I wrote this for a club newsletter
what was my first bike? I suspect like many of us, that the answer would depend on the context.

My first memories of what could be called cycling were riding on the back of my brother’s tricycle. I can also recall a Sears bike with a leopard skin print banana seat. It was the 70’s after all. I grew up in a small town in Missouri, and we lived next to the town cemetery. My brother and I would ride there after school, as long as there was not a funeral.

Then, like most of us, I “outgrew” bikes in high school. In 1993, I wound up in singles outdoors group in Saint Louis. During the summer months, they would go bicycling on the Katy trail (A rail-trail). Not knowing much, I bought a Magna “mountain bike” from Target. I remember that It had double chain rings, and friction shifting. I remember that the shifters would not stay in position. You had to hold the shifters in place to make it up hills.

This, in turn, led me to the local bike shop. The owner of that shop convinced me to put a 1991 Schwinn Voyageur Touring bike that he still had sitting around in 1994. It was 48cm that Tony(the owner) refitted with a mountain bike seat post and the world’s longest stem. It had 27-inch rims and suntour 7-speed bar end shifters and was several sizes too small. This in turn, led me to the local chapter of American Youth Hostels. I was promptly adopted by group know as the “old farts”. So if you think I ride like your grandmother, that’s because I learned to ride from one!
I've had a Couple of GT in the meantime, and have three bikes now: a Cannondale Road bike, A Cannondale Mountain Bike, and a Bike Friday