Phil Sieg wrote:
>Not to pick nits, but the Boomer span is generally given as 1946-1964.
This is been trumpeted as the year the first boomers turn 60.
I researched a number of different sources to try to find the dividing
line between the Boomers and Gen X and it seems to be up for debate.
There are good arguments for 1964 as the birthrate was still high in
1962-64 and birthrate is certainly the defining element to the Baby
Boom. Many people born around 63-64 feel more closely associated with
the pop culture of the Gen X 'rs. For them the early members of the
Boomer generation were their parent's age. My brother, who was born in
1964, has four older siblings and grew up listening to the Beatles and
the Velvet Underground so he feels like a Boomer. One writer to Time
magazine had the misfortune to have his letter printed where he declared
that although he was born in 1959 he doesn't remember or relate to
anything that occurred before 1975. He belongs to a generation unto
itself.
To be honest, I chose 1961, which has a lot of adherents amoung the Gen
X'ers (mostly so they can include a few important rock stars), because
it made the Baby Boomer category just a little bit less dominating. My
apologies to anyone who feels they were miscast generation-wise; you
know where you truly belong.
I think that being into bikes comes pretty naturally to Baby Boomers.
When we were growing up the entire world seemed like it was all put
there for us. Each morning about 1,000 kids from about 4 blocks radius
flowed like a river of tadpoles to the crammed classrooms of my
elementary school. We all had big heavy bikes that we bombed around on
and just as we were ready for something a lighter Schwinn was electro
welding a Varsity with our names on it. Not a moment before I could
afford one the BritishFrenchJapanese Invasion hit with a sweet looking
lugged frame bike weighing less than 30 lbs! The older organizers of
quiet little centuries and rides like TOSRV suddenly found themselves
dealing with 3,000 riders after having 1500 riders the year before and
500 the year before that. And who was this for? Me! Of Course!
After the first few days in the military I got to revisit my whole It's About Me philosophy but that's a different story. They still let me ride my bike, though.
Michael Kahrl Columbus, Ohio
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