My bike rides again! Few of us still have our first bicycles. My old bike was made from a couple different bikes and has been handed down since back in the 1930’s! My Aunt Francie once rode this bike in Smithfield Pennsylvania.
When I first got the bike was in 1962. My dad found it parked in the garage where it collected dust for a decade or more. He dug it out and brought it home. We lived in Carney, Maryland then and the old bike became a project.
My dad took it apart and rebuilt it. He added a basket to the front and painted it green. It was the same color as my mom’s kitchen. This bike was new to me. It had big fat tires, no gears, and a fat seat. We rode that old bike for hundreds of miles.
The neighborhood kids often go on a bike trek to Loch Raven, a local fishing hole. We tied our rods on the bike and filed my basket with tackle and lunch. It was over 10 miles to the dam, and the last section was down a steep hill. Coming home, with bags of bass and bluegills meant the ride was tougher.
In Scouts, we bike trekked the entire C and O canal. This pathway went the entire length of the Potomac River. My old green bike served me well.
When I became a deer hunter, the bike was reborn and renamed. I called it The Beefmaster! I don’t know why, other than I would now use it to hunt deer. I painted the bike with a camo pattern and used it to trek into remote deer hunting hot spots. If a hill was too steep, I had to get off and push.
My first success was in Green Ridge State Forest. Long but closed fired roads created access to remote areas. I rode the Beefmaster into the middle of these remote places, stashed the bike and went on the hunt. I also rode the bike to many other hunting and fishing hot spots across the country. At one point, I used the Beefmaster to help with shuttling canoeing and drift boat trips.
When I tagged a buck, I dragged it to the Beefmaster and strapped it on. The head went into the basket, the butt was on the seat. I secured the legs along the bike frame using cord. Now I could push the buck several miles back to the camp. If there was a downhill stretch, I would stand on a peddle and glide down the hill steering the buck loaded bike.
The old Beefmaster has been a great hunting tool. Now over 100 years old, the bike is still rolling. The old tires finally rotted again, so I replaced them with new tires and air tubes. The old paint and rust were scrapped and cleaned off. It now has a new paint job and rolls along just fine. My grandson and I can explore the neighborhood together.
The Beefmaster rides again!
Montana Grant
