Another Older than dirt gal here.
Only I didn't have a bike. We lived in the city and my mother said it was too dangerous to ride a bike in the street because of all of the cars. What cars? Our row houses were 2 or 3 stories high with a family living on each floor and hardly anyone had a car, let alone the gas to run one. It was during WWII and gas was rationed so whoever had a car left it parked on the street. There were very few cars that came down our streets mostly it was the horse drawn wagons of the milk man and the fruit and veggie peddler. Those were just excuses because we couldn't afford a bike. After dinner was spent on our front steps, or stoops, playing cards and when it got dark the older kids told us ghost stories. May in Jersey