I have to admit something.

[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. :D

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]

Cool, thumbs up to you.

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

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]

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

One person was my drivers ed. instructor in high school...

The other person is the father, not mine thankfully, of my youngest sister....
Damn rebellious teenage punks -- somebody beat some sense into them already! :D

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]

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.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]

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.



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]

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

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.

[timmhaan]

i've always liked bikes, but only to tool around on. after i broke up with a girl, i decided to drop some cash on a nice road bike to get me out of the house and doing something. i soon forgot about her...

[slagjumper]

I guess that I've been hooked ever since I was 6 and got my first bike. That was about a year after I had seen an older "woman", (must have been 12), who slowly rode her bike past me with no hands, while eating an apple. I was in awe. I must have tracked her with my head for 10 seconds or more as she rode past.

That's why to this day, I try to ring my bell or at least catch the eye of the little kids. Sometimes though the kids do have to show their parents what's right and hope that they get it.

[Gurgus]

I got back into cycling through my good buddy and Mountain biking when I was 24 after about an eight year absence. You know the drill. The "I've got a license now, I don't need a bike." thing. Flash forward seven year, I've got about six or seven different bikes in my garage that are rideable and a whole mess of frames and other parts in there too. It's the healthiest obsession I've ever had.

[CRUM]

Anything that gets you on a bike is ok by me.

[jasonsan]

Interesting topic, and one I think about often.
I share some obvious reasons w/ other cyclists/commuters. The annoyances of driving and parking, the personal and political views about oil consumption, and the fitness benefits.

I have come to realize broader view as of late. I feel more connected to my neighborhood and community because I experience it on a more personal level while on a bicycle.

I also think that the hardships I encounter when choosing to bike rather than drive fulfills a need I hadn't realized beforehand.Life has become easier and faster paced due to technology, and I think that this weakens us to some extent.It's thrilling to make a long ride in terrible weather, unsure if you are gonna make it or not..testing your self sufficiency and abilities.

[rebornroadster]

I was a suburban kid and a bicycle was as common as a summertime charcol cookout in the late 60's <70's.I was a paperboy-(remember those?) A bicycle was issued to you from age 2 or 3 and you biked til' drivers license time-16,or in my case 17.I had a few Columbia Playbikes-single speed,coater brake.The upper end,5 speed Columbias were issued to wealthier kids,not us hammerheads from less respectable/wealthy parts of town.I went to lots of garage sales and rummage/church sales with my folks in those days and had a few 3 speed "English Racers".Those were taken apart,cleaned up,and reassembled with non-neccesary parts omitted.(fenders,reflectors,lights.)I still have a scar under my chin from a spill I took one morning on my way to 7th grade('75 or 6').(5 miles)I made it to school and remember my father coming into the office and saying it wasn't much of a wound and If I was ok he was ok.I don't think kids in my neighborhood nowadays ride their bikes to school.Of course this was my situation or,choice when I was a skool kid,the bus was used most of the time but,once march or april came around it was a bicycle for me.I can't think of any childhood friends that still ride today,It would be far-out and way-kool if they did but,I think I'm the only one that chooses to pedal to the local store when It's more convienent for my pals to fire-up the SUV and go grab some smokes.Keep peddlin'.Peace.

[randya]

I spent most of my childhood exploring an ever-wider circle around my house by bike. In my teens I got sent by my parents on a couple of AYH summer bike touring trips to Nova Scotia and the Canadian Rockies, and loved it. Like almost every teen in the NYC suburbs, I was obligated to get my drivers license at 17, but unlike many of my friends, my parents didn't spring for a car for me, so I went back to the bike in college. Didn't get my first vehicle until my early 20's I've only owned three vehicles in the last 30 years. For a while I had a job in Texas that required me to drive, but since I've moved to Portland, I've lived within easy bike commuting distance of work, by choice and design. I just gave my truck to the kids. I drove it 71K miles in four years in Texas, and only 64K in the next 18 in Oregon, the last couple of years it has sat out by the curb, almost unused.

[FlatTop]

As a kid, the bicycle was a measure of freedom in my rather claustrophobic life. I rode to school, to friend's houses, to open places where I could find solitude. The bikes were mostly three speeds(still my first choice), and we called them English Racers, although they were nothing of the sort. All the other kids had hirise bikes, mostly one speed with coaster brakes.

Now, I ride for pleasure, diversion and just for the love of bicycles and riding.

Funny how my contemporary, Rebornroadster has reminded me of my own bike accident on the way to school: I went flying down the driveway and pedalling like a fury into the street. Straight into a telephone pole, facefirst. Six stitches to close my chin, a chipped tooth and some roadrash on my arms. The bike's front forks were bent nearly straight, so I must have hit pretty squarely into the pole.
I got my Dad to drive me to the hospital. To this day he denies stopping on the way to pick up our mail from the Post Office.

[Da Tinker]

Rode as kid, for the fun, for the freedom, to hang with my peers. Rode to school, when I could, even in high school, inspite of the fact I owned a car. Set the bike aside in college, due mostly to time pressures. Sad thing is, I did not pick it up again until 18 years later. But at least I picked it back up.

"There are only to mistakes one can make on the path to truth: not going all the way and not starting." - Buddha

[rebornroadster]

Ha.There seems to be a pattern with us fortysomethings...I think alot of us liked our bikes and riding more than our pals did when we were kids...My first post on this forum last month had me babbling about my new Trek road bike(my first serious bike)and how it felt good to be back on two wheels even with 50 degree weather and heavy rain.Immediatley someone posted back and wrote that it must be a mid-life crisis thing.Well,whatever.I just know that pedaling my sore butt around town makes me feel good and is a great way to see things you wouldn't see when your strapped into a cage hauling the kids around or somethin'.It's excellent therapy,great exercise and gives me a more intense focus of my surroundings.All I know is it works for me and I think alot of us get a rush or a thrill when we ride-kinda' brings everything into a slower more relaxed mode.Hey,keep pedalin' and do a good deed.