Ah, the '70s
I've no idea where this photo was taken. It could have been any neighborhood in America circa 1978, including mine.
My friends Curtis, Lance, Chris, Wayne and I did this more times than I can count. We normally built the ramp stand with tires -- not because it was safer, but because there were lots of old tires laying about in various fields and abandoned lots around our neighborhood. As I remember, the maximum practical stack height was four tires; more than that and it began to flex too much, becoming unstable when the bike hit it at the maximum velocity which 10-year old legs could generate. (This fact was discovered via empirical experimentation with live test subjects; the scientific method at work.)
No helmets, no pads... just corduroy pants from Sears and 10-year old skin getting toughened up via abrasions and dirt. Note the adult sitting on the stoop in the background; he's not freaking out or dialing the ambulance or scheduling an appointment with a child psychiatrist. He's chuckling. Because he did the same thing as a kid, and he's quite alive and uninjured. Because that's what kids do. Rough play is how young predators learn valuable life skills and hone survival instincts, whether they be humans or lions or dogs. It still is and always will be true, though many young humans today have to hide it from their panicky, weepy, vegan, herd animal parents. Almost time for a big culling, methinks.
My friends Curtis, Lance, Chris, Wayne and I did this more times than I can count. We normally built the ramp stand with tires -- not because it was safer, but because there were lots of old tires laying about in various fields and abandoned lots around our neighborhood. As I remember, the maximum practical stack height was four tires; more than that and it began to flex too much, becoming unstable when the bike hit it at the maximum velocity which 10-year old legs could generate. (This fact was discovered via empirical experimentation with live test subjects; the scientific method at work.)
No helmets, no pads... just corduroy pants from Sears and 10-year old skin getting toughened up via abrasions and dirt. Note the adult sitting on the stoop in the background; he's not freaking out or dialing the ambulance or scheduling an appointment with a child psychiatrist. He's chuckling. Because he did the same thing as a kid, and he's quite alive and uninjured. Because that's what kids do. Rough play is how young predators learn valuable life skills and hone survival instincts, whether they be humans or lions or dogs. It still is and always will be true, though many young humans today have to hide it from their panicky, weepy, vegan, herd animal parents. Almost time for a big culling, methinks.
posted by Jar(egg)head at 15:17
1 Comments:
The kid on the end is truly the daredevil in this. No worries if timmy is about to crush his pancreas with 80 pounds of steel,rubber and flesh, just waiting for his turn, and seeing if he can get six to lay down for him to jump.
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