NathanC

As a kid up until about 15 I always road a bike. First BMX, then a rigid mountain bike. Stopped riding.

After university, my first pay when I got a full time job was a hard-tail mountain bike. Did some trails etc, but was always in awe of the roadies.

After riding with some of them, I kept up on the climbs on my mtb and they said with my body (6 foot, 136 pounds) I would be a natural at road cycling.

A month later bought a Sora equipped road bike. 6 months after that, I got my Merckx.

Shuagster

+100. Same here except the daily miles...

AlexZ

No great story ...really. I have been riding for 60 years. My first bike was an adult sized Peugeot and I rode it by sticking one leg through the frame and rode standing.
By the time I was tall enough to get to the seat I rode like a circus clown;backwards forwards and every which way.....
My family moved through several countries and continents and wherever I went a bike was one of my first acquisitions. I have never stopped riding although I did get interested in trikes and recumbents and own several of each. Two days ago my lovely wife gave me an early Father's Day gift, another new bike! That brings the stable to nine! Feel like a kid again......mind you I'll soon be 67.

JimF22003

I also caught the bug in the 70s. Everyone in my highschool was riding the ten-speeds. I had a Peugeot PR10 with sew-ups, and then a Legnano bike with Reynolds 531 and all Campy SR stuff.

30 years later, I weighed 475 pounds and walked with a cane.

As I got my life back together, I started by walking, and then eventually jogging a bit. I was on the MUPs so I had plenty of roadies riding past me. It really gave me a goal to go for, and as soon as I lost enough weight to be able to do so, I got back on the bike, first with a hybrid, then a road bike with a triple, and finally with a series of over-expensive indulgence bikes.

Lost about 300 pounds overall, and if it weren't for biking, I'm sure I'd be heading right back there. So I keep riding.

rollin

Outstanding.

Bob Dopolina 

Jeebus!

rollin

I surprised how many people here actually ride. Who would have thought it?


Seriously though the stories show what an eclectic group roadies are. The one underlying theme seems to be that a lot of people have been "fixed" in someway by cycling.

I'm well into my 40s and I still grin like a Cheshire cat when I'm riding.

As the kid in the video recently said when I ride I feel "happy of myself".

Keep the stories coming.

patentcad

That's astonishing.

halfspeed

Maybe so, but this thread is bringing out the geezer contingent.

Snapperhead

Started riding in my mid 20’s. First “real” bike was a Bridgstone, then a Cannondale road bike, then a Cannondale mountain bike. Man those Suntour Superbe Pro components on that Cannondale road bike ROCKED!

I stopped biking to enjoy 10 years of fairly competitive volleyball, followed by four years of tennis. I wrecked my ankles doing both. I’m now in my 40’s with a wife and 3 kids and I needed something to do that wouldn’t impact my lower joints. So I went back to cycling which I already knew I enjoyed.

I spent way more than I should have on my first new bike in 20 years and got a 2008 Specialized Tarmac Expert. Last winter I upgraded to a 2010 Orbea Orca. Now I’m looking to enter some races. My only goal at this point is to finish alive.

ahsposo 

Don,

Thanks for that.

Please start a dedicated thread and keep those few of us who refuse to do facebook informed on Zach's ride.

When does he start?

Prabuddhadg

So many inspiring accounts here. Cycling does seem like a miracle drug. My story though is much more straightforward. I learnt to cycle when I was 11 years old and the bicycle was a heavy steel roadster with a 26" frame and 28" wheels. The saddle was level with my shoulder. I would hold the left handlebar and the top tube with the saddle gripped under my armpit and half pedal around the neighbourhood.

Soon, my father bought me a proper bike and I rode for a few years. Then as I grew, cycling fell out of favour. In Calcutta, India then, cricket was more popular. I used to play regularly and while in college, at age 19 made it to a First Division Club team. I was a fast bowler. But one day, after bowling for many hours, I could not move my left knee the next morning.

