooking on a camp stove and first aid are some of the things that trace back to that time. I did earn 21 merit badges and achieved Eagle.

As a boy scout, I began to lose interest in merit badges when I discovered girl scouts.

I was in Boy Scouts until I left for college, still have contact with my old troop, which just celebrated it's 90th annversary, with the same scout master for the last 40 years. My son is an Eagle Scout. Neither of us earned the cycling merit badge, go figure.

... and frequent hazing by more "senior" Scouts ....
Hazing is why I quit after one meeting. Anything that could be considered hazing is now disallowed, much to the disapproval of many older Scout leaders.


As a boy scout, I began to lose interest in merit badges when I discovered girl scouts.
Fumes get to most boys before they reach Eagle. Perfumes, car fumes. So they say.


I was in Boy Scouts for a very short time; got kicked out for laughing during the prayer. Dishonorable Discharge.

I would never laugh at a boy getting a Merritt Badge, however, that was quite an accomplishment.:thumb:

It's one of the harder merit badges, I think.

Didn't think there was a cycling badge when I was in the Scouts. But our group was into canoeing and that did hold me in good stead later in life in the Marines.

But 45-50 years ago- Scouting was different. I lived in the country and We used to go camping with no tents (Had to find natural shelter) We started the year planning a trip the next year for 5 canoes and we only had 3 (Had to make the other two) Decided to have a BBQ- with no bought food- but we already knew how to snare rabbits and pluck Pheasants.

If we had a biking challenge- we probably had to do it without bikes knowing our leader.

I was a "scout" for a couple of months in the 1960's. I quit. I couldn't stand for the bullying of anyone that didn't conform to their ideal in terms of religion.