How many years ... ?
 

As 2005 draws to a close, I thought I'd ask how many years you've been cycling "seriously".

By "seriously", I don't mean from the time you first learned to ride a bicycle when you were a young child, but rather from the time you made the decision that cycling was going to be your sport and you were going to put some time, effort, and possibly also money into it.

Tell us the story, if you've got one about what prompted that decision. :)

I first got serious about 15 years ago and rode hard for about 4 years and them stuff happened. Got back in to it about 2 years ago and am trying to keep life out of the way of it for as long as possible.

Ralph

i've always thought that cycling is a great way to clear my mind. I'm 21 right now and bought my first road bike this past summer, but I knew a long time ago that was the sport I would love to practice. Before that, I was riding irregularly an old and super heavy mountain bike.

My grand father used to be a pro cyclist in France right after WW2 and before moving to Canada. When I was a kid and that I'd see him come back from a 100 km ride at 70 y-o and still being passionate about cycling, it became a no brainer for me. I was filled with wonder just to see him in his «biker costume» on his bike, a steel Marinoni he'd had for some 15 years.

It was a logical and natural thing for me to dream of cycling and live by it because of all the stories he used to tell me (and still narates over and over :D), races he participated in and the passion he communicated.

I've been cycling "seriously" since April 29, 1990 ... approx. 15.5 years ago.


As for what prompted it ...

I had been cycling since about 1973, on and off, and I grew up around bicycles, so I was familiar with the sport, but between about 1985 and 1990, I hadn't ridden much at all ... just a few very short rides. In 1990, the college I had just graduated from was having a "bike-a-thon" thing to raise money for the college ... a long, several-week, tour ... and I decided to train for it. I didn't end up riding that tour, but I did re-develop a love for cycling!! :D

For many, the seeds are planted early in life when they first learn to ride a two-wheeled bicycle. The exhilaration and sense of adventure and freedom can make quite an impression at a young age.
It may take time for these Roadies to sift through all the other sports before coming back to bike racing, but they eventually do. It's like meeting your future wife while you're in grade school, but you have to date a hundred other women before you finally figure out what you actually knew all along. For some, that takes years.
And when you finally come back to that first love, you know that your search has come to a happy end.

First felt the hook in 1965, but didn't come back to it until 1980. That's when I got into it seriously to avoid dealing with everyone around me: drunk, red-neck, military police in my USAF squadron. The more I could distance myself from them, the better.

You should have heard them squawk when I paid $1000 for a bike back in 1981!!!

I've been around the world with cycling. And those poor grunts are probably dead from liver damage.

My cycling was the result of an early "midlife crisis" (early thirties) and for some reason or another I became anxious about my health, so I was thinking about choosing an activity that I would like.

I can't remember but seems like the next day someone had an old Schwinn Super Sport out in the alley for trash pick-up and the frame was in excellent condition. Light bulb went off in my head and I got it and fixed it up. Also I devoured every thing I could find about bicycles and cycling. This was Nov. '93 pre internet.

From there on out I was hooked and this time I wasn't going to be talked out of it, which is what happened in high school when I was thinking about buying a good quality bike and letting my car-crazed buddies do that.

I voted in the 10 - 14 year catagory although
I've been riding seriously (on and off) since 1977

The longest break I took was while I was in South Africa
I never felt safe enough to ride which is really sad as it
is a beautiful country and touring would have been fantastic.

Marty

The last few years for me. I rode every day as a kid, and even had a Gitane 10-speed (this was back in the 60's), but getting a driver's license changed all that. A few years ago my wife, an avid runner, decided to get into cross training and tri's due to stress fractures; she was a good runner and swimmer, but knew little about bikes, so she talked me into getting a road bike. That was a couple years ago, and I'm happy to say that I was immediately hooked. I gave up playing soccer (the last 10+ years) so that I would have more time for riding. I'm only sorry that I didn't rediscover this sport earlier!

I pulled this from one of my first posts. I've been cycling for a little over a year now.

Cycling saved my life.

Two years ago I was 210 pounds and was diagnosed with type two diabetes. At only 33 years old, I was terrified and I stopped eating because it was the food that was killing me. I got help from my loving wife and learned how to eat right.

I started taking care of myself and the weight started coming off. I dropped to 195 lbs in that first year and started to feel better. I wasn't so tired all the time and I felt the time was right to take the next step but I didn't know how to take it.

Enter Jeff. My closest friend and confidant. While giving him a tour of my new home, he noticed my old mountain bike hanging in the garage and asked if I ever rode it. I said, "Not for about 6 years and even back then only a little". He had just gotten back into riding and asked me to go riding with him that weekend. It sounded good.

That following Saturday I did a 28 mile flat ride with him and averaged about 9 mph. My butt was really sore, my hands ached, back ached, basically everything hurt. But, something clicked and I knew this was the next step. I had found what had been missing for so long.

I rode with my friend for the rest of the summer, into the fall and at times in the winter months. It was during Dec of last year that I heard the call of the road. I was at the LBS having a computer installed on my MTB when I got interested in a beautiful C-Dale R1000 in Jet Black. The LBS owner made me an offer I couldn't refuse and I put the bike on layaway. Jeff had later layawayed a Trek 1500; we were thinking the same thing.

Both of us trained at the gym very hard over the winter to improve our cycling skills and learn as much as possible about the rules of the road. I couldn't wait for the spring and when it did finally get here, I jumped on my new ride and haven't stopped yet.

