re: How far away from home did you ride your bike when you were a kid ?

I had a thing that tracked speed and distance starting in 1990 or so, but my cousin only lived 3 miles away and that was my main summer destination. Farthest was from Tara to downtown BR, not too crazy other than the few times I was followed by sketchy vehicles and had to figure out how to get out of that.

When I was in 4th grade I rode my 20" bike to the library. On the way home I got behind a city limb hauling truck that was going slow. I passed it and rode fast all the way home. As I was putting my bike in the garage, my mom pulled up in the drive, and my brother got out yelling, "Momma said you drive like a bat out of hell."

They had gone somewhere and got behind me in traffic before I passed the truck. She saw me pass the truck going uphill on a two lane road. I wasn't riding any different than I normally do.

We rode all over Kosciusko, MS on our bikes in the 70's.We lived near Westside Elementary and rode our bikes to school every day. We rode them to the city park where the little league baseball fields were all summer long. It was on the East side of town where kids that went to Eastside Elementary lived. We trick-or-treated all over town too, without an adult.

We would camp out in someone's back yard and sneak off and ride around the courthouse square where the city police station was at 2am.

When I was in my 40's I rode my hybrid mountain bike from the Abrams Skillman area to White Rock Lake every day. It was a 15 mile ride that I made even on 100 degree+ days. I'm 66 now and the most exercise I get is walking nearly two miles. I can't handle doing that once it gets into the 80's.

So on said bike rides, I know yall would stop at any random water hose in a front yard at a house you had no idea who lived there just cause you and your homies were thirsty and this was completely acceptable behavior. Water was blazing hot when it first came out but in 10 seconds it was cold and that water was glorious to drink. Like Water Boy level water.

A couple of miles

I’ve ridden a bicycle a lot of places in my life. Mostly urban and suburban riding. It is amazing how far you can get on a bicycle in a given amount of time compared to an automobile that has to obey all of the traffic signals and can’t navigate any cut through trails between neighborhoods and such that save a ton of time.

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My parents had no idea just how far we would ride our bikes. There were some days where we would ride our bikes to friends who lived 15-20 minute CAR drives away

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Same. From the corner of Codifer and Metairie Road to Pike Drive in almost-Kenner. That was about seven and a half miles one way, but in traffic all the way.

Summer in late eighties, 6 years old—bunch of us took a gallon of gasoline and rode the bikes a few miles out of town into this abandoned state park. We built a fire, then I proceeded to light my leg on fire with the gas, and then I had to ride back to town with my melted leg as I stood on the back of a BMX style bike one of the older kids was riding.

Mid 70s in Junior High,15 miles one way.

Poontang is undefeated.

From Chalmette to the French Quarter. I’d kill my kids if they did that today, lol

In the 90s, I routinely biked 700 miles Daily and made it back home for dinner.

Sometimes through the snow.

This is not hyperbolic nostalgia.

Am I doing this right?

I am not seeking respect/validation from a board full of strangers.