Kaya Mawa Sailor: Mountain Biking for Seniors

Trail by Lee Mountain

Been riding bicycles for a long time. My mother Edith had a girls bike with 26 inch wheels that was her Catalina Island ride and it had a small rack over the rear fender. The rear wheel was covered with strings that prevented the skirt from getting tangled in the spokes. I am not sure how old I was but I would straddle the sloping down tubes and pedal standing up.

My hybrid

Then my father got me a 24 inch balloon tired used bike. I can't remember crashing it but the front fork had to be replaced and it was a reddish primer color that didn't match the frame. The rubber block pedal were smashed up so I just rode the spindle. One day the front tire was low so I rode over to the gas station on the next block and attempted to put air in the tire and used too much air and blew up the tube and tore a hole in the sidewall, My father got another tube and put a boot in the tire that made it look like a giant tumor.

GT Hard Tail

I rode that bike for awhile until one Christmas I got a 26 inch JC Higgins from Sears. Top of the line for Sears, After awhile the crank got bent and started to rub against the chain cover. I rode it to school a couple of times then parked it. My neighbor went to Lincoln Junior High and he was a couple years older than me. He had a morning paper route and was constantly changing parts he got from Pep Boys. Pep Boys actually had a small section of bicycles parts. There were bicycles stores in Santa Monica but we liked Pep Boys.

29 inch hard tail

When I reached junior high at John Adams Junior High School there was a good size bicycle parking area that was fenced and locked during school hours. After school we would race around the fenced area pretending that we were on motorcycles.

in the mountains

That is when I started to customize my Sears piece of shit. I added butterfly handlebars and a tall goose neck. Threw away the front fender and chain guard and chopped the rear fender. Installed a new leather seat and decent pedals.

riding with my dog

From this point in my life the downhill slide started when I got a paper route in the morning with the Los Angeles Examiner that started at 4 AM. I had to add a rear news paper rack. A heavy duty tube and bigger rear tire. So my thirty dollars income went directly to the bicycle shop at 4th and Broadway. Cycle and Sports was on the corner and the bike shop was in the rear and the main sporting good was up front. I became an indentured servant. Ernie and a deal with the Examiner whereas carriers could get credit to purchase necessary repair parts to keep things rolling.

dry creek

So I started hanging around the bike shop and when summer came I got a job full time. The paper route lasted maybe six months but the love and interest in bicycles continued.