Originally Posted by
WhyFi
Ha - awesome!
Not bike-related, but... I used to go to college parties in Duluth pretty regularly. On one such trip, I brought a friend with me - really nice guy, handsome enough, but kind of dorky and a virgin, at ~20 years old. He met a girl at the party and excitedly asked if he could borrow my car to take her back to her place. The problem was that my car was a stick, he didn't know how to drive a stick, and (even in my inebriated state) I was unwilling to let him try to figure it out on the steep streets of Duluth. The next day, he was a crestfallen that something like not being able to drive a stick had kept him from finally losing his virginity, but he acknowledged that it was probably the right call.
Great story. Driving a stick in Duluth, especially in winter, starting from an uphill stop with another car behind you, was quite a challenge. One of my sons always buys manual transmission cars. Not that he's a car guy, he bikes more miles than he drives, but no one ever wants to borrow his cars.
No virginity lost on the night I related either, nor for quite a while thereafter. Billy Joel described my dilemma perfectly when he sang, "You Catholic girls start much too late." To get somewhat back on topic: Do I remember correctly that, back in the day, we called the top tube the crossbar? BTW we still ride "English 3 Speeds" though with S5 5 speed guts in the AW shells.