Always a rider?

[jmccain]

Most here know the drill: People + hormones + bikes = good times.

fify

[otg]

I rode as a kid, like everyone. When I was about 15 I got a ten speed, a Schwinn Super Sport. I rode that thing for about 5 years, then got married and rode it a lot less. When the kids came along, my wife and I got the kid seats for the bikes and rode with the kids on the back until they got too big for that. The bike started to collect dust then. When I turned 40, I got myself a mountain bike and rode it for about a year, then lost interest again. Last year, at 55, I was way overweight and decided it was time to get in shape. Pre diabetes, sleep apnea, etc. Took out the mountain bike, filled up the tires and haven't stopped since. I also have gotten the old Super Sport into rideable condition, but it is really way too big for me. I guess they fit bikes a lot different back in 71! Recently, I got a Jamis Coda Comp, and I'm on the lookout for a new mountain bike. I think I'm hooked for good this time.

[Blanchje]

Have always ridden some but really started ramping up my focus on fitness after having back surgery at 40. I gravitated pretty naturally to cycling as my preferred activity and have discovered it to be my healthy addiction.

[Bikey Mikey]

Rode as a kid, stopped, rode in College for transportation and was carless for the first few years of marriage. Fast forward 25+ years and I started back riding in April '10...haven't stopped since.

[WC89]

Rode as a kid. Not much during high school yrs. Rode all thru college for transportation and fun; that evolved into racing and centuries from '87-'98. Nothing '99 - '07 (heavy into slow-pitch softball); started riding again in 2008 to current, riding twice a wk for fitness.

[John_V]

Quit riding at age 40 after a back injury. Didn't do anything but eat and get fat until my wife bought me a bike for my 63rd birthday. I've been riding ever since and have been riding road bikes for the last year and a half.

[jon c.]

Seems like my story is pretty common - rode a lot until I was about 20, didn't get on a bike again until last year at age 53. My wife wanted to try riding so I bought a cheap CL bike so I could join her. Loved it more than I could have imagined.

[NOS88]

I estimate that I've ridden bikes regularly 41 out of my 60 years. There was some time off when the children were first born, careers were being established, and renovations to a “fixer upper” house were underway. Even as a teen with a driver's license, there was a group of about 8 to 10 of us who continued cycling as sport. While our friends would go fishing, play tennis, etc., we would ride.

[Bob Ross]

Have you always ridden or did you get back into it later in life for the exercise?

Yes, yes, and no.

Or, more specifically:

Have you always ridden ...?

I've pretty much always had a bike since I was 8 years old. Never went for more than a couple years without some sort of regular cycling...but for most of those years I was a Utility Cyclist, using the bike to commute, run errands, or just tool around for fun.

...or did you get back into it later in life ...?

"Later in life" is when I made the transition from Utility Cyclist to Seriously Obsessed Road Cyclist. I got bit by the bug when I was 45, and cycling stopped being something I did as a means to an end, and became something I did for the sheer joy of the doing. I started to define myself as a cyclist as much if not moreso than my career had defined me previously.

...for the exercise?

See above re: sheer joy. Exercise is just gravy; I'm glad cycling is good for me, but if it turned out that riding a bike >150 miles/week was as much a vice as drinking a case of beer/week, I would still ride my bike >150 miles/week. That riding is healthy is pure bonus, but I definitely don't do it for that.

[BlazingPedals]

I was only without a bike for about 5 years, when I was just starting the family.

[RaymondK43]

Like most everyone here, I began to ride as a child, and never really stopped. Most of the time I rode for fun, not exercise. In 2008 we used our tax refund to buy me a nice road bike, a Trek. I love riding it, best bike I ever had. I now ride for exercise and no other reason. I just like the feeling it gives me.

[Mort Canard]

I rode a lot through the bike boom of the '70s and early '80s. I then moved on to motorcycles. I got back into bicycling about 5 years ago when I decided to get back in shape. I now ride both bicycle and motorcycle and have no wife to tell me I can't!

Fortunately I never sold my Gazelle Champion Mondial so I have a nice Classic and Vintage to ride.

[CrankyFranky]

Didn't ride between ~14 y.o. - ~20 y.o. Became transcended by a 3-speed, and then bought a good 10 speed and haven't looked back - I hardly drive now at all. Spend many happy days touring, now sadly only commuting. Once I retire, I hope to ride more...

[lphilpot]

Rode as a kid through high school, but mostly just around town stuff. Then didn't get on a bike at all until about two years ago (age 51). I've not ridden as much as I'd like since then, but I'm hooked and I ride now whenever I can.

[one_beatnik]

[QUOTE=OldsCOOL;14220215] the Motobecane Mirage was my first serious roadbike (compared to the ubiquitous Huffy with Shimano Eagle "grouppo poopo".


My first good bike was also the Mirage. I still have the frame. Got that when I was first married and rode just a little, but my wife and I did nothing but motorcycle until 1994. (30 states together) Took up cycling for good in 1994 at age 38. Did 4,000 miles last year including one trip from my home in SW Iowa to New Orleans pulling a BOB. Hooked for life I think.

[k7baixo]

Bikes at 13 to motorcycles at 15 through 19 (and three accidents) back to bikes from 19 - 26 to ....life/family/work....to motorcycles from 42 - 46 to kayaks and now kayaks & bicycling.

As my wife says, "it's good to be Gerry.". I agree!

[big john]

Rode as a kid, of course, then came alcohol and smoking and fatness. Loved riding off-road motorcycles starting around 1979, so I got on a bicycle to improve my fitness and eventually sold the last MC and have been riding road, touring, and mountain bikes since, something like 150,000 road miles so far.

[Mobile 155]

I think on a forum like this you will find more long term cyclists than in the normal population. I only use normal because we as a group are a pretty small sampling of transportation in the US. I rode as a kid, everywhere, on an old cruiser that I thought was like riding Pegasus. I got my first multispeed, an old simplex in High School. Rode a Varsity in College. Gave it up for a few years after I got my first compact truck. Got a good road bike in the late 70s, no the Varsity was not a good road bike. Started building a family and moving up in the company and didn't ride for 20 years in the late 80s to the 2000s. Got back into cycling about 2008 and have been at it ever since.

[CraigB]

I began serious riding the summer of '73 when I was 15 and the Motobecane Mirage was my first serious roadbike

I had a Motobecane Mirage in '75 when I was in college. It was the first bike I bought for myself.