Waaaay back in the early '70s, I rode my Sears IGH 3-speed to High School swim practice. Swimming was a Winter semester sport. Our school didn't have a pool, so we used the local YMCA pool. BUT practice ran from 6am-8am. That meant that we were to be IN the water at 6am. My parents said that I signed up for it, so I had to get myself there. That meant leaving the house at around 5:30am in the middle of Cleveland winters! That was usually before our far-western Cleveland suburb even started plowing the streets. I used the knobbiest tires that I could find for the 26x1-3/8 steel rims... - this was long before MTB knobby tires!!! So my day started with a 3-mile ride to the YMCA, then a 2-mile ride between the Y and school after practice (with wet hair), and then a 2-1/2-mile ride home after school. I survived. I hosed the bike down whenever I could, and detail stripped the bike down in mid season (Christmas break) - oiling the inside of the frame and repacking all of the bearings... That bike rusted through towards the end of my Junior year of HS. I hit a snow/ice 'clinker' on the side of the road and the toptube broke near the seatpost due to rust. I had it welded, but it broke again a week or so later.
I got my first derailleur bike after that... An all-steel Fuji Special Tourer...
Last edited by Cougrrcj; 10-13-21 at 03:50 PM.