simplyred

For me... easy: Lance...
Regardless of his "drug" schabopple.. I still think this guy is the man.
To have cancer SPREAD through your body and beat it is one huge accomplishment and a testament to his willpower. Then decide to go back to pro cycling and win... oh I dunno... SIX tours? in a row?
I followed the 2004 TdF like white on rice... It just looked like the hardest thing in the world to accomplish and it really is an inspiration... He's shown me what human willpower is capable of, so.. I got on a bike [NOT a TREK surprisingly] and I rode till I dropped.. then I did it again and again and again..

So now, I ride as much as I can.... to tell myself that I can do anything, just have to stick to it...
Cycling I guess...really isn't about cycling to me.. it's what it represents..
I guess that's why it has such a resounding presence in my life...

forum*rider

I have liked it since 3rd grade. used ot ride my bike up and down the street for hours on end.

Then school got in the way and cycling got pushed out of my life till about 2 years ago. My uncle got me back into cycling and I have been (re)hooked ever since.

I ride everyday now, to and from school M-F, Sat/Sun I either go on a training ride or just ride around to go to a friends house.

goldfish

I walked out to the shed behind my house and looked at two insanely old road bikes that belonged to my parents, and somthing in my brain snapped. i got on and rode and realised how crazily fast they were compared to my (crappy) mountain bike. I went to the corner store and found the first cycling related magazine i could find (it was Outside magazines issue last year with lance on the cover) and that sealed the deal. i read it front to back, back to front, over and over. i rode as much as i could find time for(which was never enough) and i've ridden more this year than i did all of last year. cycling just gets in you like a beautiful disease. still saving money for my "dream bike" that i probably won't deserve in a physically-fit sense, but i don't care, because the more i ride it, the more fit i get and the more i deserve it. right now i'm still loving my $20 garage sale special. I love that bike too, because even though its waaaaaaaaaay to freaking big for me(i've adjusted it as well as i can), it is my "gateway" to the road-bike world.

before last year i was probably off my bike for 2 years because i got a car and didn't really see a need for biking....though i religiously used my bike to get ANYWHERE before that. i just never saw it as a sport or recreational activity in itself at that point...never really thought about it.

(as a side note, the bikes from the shed were taken apart by me, and the one that fits me is sorta in the middle of becoming a single speed)

Serpico

chimera

Smoothie104

HAHAHAHAHAHAA!!!!!!!!!


I rode my bike everywhere as a kid, but the Greg Lemond won the Tour de France, and I really fell in love with it after that.

OneTinSloth

since my first BMX i've always loved riding.

it all began when my dad let go of the back of my bike and i was riding by myself. freedom. wonderfully terrifying freedom.

when i moved to boston for school and couldn't take my bike, it was like hell. sophomore year, i got my BMX up there with me, then i bought my first road bike, which i converted to single speed, and then fixed. i sold that one and got my first track bike. since then, my collection has been growing and i got my first roadie about 3 years ago, a bianchi eros with 7 speed. i decided that wasn't quick enough, so i hunted down my current ride. i love it. i absolutely love it.

for me, it's the freedom that my bicycle provides me with. now, i work in a shop, even though i have a degree and all the debts that came along with it. i prefer to work on bikes and sell them and share my enthusiasm for bicycles with anyone willing to listen. it's great to talk with customers and give them the knowledge they need to make an informed decision about what is the best bike for them, even if they don't end up buying anything from me, if they walk out feeling good about getting on a bike, to me, i feel like i've done my job. most of the time, even if they get the bike somewhere else, they bring it back to my shop for service.

i have grease flowing through my veins, literally. tiny particles of grease that get absorbed into my bloodstream through the pores in my skin. the creases in my skin on the insides of my elbows are filled in with grease. it takes me two days, and about four showers over those two days to clean all the grease off of my hands, and out of my hair, and then i go back to work and get all greasy again. i can feel the tri-flow syn-grease and phil's tenacious oil on my hands, and every so often, i find a tiny metal shaving that's worked it's way into my skin. a sharp pain indicates where it is. the dirty grease under my fingernails and embedded into my cuticles will never clean off.

i love bicycles. i can work on bikes and talk bikes all day long for 8 hours and come home and all i do is read bikeforums and other articles about new technology, and work on my own bikes until i go to sleep. and when i wake up, i do it all over again. on my days off, i usually go for nice, long rides to get away and relax and enjoy.

it's not just a hobby, or a sport for me. it's a way of life. sometimes, i feel like i was sort of called into it, like how priests describe "the calling." though i have no pretentions of being anywhere near as important as an apostle of God. i'm not self-important, or self-agrandizing. i'm don't know it all, and there's always someone who knows more, who i can learn from. and there are always those who know less who i can teach. something about bicycles and how they work/look/feel/sound speaks to me in a way nothing else ever has.

