MLKATO

Other than your doctors telling you that you need to excercise? Right now it's my sister,who is encouraging me to ride. And also,a lot of you all. I felt ashamed about getting out and riding my bike because of my weight and build,but after seeing some of you all before and after pics,you encouraged me that it doesn't matter what size you are to ride,as long as the bike holds up! I'm glad I held on to my mountain bike after all these years.Even though I am over 100 lbs heavier than when I bought it,it still holds up pretty good.Maybe because it's a older model. So,who is your insperation to ride?

jbrow1

I started riding when my twins were born. I've been a construction worker all my life, wasn't big at 210 or so pounds. But when the kids came I became a stay at home Dad! Well Mr. Construction worker had no more outlet for his energies and needed something to maintain mental health! I hopped on my sisters hybrid one day and haven't stopped yet, although I've switched to a 1983 schwinn traveller. On my second summer of cycling, down to 165+ pounds, and it's changed the lives of my whole family. We all eat healthy now, nix the snacks for the most part, and even my wife gets out on the bike with me now and we pull the kiddos (now 2) in bike trailers. I enjoy these clyde forums because there seems to be no attitudes and you are all so positive to eachother. And I did start a clyde myself, even if a lightweight one Thanks for all the reads, and happy biking to you all!

borobike

It's kinda weird, but for me it was an actress on TV. I took a look at my big self in the mirror and said, there is no way I can ever get chicks like that if I'm looking like this. I already knew I was big and needed to lose weight, and WANTED to lose weight, but for some reason that was the trigger that pushed me over the edge to start doing something about it. Nowadays I do it for myself and my own quest for progress, because I know I can do it and I love the sport, and I keep losing weight.
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MLKATO

I've always been influenced by the cyclist. There for a while I wanted to get a motorcycle and be free with the wind. That was when we were going through Kansas to South Dakota. Then I saw some cyclist who were touring,riding while some of the wives,husbands were riding in a van. I fit the cyclist mentality rather than having a biker attitude.

green427

I have been riding since I was little, but that character on the '70's show 'Breaking Away' inspired me to tour a lot around town.

GumbyN

me, myself, and I.

Crazydad

My dad. He died of a massive stroke at 44. While I don't smoke 2 packs a day or drink heavily like he did, last year when I was 43 it hit me I was at risk for serious health problems because of my weight and I didn't want my kids to grow up without a father like I did. I remembered how much I loved riding and just started doing it again. While my weight has not dropped as much as I wanted yet, my blood pressure and heart rate are down to normal and I find I have a better outlook on life.

CalPastor

A really good friend from church...I was turning 40 and He was turning 62. I started on a cheapo mountain bike nicknamed Sherman (Sherman Tank) and then graduated to my CrossCheck and then to My Trek 5500. Eternally grateful to him for getting me started and probably adding years to my life as a result.

Street Pedaler

Hi. I was pointed toward cycling by one of my doctors after my second major back surgery in '08 as a form of re-hab and to ease some of the neuropathy in my left leg left over from the back injury. He gave me a choice between this and Water Aerobics. The idea of the aerobics sent images of 80 year old women in swim suits thru my mind and so cycling seemed like a safer choice, lol. My first ride was 2 1/2 miles and I was in utter agony. But I got mad and, I guess, desperate thinking that, if I can't even ride a bike, I'm pretty much done for as far as any kind of physical activity. I don't know if I was right or not, but I forced myself to keep going and, pretty quick, a new obsession was born. It's still painful but now it's more of a "I gotta have it" kind of pain. It feels awesome!

martianone

In 1960 - My folks gave me a bicycle for my birthday.
It was like I had been given wings, wings of wheels.
Some ebb and flow along the way - but been cycling ever since.

HuskyDoo

For me it is internal motivation. Stepping on that scale 6 weeks ago was quite an eye opener. I have always been into bikes just never looked at them as a form of exercise. They were just fun to ride and go places. They still are fun to ride and go places but also an awesome low impact way to get exercise.

I have gone the gym route and it worked exceptionally well for me. But I had to go 6 days a week religiously. It just was not sustainable for me. I live in the country 15-20 miles away from the gym. Drive time and gym time cut to much into family time as the kids got older and more involved in activities. Now the kids can go with me when I bike. Family/exercise time is now the same.

HuskyDoo

This forum has also helped me in keeping at it. Lot's of inspiration and good information to be had here.

GeoBigJon

I got fed up with being out of shape, I found this forum while looking around the net, and the inspiration I got has helped push me.

