Any fishing rod will catch fish, I believe. When we were kids, people just had a fishing rod. Some kids had longer rods and others had shorter ones. It didn’t matter much what they were. We just fished with what we had whether we went out for catching gobies in a ditch or taking it to summer camp trips. Any rod was a good rod because it helped us to catch fish.

Bicycles were pretty much the same. We went up and down on the hill on any bike we could get our hands on. They weren’t any special bikes. They were just bikes. Those bicycles went into rivers, jumped down staircases, and got thrown over the fence for us to cross fields. Any bike was an adventure bike back then, and still is I believe. We don’t need special bikes to go off road. Any bike can handle gravel paths, even my Brompton.

子供の頃は、海にも山にも運動靴。自転車も同じだったと思う。蕎麦屋の出前用のゴツい自転車や竹カゴ付きのママチャリ。トップチューブに車のシフトレバーみたいな変速機が付いたスポーティーなマシン。どんな自転車に乗ってようが構わない。自転車は自転車。ママチャリだろうとBMXだろうと山を登ったり坂を降ったり川を渡ったり。今から考えると非常に危険なことだが、防波堤から自転車に乗ったまま海に飛び込んで遊んだこともあった。

どんな自転車でもアドベンチャーバイク。昔も今も変わらない。巷ではロードバイクに太いタイヤを履かせたグラベルバイクなんてのが流行っているけど、砂利道走るのにそんなスペシャルなバイクなんて必要ない。ママチャリだろうがブロンプトンだろうが砂利道くらいは問題ない。