Doctor suggested physiotherapy. That was boring. So, he suggested cycling. I went and bought myself a single speed hybrid with riser bars and a speedometer. It was like a drug, watching the needle rise. When I could make it touch 50 kmph, it felt like magic.

Soon, I was riding to cricket practice. Soon I was cycling everywhere. I even visited my girlfriend on a bicycle. As studies and then work put pressure on me, I even gave up cricket. But cycling remained a part of me.

That was 25 years ago. There was a six year gap. But three years back I resumed. I still ride. More now than ever before. Got hold of two very nice bicycles, an Olmo and a Gios, both steel bikes, and I ride. Found some like minded people. Very few people ride for sport or recreation here in India. And people keep asking why we ride. I find it so hard to explain. They see me all dusty and sweaty. And grimacing. And they ask me, you say you ride for enjoyment? And more often than not, they have a curious expression on their faces.

I can't explain to them. But I just love it.

CHAS

Glad that you found a way to cope. Hang in there.

In 1953 when I was six, my mother and my older brother put me on a bike that was too large.
They put at the top of the driveway and went to the bottom to coach me.
Then they dug me out of a huge thorny rosebush.
I rode as a kid. Quit at 16.
Started again while a law student with friends when Peugeots first reached Missouri.
Raced enough to learn that I can sprint, but don't have the speed to be at the front to sprint when it counts.
Rode through a 21 year marriage. She was not physical enough to do more than smoke on the back of the tandem.
Just started dating a guy who is a faster rider. He beat the train in the Durango-Silverton ride. We plan to get on my tandem soon.
Now I find cycling to have physical and mental benefits that I never want to be without.

Ratzinger

I second, third, fourth cycling being a miracle drug.

As far as addictions go, this is one of the best. It's fun to deal with life's stresses with drinking and eating too much, but the side-effects are not good. Cyclist has side-effects (the temptation to spend too much money) but most results are positive- health, being social, getting out and discovering the world.

Probably a lot of people here understand the compulsion to get out on the bike. I do ignore other things to do it. It is an escape. Overall it's positive, helps me sleep, be happy, and less stressed to deal with the ugly things in life.

I've been cyclist to get around town since I was old enough to be out on my own. After university I did a couple tours. (4000km and 2000km solo). I ride my bike everyday, commute, and this year got a 90's steel racing bike and doing longer rides on the weekend.

Lately I've been on this forums and reading posts from fellow cyclists who are 20, 30, 40 years older that I and still going. It's inspiring. I couldn't imagine my life without the bike. If I can keep doing this for the rest of the days I'll be happy.

dgasmd

Rode as a kid and that progressed to BMX bikes. Stopped riding a couple of years after high school. Moved to the US, and started college. Girls became almost a sport at the time, so working out was unnecessary. Met a woman that was into triathlons. Hated swimming to no end, so she suggested I try a duathlon. This was early 90's. Started to run 30-35 miles/week, and after buying a Trek 2100 with Chitmano 105 I was soon doing 300-400 miles/week on top of the running. I was simply a machine and had every minute of the day accounted for. Slept only 5 hr, run 1-2 hr in the AM before going to school full time, rode in the afternoon, study for a few hr, went to bed, and repeat 5 hr later! Then, worked 16 hr days every sat and sunday on top of it! Best shape I have ever being in my life for sure. Then, went to med school and all that went to chit! By the end of my first year of med school, I was doing no running, no more than 100 miles/week on the bike, had gained 20-25 Lb, felt like chit all the time, but still ate the same as before. No motivation, surrounded by fat people that had never worked out in their lives, all kinds of weird personalities, etc. Stopped riding altogether at the very beginning of the 2nd year of med school.

