Good stuff! Puts me in mind of the fact that my being a cyclist, and indeed being on this forum, is an indirect result of a raffle/prize draw!
Explanation. Back in later Winter 2002 @ age 50 I received the (stereo)typical 'wake up' call from my GP: blood pressure up, heart rate high, cholesterol through the roof etc. Ya better do something about it. Hmmm, I thought, what the hell am I going to do? I hate swimming; can't stand "working out" etc. Lazy b_gg_r.
Lo and behold: Mrs. Badger won a Raleigh mtb (hardtail; one step above a bike-shaped-object) in a prize draw about the same time. We picked it up; it sat; "we'll sell it in the Spring". Then, as these things go, I got to thinking: well, I did ride -- a lot, everywhere, all the time -- up into my early 20s before undergoing the usual morph into a sedentary slob (professional life, first as a practicing lawyer and later as an academic will do that). Always loved cycling when I was active, and had always followed racing with a pretty passionate interest, so ... might as well try.
It took one ride once the weather cleared in the Spring; I was re-hooked. Rode that heavy thing a lot/everywhere/all the time -- racked up around 3000 kms in that first season, and have never looked back. Newer/lighter bikes followed beginning the next year, but took Blue Pig
#1 (Blue Pig
#2 is my beloved 2005 Giant Rainier) out to our place in the Maritimes where it served me well for another few years before being passed on to a local friend who is still riding it.
Fast forward: at 63, and some 6-7000 kms/year average since '03 resting h/r is usually around 55, b/p stereotypically 'normal', cholesterol ditto. Can't do anything about degenerative disc disease and various other little goodies other than 'good management', but still ...
Overall I like to attribute all of this to my being the indirect beneficiary of a raffle!