First Bike

If it had been the US, it probably would have been a Schwinn but this was Canada so it was a used red CCM (Canadian Cycle & Machine Company) one speed coaster bike. A bit too big for me at eight but I’d grow into it, or so I was told. The first few days were hell as I fell frequently, no training wheels for boys, and once crashed into the back of a parked car. But I persevered and soon was able to enjoy the vastly increased mobility to visit fiends and places that had formerly been out of reach. With our bikes, my friends and I extended our range from the Calgary’s western suburbs (now considered city core) to Nose Hill, Bowness Park, down a gravel path (now a paved bike trail) on the Bow River to the Zoo and even Cochrane. Our adventures were not without perils, once my chain broke going down Nose Hill, which on a coaster bike means NO Brakes, and I was saved from sure disaster only because the chain wrapped around my rear axle and stopped the bike. But we all survived, at least until motorcycles and cars became our mode of transportation.