Prince Was Freewheelin' ... Days Before His Death

One of the last images of Prince ... happy, carefree, hair blowing in the wind on his bike.

These photos were taken Monday ... 3 days before he died. The pics were taken by a woman who lives a mile down the road from Paisley Park.

She says Prince was the picture of happiness, smiling as he cruised around the neighborhood. She says he was riding for at least an hour, and there was no sign of fatigue.

Prince had been riding around in the days leading to his death. We've seen video of him last weekend riding in a shopping mall parking lot, waiting for his girlfriend.