General Cycling Discussion - Adulthood Bicycle Memories

Greetings,

Since the "What bike memories do you have from your childhood?" thread has been a very interesting read lets start one for adulthood memories. What are some of your favorite memories that happened on or after you were 18 years of age.

I'll start.

- Hitting the zone. One day I was riding my bike and these two kids came along side on a mini bike and we started racing. Not only did I keep up with them I actually pulled ahead of them. It's the only time I've ever been in the zone like that.

- Flipping my bike showing off. While cooling down from a training ride I tried to impress some young ladies walking down the street by doing a wheelie on my tri bike (old peugeot with Scott DH bars on it). Being clipped in I couldn't get my feet out fast enough and flipped it right over onto my back. Needless to say the girls were not impressed :(.

- Finishing my first century. After reading that September was national century month (according to Bicycling magazine) I trained for an completed my first century in 5:56.

- Winning a race. I won the first bike race I ever entered. I entered a "citizens" race in Plano, Tx and won it.

How about you?

Had my oldest boy, when he was probably 3 or so in the bike seat carrier thing. It was getting towards sunset and we were out in the middle of nowhere on a gravel road in ND. My boy was looking at the sunset and commented "Isn't that the most beautiful thing you ever saw" At that moment I knew he'd turn out all right and I was doing right by him as his father.
Later, in fact last winter, he and I did an 80 mile overnight trip and had a blast although we almost froze.....
Also, watching both of my boys ride without training wheels for the first time is like... well it's pretty amazing.
D

I have not had a lot of time on a road bike but here we go.

1. Riding my first club ride / over 40 mile ride. Riding a 32 pound fs MTB on knobbies at 16 MPH on a club ride.

2. Finishing my first century... tour of palm springs, 2005

3. Entering and finishing my first race.

4. And tonight, dropping 4 guys that have handing my my a$$ for the last 6 months...

Not into racing at all. Prefer to ride slo and enjoy the scenery
Checking into Air France last summer at MIA with my bike on the way to Europe. Having the folks being so enthusiastic about where I was going and for how long and how I was going to have a great trip, which I did, AND being upgraded without asking for it, am sure it was cause I had my bike and they all rode also
Riding up the Champs the day after the Tour ended to the Arc De Triumphe.
The next day starting my ride out to the WW2 invasion beaches at Normandy

In Oct I went to SF to start riding the PCH to Malibu, lifelong dream accomplished

I'm curious how others handle the mental let down AFTER finishing a difficult ride or an extended long distance achievement. I'm so powered up it takes me days sometimes weeks to come back to earth

When I stepped on my bathroom scale and saw that I was 15lbs lighter. Made the monetary investment well worth it.

1. First time lapping the Cat 1-2 field with 8 others in a breakaway that was moving like lightning. You come up on the field from behind, and they're moving so slow in comparison; it's like going back to junior high school.

I'd write more, but it's lunchtime.

1. My first ride in a big group of fast riders. I was fit enough from lots of triathlon training and I knew how to draft, but I was nervous having guys 6 inches from my elbows at 28mph. All I wanted to do was not cause a crash.

2. Getting a "good job!" from one of our local pros when I ran down a breakaway during the Saturday ride.

3. Taking a long easy ride with a good friend on the afternoon of New Year's Eve. Nothing like a bike ride for good conversation.

4. A solo century: just wanted to see if I could do it. So I just started riding and didn't stop until the computer flipped over to 100.

First I have to start with my mtb, cause I started riding with a mtb first. This was years ago, but I was riding with a boyfriend at the time and he brought along a friend of his who was a professional snowboarder. Well I thought to myself these two guys are going to smoke me. Well we took off up the mountain and I was first one the whole way up!!!!! After we got done, I went to the car and put all my stuff away, the snowboarder guy yells great ride April, well boyfriend at the time gets in the car and says to me so and so was blown away at how good your were for a girl, he said he had a hard time keeping up. :D I just beat the pants off a pro-snowboarder!!! YIPPIE
As far as my road bike, everyday I get on that bike I have the best memories. Making my bike partner laugh at my stupid stunts is what makes it so much fun!!!! Losing 10lbs in a month, looking great and feeling great is what I will always remember.

