djb

well as for "touring" on the pennyfarthing, I highly doubt he did that, but probably just had one and did rides on it.
I'll never know and my dads comment came because I had ridden a pennyfarthing once and told them about the experience (a whole mix of terror and fun, fascination of biking so many many bone breaking potential feet up in the air, coming back to terror at the dismount)

I figure my great grandfather, my moms moms dad, had mentioned to my father this fact probably back in the 50s or 60s and the only reason my father mentioned it was from my telling the story of trying the pennyfarthing and it jogged the memory.

I believe its true anyway, and no matter how much he rode, I think its kind of neat that the nice funny nearly 100 year old guy I recall as a small small child liked biking around back in 18-whatever.......and its exactly this that touches on this story of the two young german lads, and all of us doofuses, we just enjoy the fun and freedom of riding on two wheels and going out exploring.

stardognine

Your very last word finally nailed it. 😉 It doesn't really matter what you're riding (or pushing), as long as you're still EXPLORING!!! 😁 Get me out in the real world, where I've never been before, not taking laps around the block. 😒😉

djb

thanks star, and may we all have that exploring take on life for a long time.

this summer, in a French campground (France) I was chatting to an old hippy geezer with his camp trailer setup, I made friends with his cat, when it came out that he was 80 or 82, he made a great comment--that in life we always need to push ourselves to go to the outside of our boundaries, but also to accept that the circle gets smaller and smaller. Im translating freely from french and from what i remember, but thats the gist, and i thought it was a great attitude. He said that him, his wife and dog and cat never visited the same campgrounds twice, but travelled around to diff areas, exploring them at the pace they could.
pretty cool, and I'll always remember it.

acantor

One of your dad's photos looks like he snapped it at almost the same place I stood to take a picture when I descended the Gotthard Pass! My bike had 27 gears, not three. Climbing in the Alps was about the hardest thing I have ever done. His accomplishment has not diminished with time!

DropBarFan

It's amazing how expensive those ordinaries were compared to the safety bikes of just a few years later. For avg outdoorsy folks I'd guess hiking tours were cheaper & more relaxing.

Caretaker

Yes expense was a major deterrent but the athleticism and freedom of movement required to ride an ordinary excluded virtually all females and most older men and these gravitated to tricycles that were even more expensive. The 1890s were the boom years for the safety but this was also when the motor car was first starting to appear and with its then open construction was also seen as an 'outdoorsy' means of transportation.

djb

given that my great grandfather and family were regular old working class joes, I suspect he bought one cheaply when they stopped being popular and like all young men then or today, didnt think too much about potential dangers.
But hey, all conjecture on my part. Would be fun to pop back in a time machine and say hello to him and find out, but then as we all know, the few seconds or whatever talking to him could delay him and cause that runaway horse to kill him 5 mins later....and then I wouldnt be typing this stuff out......