Old is Sometimes Just Fine

by Jim Eydmann

It seems that women like to buy new things while men enjoy keeping old things. This certainly is true around my house. I will not tell you about these old boots that I keep, as it would embarrass my wife.

About thirty-four years ago I had just joined the AYH (now HI-Gateway Council) and was riding a three-speed bike. I had ridden several rides with the AYH and had come to the conclusion that I was going to go big time and get a ten-speed bike. Back then that was the best you could do. I saw an article in the newspaper that read “Ten-speed bicycle for sale.”

The owner of that bicycle was a teenager who must have just bought his first car. He had this purple, heavy, Schwinn Varsity ten-speed bicycle for sale. I bought it for thirty dollars. It had racing handle bars which I would find out are called dropped handle bars and were invented by the Wright brothers. There was no guard to keep your pants from getting in the front sprocket. And best of all, on the front it said “Schwinn” and “Chicago” on it!

Of course when I first rode it I did not like those handle bars being so low, but soon it felt natural to me. And after a while I was using all ten of those gears. Back then we had a ride called “The Boone Trace” and I was talked into doing that ride. It was a two-day ride of about one hundred miles each day. The Schwinn Varsity carried me on both those days.

Thirty-four years later I still have that Schwinn Varsity and it has a lot of miles on it. The frame is scratched all over from the chain and lock I use to secure it. And I have dirtied many a pants leg by getting it caught in the sprocket. But I have taken care of the bike. Each winter I used to take the whole thing apart, clean it, wax it, grease it and reassemble it. Last year the spokes didn’t look too shiny anymore, even though they were always waxed, so I replaced almost all the spokes. It cost me more for those spokes than it cost me for the bicycle! The original pedals have been replaced and so has my right hip, which I broke while riding that Varsity about eighteen years ago.

The thirty dollars I paid for that bike were well spent and I still ride that bike almost everywhere. Last year I rode forty-two miles from my house to the Arch and back.

Don’t get me wrong; I did buy a new bike. My new, twenty-seven year bike, is ready to go and sometimes I get it out just to dust it off in case I need it. But why use that fancy new bike when I have my trusty Chicago-made Schwinn Varsity?

If you want to know about my old hiking boots let me know and I will embarrass my wife real bad.