Originally Posted by rsbob

About 18 years ago a friend of my wife drove to our house in a 1972 911S with sport exhaust and threw me the keys. I took it out for 45 minutes and was utterly hooked. The power, the sound, the classic shape were absolutely intoxicating. I pretty much gave up cycling and got into pre-74 911s. Joined a sports car club or two and spent my free time working on the cars, making them lighter and perform better. I learned a ton and improved my mechanical skills. Meanwhile my bikes sat collecting dust. Weekends were spent driving with the club, along with club dinners and lunch drives. I found to my shock that sports car guys eat crap food. I was a bit shocked at first but ate the way I usually did with an occasional cheeseburger and fries. Did week long drives with the club to California where we would drive more and of course eat. One thing about pre-74 cars is no catalytic converters and the exhaust was a mix of unburnt fuel, oil and normal combustion. In other words, don’t get trapped behind one, or worse yet, 6 or more.

With COVID and the increasingly alarming changes to the climate, I decided it was time to be a bit more responsible pollution and food-wise. (My weight during those years went up 15 lbs). In 2020, I sold off my cars and returned to my first love, cycling.My fitness was abysmal, endurance horrible and hill climbing an absolute miserable struggle. After almost a year and a half, I don’t miss sports cars, and their horrendous expense. Since then my fitness and mental attitude have greatly improved. I lost the 15 lbs and in general feel much better. When we get through COVID I will meet again with my car-nut friends for a beer since I miss the comradeship. What I wont miss are the exhaust fumes and getting 12 MPG on supreme.

Now my life is about improving fitness and buying bike toys, like my new Garmin 830 to track my fitness and structure workouts - something I have never done but will be fun to explore, especially if it works.

Anyone gone through this or something similar? Left and returned to cycling, the great time machine that it is?