Offroad Bicycling Pioneer

A couple came into the shop while I was busy talking to one of my 90+ year old customers (who was glacially slow at asking me a question about electric assist bicycles). The man was explaining to his partner, "This guy should be famous. He was one of the earliest to promote off-pavement bicycling in North America." On the side, I heard that and wanted to say, do you think I'm 150 years old? But, I was waiting for my 95 year old cycling enthousiast to finish her question about e-bikes. It turned out that she wanted me to buy her e-bike, "My son says I have to stop riding two-wheelers." They were a patient couple and they pretended not to eavesdrop on my discussion with my nonagenairian retiring cyclist. Minutes later, I agreed to take her bike on consignment and she left with a smile. The man discovered my Mountain Bike Hall of Fame plaque near the cash register and said, "See, he was there in the beginning." His partner asked, "Why did they induct you into this group?" Early off-road bicycling promotion was what I was told. However, I explained, in the late eighteen hundreds all the cycling was on dirt. Me and a handful of writing/ off-road cyclists should be called New Age off-pavement cycling promoters. It was late in 1973 when I submitted my columns to a Kern River Valley newspaper describing my unusual forays into the hills surrounding the Lake Isabella region. 'Outback of Bodfish' was the name of my twice-monthly column.