rsbob 

We all have various reasons for getting into the sport.

I’ll start. Dad taught me to ride a pedal bike in first grade and always had a bike from then on. Had a paper route and used my freedom machine to ride with my friends and cousin all over town. Road my bike to school - grammar though grad school and bike commuted to work for years. However even then, the bike was more of an appliance rather than recreational - a means to get from here to there. My daily workout sport was running (with some weight lifting).

I ran through my 40s, but as the years passed, I always had more aches and pains associated with distance running. So in my 30s I lived next to a couple who were both Ironman competitors and during one of my painful running recover times convinced me to go on a training ride. We went about 30 miles and it just about killed me because I was zero match for the guy’s wife I was riding with. However, it spurred my curiosity about doing more cycling.

Then my wife’s best friend at work had a husband that was really into cycling (and downhill skiing and hiking, etc - which I did as well) and he really got me into it, teaching me about equipment, etiquette, drafting and pack riding. We joined a local cycling club and road every weekend with a group ranging from 10 to 15 and had a ball. Watching my speed and distance improve faster than my running ability which was intoxicating. We started doing centuries and double centuries and some tough one day events and loved it. Was totally hooked on devoting my training time to cycling while scaling way back on running. Running was only used to get in a quick workout when I didn’t have the time to cycle, but I never enjoyed running. Cycling I loved.

When cell phones became ubiquitous with all the distracted drivers, I switched to mountain biking for 10 years and loved that too. Due to back issues, I am now back road riding and still enjoy my freedom machine.