A Bike and a Bucket List

I coulda been a contender

I was an athletic kid.

As youngsters in the 1960s, we didn’t have cutting-edge technology to entertain us. It was a simpler time, and that simplicity prevented us from becoming couch potatoes. We had three channels on our 17-inch black and white TV set. We’d watch cartoons on Saturday mornings, but when we got bored with Mr. Magoo and Quick Draw McGraw, we got together with friends and burned off our energy outdoors.

This old bicycle has seen many exciting adventures.

We’d play baseball in a field we groomed specifically for the purpose, complete with bases made from burlap bags and straw. We’d get a football game going in an empty neighborhood lot. We’d measure off 50 and 100 yards on a nearby street and run sprints using a stopwatch borrowed from someone’s dad.

And we’d ride bikes.

As I got a little older, I was one of the stronger ones in my gym class at school. I excelled at wrestling, track, football, and weightlifting. The coach often encouraged me to join the football team, but my grades were poor, and I could seldom make eligibility.

Throughout my years of adulthood, I wanted desperately to get involved in a sport I could call my own. I tried golf, but that didn’t feel right. I also bowled for a while and became quite good, but these sports weren’t physical enough to hold my…