Kindaslow

People always ask me why I bike, or why I have five bikes, or what I like best...

I really like bicycles, mostly mountain and SS. I love MTBing, and see road biking as nothing more than a way to get somewhere. I hate working out for the sake of fitness, but biking and hiking have the side benefit of fitness.

So, if it were only for the bikes, I might not do it. If it were only for the biking, and MTBing wasn't so good in my area, I probably wouldn't do it. If it were only for the fitness, I would not do it.

So, for you, how does it break out???

John E

Bicycling is the one sport I have truly loved, starting at age 12 when I could balance a bicycle for the first time. I have always had poor physical coordination, and I was always the last kid picked for team sports, but bicycling has combined my interest in the history of technology, my enjoyment of mechanical tinkering, my taste in aesthetics, my passion for energy efficiency and environmental sustainability, the joy of getting from Point A to Point B under my own power, great camaraderie on the road and -- more recently online, and Scots/Yankee thrift. I owe my current state of cardiovascular fitness to cycling, which I complement with fast walking and upper body and trunk strength workouts at the local YMCA.

Cycling has given me my one-and-only notable athletic achievement in life, a 12 hr 18 min double century. It now helps me maintain levels of fitness and health which give me the last laugh over the jocks from my high school days.

1989Pre 

Training, as such, has nothing to do with why I ride. I ride to enjoy the ambience of wherever I am.., be it the city-side or the country-side. I don't ever want to be so determined and singular in my focus that I am unable to stop and smell the roses.., or talk to a nice horsie or look at the clouds a little bit.

dougmon 

I'm fairly new to biking (about 3 months), so you might want to factor that in.

I ride to get to work and back. This is because I don't like to drive and I don't like to be tied to the public transit schedule.

I've started to ride to run errands, such as hitting the Farmers Markets where there is very little parking. Again, because I don't like to drive, but I really don't like to compete with the SUV crowd for parking.

I've had a couple of rides of between twenty and thirty miles, simply because I felt like going somewhere. So I guess I just like to ride.

Carbonfiberboy 

I've always loved sports that involved moving: running, cycling, skiing, hiking, and hated ball sports and that sort of thing. I started running a mile after school when I was 12, just for the pleasure of it. I went for 20 mile bike rides when I was pre-teen and early teens. I've also always enjoyed lifting weights, just for the pleasure of moving iron. I was never a jock, always last to get picked, but I just loved moving so much that I've kept it up all my life. My wife an I have done a 10 day backpack every year for the past 40. One gets good at what one likes to do.

John E

I can certainly relate to avoiding driving and parking hassles. I would rather take a little extra time on the bike or on transit than behind the wheel, because it's quality time on the bike and can be productive time on commuter rail or the bus. Also, I save a lot of money by keeping my cars for a long time -- our current stable is a 2001 VW Passat wagon and a 1996 Audi A4 sedan.

GerryinHouston

I like being out and about and having a horizon in the distance. I spent a career in front of computer terminals and windowless meeting rooms. Enough is enough.

Rattling along 20-25 miles every day is great. Stopping at my favorite cafe (La Madeleine) for a coffee and an almond croissant before turning back... ah... this is the life!

bargeon

My preference for cycling is similar to yours, mostly off road.
But I've been a regular at the gym for 3 decades. The bike is a fairly limited fitness routine, great for cardio and legs.

Gym for fitness, cycle for fun.

Barrettscv 

Cycling, along with several other recreational activities, is a combination of equipment and physical strength and skill.

I enjoy both the physical exertion and the gear required to enjoy cycling. I spend a few hours each week procuring, restoring and maintaining bikes. It's enjoyable knowing what works and what doesn't.

I also enjoy, and need, saddle time. I don't think that needs much of an explanation.

FBinNY 

Like the OP, I cycle because I enjoy it. From an early age the bicycle opened my range of travel and increased my personal freedom to travel and explore. I also enjoy travel and I find bicycling to be the right speed to really get a sense of place yet still fast enough to cover some ground.

So it's simple, I ride because I enjoy it and everything else is either a means to an end, or fringe benefit.

Gerryattrick

I cycle primarily because I enjoy it, and because it has the side benefits of helping fitness. Ditto for hill walking.

If these activities didn't help fitness I'd still do them because of the enjoyment, but I've learned from experience that if a keep-fit activity isn't enjoyable then I won't stick with it, especially the gym. So it's lucky for me that I re-discovered cycling in my dotage.

