Saturday, January 8, 2011

"Laps around Birdland" takes on a whole new meaning in the winter. My 29-inch wheeld MTB cuts through the snow better than anything and I'll take some cold, tough cranking through the snow over fifteen minutes on the treadmill any day. Out there today I was thinking about the last bike I rode that did so well in the snow. It wasn't even mine, it was my Dad's Schwinn Spitfire. This is just one I found on the line, but Vern's was a lot like this (He didn't have an International Scout either). A bike like this seems normal for a Dad to have in the early 80s but not for my Dad. He hated Schwinn because they used all "proprietary" equipment. I didn't really understand that animosity until later in the bike shop, trying to replace a headset bearing or even a tire, and not having the proper "Schwinn size" to complete the job. Anyrate, I'm not sure why he had this bike, it kind of appeared out of nowhere and disappeared later in a similar fashion, but while it was at our house I did some work on that thing with those big, wide tires and heavy weight plowing through the snow better than a skinny-tired BMX bike. I vividly remember a full-speed flat track inspired slide into Ben's driveway after cruising down the hill from my house to his.

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