General Cycling Discussion - Why the bike?

Hey kids I'm just wondering what got you started in the sport of cycling? A major life changing event or you have always done it?
:p
For me it started close to eight months ago. I had just broken up with my fiance and lost my inheritance in a business investment and getting some awful grades in school due to the stress in the other areas and not being able to focus.
Our family took a two week long vacation in Oregon and took all of the bicycles. There wasn't a whole lot to do so I just got myself depressed by thinking of everything that was wrong in my life at the time.
Until one day I grabbed my dad's road bike and went for a ride. I practically died I was so out of shape!
Every day I kept pedaling and got a little closer to the top of this mountain. Finally got to the top before we left and when I looked down and realized how far I had come I realized I would get through this. This pain would go away and I would be stronger for going through it.
Just like cycling. The climb up is painful and hard but when you get to the top and get to fly down it was all worth it.
Now I'm loving every minute on my bike!:D

What about you guys?;)

Its just something I have always done. I dont think I have gone more than 9 months or so without riding since I first took the training wheels off.
It is just what I do, they are my life.

Kevin

:beer:

I honestly don't know why i got back into cycling. I had my BMX bike stolen from me when I was 10yrs old. I got back into biking when I was 15 (10yrs ago!). It was a hard tail mountain bike, I only went mtn biking with it a few dozen times, I mostly used it to get around. I knew I would not be getting a car any time soon. I rode it to school a few times a week, and to work every day.

It took me 2 summers before i could afford my dream bike, a gary fisher Joshua X01. I still remember writing that check! My first check ever, $1282.00, check number 101. :)

I guess I got back into bikes for transportation.

Tilly1,

Wow, Inspirational. Clear skies and a following breeze to take you through these troubled times. The strength you gain in the end is impressive, it justs jumps up and shows itself when you least expect it.

Ive always done it since the age of 4, but took a break for 3 years when I left London to be a car commuter.
I took it up again after a holiday in Ireland. I left without any plans, but ended up hiring a bike to spin around the Beara Peninsular in West Cork. It was only a low grade hybrid bike, and my luggage was a 25l day sac strapped to the rack. I even used hiking boots, but it was such great fun, I started riding again, but this time as a "cyclist".

why the bike? Why not? my bro got me back into it when he started working at a LBS

great story tilly

I had lost my license when I was 21 for too many speeding tickets. A friend of mine was into Mtn. Biking, so I got one to get around on, it was Fuji Discovery. I could have gotten my license back after 6 months, but I went a year and a half because the biking was doing me just fine.

Originally got into bike as a way to keep my legs "fit" for
skiing. (Not counting the "its the only way to get around
when your 10 years old".) The biking took over and
the skiing just sort of fell by the wayside.
I had about a 10 year layoff, where I wasn't on the bike.
I took it up again because I needed something to do, and
to supplement my diving.
It hasn't supplanted the diving, but its awfully darn close.
I ride more than I dive (not counting pool sessions and
lake sessions with students).
just an aside, since riding again, my air consumption and
general diving has improved. I'm impressed!

Marty

About the only way left to travel. Had motorcycle, drove around the states in the car... All too fast, hard to really notice anything, sa after cycling, there is going to be walking left, but I hope I will not become so desperate for adventure. :D

My parents bought me a bike when I went to college, a Schwinn World Sport road bike. Didn't ride it much at school because Berkeley's not a particularly bike-friendly campus, but I did ride it in my first triathlon. Did pretty well but rather than continuing and improving, I decided to focus on law school and beer.

Fast forward 8 years. I'm fat and slow and unhappy. I decide to take my tax refund (it was big since I hadn't made much money the year before) and buy a road bike. I commuted to work on it, entered a few local triathlons, and generally recaptured the fun of just riding around and soaking in the scene.

Now, although I'm nominally training for an olympic distance tri in July, I'm finding that I'm spending way too much time on the bike because it's just too much dang fun compared to the work of running and the boredom of lap swimming.

I always liked riding my bike everywhere as a kid. Know is gives me a chance to get outside, see some cool sites, and spend more time with my wife outdoors.

I started riding when I was 7 or 8 years old. As soon as I learned to stay up on the bike, and my dad took the training wheels off, I loved it. I've been riding ever since, and really got into it in the last year.

First I used it for commuting purposes. Then I discovered the wonderful feeling of air and speed. :)

I rode a lot - though never more than 5 miles at a time - until I got my drivers license. I retired a couple years ago and moved to Hawaii. To minimize expenses, I didn't keep a car. I walked anyplace close or took a bus (good system here).