Kindaslow

I worked out at the gym, like many here, from about 15-45 or so. But, I was usually doing it out of a sense of need, instead of want. Also, as I aged, the gym really was not helping me to keep the weight off. The biking helps keep the weight off, keeps my interest via playing with the bikes (modifying and tinkering), and I love MTBing. So, I stopped going to the gym completely. Maybe when I retire I will go back to the gym...

I-Like-To-Bike

I like to bike, 'nuff said.

canklecat

I just enjoy bicycling. Sometimes it's just for short errands. Other days, transportation to meet friends. Mostly just for the sensation of low impact moving under my own power. The physical fitness is a bonus, not my main goal.

Other exercises and sports are more like work. Years ago I enjoyed racquetball, volleyball, baseball and boxing. But it wasn't relaxing. And I never liked jogging. Too much work.

Last week I rode 40 and 30 miles, without planning to. I just took off, intending to ride 5-10 miles, and kept going. A broken shifter has kept me off the bike for a few days and I'm getting antsy. Just got the replacement shifter Saturday and am looking forward to riding again Sunday if the t-storms aren't too bad.

rydabent

Probably like so many I just like cycling for the sake of cycling. The fitness that comes with it is a huge bonus. IMO cycling is so much better than running for two reasons. Cycling wont ruin your feet or knees. Then cycling allows you to range so much further an wider than running.

Wileyrat

I recently told a friend, who thought I just rode to exercise, that nobody would spend what I spent on my CF roadie last summer unless they really enjoyed riding bicycles (that's when he said I was nuts).

If all we did this for was exercise, we'd be better off riding an old 45lb Schwinn Varsity with sand bags strapped to the frame.....That would give you a work out.

I haven't been on the mtn bike in a couple of months, so when it warms up a bit more (and I've had enough coffee) that is my morning plan.

dougmon 

I've gotten a similar reaction: "Why would you run errands on a bicycle when you could do it so much faster with a car?"

Why would I shut myself inside a car when I can be outside on a bicycle?

OldsCOOL

I started road riding back in 1973 when in high school. The mystique of sewups, campy and 531/Columbus bit all of us kids hard. We raced and pacelined riiding the 5 miles to school. I loved my Motobecane Mirage but just couldnt take my eyes off the topshelf racing bikes.

There is no great questioning as to why I collect, love and ride the beauties I couldnt afford in those days. Speed is my gig.

CliffordK

I'm more of a commuting/errands type of cyclist. I can ride for hours, and frequently choose new and unique routes.

I have exercise equipment in the basement, but frankly I get bored with it quickly, so it tends to sit around unused a lot.

I don't know if my knees would hold up to jogging again. Maybe if I eased back into it.

Anyway, the cycling is a good, low-impact exercise that is easy to add into my routine, when exercising could easily be forgotten.

Kindaslow

How many of you are also very "into" the bikes themselves? That is, finding just the right bikes, components, etc... and playing with these options and parts. For me, that is a big part of it.

NVanHiker

In over 60 years of biking, no one has ever (let alone 'always') asked me "why I bike." Or why I have a certain number of bikes. Or what I like best. Possibly they're living their own lives and don't care.

dougmon 

+1. And then +1 again. I have found myself riding longer than I planned simply because "something over that way looks interesting."

And again, +1.

The best things about biking for me is that it's exercise where you actually end up somewhere and you don't end up damaging your knees.

Jimbo47

I ride because I enjoy it and for the side benefit of better health.
My bike is more of an entry level, so if it's considered a little heavy then that's a plus for a better workout.
I don't think about that part of it most of the time, but mostly for the fact that it's comfortable and maybe a little slower which gives me the chance to look around and enjoy nature, smelling the roses so to speak.

1989Pre 

The best things about biking for me is that it's exercise where you actually end up somewhere and you don't end up damaging your knees.[/QUOTE]

Really important point about the knees. I ripped something under my kneecap, running sprints, a couple years ago (at age 56), and it hasn't healed and I don't want surgery. Cycling doesn't bother it, and neither does fast walking, so I consider myself blessed, and am grateful for the warning.

Gerryattrick

For me the riding and the working on/building bikes are part of the same enjoyment. Riding something I've planned/resourced and built myself makes the cycling even more enjoyable, and, while I enjoy looking at bikes in the shops I have no desire to buy one myself.

I volunteer at a community bike workshop and was recently offered a part-time job as a mechanic at my LBS. I was tempted but I turned it down because I thought that doing it for wages to someone else's deadlines would spoil some of the enjoyment.