my bicycle will always be there for me. it always has been. people let you down, jobs and friends, significant others come and go, but my bike will always be there.

always.

youngster

i've been riding a bike since about 5 years old. my uncle taught me how to, while my cousin was riding around me as I was struggling, telling me how easy it is to ride a bike... growing up, my grand-father has always been like a second father. he's my idol, i've always respected him, everybody loves him, he's really a generous man who's always there for you when you need him.

he's been a rider since 1946 and had to stop cycling a year ago, at the age of 83 because of hip problems. for him, road cycling is everything. It is the center of his universe. Whenever I'd go to his place, he'd talk about all the races he had taken part in, all the small villages he had past by. He's French and arrived in Canada some 50 years ago, but our familly always stayed in contact with the rest of the familly who's still on the other side of the sea. So, I'd make up a story in my mind from every race he'd describe me as if I'd been there with him, and his passion was really contagious.

so now that he can't ride anymore, I feel like I'm taking the relay. Every time I jump on my bike, I feel he's there with me and I know that when he'll be gone, he'll still be riding with me, talking to me in my head and in my heart. And the harder my heart beats, the clearer it will seem to me that he'll still be with me. But untill then, it is a wonderful way to stay in contact and have a close relationship. We always meet up during the Tour de France to watch the races, and I just love it!

suntreader

When I was a child in the 1950's and 1960's, the only mode of travel was a bicycle. Even better, there were no video games. We had physical activity for entertainment. In other words, if we wanted to have fun, we played ball or rode bikes.

The great thing about the town where I was raised (Conway SC), we could ride our bike anywhere without fear of being assaulted or kidnapped. Even better, there were bike racks everywhere and you didn't need a lock because nobody stole bikes. Many adults rode bikes, too, because they didn't own cars.

Cycling was an important part of the best years of my life. When I ride a bike now, it reminds me of those good days. That's how I got into - and stay into - cycling.

rmwun54

The first time was when I rode my Schwinn stingray to the beach and realized how fun it was.

OneTinSloth

that sounds utterly utopian....i was born in the wrong decade.

ajst2duk

I used to ride as a kid, then my brother got a 10 speed and I used to sneak out on it to visit my girlfriend at night. I loved the way that thing went. Well it was a break for about 20 years then I had kids of my own. I've only just got back into it, and I found the magic is still there. I got rid of my Ducati and now commute on a MTB and spend time on the roads when I can on my R600. Something about flying around on your own steam & its a good way to work off all the pies & beers.

baj32161

It started when my parents would send my brother and I to Virginia for the summer to stay with our grandmother when we were kids. Before that my bike was just a way to get to and from school or to a friend's house or something like that. But going down to her house with all of those lovely country roads with no traffic gave me the bug bg time. That was when I was 8 or 9....I am 44 now. As a kid I always had a bike, and a road bike since I was 10. As I grew up other things came into my life to push cycling into the background (like so many of you). For many years, mostly after high school and college (1982 and beyond) I didn't ride at all. During that time I got quite heavy, up to 296 lbs on my 6'1" frame...until in August of 2003 I was diagnosed as a type II diabetic, and had surgery to have 2 toes of my left foot amputated. I didn't take it as a stroke of misery, but rather as motivation to get myself into shape and take better care of myself. Since I couldn't run very well anymore the natural thought was to get back on the bike and ride.

Well here I am 88lbs lighter at 208lbs (and still dropping, albeit not as fast now) and loving being on the bike as much as I ever have. I do not drive anymore and I don't miss it one bit.

Thats it, I suppose and I am sorry for being so long-winded (handed?)

Thanks for listening,

Brian

Point

Boredom one summer while in college and I didn't have a job. Just rode my old early '70s bike boom ten speed around for something to do.

First major purchase after graduating was a new road bike. MTB's were still in their infancy.

Corsaire

"Transfusion".

Corsaire

snowy

I have been bicycling since I was a kid, I remember my first bike with no training wheels, it was a pink huffy!! Loved that bike. All the kids in my neighborhood rode everywhere, we would find new places to go. I remember being sad if it was raining outside and just wanting to ride. Funny how I feeling the same way now (raining in Denver since last Tuesday).
I've always had a bike and I know that my children will always have one too. Thats if I ever have children.

'nother

As distinguished from my "kid phase", and a brief mountain biking stint in the early 90s, I got cycling in my blood by noticing that I was getting fat, had high blood pressure, and generally felt crappy. Took my rusting hunk MTB out for a couple of rides and decided that I enjoyed it but wanted a bike that didn't give me a hernia every time I tried to hoist it on/off the hook in the garage. So a buddy sold me one of his bikes, and that pretty much sealed it for me. Now I'm about 25 lbs lighter and feeling a lot better, riding nearly every day, doing centuries (just completed my first double metric on Saturday), etc.

