David Blow: Forty

Sarah Blow, then 10 years old and now 22, rides her dad's 1961 Tote Gote minibike in 2010.

In 1977, as a 10-year-old growing up in rural Vermont, I had one of the best days of my life.

I had long wanted a minibike to occupy my time in an area where neighbor kids my age to play with were scarce, and my dad had found one for me — to buy with my own money, of course.

It was a 1961 Tote Gote, a funky contraption manufactured in Colorado and used for hunting and backwoods travel.

It was a real pre-ATV ATV and already 16 years old when I got it.

It had two chains and a belt, so it was really slow and more like a little two-wheeled tractor.

It had two seats and two sets of foot pegs and was like nothing I’d ever seen before — and absolutely worth the $110 price tag in my 10-year-old mind.

David Blow

I paid for it with lawn-mowing money and savings, a lot of it handed over as a bag change — to the delight of the seller (sarcasm very intended).

We brought it home and I literally rode that little bike from sun up to sun down, breaking only to let it cool down. It took a while for me to get out of earshot on it, so I undoubtedly angered or at least annoyed neighbors and my family in the process.

I soon learned how to fix minor engine issues with it too, with the help of my uber-talented dad — who among other tricks taught me to blow air into the gas tank (yes by basically forming a seal with your mouth on the gas tank hole) to get it started when gas wasn't getting to the carburetor.

As I got older, I got a faster motorcycle with actual gears and the Tote Gote was relegated to the shed. When I moved out of the house after college, however, it came with me, joining me in my 1990 journey to Glens Falls to work at The Post-Star.

My wife Tania probably thought it was silly to haul around, but soon it was seeing a lot of action again at our first home on Upper Sherman Avenue.

A 12-year-old David Blow pauses a ride on his 1961 Tote Gote minibike for a picture in 1980.

I would routinely take our first daughter, Kirsti, for rides in the woods across the street before the development came. She’d sit between my legs and hold onto the handlebar inside of my hands.

As I type, I can see her and feel her in front of me as we putted through those woods.

Fast-forward to 2000 and a new home on Dixon Road, and the arrival of Sarah. Before long there's another little body riding along with me around the yard and occasionally in the woods across the street, when no one was looking.

Sometimes we’d be three deep on the bike zipping around the yard, Sarah now in front and Kirsti holding on from behind.

The original engine had been replaced by now, by a $45 gem of a deal I got from an old man in Queensbury. I also had to have the clutch welded at one point, but otherwise, it was basically just like it was when I was a kid.

My girls were the license to relive my minibike childhood and give them theirs.

Soon the girls were driving the Gote on their own. A picture of a 10-year-old Sarah scooting across the lawn was on the fridge for years until a recent fridge replacement.

Kids of our extended family and friends also have a kinship to the little bike and often lined up at family parties to take a spin with me.

Those rides meant a lot to me too, being able to again navigate that little giving-tree minibike, reminiscing while I drove.

In recent years, however, the $45 motor was tired, and the Tote Gote sat idle, not idling, or really even starting. So, this year I decided to send it to my mechanic cousin Kevin and his son Ethan to overhaul.

It's not like I plan to be riding it much and my kids are gone and the kids of my extended family and friends won't be much interested, but it just seemed like it needed to be done.

I’ve been hanging on to it for 46 years, so it ought to be running, right?

Well, last week, I got another day that I’d consider one of the best in my life. A few days earlier I was told the bike was ready to be picked up.

I wasn't sure what had been done to it, although I knew it had a new motor.

When I saw it, my smile was immediate.

The seats were reupholstered, it had fresh blue paint a new throttle cable — and a kill switch! I used to have to pull the choke to stall it when I was done riding.

Oh, and the new motor to replace the old 3.5-horsepower model is — wait for it — an 8-horsepower model!

"Don't sit on the back seat and gun it because you’ll flip over," Ethan said.

I was going to just load it and take off to go visit my parents, but Kevin and Ethan said I should take it for a ride. It fired up after two pulls and I took off for a quick (much quicker than it would have been with the old motor) lap around the house. The power it had was shocking.

It's back in the shed now, ready for the next ride.

There's talk in my past middle-aged friend group of building a giant ramp so my 60-year-old buddy Jerry can jump a shark tank of some sort.

Or maybe it’ll provide more dependable late-night transportation for another buddy who tried driving it home once only to have it break down halfway.

Anyway, I’m guessing that will be the last major overhaul it’ll get on my watch, but 56-year-old me is so glad I did it.

And I think 10-year-old me is proud of my decision.

David Blow sits on his recently refurbished 1961 Tote Gote minibike he bought in 1977.

David Blow, of Queensbury, is a freelance journalist and professor of Media and Communication at Castleton University and may be reached at [email protected].

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