Hello Fellow Travelers!
My father-in-law is a man of few words in my experience, but last week he shared a rare story of his boyhood in Ireland and the subject of bicycles came up. John had a wonderful (dry!) tale about how he acquired his first bike! I found the story to be very compelling, very inspiring and very "American" (ordinary guy makes good), so I hope I can properly retell it here.
When John was a youth in Ireland he spent a pound to purchase his first alternative transportation (a "rebuilt" bicycle, the original mode of transport, of course, being his legs). According to both of my in-laws, back then it took a huge amount of picked potatoes to generate a pound. But generate he did, and he purchased his first bike from a fellow named Peter Briody
When the "news" that John had bought a bike, for a pound (yes, this was news!) reached County Longford in general, and his cousin Peter Reilly in particular, Peter commented, "You bought a bike from Peter Briody? And you paid what?
John would not be dissuaded or deterred.
John rode that bike all the way to Dublin! Where he bought a new bike
He moved to America and onto other means of transportation, but bicycles will always be an integral part of my life. I ride 30 miles to nowhere every day! I'll never drive again but I have every expectation to ride a bicycle again. It/s in my DNA, I've always ridden a bike of some kind.\. And I won't be deterred either.
My father-in-law is a man of few words in my experience, but last week he shared a rare story of his boyhood in Ireland and the subject of bicycles came up. John had a wonderful (dry!) tale about how he acquired his first bike! I found the story to be very compelling, very inspiring and very "American" (ordinary guy makes good), so I hope I can properly retell it here.
When John was a youth in Ireland he spent a pound to purchase his first alternative transportation (a "rebuilt" bicycle, the original mode of transport, of course, being his legs). According to both of my in-laws, back then it took a huge amount of picked potatoes to generate a pound. But generate he did, and he purchased his first bike from a fellow named Peter Briody
When the "news" that John had bought a bike, for a pound (yes, this was news!) reached County Longford in general, and his cousin Peter Reilly in particular, Peter commented, "You bought a bike from Peter Briody? And you paid what?
John would not be dissuaded or deterred.
John rode that bike all the way to Dublin! Where he bought a new bike
He moved to America and onto other means of transportation, but bicycles will always be an integral part of my life. I ride 30 miles to nowhere every day! I'll never drive again but I have every expectation to ride a bicycle again. It/s in my DNA, I've always ridden a bike of some kind.\. And I won't be deterred either.
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