I grew up in a very poor family. We were tobacco farmers in the hills of eastern Kentucky, my entire family (aunts, uncles, cousins, etc) worked and lived on the farm, so I never had a bicycle as a child. But on the positive side, we also never had that many cars to drive to-and-fro. Most of the "automobiles" I was familiar with as a child were farm trucks and implements.
In the mid 80's we leased a large chunk of one of the mountains out to a coal mining outfit that stripped the mountain bare, poisioned the lower water areas, and drove out a majority of the game animals that we would rely on to live. So when our house burned down my parents used part of those funds to move off to "the big city", which was a little town of 5000 people. One of the friends I made there was on the boxing team at school and he taught me how to ride a bike so that I could keep him company while he jogged. Yes, he was a BIG Rocky fan at the time. That was my introduction to the bicycle.
Fast forward to about 5 years ago. I had moved to Michigan and gotten married. I had an early midlife crisis and quit my cushy office job and walked into the first shop I could and begged for a job. They hired me making %30 of the salary I was used to making. I was happy, my wife wasn't, obviously. About 3 years ago I thought to myself how beneficial a bicycle would be. I could lose all this weight I had gained from 16 straight hours of sitting at a computer eating fast food. So I got one and started riding. After a year I was hooked. One day I took note that my car had been sitting in my driveway for close to 8 months. So I sold it and never gave a second thought to it. I've lost 100lbs and am no longer taking medication. I have Tourette's Syndrome and required medication in order to appear "normal" but for some reason now I don't *have* to have that medication all the time.
My wife still owns a car, I don't blame her, she needs it for work. But for me, I don't think I'll be buying another one for some time. Don't get me wrong, I don't hate cars or the auto industry. I work in the auto industry and it puts food on my families table. I just dislike the brainwashing done by the companies hired by the automakers to market their product. And will make damn sure my son understands this.
So my story isn't as heart filled as others, but it's my story and is why I am here, on this forum, posting.