When I started bicycling seriously in 1989, a lawn-sale 3-speed purchase in late August kicked off my adult phase in the sport. Back then, two decades had passed since my last time on a bicycle – two days of road biking around Acadia. My bicycling mechanics were still there, though.

I cannot remember if it was in 1989 or the next year, when late September and October offered perfect pedaling weather with sun-splashed, unseasonably warm days and often little wind. This experience made a fall biker out of me that has lasted 25 years, even in cold falls.

In my youth, no one talked biking safety, so I knew no better and occasionally pedaled Augusta after dark with no lights other than from street lamps – and no helmet!

Those memories and other ignorant mistakes make me cringe now. Beginners with bicycles should hook up with a knowledgeable friend or riding group for a safer introduction.

In the early 1990s, I bought an L.L. Bean cross bike, the Acadia with a green, steel frame. That purchase included bicycling info from a salesman, who also sold me a helmet, night lights, mirror, bicycling book, etc. Jolie, my intrepid companion, still uses the Acadia instead of a Specialized road bike with 25mm tires that I own as backup to a Felt with 23mm rubber.

Most years, bicycling through early December offers everything – cooler temps, brilliant foliage and less traffic except during leaf-peeping time. Then landscapes turn somber browns, grays, blacks and blue-greens (conifers), a good setting for contemplation – and contemplate I do in the cool silence.

Folks may pedal all winter, and I may too. However, the real enemy of winter bicycling isn’t always the cold but rather the thick sand layers on road edges that remain for days after storms.

But back to fall. Years ago a tidbit from a bicycle mag stuck in my mind – important for fall bicyclists. The author cited research and said when the temperature drops below 65 degrees, bicyclists (or runners) should wear long pants or tights. Without that precaution, folks can get leg cramps and I mostly obey that rule.

In summer and fall, bedroom communities have less tourist traffic than a vacation mecca such as Belgrade Lakes, where I live. Even on side roads here I often wonder, “Where’s all this traffic coming from?”

So in midweek I may bicycle in bedroom towns such as Windsor, Somerville and Whitefield.

I’ve said this here before, but new bicyclists who are nervous about narrow-tired bikes might consider a new or even secondhand model with wider tires – say touring bikes with 28mm, cross bikes with 33mm or wider, or mountain bikes with really wide rubber – which feel more stable, and offer physical and psychological comfort.

Once newcomers get used to wide tires, they might try a road bike with 23mm to 25mm tires, the former the diameter of a man’s thumb. Before my 23mm tires, I started with 33mm, then 28mm and 25mm.

By the way, I just looked at the new line of Specialized road bikes, and all the Tarmac models come with 25mm tires. For years, most of its road bikes came with 23mm choices.

Wide tires on pavement create more friction, but narrow tires have less resistance and roll noticeably easier. If folks have bought a cross or mountain bike before purchasing a road bike, that’s versatility plus – a bike for woodland jaunts and gravel roads, and one for pavement.

Bicycling offers one huge plus as folks get older. Adults who exercise little may have trouble sleeping well, a problem that increases with age. From late March and into early December, though, I bicycle most days that it doesn’t rain, which relaxes and tires me enough to sleep well.

In fact, two days before writing this, I bicycled one morning and again in evening, which tired me so much that I slept from 9 p.m. until 6:15 a.m. without waking. In winter without a hard pedaling regimen, I sleep five or six hours a night – if that. Lots of older folks appreciate long sleeping times.

Before finishing this column, here’s a grand quote from H.G. Wells: “When I see an adult on a bicycle, I do not despair for the future of the human race.” Amen to that notion.

Ken Allen of Belgrade Lakes, a writer, editor and photographer, may be reached at

KAllyn800@yahoo.com