By Vaughn McGrath

Since the Summer when I was seven
and my neighbor Janet taught me how to ride my bicycle
without the training wheels, the bicycle has been spiritually attached to me.

I started out like most kids learning to ride a bike, with training wheels. One day my friend Billy (Janet's brother) and I decided that it was time to get rid of the training wheels so we took them off. Billy then spend most of the day trying to keep me from killing myself as I tried to ride sans training wheels. Janet came by and said that she had a better was of learning how to ride. Since Billy's program wasn't working I was ready for some suggestions. It was simple. Get on the bike in a level street with your foot on the curb. Set the peddle for the other foot just past the to of it's arc. Ready, go ... kick off from the curb and press down on the pedal and just keep peddling while looking straight ahead. And it worked! Away I went heading up the street! After going a few houses I made a w-i-d-e turn-around and headed back toward my house. That's where I tried to stop and ended up falling. It didn't discouage me a bit and withing a few minutes I was bicycling up and down the steet. Of course Billy ran home to get his bike and soon I was heading out down the street, further from my home than I'd ever before gone on my own. Since I was still pretty wobbly the ride was limited to just a couple of blocks in all directions around my house. The next Monday I wrode my bike to school for the first time. I felt so cool !

The Phantom and the The Huffy ::
At Christmas when I was eight, after we had opened all of our presents, Mom told my brother to go out in the garage and get a trash barrel to throw all of the wrappings into. My brother Stewart reluctantly set out through the snow for the garage (heck, he was having much too much fun playing with all of his new toys to want to bring back an empty trash can) ...

Waiting in the garage for my brother was a black and red 26" Schwin Phantom. This bike was the most beautiful thing a boy has ever seen and it looked like a small Harley~Davidson! It was really big and heavy with chrome. It was black and red with this big chrome spring on the front forks and a huge "gas tank" that held a horn. It also had wide stear-horn handlebars, a really wide western saddle-style seat, big enameled fenders, and a rear carrier that could hold up a horse. A few minutes later Stewart came running into the house screaming in joy about the Schwin! I was happy for Stewart because he really needed a newer bike because his old bike was a skinny, gold, "English" 3-speed. Nothing worked on it including the brakes and gears. It had no hand grips or complete pedals. His new bike was like receiving a Cadillac!

Stewart finally calmed down enough to catch his breath and tell us all about the Schwin. Finally Mom asked him where the trash can was that she had sent him to the garage to get. Stewart said that there wasn't one in the garage just the Schwin. So Mom gave my Dad a puzzled look and asked him if he knew were the other trash can was? Dad said he thought it was in the basement so my Mom told me to go and get it for her. I quickly scurried down to the basement so that I could get back to my new toys but, there at the bottom of the stairs, was a big box with a bow and my name written on it. Inside the box was a brand new red Huffy 26" bicycle! Now it was my turn to come running back to the living-room screeming about getting a new bike!

Too bad that we were in the midst of a Syracuse Winter! But don't think that the snow stopped me for long.

My next bike was this discusting green color! ::

I bought this 'lizard-green' bike from my roommate because it was a major upgrade from the "Harvard Sq." Bike. Where the last bike was really a boy's bike, the green one was a real touring bike with a light weight lugged frame and high pressure tires. If it just wasn't that chartreuse green!

As ugly as it was, it was a great tourning bike. After adding end-handlebar shifters, and a rear carrier to hold panyas and gear, I started to tour Boston and the surrounding areas. When I was 22 my girlfriend and I bike from Boston up to Mt. Sunapee in New Hampshire. The following year I rode this bike from Boston to Nova Scotia via Bar Harbor in Arcadia Maine. It took me four days to get to Arcadia so I spent a few days camping out there before taking a ferry to Nova Scotia. From there I biked my way back to Boston again.

This photo at left shows my bike just outside of Arcadia, Maine, loaded up with all of the gear that I used for camping. The front bag held a camera and three lenses.

Ginet with Reynolds Frame ::
This French bike with it's lightweight Reynolds frame was considered high-tech when I bought it in 1973. It got a lot attention from other bikers where ever I went. I added end-handlebar shifters, rear carrier, toe straps, water bottle, and an air-pump.

I rode this bike from Jacksonville in the north of Florida, down through Disney World, to the Okochobie. I also spent a week on a trip from Boston to Syracuse, NY. I had a good trip with my great friend David when we rode to the "Islands" and Cape Cod. From Newton, MA to Woods Hole for a ferry to Martha's Vineyard for a few days. Then a ferry to Nantucket Island for a few days, to Hyannas Port and around Cape Cod to Providencetown. A final ferry ride to Boston and a run through city streets back to Newton.

I took the Ginet to Martha's Vineyard many, many times, and there is so much to see around Boston that I put on hundreds of miles around here with day trips. This photo is from
Arnold Arboreatum. About a month after this picture I repainted it blue.

Last year I stripped the hardware down to the frame, cleaned everything, and reinstalled all of the parts along with new tires, cables, brake-pads, and handlebar tape. Ready for another 30-years!

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