My First Bike Was a JC Higgins

This Looks like a Worthy Book

This all started with a reminder of “Third Places” at Carbon Trace. Jon Grinder poked at it a little more in “Bicycle Stories,” when he recollected a memorable bike crash he had, here. I’ve only had two really memorable bike crashes, one of which was summarized here. This post is about the other crash. It was in Seattle around 1961 or thereabouts. John Kennedy was President and Ronald Reagan hadn’t yet started hosting “Death Valley Days.” I don’t recall exactly how the red JC Higgins bike showed up. I thought it was great, though some of the sentiments in the book later developed as I got further up in the elementary school pecking order. I haven’t been able to read the book yet, but it has been added to my list. Considering that it is #3,163,675 on the Amazon “most popular” list, I suspect it won’t be available through interlibrary loan or in an electronic format.



Excerpt from the book

Today, the bicycle market has proliferated, with many variations in bike style and usage. In the early 1960’s, bikes were for kids in the US, and they were overwhelmingly much like my bike. Tank bikes were for rich kids. A few people got “English Roadster” bikes. I don’t remember my own bike ever having fenders. That bike was WONDERFUL. We rode everywhere in Seattle. There weren’t any bike lanes or helmet laws. What is now the Burke Gilman Trail was the “Seattle, Lake Shore and Eastern Railway.” Heck, nobody I knew had ever even heard about bike helmets. It would be many years hence before I even got a “hair net” cover.



My JC Higgins bike didn't have fenders or a rack, but otherwise it was RED and a lot like this one

NE 60 Street, Looking UP Towards Bryant Elementary

We rode on the street. Occasionally, we’d ride on a sidewalk, but in the days before ADA, the curbs went right around the corners and the blocks were short, so the main reason to ride on a sidewalk was so you could get a little air when you flew off the curb. In my neighborhood, one of the big attractions was the big hill leading up to Bryant Elementary School in Seattle’s Ravenna neighborhood. Actually, the big deal to this hill was not where it led going UP, but the return back DOWN. With a good head of steam, you could apply your coaster brake and skid the bike for most of a block before coming to a stop. Perhaps this is where my love of skiing had its origins. There were no artsy fartsy stop signs or traffic calming circles like those that litter the neighborhood nowadays. What’s more, overprotective parents and school drop-offs by car were so rare as to be freakish. Back then, school crossing guards were fifth and sixth graders who considered being picked a privilege. When I went by Bryant, I was struck by the irony that the crossing guard was older than I am, but I was a crossing guard when I went to school there. I’m really somewhat surprised that all the times I shot down 60th street, that I never hurt myself or even crashed as far as I can remember. I guess cycling really IS pretty safe.

 

NE 60 Street, Looking DOWN - We Had None of those Round "Traffic Calming" Things to Keep Us from Glorious Braking and Epic Skids

  

Typical Trail in Ravenna Park, Seattle



The OTHER big attraction was Ravenna Park. Ravenna Park was and remains a wonderful place. It is full of trails and trees, and Ravenna Creek runs along the bottom of the ravine. We almost lived there during the summers. Just us kids. The trails were great places to ride. Our bikes, with their fat tires, functioned much as do mountain bikes today. Well, to avoid turning a short story into a long one, one day I was bombing down the main gravel trail, and somehow a stick got caught in my front wheel. A moment later, I was imitating the liftoff of an Atlas rocket as I launched over the handlebars. Somehow, while I got banged up a fair amount, I avoided head injuries and was back on the bike within a week or two. Life is good when you’re young and stupid – and lucky.

 

Scene of My Crash - FLYING Through the Air

 Still, Ravenna Park has many fond memories, one of which was my first memorable bike crash.

Even Ravenna is More Civilized Nowadays - Steps! Whoda Thunk It!





Steve A - Standing ON the Dinosaur (No, He isn't Actually a Dinosaur) With Siblings & Mom. Not Long Before the Crash