Fast forward 10 years and I had gone from a lean and muscular 175 lb to a porky 314 Lb. Trying to get out of bed one morning almost took an act of congress. Made me cry that I was only in my late 30's and feeling/looking like that, not to mention the health implications. Put a zipper in my stomach/mouth, started to walk some until I could get back on a bike without loosing it inside my colon, and started to loose a bit of weight. As soon as I started to feel like I could pedal, I got the Trek out of the closet, cleaned and lubed, and went out for a 3 mile ride. All I could think the entire time was that a car would hit me and simply take me out of my misery! Months later, I did my first century in over a decade. It has been now a few years since that new beginning, but I was back to within 10 Lb of my original weight inside of 18 months. NEVER AGAIN!!!!

Many people ride for different reasons, have different motivations, different goals, and different outlook as to what it is they are doing, but in the end we are all doing the same thing: riding!

ravenmore

nothing as dramatic as a lot of the stories here.

I rode bikes since I was a kid but never realized it was a sport until fairly recently. I was a gym rat. I got to where I was benching 400+ pounds, squatting over 500, but then noticed one day I was out of breath going up a flight of stairs. I was around 240 pounds, good bit of muscle with a good bit of fat on top. I realized I was no where near in shape. Then my dad had a heart attack. He survived but it was a wake up call. I abandoned the gym and started walking then running. Had constant nagging injuries from running though, so I tried biking. Local shop here with a bunch sarcastic wise ass mechanics took me in for some reason and eventually became good friends, including a former pro cyclist who worked in sales. He helped me a lot. Still made a lot a stupid super fred mistakes along the way.

radshark

After reading this thread I concluded that we should be able to write off cycling related costs as health care expenses

Why not - our countries have unacceptable rates of obesity that tax our health care systems. Allowing people to write off exercise expenses would be a welcome proactive way of supporting those who are, or should, live a healthier lifestyle.

JonnyHK 

I've always had bikes as a kid and as an adult, but I only really started doing serious riding and racing in the last 2 years. Before that it was just cross training for my other sports.

Why the change? Boredom!

I am a professional coach in another sport and - to be frank - I'm bored silly with it. The last thing I want to do for myself now is the sport that is my work.

So I go cycling and I love it.

ravenmore

awesome

ravenmore

Holy crap - had too google that. Helluva a comeback - you've come a long way. Way to go.

ls01

I rode a lot as a kid. I built my own bikes from parts I used to get a t the local "surplus" place. I got a job washing dishes at 15 and rode my bike there for a year. got a second job washing dishes and cooking at another place farther away and still rode my bike. At 17 I had a fork fail and did a pace plant, thus ending my riding.
Married at 19, took a job in construction that came with all of the usual bad habits, smoking, drinking, Partying.
During marriage #2, with the help of a marriage councilor, I decided to make some changes in my life. I quit smoking after 25 years, which led to irritability and weight gain. My marriage was deteriorating and I was having a hard time dealing with the stress of it.
The councilor decided I had an anxiety disorder. Since I had moved into a new line of work, that at the time was less physically demanding than carpentry (supervision) I was no longer getting the stress relief of physical activity and that I needed to pick up an activity that would provide it.
I lifted weights for a while. That made my back hurt. I tried running. made my knees hurt, and running is stupid. Cycling was mentioned in therapy. I had just bought a couple of mountain bikes because they were on sale...... I always did like riding when I was younger...... OK. I'll give it a try.
I am still a non smoker, I am also divorced. Oddly enough, the anxiety and stress ended with the marriage. I do credit cycling for that, it gave me the clarity of mind and the time to think things through and make the tough decision. I find it somehow odd that, the couniling that was supposed to save my marriage, led me to the thing that would eventually help me arrive at the decision that the marriage just wasnt worth saving.
I am still fat though, to fat for this sport anyways....

DC_United_Fan

I spent 23 years in the Air Force and despite the need to remain active in order to pass my yearly PT test, I managed to smoke and drink my way through my entire career. I retired in 2008 and took a civilian position where I promptly went from 170lbs to 204lbs in about 9 months. Finally in May of 2010 I got sick of what I saw in the mirror and started running, which lead to me quitting smoking. I wasn't able to run every day due to injury problems so I bought a Trek road bike and started using it to cross train from running. Then I built up a SS to commute on and made cycling part of my everyday life. Soon enough it became my lifestyle. Now I call myself a reformed runner on a 12 step cycling program. Somewhere along the way I managed to loose 70 lbs and have never felt more healthy in my life.