I've never been into the whole Greg/Lance thing. It's cool and all, but I'm just not a "sports" follower.

Dr. Moto

As kids we rode our bikes all over the neighborhood, including through the woods and in our yards (this was decades before mountain biking came into vogue). Most kids had Schwinn's or some equivalent. We never walked anywhere. We used to race these crappy bikes up and down the street and crashed constantly. Nobody wore helmets or pads of any kind. I've got scars all over my body from crashing as a kid. It was like a badge of honor.

In high school the bicycle became freedom, because we lived too far from anything to walk to it, and I couldn't afford a car, so I would ride 10-20 miles into the next town to eat, go to movies, get to work, everything. I also rode frequently to and from school. My friends and I rode around town a lot on weekends, including through traffic at night (no helmets or lights, of course).

In college I used the bicycle for getting to and from work, and for recreation on weekends. I was in the best shape of my life during this time riding up and down the hills of Ithaca, NY and surrounding countryside. This was where I intentionally started riding longer distances.

After college the bike became strictly for weekend recreation for me, because I've always lived too far from work or in hyper-congested areas to make for a very practical commute.

Sometimes I miss the carefree aspect of biking as a kid -- just hop on and go, no special clothes, no worries about rain, no helmets, yada yada. These days it seems like it takes me 20 minutes just to "suit up" for a ride, check the tire pressure, set the computer, etc., then change and a shower afterwards, clean up the bike, put things away...

corysold

Helping others. Used to ride recreationaly, then I got involved with some friends doing a charity ride, now it nearly consumes me. This year we are riding around Lake Michigan, it will be a blast. It is amazing to look back after a trip like that and realize what you just did on the back of a bicycle.

rule

The first time I glided down a hill at 20mph I was hooked, even when I bounced off the trees that were at the bottom of that hill.

lala

Haha! My friend infected me a few years ago.

Crash Dummy

I started riding as cross training for marathon training. At some point, I decided I kinda liked riding just as much (if not more) than running. Sometimes when I go for a ride instead of a run, I feel like I'm cheating... Weird, huh?

jslopez

Last year, on a whim I bought a simple mountian bike instead of a car for the commute to work, totally shocked that I had to pay $400 for a bike (was expecting to shell out about $150 for a really nice one HAHA).

Four months later (on my 30th bday) I was on picking out a brand new road bike and with 30 lbs less to carry around my belly the missis has decided to join in the fun.

fore0121

I've posted this before, but here goes:

I had a decent road bike in my teenage years, a Miele. Me and a few friends were inspired by Lemond also. When he was popular, we started riding. I wouldn't say we were great riders, but we tried drafting, racing eachother, etc. We'd cover maybe 20K and thought it was great. Then I fell away from it for a few years, but I still longed for that rush. It was 'in my blood' as you say.

About 7 years ago I got back on that same bike again. I just missed going fast. While riding a solo 20K (which I thought was huge) I suddenly had a guy 'on my wheel', as he proclaimed. He was very polite, asking if I was OK him drafting me. I'm thinking 'what the hell is this guy doing? He has stones to draft me. I'm not used to anyone behind me.', but I politely said no problem. As he's following, he's chatting about riding, about the local clubs, what a good area we live in to ride, about the fact that I had very good riding form. I told him I was really just a solo rider for fun and didn't really consider whether I was any good.

As I was about to turn around to head home, he encouraged me to continue on with him to some great country roads and to some decent hills (at least for our area). I was concerned I'd be exhausted and wouldn't make it home, I really didn't usually cover much milage. He said 'trust me, it's beautiful. Once you ride it you'll be hooked and keep coming back.' Boy was he right. Led me to some of the most beautiful roads Southern Ontario has to offer, right in my back yard.

We covered 50K that day (OK, I thought it was huge at the time). I was tired but he let me be the wheel suck, drafting him all the way home. He told me where he lived in my area and I did the same, but I've never seen him again. He was the 'mysterious force' that led me to become more than a guy with a bike. (sniff, sniff)

f

shokhead

My dad was riding at 81 years of age and he gave me is old GT with 15,000 miles on it but it was the first good bike i had been on. Been riding since. That was around 8-10 years ago.

Cycliste

In my teenage years through a friend of my age who was into racing. Did loads of great rides together.

Built and maintained bikes together with tools borrowed from a kind neighbor who run a local car repair shop, I remember this guy even braised two old frames together for us to make a tandem from a design plan we had found in a magazine .

Yesterday, went riding with a local club, it started pooring rain in the second hour and this brought me back memories of no matter what weather conditions, nothing would stop us from riding.

Great memories, I guess this surely played a great part in what got cycling into my blood.