Watch out! Kids on bikes

Nothing signals adventure for a kid better than a bike

Universal

Approx. 850 words; four minutes read time

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Growing up in the late 1970s and 1980s, I, along with my older brother and two cousins, palled around like four feral dogs, getting into mischief inspired by what we saw on TV and film. We called ourselves “The Packrats” and had lots of secret club stuff like ID cards, walkie-talkies, maps to hidden cashes, and a clubhouse in the woods behind our house. We even had codenames. Together we developed the “hawk call” – imagine a sound like a loud, dying crow - that we used to signal each other when separated. I can only imagine what others thought when they heard us. Anyway, our escapades were often epic (by 12-year-old standards), and we imagined ourselves like the kids in great adventure movies such as The Goonies (1985) and, of course, E.T. – The Extra-Terrestrial (1982). Both films incidentally featured one of my favorite plot elements – kids on bikes.

The final act of E.T. has to be one of the best bicycle chase scenes ever. Eliot with E.T. in his handlebar basket, and his brother and friends on their bikes, all flee from authorities as they try and get their alien friend back to rendezvous with his spaceship. It’s exhilarating seeing them dodge in and out of traffic, up and over cars, and down steep suburban California streets. This film undoubtedly secured the bicycle in our minds as the proverbial ticket to adventure.

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My first bike was just about as groovy as a 1970s bike could be. It was a hand-me-down 20” Schwinn that a distant cousin had given up. Pearlescent blue with a rather striking white vinyl banana seat, there was some expected wear and tear on it. But to me, this didn’t matter. It was the finest looking bike around. Best of all, it was mine.

Learning to ride was painful, and there were a lot of bloody knees involved. But what I remember most about this time was not the pain but rather the sweet freedom it brought. Bike riding, I discovered, opened up seemingly limitless possibilities. Great distances that were once impossible – like up the street to a friend’s house or down the road to a local store – all were suddenly within reach. Bikes were a means to explore – a way to expand my horizons as far as I could pedal (as long as I was back by supper time).

Our club The Packrats turned into an adolescent biker gang when we mounted our bicycles, terrorizing the countryside on our two-wheeled freedom machines. We rode all over, getting into adventures and testing our abilities (we also tested our mothers who undoubtedly feared the worst each time we took off). Helmets were nonexistent at the time, so it’s a wonder any of us survived. But survive we did, along with so many fond memories from those days. Now, when I hop on a bicycle and head out for a ride, I feel that same sense of freedom (although with a helmet, of course).

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The Duffer Brothers have tapped into this nostalgia full-on in their Netflix series Stranger Things (three seasons, 2016, 2017, 2019). This coming of age sci-fi series is about a group of friends who uncover a government plot to open a portal to another dimension. They get sucked into fighting for their lives against the evil unwittingly unleashed. Praised by critics, Stranger Things is a well-executed tribute to 1980s science fiction. Of course, there is a heavy dose of kids on bikes throughout.

Netflix

In one of the early episodes, the kids find a bike, but without its kid. It’s chilling to see, knowing how vital bikes are to a 12-year-old boy. It’s like seeing a lone saddled horse without a rider. This eerie scene helped set the stage for the entire ground-breaking first season.

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Today, having a young son is a vivid reminder of the exhilaration childhood brings. He’s now seven, and we share a lot of common interests, particularly sci-fi and bikes (go figure). Being locked down at home as part of the COVID-19 response, we have more time together than before, and that has been a real blessing. We are now frequently going on father-son rides, mostly in and around our own suburban California neighborhood.  It's not unlike the one in E.T.

I can’t help but imagine him getting into adventures soon, probably with a few mischievous friends and who knows, maybe even an alien or two.

It’s funny how it all ties together between us – the sci-fi, the bikes, the adventure. As much as I love reminiscing about my own good ol’ days and watching classic movies that take me back to those adventurous times – real life, right now, with my son, is the best adventure ever. No doubt, we are building great ‘kids on bikes’ memories for him too.

Until next time, Science. Fiction. Create.

JRC

Editorial note: Yes, this is like the third post in a row where I mention E.T. I’ll try and lay off it for next time. ~JRC