Grandma says her bike days are over. But remembered fondly!

(Picture is not grandma, or G.I., the banks of the Platte aren't that steep around there)

One of my grandmas submitted these 'old school' stories about cycling in Grand Island. I still remember my aunts pink huffy too. Not that I'd have been caught dead on a pink bike, but it did ride good. (umm... or so I heard)

Here's grandma's story:

My mother surprised me with a new girls Schwinn bike on my 10th birthday. It was a shinny blue with silver chrome, and a chrome passenger carrier on the back. It was beautiful. The first thing I did was put a card on a clothes pin attached to the spokes to make a noise when I rode it. Because of the WWII, gas and car tires were rationed, so my bike provided the needed transportation to get groceries in my large basket mounted on the front and I had "saddle bags" on the back for any books or misc.

One of my "jobs" was to go to the "ice house" to get ice for the ice box. One quarter would get a 20lb. block of ice. I would ride my bike to the ice house in the 1000 blk of north front street, give the attendant the quarter and the block of ice would come down a belt. The attendant would use his "ice tongs" to put it in my basket and I'd have to ride home really fast. One block of ice lasted about 3 days... if we didn't open the ice box too often.

One day the leg of my jeans got caught in the chain and I had to stop and rip my jeans out, hold the back wheel and push the bike 2 blocks to get home. From then on, I put a rubber band around my jeans or wore what we called "pedal pushers".

Sometimes the ice would slide a little in the metal basket making my front wheel "wobble". Another memory I have is falling over and the ice landing on the gravel road. The gravel stuck to the ice which later was wiped up in the ice box.

The neighbor girl, Ele, who rode almost everywhere with me, had a brother who could fix anything on our bikes. Especially chains.. which was a constant problem. Ele's bicycle was a beautiful yellow Schwinn with a chrome fenders. One summer day, I found some pink paint in our garage and painted my blue bicycle. It looked terrible. One day, Ele's brother repainted it for me with metal paint. I think he was embarrassed to have his sister ride around town with me the way it was. Many years later, Ele married Harlan, my husband's cousin.We laughed at family gatherings about riding our bikes all over Grand Island.The Pier Swimming pool, Sutters dairy for ice cream cones, to Skag Way which was on 3rd. street, to the Library in the 300 blk on west 2nd.

Many years later my daughter had a small pink Huffy which was very comfortable for me to ride. Living in the country I had 2 choices... the hiway or the gravel. My "gravel" experiences were not great, so I usually rode on the highway. One day I must have been about 50 yrs. (old), met up with some other girls and rode 3 miles into Cairo. We had planned to meet some other ladies in the bar at 5. As I turned towards the curb in front of the bar... my front bike wheel hit the curb and I went over the handle bars onto the sidewalk right in front of the bar. I wasn't hurt except was the laugh of the day for everyone else. My husband stopped later and took me and my bike home in the pickup.

I loved that little pink Huffy... the seat was the banana style with lots of padding. One day it was gone... someone took it to the junk pile... My family said "you just don't realize how silly you look on that tiny bike". They bought me one of those fancy girl bikes with several speeds and hand brakes...I had grown up with only one speed on a bike and knowing that if I wanted the brakes on, all I had to do was pedal backwards. I was too old to learn the new controls. The PINK HUFFY was special.