CraigB

I couldn't tell you that there was anyone who inspired me to begin. I loved riding as a kid, but set it aside during high school. I started again in college, a little, then began riding all the time when I got out on my own. Then when I married, my wife and I rode together a fair bit, until we moved to a larger city. Dealing with that traffic, and a subsequent fall of hers, led her interest level to drop considerably. In order to spend more time with her, my riding dropped off a lot. Then about 5 years ago I decided I was going to get back into it whether she wants to come along or not. And that's what we've done. She's been out more than before, but still only rides about 3-5% of the time I do.

merlin55

Jean-Claude Killy the French ski racer. I was 16 years old, and raced 250cc MX, and then got started skiing. I read that Jean-Claude and most of the Euro ski dudes, rode bicycles off season to build up their legs. I started riding road bikes in 1975, found out I was a strong rider with a great sprint and raced bikes for the next 15 years....now I just train and do those so called fun rides of 60 to 120 miles....Cycling has been my passion for 36 years? Yikes maybe I should call the Betty Ford clinic...

exile

Wait a second, its not Lance Armstrong .

All kidding aside I do it because I enjoy it. I'm the only commuter I know so its kind of nice being different. Yeah, I could wear a leather trench coat, paint my fingernails black, and listen to My Chemical Romance, but everyone does that . I could also wear skinny jeans, ride a fixie, and listen to indie rock, but i'm to kool for that .

CraigB

I remember his print ad campaign for Schwinn back in the day.

LarDasse74

I biked a lot as a kid, but when I got to high school there was an organized cycling series (road racing) between all the regional schools. Also, a former coach of the national junior team was a teacher and the cycling team coach at our school. He had coached multiple elite and olympic medal winning athletes and was very inspiring. He helped foster a love of the freedom and challenge of cycling in me, even though I was never great as a racer.

Mithrandir

This is going to sound funny...

But it was the German electropop band Kraftwerk. In 2003 they released their "Tour de France Soundtracks" album commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Tour de France. I went to a show in Toronto in April 2004 and the entire theme of the concert was biking. Up until that point I had just been walking for fitness... that night inspired me to get my old bike out of storage and ride the hell out of it.



And here's their 1983 Tour de France song they wrote for the 80th anniversary:

ziptiedjosh

Because I tore my patella tendon in the marine corps and this is just another step in my recovery.

contango 

For me I wanted to be able to cover the ground more quickly than I can on foot. I'd taken an interest in geocaching and had found just about everything within a sensible walking distance of home and didn't want to have to take the car out because parking can be difficult. So I looked at bikes.

As it happened for me, going to look for geocaches proved to be a brilliant way to improve my fitness. My first ride looking for caches was about 5-6 miles and at the end of it I was exhausted. But looking for geocaches further and further from home (which I had to do, having found all the nearer ones) meant I was covering more and more ground without really registering just what I was doing. Before I knew it I'd gone from a 5-mile trip leaving me wiped out to riding 5-10 miles each way to find a single geocache.

Of course along the way the health benefits, weight loss etc helped keep me motivated, and the feeling of total freedom was a bonus. It's great to see a huge line of stationary cars and whizz past them all in the cycle lane.

Mithrandir

This was an important influence for me as well. When I'd walk, I'd get 2 miles into a bike path then have to turn back (at my weight, walking more than 4 miles tends to make my knees and hips hurt for a few days after)... wondering what the hell the rest of the path looked like and how long it was.

Then I started biking it, and it ended up being only 4 miles... that was one big disappointment. I couldn't believe how much smaller the path seemed once I was on a bike, where once it seemed incredibly long! So now I don't even bother with the paths (unless they're a handy shortcut along my local tours).

irwin7638

A friend of mine was pedaling around on his new Motobecane in 1971. I went to my parents house ,borrowed my sisters schwinn continental,rode around with him that afternoon,bought a new Panasonic the next day. I haven't stopped yet,he did,so did my sister.

Marc

diverkiwi

My bro-in-law & the price of gas.
My bro-in-law in the past 4 years went from close to 300 down to 220ish.

In the past couple months I've dropped almost 15 lbs.
And the price of gas helped encourage me to commute to work a few days a week.

lakkdainen

In February, my wife had a business trip to the Irvine CA area. I and our two year old daughter tagged along. While she was at the conference, I explored the many MUPs with my daughter in a stroller. The whole time I was thinking "I'd love to have a bike right now..."

Fast forward to now, and we all have bikes and a trailer for the munchkin.