Today my oldest daughter turned 19. That means that she has been riding on self- propelled wheels for 18 years, 11 months. In an era when nearly every child gets chauffeured around like 19th Century British aristocrats and would never, ever, be exposed to the hazards of the world, my daughter has either been pulled in a trailer or had to provide her own muscle for over 17 years.

Granted she gets chauffeured plenty (and she has her own car now) but in her life she ridden in Yellowstone Park, right next to bison, she has ridden over Rabbit Ears Pass (okay, she slept and I pedaled), she has ridden the Flint Hills of Kansas. She has seen a calf being born, held a snapping turtle in Wisconsin, explored dark wet tunnels on the Elroy-Sparta Trail, been part of a Butter Festival Parade and a Tick Festival Parade. She tried to ride over high mountain passes in Colorado in a driving rain. She has battled headwinds and uphills in South Dakota. She has cried and sweated and, yes, even bleed. But she has done all these things under her own power. On a human scale, at a human pace without glass and steel obstructing the view.

She has been to historic places and not so historic places. She even knows the locations of nearly every toilet and porta-potty in the Denver Metro area. We’ve been to Carhenge. She has even been to Stonehenge. She has been bored to tears at museums and factories and roadside attractions.

But something interesting happened along the way. She became aware! She wants to see and do everything! Museums and roadside attractions aren’t boring anymore. They are an opportunity to learn and grow. When other kids her age are wanting to go shopping or hang out at the local hot spot, she wants to learn. When she went to England this summer, she didn’t want to go shop, she wanted to see the land and the people!

So, Happy Birthday, Rachael! May your life be filled with wind and rain and wonder.

-Doing my first 40 mile ride
-cleaning my first really tough rock section (mountain biking)
-Getting over obesity/smoking by biking every single day
And my latest-Really feeling alive again after riding every day this week.

Breaking the 50 mph barrier.
Riding around a corner at 42 mph only to realize the bridge ahead is out.
T-boning a full grown collie at 18 mph and watching it fold in half around my wheel.

That was just last season.

Enjoy

One ride I will never forget?

First, I suffer from tinnitus. I always hear hissing or ringing. When I was very little, I thought it was just the sound of being alone. Secondly, to compound things, my hearing is exceptionally good.

As a result, my world is very noisy.

One morning I was cycling in the hills to the east of Irvine before work,as I did most every morning. I stopped at the side of the road and looked west. It was a beautiful clear CA morning.

I also realized it was quiet. It took me by surprise. It was true...it was perfectly quiet. No ringing or hissing....just quiet.

I've never had this experience of complete quiet before this moment or ever since. I figure it was a special gift from God on that one day (your belief system may vary).

That was one ride I will never forget.

Awesome story, eubi.

Here's mine: My favorite place to ride is an industrial area right near the Honolulu airport. On one Saturday morning, I was cruising on a long 1.5 mile stretch of road when a huge 18 wheeler pulled up next to me and slowed to keep pace with me. Two really big, mean-looking guys with smiles on their faces turned to look down on me and I began to worry. Then one of them yelled, "Go, go, go!", not to harass me, but to encourage me to speed up. I geared up and began to pick up the pace. As I sped up, they kept pace to my left and began to yell, "Whooooo! Go, go, go!!!!" I kept increasing my speed until I was in a full-out sprint. At that point, they were both cheering as loud as they could and the driver blasted his VERY LOUD horn. They yelled, "Good job!", slowed down and pulled off on a side street.

For that one small moment in time, I felt like I was world-class professional cyclist being cheered on by my fans (all two of them!).