But I often found walking very far just took too long and I hated waiting on the bus, so I decided to try biking after a 37 year layoff.

Even though I had been a couch potato, I soon found I could ride pretty much anyplace I wanted to normally go and now can do so faster than I can by bus while being in much better shape from riding.

And I can do it year round!

Bob

I quit smoking 10 years ago and bought a new Huffy mountainbike to ride around the block to clear out my lungs. I still remember that first ride. I made it about 2 blocks and my legs locked up so bad I didn't think I was going to make it back. My wife said "Back already?" when I walked in the door. After that I just kept going a little further and further. Within 3 months that Huffy was making some awful squealing noises and I knew it was time to buy a real bike. Now I barely remember smoking or a time without a bike.

I had a hard time learning to ride as a kid, at least 2 summers. I think I was 9 when I finally got it. My bike was bigger than I can comfortably ride now. I stopped riding as a teen, until I got to college. There my bike was my only transportation besides my shoes. I grew to love riding. It was a tremendous help after my brother was killed. In that chaotic time, when I was pedaling, I felt in control, alive, and like I was going somewhere. After school and marriage, I drifted out of cycling. I took up running (50-70 miles/week) until I was hit by a car. That was the last straw for my knees, and my foot. I tried to go back to cycling but the only bike I could find was still too big for me and just made my knees and foot hurt more, so I stopped. Instead I worked a lot of overtime for several years. When that company closed and I was looking for a new job I wanted someplace closer to home. I found a job 9 miles from home and shortly I tried riding my bike there to see how it would work. After a couple of months I was convinced that was what I wanted to do, but that I needed a better bike. Eventually I found Harris Cyclery and tried a Terry. That was true joy, because that bike fit me. Because I am small, 69cm/27in inseam, this was a real first. I am very grateful to Geargena Terry for letting me spend the last 3 years riding almost daily without having to worry if I am ruining my knees or getting back pain.

Money. I got sick of paying out for car repairs, fuel, registration, etc, etc in Perth, West Australia, and when the bomb didn't work, I got sick of the lack of flexibility in bus services, especially as I was working a evening sub-editor shift at the time on a newspaper. I sold the bomb, and biking has saved me heaps of money in the six years since (refer other threads). It's also saved me emotionally and professionally since.

I am a happy pedaller.

R

My son learned to ride a bike 3 months ago, so I bought us all a new bike. Now, he doesn't just have to ride where I can stand and watch, we both go all over town. He learned to ride the bike, but I got hit by the addiction. I have not done many things that are so very enjoyable to do every day. My only fault with it is that I am so intensely driven when I do something, and cycling is the kind of sport that one can drive himself to utter exhaustion with. I do this, but I can't stop coming back for more. After being a couch potato for so many years, I was amazed that I still had the instense, perfectionists drive that I had when I was doing sports activities at a younger age. I feel as if " I am back". Good topic, thanks for reading my wordy reply.

Because it's more than a sport, it's a whole way of life, of thinking, of communicating with others... Of course there is the awesome sensations when you look at the road under your front wheel, and you think :"This is so cool, I'm going so fast, just with the power of my legs!". But it's also the freedom of going anywhere, travelling, meeting people and looking around you, at human speed, without polluting, without being noisy, and also staying healthy. I went for a long ride this week end and I was a bit disappointed because when I started struggling none of the cyclists I was riding with slew down to stay with me. I guess it's just that we don't pedal for the same reasons.
Man I could go on and on with that... It's one of my favorite conversation topic...

Hmmm...I used to commute in Ontario and then moved out west a few years ago. In Whistler you either Ski or snowboard in the winter and golf or mtb in the summer. Since I 'thought' I had mtbiked before I picked one up and went to it. I was quickly schooled on trails considered basic out here and fell in love with how technical and physically difficult mountain biking was.

I still don't like the price ;)

Once I got my training wheels off... I loved riding. I've always had this personal joy of riding. It felt like such great freedom... especially for a kid. I am the kind of person that needs space at times... riding just felt like a good getaway.

Though I didn't ride that much until the last couple years (I wasn't on the bike often at 12-15 years old). I love moving. I love the actual ride of the bike (when I'm riding it feels like its an addition to my body rather than a foreign tool). I love the pain that goes with riding hard. It's almost like I crave it, now. Some days I will go on hard rides when I will be thinking 'why am I doing this? Do I really WANT to?'. Its some sort of addiction :D

I started riding when I was 5 yrs old, and by 12, I was rebuilding bikes for cash, then I was on a road bike by 15, rode till I was 21, and work got in the way of riding. I started back up 5 years go on a Hybrid, and went back into Road riding 2 yrs ago. addicted again, and won't let work or anything get in the way again. :)

I started riding a bike a couple of years ago because of someone here on Bikeforums. I got tired of hearing him talk about cycling 24/7, so I decided to start riding and see what he was talking about. It was a wise decision for me!