I have enjoyed about four hundred miles so far this year, riding with my wife and Jeff and my brother. All of this has had a profound affect on my appearance, confidence and my health. I am now down to 170 lbs and in the best shape of my life. My diabetes is in full remission and I feel great. I can average about 16 mph in some of my group rides and I'm getting stronger everyday.

Discovering the joy of cycling with the help of my family and friends saved my life. I own them a debt I don't think I'll ever be able to repay.

The weight has stayed off and I continue to train in the winter and ride in the fair weather. Once I get some more cold gear I'll try riding in the winter.

Dante

I voted in the 35 year plus box. I pretty much got into bicycling out of economic necessity. A bike gave me a low cost vehicle that I could use to commute to work and to school. My first bike was a second hand English 3-speed that I bought for $15.00. At the time spending that much money was a major decision at our house.

Today I don't ride as often or as far as a lot of other people, but my wife and I are still out there riding and having fun. Our vacations tend to be centered around bicycling. Our closest friends tend to be cycling people. The bikes have gotten better too - the replacement cost for our tandem would be over $6,000. Spending that much money would still be a major decision at our house.

"I first got serious about 15 years ..."
"I've been cycling "seriously" since April... "
"That's when I got into it seriously to..."
"I've been riding seriously (on and off) since..."

This whole thing is way too serious for me! I have to be serious at work, I try to be serious at church, I'm serious when I scold my German Shepard, I always look serious when trying to make my wife believe me, but after 35 plus years of being an active cyclist, if I had to be serious when I got on a bike: I'd rather go to church.

I just started this Spring. My inspiration to ride came when my wife became pregnant with our son (now two years old). I was 48 years old when he was born (first child). Did the math and realized that I'll be 61 when he turns a teenager. I decided that I had better invest time in my physical health if I'm going to be a good Dad. Started at the gym 3 years ago, discovered spinning classes, which turned into real rides on my 20 year old Panasonic DS2000, which led to a 2002 Lemond Zurich in August and a 2005 Fuji Professional in October, and too much time on this Forum.

Cycling has been my sport since my college days back in the mid 80's. Have never been without a road bike since I bought my first Trek in 1984. Just saw the bike in a bike store window and that was it. Fell in love with the speed and freedom of road cycling. Over the years my level of involvement in cycling has ebbed and flowed as my life changed due to career, marriage, children, etc. At the peak of my riding, I was probably putting in a couple hundred miles a week, riding almost every night after work, on my days off and on weekends. Right now I am purely a recreational rider, averaging 75 miles per week or so, riding two or three nights a week and once on the weekend, weather and family permitting.

I voted 10 to 14 years.

First got into road biking a while back, commuted and rode on weekends.
Moved stopped riding.
Then got into Mountain Biking with friends.
Moved stopped riding.
Got tired of being fat, started road riding again, Mountain bike too as well, this stint has been five years now....

2002 diabetes diagnosis. Diet and exercise have it under control.

I voted 15 to 19 years although I purchased my first serious bike back in 1973, a Raleigh Competition at $320. But it wasn't until the early 90's that I started spending serious money on a regular basis on cycling. :)

Serious - adjective: of great consequence; dedicated to something: showing great interest in or commitment to an endeavor, skill, or pastime; likely to succeed: having a possibility of success, or showing an intention to succeed; substantial or sustained rather than trivial or insignificant

http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/featur...fid=1861718024

I think Don Cook took the word out of context.
I'm seldom serious ON the bike, but I'm serious ABOUT riding it.
I'm seldom serious AT work, but I'm serious ABOUT my work.

I give it my Shoe Test:
If you have to buy a specific pair of shoes for an activity, then I consider you to be serious about the sport.

Apply that test to your other pursuits and see if it holds up.

Apologies to both Machka and EventServices. It apears that I failed at my attempt for a bit of levity. I am particularily saddened to know that my posting caused Machka to get out a dictionary.

I get it.
I've found that sarcasm is a tough sell on this board.
It's hard to convey in text.

OK, so back to the topic at hand...
Who bought the shoe test?

So are you saying that porn stars are not serious about their work? ;)

1st year down!!! :D

Isn't the answer to that question somewhat dependent on the footwear chosen by the pornstar? I mean if it were a pornstar that didn't take their work seriously, they might show up for the shoot in bowling shoes and a mischeivous grin on their face. Could we please move this to pornstarforums.net?

:D I guess I was too serious. :D

But, actually ... don't be too sad ... Machka has that dictionary on hand, at the tip of her fingers, at all times.

OneLook: http://www.onelook.com/

And my conversions calculators, so I can talk to the people below the border

OnlineConversion: http://www.onlineconversion.com/

Less than a year (5 months)

I actually raced mtn. bikes (amature sport class) about 15 years ago then life got in the way, tried other sports...yada, yada, yada.

Got injured 2 1/2 yrs ago participating in one of those "other sports" and tried to recover without going under the knife. Finally realized that surgery on my ankle was inevitable and had it done the first of this year. Was having a difficult time recovering and getting back into the other sports I previously participated in. Decided in July that I should pick up cycling again to aid in recovery and fitness. Like everything else I do I got a bit obsessive about it and now it takes up the majority of my time alloted to recreational activities as well as becoming my primary source of transportation.