At the Ebenezer Road end of the trail.

A few weeks ago our granddaughter expressed an interest in learning to ride a bicycle without training wheels. Since the kiddie bike she had already was way to small for her, I took an old Mongoose BMX frame set I had hanging on the wall in my shop, swapped the rear wheel out for one with a coaster brake, and then threw it together with plenty of fresh grease, flat black & pink paint to create the girly ratrod in these pics. The mint original Black Friday Krate shown is one I purchased in Charlotte earlier this year. My wife is riding the yellow Ross Polo Bike Jr. that has its original paint & chrome, but has some typical period custom pieces added such as the banana seat and the bumpers. The only thing I’ve replaced on it are the rear tire & chain.

We promised her that once she learned to ride well we would take her with us one Saturday morning, so with my beloved wife’s patient coaching she practiced until she could start, ride, & stop by herself without falling down. Of course since she was riding a 20″ bike we decided that we should too.

Left to right, Black Friday Krate, Mongoose Sniper, & Ross Polo Bike Jr.

It was fun, of course it turns out that a 20 is almost to big for the kid, just the perfect size for my wife, and ridiculous looking with my big old butt sitting on it, especially the Krate with it’s little tiny front tire.

Here we have a large man on a small bicycle! Having loads of fun too.

When putting around on these little cruisers, you can forget proper leg extension, cadence, etc. Just relax and enjoy the ride. We put in at the trailhead at the Bicycle World bike shop on Palmetto St. in Florence ( a big thanks for allowing people to park there btw ), crossed the bridge over Jefferies Creek, and turned left to ride the smooth pavement section of the trail up to Ebenezer Road, where we turned around and came back to the end of the pavement that you see above before heading back to the van to take her home in time for her Karate lesson. There is just the slightest downhill grade from Ebenezer back to the creek so I took advantage of it to try out a speed run on the Krate. At about 18m.p.h. on the speedo in third gear the front end starts to bounce a bit, push it on up to around an indicated 22 and a speed wobble sets in too. ( maybe because I weigh more than 200 pounds, not necessarily a fault of the bike ) Plus even with dual calipers the rear brake only is meant for posing not for riding like a bat out of hell. It was still FUN though!

for some reason this strange little woman keeps following me around & taking my picture, she must be a stalker 😉

Here are some pics of the bikes leaning up against the bridge.

Jefferies Creek Bridge, Florence, S.C. bicycle trail

Some wangster had been down on the trail tagging a little bit, normally I don’t mind graffiti art in the right (read urban/industrial) setting but out in the middle of the woods? Give me a break. Besides if all I could paint was ugly shit like we saw that day I’d be ashamed to pick up a spray can.

Vintage Kustom Ross, Mint Schwinn BFK, & Custom Mongoose rat bmx

To cap off a terrific morning after dropping the little one off safely at home we headed over to Creek Ratz, and sat on the deck and had a nice romantic lunch served up by a pleasant young lady while we watched the wildlife in the pond behind us.

Peace Y’all

Heron on lakeshore behind Creek Ratz