patentcad

Anyone can quit smoking. I've known a few of the most hard core smokers over the past 20 years, some of them in my own family, and they quit. Cold turkey. And stayed quit. As of 2002 22.5% of American adults were smokers, I'm sure that percentage is somewhat lower in 2010.

RideCO

ex smoker...both kinds.

yeah me to...both kinds.

RedC

As long as you remember, like Lays potato chips, you can't have just one!

patentcad

It's the first cigarette that kills you.

Walt_Mink

Oh yeah - at least a pack a day for thirteen years. It took me four tries before I finally got quit. The patch was the crutch that finally worked for me. Thing is, the patch gives you CRAZY dreams ... which I quite enjoyed, so I was probably on them quite a bit longer than I needed to be.

That was seven years ago. I still cheat about once a year when I'm out drinking with my brothers, but always feel like hell when I do. It truely is amazing what a lasting effect that drug has on you.

rjones28 

Smoked cigarettes for a couple of years. My girlfriend (now wife) didn't like it, so I quit. I don't miss it.

eco

How very Cat Stevens of you.

CCrew

Yeah buddy. Vivid.. very REAL dreams.

'm on again off again, right now off. Hate myself when I fall off the wagon. I don't think I'll ever have "quit" just not smoking at the moment.

rjones28 

The rate fell every year since then until 2007, when it was 19.7%. In 2008 (last year of CDC data) the rate popped back up to 20.6%. Still a lot lower that the 41.9% rate we had back in 1965.

patentcad

It's common sense. Think it through.

ahsposo 

In running it's the first and last mile that are the hardest.

I smoked my first cigarette at age 6 and 1/3. I remember it well.

I quit cold turkey at least four times and remained "sober" for a minimum of five months and to date nearly sixteen years. It ain't one day at a time but just sitting here, drinking a glass of red wine and thinking about it, jeez. I'd love a cigarette.

roadiejorge 

I used to smoke and did so for about 14 years (started at 16 and quit when I was 30), I actually used to take a cigarette to have after a ride. I had all sorts of breathing issues as a result of it but what actually got me to stop was a moment of clarity at my friend's house; as I lit a cigarette I asked myself what the heck was I doing to myself. The answers were very clear so I put out the cigarette, threw away the pack and never smoked again.

trey.a

I've smoked for 15 years now. Pack a day. Have had a hell of a time quitting, work stresses me out. Hoping next year I can hit the bike pretty hard, and drive myself to quit. Or blow up my lungs, whatever happens.

malocchio

I quit a month ago - best decision I've ever made.

Everyone babbles on about the cost of performance parts on a bike - the physical benefit of quitting smoking has been worth about $2000 of upgrades I reckon, AND far from spending money, I'm actually SAVING money - no more smokes means I can afford:
- a new jersey every week
- a pair Fulcrum 5's a month
- a Pinarello dogma frame every year

pcad's right - it's the next cigarette that's going to kill you.

It's pretty easy to stop smoking - all you have to do, is never have another cigarette.

Velo Dog

Am I the only person in the world who NEVER thought smoking was cool? My mom was a smoker, and when I was four or five, I asked her about it. She explained the whole inhaling/nicotine/addiction thing.This was years before the Surgeon General's report, so there was no agreement that smoking was unhealthy. Even so, I thought, "Jeez, that's just dumb." When I was in high school in the '60s, then in the Army, nearly everybody smoked. I hated it, hated being around smokers and still do.

SBRDude

I used to be a pretty decent runner and I sometimes used to run with an Irish smoker who could do about a 6:30 mile pace for about 8 or so miles. Afterwards, he would light up and say it was "the best fookin one of the day." I smoke the occasional cig, but never have been addicted to them (thank God!!).

ls01

Well over 25 years, probably closer to 30. 1st one at 12, by 16 I was a pretty regular smoker. By 18, a pack and a half a day habit. Been free of the evil weed for 6 years as of the 26th this month. Cold turkey, the only way to quit.

pacificaslim

Me too! Dunhills, half a pack a day for 20 years. Quit about two years ago. I really loved smoking. Damn it!

mollusk

I used to be a pipe smoker with the occasional cigar and cigarette. I quit cold turkey on Valentine's Day 1984. I've been smoke free ever since.

And, yes, it was hard to do. I still have the occasional dream where I take a puff and then I think "OMG! I have to do that again!"

bhdavis1978

I ride, and I smoke. I smoke about a pack of cigarettes a week- monday through friday- none on the weekend, cause my wife doesn't like it. If we (the wife and I) take a week off work, I don't smoke during that week either, and I don't have any difficulty with it.

Smoking helps me manage my anxiety and my tourette's syndrome. I've tried lots of pharmaceuticals, but they didn't work as well, or they had terrible side effects.

eco

Good point, smoking certainly doesn't have any bad side effects.

logdrum

Quit smoking tobacco in college. The other kind...hmm.
Let us just say that my amateur racing career involved MTB racing in Vermont and New England.
Are you a narc pcad?

With cigarettes, it's the first half inch that I do crave sometimes and that cigarette between your fingers. The rest of the roll is actually yuck I think.

I just saw my India photos today.
Bang lassi for the win!

sfrider 

When I was 13 or so my parents told me if I wanted to smoke they'd give me cigarettes, as long as I stayed at home and didn't stand around on some street corner. That wasn't cool at all. I didn't think my friends who smoked were particularly cool either. I tried it once in my teens and thought "this sucks" and that was that. My parents eventually quit.

lowlife1975

15 year smoker, 1/3 pack a day... quit cold turkey two years ago. still have an occasional casual social puff, but definitely never going back to buying cartons and always carrying around a lighter or matches. the cycling has improved as a result but i can only imagine how much more fit i would have been with smoke free lungs... although i hear the body is pretty amazing at self repairing itself so long as too much damage has not been done.

KiddSisko

I absolutely hate the smell of cigarette smoke. On the other hand, I love cigar smoke and will still light one up on a cold winter day after a meal, or while watching NFL playoffs with friends. Nicotine is a great buzz. Hate the day after taste in my lungs, but it's the price to pay for a dreamy evening.