A story, about my youth and bike riding.

Jett Marks suggested that I share a story with everyone from my youth in regards to bike riding and the fact that I created a word that not many other people know about.

I grew up in New Port Richey, Florida and I remember that my family and the community always encouraged interests non-motorized bike riding.  They also had a lot more, at that time, in the late 1960's and early 1970's encouragement to make sure car drivers realized that bike riders had the same rights and responsibilities as did the car drivers.

On November 8, 1969, when I turned 6 years old I received my first bike (can't remember make or model, but it was one of many of children bikes that you see throughout the world at that time; I was kind of a late bloomer to biking -- more on that at some other time) and I remember that the New Port Richey bike police held classes at the New Port Richey Recreation Department on how to properly ride our bikes, which was with the traffic actually driving your bike.  (Just as in this day and age with the Atlanta Bicycle Coalition's Confidant City Cycling you are instructed to do.) 

Anyway, that's how I rode my bike and so did ALL kids and adults in New Port Richey driving with the same rights and responsibilities as car drivers with the traffic not against it.

But when I was about 13 or 14 years old, either in 1977 or 1978, a group of bullies down the street from where I lived tried to convince me that it was okay to ride your bike on the sidewalk (which it is not and even back then it was considered illegal in most states in the U.S. and in Canada.) 

So, one day, a few days later because I was in a rush to go to the Potter's IGA on Main Stret to help either one of my sisters or mom with buying an ingredient they needed to make that night's dinner and after meeting  up with those bullies who continued to insist that it was okay to ride your bike on the sidewalk -- I unwisely did that!

Well, imagine my surprise when the walkers on the sidewalk in downtown New Port Richey gave me very interesting and telling stares.  But it got more interesting and a bit disturbing when  New Port Richey police officer started following me in one of  those blue cars of theirs.  Then the police officer stopped me and cited me and warned me about how illegal it was to ride your bike on the sidewalk.  Well, I immediately got off the sidewalk and started driving my bike on the road with the traffic on Main Street!  (I also decided to never listen to those bullies, ever again!) 

And then as time went along, both in New Port Richey, when I had to drive my bike elsewhere such as to St. Petersburg Junior College in Tarpon Springs one time (10 miles from home), when I was going to the University of South Florida in Tampa, when we moved later to Decatur, GA and then for a brief amount of time when we moved to the Northlake area of Atlanta I never ever again rode my bike on a sidewalk -- up to the summer of 1997 when I did have to give it up for awhile (see first post by me.)  

And when I walked, which I still do, and sometime had to and wanted to do even as I continued to drive my bike -- whenver I walked on the sidewalk and also then saw a bike rider ride the sidewalk from my experience with the New Port Richey officer back in 1977/78, I decided that I'd tell those folks riding their bike on sidewalks, "That this wasn't a 'siderideyourbike'!"   Creating my own new compound word, 'siderideyourbike' which was a bunch of nonsense and quite illegal, since they are 'sidewalks' -- your suppose to walk on them folks!  (Of course, there is the alternative compound word:  'sideparkyourcar' to describe the annoyance of seeing a car parked illegal on a sidewalk!)