:D

I wanted to do something to get me off the couch and get some cardio exercise going. My brother as well as a business friend both cycle and both seemed to enjoy it a lot. I had ridden sporadically 15 years ago and remembered how much I liked it, so when bonus time came around, I bought a bike and immediately fell in love with it all over again. What a great stress reliever! Also, being a guy, we like fast and shiny things and I couldn't afford a sports car.....a bike fit the bill perfectly...

I used to run to keep fit and stay fit for scuba diving. Knee said no to running. Then turned to cycling with encouragement of a friend. Real addict now. As of today did 3,060 miles so far this year. On the bike at least 4 days out of 7.
I suffered a rotor cuff tear April 25 and in the intrem have still put on almost 500 miles even though it has slowed me down a bit. Love cycle touring.

I used to run to keep fit and stay fit for scuba diving. Knee said no to running. Then turned to cycling with encouragement of a friend. Real addict now. As of today did 3,060 miles so far this year. On the bike at least 4 days out of 7.
I suffered a rotor cuff tear April 25 and in the intrem have still put on almost 500 miles even though it has slowed me down a bit. Love cycle touring.
Since I have not been diving once so far this year, guess cycling has almost replaced diving. Sometime in the Fall I will get in a dive.

been cycling since I was a toddler, it's just something I always have done.

Got serious about touring at 13 or 14, when I went on my wee bike for a day trip with some pals. Took sandwiches and cycled over the hills to a neighbouring village (other side of the world :D), and got hooked.

I'm the ONLY one in our family who cycles at all.

I didn't really learn to ride a bike until I was 12. I was a very unco-ordinated kid. If it wasn't for the perserverence of my old mates from Werris Creek, I doubt I would have learned at all. I cycled on and off through my teens at various stages. However, it wasn't until I came to the Gold Coast at 18 that I got into it seriously. The first time I rode Springbrook the first time it nearly killed me. However I stuck it out, made it to Purlingbrook falls (not actually the top of the mountain, but a significant milestone as far as I'm concerned), and took a photo.

That photo didn't work very well (I wasn't much of a photographer at that stage), but it changed my life completely. About a week later I had that bike stolen (yes, my effort last month wasn't the first). At that time I was unemployed with no prospects of finding a job, no money, and as far as I was concerned, no hope.

However, every time I looked at that photo I thought back on the memorable day I had riding up the mountain, and the sheer beauty of the falls. It gave me hope. The breakthrough came when I was asked to help someone out with some renovations - hard work for sh*t pay - but it bought me a new bike. I could ride the mountains again.

I soon found that I wanted to go further afield, and did so. Now I had a purpose - and my life changed for the better. From that point forward I was hooked on riding. It's taken me to places I would never have even thought of going - and it's helped me appreciate things I had never previously appreciated.

I now know that every time things are difficult in any facet of life, I need only ride Springbrook again. I will have a new perspective on these matters.

Originally posted by Chris L
It's taken me to places I would never have even thought of going - and it's helped me appreciate things I had never previously appreciated.

I now know that every time things are difficult in any facet of life, I need only ride Springbrook again. I will have a new perspective on these matters.

That's exactly how I feel about cycling. Well said, Chris.

I rode a lot in my late teens, but then cars took over. I bought a Huffy at Walmart in '92 cuz I wanted to get back in shape and 'relive' my biking days. I've been hooked ever since. I got my first full suspension this season and I'm riding the crap out of it! I feel FREE and love being out on my bike for hours at a time.

I wanted to lose weight and while doing so, I fell in love with the sport because of its calming effects of the mind!

Just have to say thanks guys for the inspirational stories!

Can't wait to get out on my bike!!
:D

Why the bike? Well about seven and a half months ago I decided that I wanted to get fit again so I decided to get a bike. That has been one of the greatest decisions I've made in my life. Two months after I started riding I stopped smoking and haven't felt so good in a long time. I ride primarily for fitness, but cycling offers such great secondary bonuses as transportation, exploration, and stress relief.

Anyway, I'm glad to hear everyone is enjoying cycling as much as me, keep it up.