N_C

It has come time for me to admit the original reason I started cycling as an adult. At the time this was the only reason I started this wonderfully fun hobby. Now it is still for this reason but with many more added.

The original reason was out of protest against what 2 people felt about cyclists.

One person was my drivers ed. instructor in high school. On the driving days there was no shortage as to how he felt when we encountered a cyclist. So on the last day of the class when I took the driving part of my final I made it clear to him how I felt about his attitude & that I am taking up cycling in protest. Of course I did this after the final was over sto make sure I passed it.

The other person is the father, not mine thankfully, of my youngest sister. This guy is a total jackass. He thinks cyclists have no right to the road & feel totaly at ease with harrassing them with his vehicles. At least he did. Ironically enough my youngest sister, his daughter, has taken up cycling & did RAGBRAI last year with the Dream Team. She tells me his attitude has changed. Maybe only toward her as his daughter, but somehow I doubt that for every other cyclist on the roads.

So what do you all think of my original reason for taking up this hobby? Like I said I now many other reasons to continue it.

John

Markio

I'm uhh... I.... I just like cycling

bikebuddha 

That's much more noble than why I started. My wife was in school and needed our only car so she suggested that instead of walking to work I ride my old bike. It was pure bliss. Sweaty, achy, bliss.

genec

I started cycling again as an adult because a girl I wanted to date was a cyclist... that was well over 30 years ago and she is long gone from the picture.

Funny thing is that I became a non-driving cyclist for a number of years and dated other women while I was a non-driving cyclist.

I eventually married one of those women... after she did some bike touring with me.

Now, I do it for exercise, fun and a bit of eco-protest...

scarry

Cool, thumbs up to you.

What's scary is that a driving instructor has a hatred towards cyclists.

PaulH

I had a really hard time finding places to park. Driving around the block for fifteen minutes gets old fast.

Paul

N_C

At the time this old cranky teacher should have been retired. I am pretty sure is is by now.

* jack *

any reason is a good reason...

banerjek

Damn rebellious teenage punks -- somebody beat some sense into them already!

I got my start even less nobly. I got thrown off the bus for misbehaving in junior high. My parents were totally miffed and swore that they would not reward me for what I did with a ride to school (7 miles each way) and that I had to figure out how to get there on my own.

Biking was much faster than busing, so I stayed on the bike after the suspension ran out. I haven't commuted by bike my entire working life (for 7 years, I lived more than 45 miles from work), but I ride if it's even vaguely possible.

2wheeledsoul

It ain't just a hobby for me, it's a lifestyle. I'm a 2nd generation can-do two wheeled fuzzy hobbit, riding in my daddy's shoes.

As the chopper gang guys say:
Ride to live
Live to ride
No bull****
**** the man

Blue Order

I wonder if that's part of the State-approved curricula he's paid to teach?

msheron

I did for the exercise but it has turned into a passion!

CB HI

Confessions are for when you do something bad, not for when you do something good.

Sounds like as good a reason as most to start cycling.

Roody

It's cool that you started for negative reasons, but found positive reasons to keep going. In my experience, negative motivation doesn't last long. We must have affirmative motivation to keep on going.

I started exercising because I didn't want to die after a heart attack. I was also disgusted wih my appearance and the way I felt. I needed to find more positive reasons to keep going, and Thank God I did!

Blue Order

I think it's cool that the instructor's attempt to instill his prejudices in new drivers backfired with at least one of them.

jamesdenver

like the cheesy overnite informercials promise: more money and better abs.

only i actually have both since biking.

koine2002

Well, I was an avid cyclist back in High School, 1989-1993, a roadie who got into it because his good buddy did too. Well, went off to college and took up roller blading and inline hockey. Briefly tried cycling again in mid 20's on xmart junk (hey, it looked good since it had a 3 piece crank). Anyway, I had become quite the runner. However, inline hockey and running every day did in my knees and my groin for a season in the late 20's. I never really have been able to run at that level of performance since. Last March I sprained my left ankle doing wind sprints (don't do those on a rough grassy field), again, but the pop was heard from over 30 yards away. Doc said running was over. I bought my KHS MTB, now have gotten another road bike (see the sig for both, but they both now look a little different) and ride one or the other about everyday. To this day, my ankle gets black and blue and swollen if I run more than 100 yds. I have to use clipless to keep my feet secure for ankle protection on the MTB over the rough stuff. Anyway, that's how I got back in to cycling and I'm loving it more than ever--especially since I have an Oklahoma Earthbike Fellowship set of trails less than 3 miles away!

Roughstuff

I took up cycling for fitness and recreation. I got hooked onbicycle TOURING after I did a 'short' tour from Corvallis Oregon down to Crater Lake and back, over the Cascades. Quite a debut!

I now think cycling makes a political statement: I am a conservationist (in contrast to environmentalist) who uses the technology which is most appropriate the task I wish to perform. I walk most short distances; bike intermediate distances, and use car/transit/aeroplane for long distances.

roughstuff

LittleBigMan

I guess people start cycling for personal reasons, but whatever the reason we started, we get hooked for all the benefits cycling gives.

I started because I realized in my mid-30's that I needed more exercise than walking if I wanted to reach the level of fitness I desired. I knew from past experience that running always left me with too many injuries.

Suddenly a picture flashed in my mind of my old Schwinn Traveller that was hanging in my Dad's garage that I hadn't ridding since I was 20. I called him up and picked up the bike.

But I didn't have much spare time to go riding away from my wife and small baby. Again, I remembered how I had ridden my bike to work short distances when I was young, and how my father had ridden his bike to connect to mass transit. Next thing I knew, I was riding to the bus stop on the way to work. Now I ride all the way, and love it.

ItsJustMe

I was running on a treadmill 45 minutes a day, and got a stress fracture. The doc made me stop running for a few months, so I bought a bike. It takes me no longer to ride both ways than to drive and then run for 45 minutes, so it's a win.

I keep doing it as much for ecological reasons as exercise, probably about the same amounts. Plus it's fun. Cars are boring.

Feldman

I'm the product of a blessed childhood. I grew up in Los Angeles with my East Coast-bred parents. They refused to drive us around on demand as was the norm. My mother refused to drive in Los Angeles at all--her phrase was that every LA driver was "A nut in a little red sports car." LA actually has a good bus system. "Real" cycling started for me when waiting for a flat to get fixed on my Schwinn Collegiate at a bike store in North Hollywood after school one day. The store sponsored a racing club and their scrapbooks were out on the counter that day; pictures of races including the 1965 Nationals and 1968 Olympic Trials, pictures of their club rides, plus a corner of the store was a sort of storage garage for club members' exotic bikes--hey, I got corrupted as a kid!

shokhead

LMAO-Yep,its that simple for me to.

Hartmann

I started riding when I was in college at UVermont. A bike was the only way to get around Burlington. It eventually became an obsession.

mac

As a little boy, I would ride my little Schwinn in circles in my driveway. I knew to stay out of the street. Then I joined the Boy Scouts and I earned my Cycling Merit Badge. While doing those rides, I discovered the freedom I could have simply by pedalling anywhere I wanted to go. Later on, after I got my driver's license, I continued to cycle for the health benefits.

shokhead

God,you made me cry.