Do you have a favorite memory of biking? Bikes are part of the very fabric of childhood for many of us, at least my childhood in the middle class suburbs of Orange County, CA.
My favorite memory is from high school, biking from my family’s home in Anaheim to Newport Beach. I would bike along the dusty Sana Ana Riverbed, on a bike trail that was not very well traveled. I always cycled alone and was usually the only person on that route. Nowadays, most teenagers would not cycle alone on a deserted path an hour and an half each way, but the 1970s were a different time. Kids played outside more, without parental supervision, and we all (mostly) turned out okay.
I would ride to Newport Beach almost every weekend, just for the pleasure of the trip and of seeing the beach when I arrived. Sometimes, I would go out to the pier, eat ice cream or a burger (or both), or take the small ferry to quaint Balboa Island.
For a suburban kid in the 70s, a bike meant freedom.