TrentonMakes Posted June 12, 2018 Share #1 Posted June 12, 2018 When I was around 15 I really started getting into cycling.... as I just told my wife it was around that time I went from a "kid riding a bike" to a "cyclist". We lived on a narrow two-lane County road with no posted speed limit (so 55 mph assumed), and no shoulders. I went off for rides, much of the time by myself, 10, 15, 20 miles maybe? There were a few routes I used to squeeze in between when I got home and dinner time (5pm when my dad got home). I rode in sneakers and cutoff shorts, but I had crocheted gloves and a red water bottle (my first Performance purchases) and I actually did wear an early Avenir helmet. I must have been a sight... Our daughter is now 15. We allow her and our son to tour the neighborhood but it's really, really hard to let them go farther than that. (However, I will take them for a ride tonight) It is hard to imagine being the parents of a 15-year old and letting them go off alone like that. Was it just a different time then? I did not grow up in the idyllic 1950s (if they really were idyllic). Actually, when I was a teenager I'd go off for long solo rides with no money, no ID, no pump or repair kit, and certainly no phone. What was I thinking? (I had to walk home about three miles once, a flat rear tire on a bike I'd just gotten the day before) 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kzoo Posted June 12, 2018 Share #2 Posted June 12, 2018 I remember at the age of 12 or 13 off on my bike to one of the local towns for the afternoon. I could be gone for hours. MoKzoo was sleeping (3rd shift nurse). As long as I was home in time for supper. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheep_herder ★ Posted June 12, 2018 Share #3 Posted June 12, 2018 Those were the 'Good Old Days'!!!! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisL Posted June 12, 2018 Share #4 Posted June 12, 2018 I did centuries with $5 for lunch, a water bottle and basic tools to fix a flat as a teenager. No cell phones and no support really. One time I was about 85 miles into a century and was cramping so bad I couldn't pedal. I called my mom to pick me up from a gas station and no freaking answer and no answering machine. I drank a bunch of water from a garden hose and just gutted out the last few miles. Yeah different times I guess. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrentonMakes Posted June 12, 2018 Author Share #5 Posted June 12, 2018 Age 15 was when I got that red Panasonic bike I still remember so fondly. After a couple Open Road ten-speeds from Montgomery Ward, this bike rode like a dream. It was definitely steel, but it was so much lighter than my other bikes, at the time I thought it was aluminum. A 27-inch (70 cm) frame right off the sales floor. The good old days indeed! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
late Posted June 12, 2018 Share #6 Posted June 12, 2018 Helicopter parenting is too much of a good thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrentonMakes Posted June 12, 2018 Author Share #7 Posted June 12, 2018 30 minutes ago, late said: Helicopter parenting is too much of a good thing. I knew someone would say this. And I don't disagree. That doesn't make it easy though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisL Posted June 12, 2018 Share #8 Posted June 12, 2018 42 minutes ago, TrentonMakes said: I knew someone would say this. And I don't disagree. That doesn't make it easy though. Man it's hard... I think my wife and I struck a good balance of let them bleed vs protecting against harm but I wouldn't let my kids do a lot of what my parents let me do. I don't know if that's helicopter parenting or not but different times dictate different parenting. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maddmaxx ★ Posted June 12, 2018 Share #9 Posted June 12, 2018 I'm not sure that todays kids are as capable. I'm also not sure if that's overprotective parents or not. There are a lot of competing influences at work. Not the least is the increase in population in the country since I was a kid. That might have tripled. It is more dangerous out there now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ralphie ★ Posted June 12, 2018 Share #10 Posted June 12, 2018 I thought you were gonna say when they named you Brain. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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