As far back as I can remember, even as a kid in Europe, my mom always had a bike and ferried me around on the back long before I could ride (the last one I can specifically recall was a purplish Murray 3sp, after we moved to the US).

My first bike was some kind of red & white Schwinn kid's bike, cruiser-style; when the training wheels came off, I used to ride to the store & back with my mom.

I outgrew that bike & I got a pea-picker 5sp Stingray for my 9th birthday. After I was about 13, I didn't ride bikes for a while. When I was 15, I bought my best friends' older sister's orange Varsity, and rode that through high school (when my car didn't run) and into college; it was great for getting around campus.

At 24, I sold the Varsity & switched to a mountain biking with a Trek 930, and I rode it exclusively for 14 years (I still bothered to have a car in those days).

Eventually injuries & joint damage forced me into being a roadie, and a move to Portland cajoled me into loving it. Since then, I've pursued three paths of evolution: my commuter, my sport bike, and my all-rounder, which run as follows:

Commuter- Trek 930> '93 Trek 820 (650b)> '93 Bridgestone XO-3; '91 Trek 820 (650b)> '84 Panasonic 'City Bike' (650b). Future: '89 Bridgestone Atlantis (650b). (Keeping the Panasonic, 930, & the XO-3.)

Road- '03 Fuji League (Toyo-built; Shimano 105)> '02 LeMond Buenos Aires (D/A); '97-ish Torelli Corsa Strada (Shimano 105). Future: '97-ish Pinarello Asolo (Campagnolo Daytona/10). (Keeping the LeMond & the Pina.) No interest in C/F (no need for it).

All around- '89 Bridgestone RB-2 (Shimano 600)> '09 Soma Smoothie (Shimano 105). Future: '81 Toei Randonneur. (The Soma is still a keeper, btw.)

I guess I should point out that as of this coming St. Patrick's day, I'll have been car-free for nine years (the transmission on my last Saab conked out the day after St. Paddy's, 2004; I never did get around to having it fixed).

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