When I was ten, in 1974, it seemed everyone in my small town was on a 10 speed bicycle. But at that age, all of the frames were too big for me yet, though I desperately wanted to graduate from my knockoff stingray bike to a "real racing bike". Just a few years later, when I turned into a teenager, and could ride my sister's then abandoned Western Auto ten speed, the fad was over, and none of my friends were remotely interested in bikes. In a small Kansas town, when kids on farms could get a drivers permit at age 14, all my buddies were already salivating over their first car. Our only bicycling adventure together consisted of a ride to a small neighboring town, a mere five miles away. And on that ride, my buddies abandoned me halfway way there and I ended up finishing alone. It wasn't till college, and then just barely then, did I find individuals who were interested in bicycling. I hung out with a lot of people who were on the college crew team, and as a form of exercise when not on the river, they turned to bicycling. But, even then, the rides with companions were far between and few. So, I've road alone for most of my riding my entire life. To this day, I haven't fully examined why I have chosen to ride a bicycle through my lifetime. I know a bicycle was one of the earliest things that I yearned to possess. And maybe it was a sporting activity I could reconcile with my inner being that I was good at, seeing as I had no way to know, no competition to measure myself by. I guess I've always enjoyed the extra thrill and speed it provided over just running (which I've also done in my life, but know by measuring against others that I'm only marginally acceptable at). I would like to hear stories of your mentors, so I can be jealous of you.