So, at 46 years old I'm the owner of a Cat 5 license so new the ink still drips when I pull it out of my wallet, and a hot rod little Trek Madone that's way faster than I'll ever be. I'm mixing it up, handlebar to handlebar with guys half my age and loving every second of it!

shrinkboy

i was a kid swimmer, and i always loved my bicycle. i quit age group swimming when i was 14...when i was a child we tried to mirror the west coast hot rod styles with 'custom' parts from pep boys for our bikes. when i was 14 my mom saved up her hard earned coin and gave me a gold and white stingray for my birthday and i was in heaven. for about a year, until i got my first car. the stingray then went to lean against a wall, for good.

i had various varsities as a young adult, but quickly stolen. when i grad'd college in 1975, my mom wanted to buy me a suit, but i said 'bicycle', and we went and got the gob-smacking-est bike we could afford, a Francia. essentially a Peugeot UO8 competitor. rode the crap out of that until going to grad school, and it went to lean against a wall. by this time, i'd become enamored with running, and ran like a man afire for a few years, eventually racking up 16:19 5k and 34:50 10k, 10:30 two mile runs. not too bad for someone who played tackle on the football team and struggled with track.

running injuries got me back on the bike, and i pulled out the old Francia, and 'upgraded' it with a bunch of parts from Bike Nashbar catalog back in 1983. this led to triathlon, which i never cared for very much, and that led to meeting a bunch of bike racers, and i suddenly felt as if i'd found my home. the Francia went to lean on the wall again, and i scored an all-Campy NR Grandis ($885 out the door) in fall 83. i raced until i became a Cat 3 in 85, was involved in a huge finish line crash and had a meeting with common sense regarding the sport versus my budding psychotherapy practice, and my 2nd child on the way. raced a few more times into 86 or 87, but then quit, i thought, for good.

rediscovered swimming as a Masters swimming in 1989, coached by Olympian Jerry Heidenreich (Mark Spitz' nemesis); i had a long and fruitful relationship with Jerry and he turned me into a pretty good Master's sprinter, with a number of regional age group championships in 50 and 100 freestyle. jerry killed himself in 2002, and swimming slowly started to change for me from an engaging sport into a simple habit.

in spring of 2010, i could not stand it anymore, and started riding a bike, until such time as the urge to swim returned. i played the game with myself that i would not return to racing for most of last year, messing around with various vintage bikes, and even was gifted an 80s all Campy Grandis by a friend no longer riding his. of course, i lined up for my first race this year as an age 60 Cat 5, and have been racing ever since January. a smattering of road races, but mainly crits. maybe 15 of 'em since early this year. i was 10th a few weeks ago in the Age Group State Crit champs, finishing in a bunch with a group of really good, strong Cats 1, 2, and 3. i can hang in for top 10 finishes in the all age group weeknight C races at Fair Park (Dallas) and hope to bag a top 5 soon. just gotta get that last lap nailed down, you know? so far, its been a blast. i knew it would not be easy at all, and unlike the 80s, i told myself in the early races this year that all i've got to do is finish on two wheels. then it was get a good start in a crit and hang on for a few laps. then it was stay with lead bunch until the end. then....you get the idea.

i've lost 30 lbs since last year, and am undoubtedly much fitter than i've been in years. with Masters swimming, the most workout time you can get would be maybe 7-8 hours a week, which is pretty intense, but nothing like the 12-15 hours or more per week i've been getting lately.

so far its been a blast...

ArizonaRuss

Only been riding for 6 months, but it's helping me get over a bad break-up. The day after it happened I got this sudden urge to go for a long night ride (long for me then was 10 miles), and so I took off. I just wanted to get away from it all, and for those 40 min I was on the bike, everything was fantastic. No cars on the road, and just the wind in my face: Freedom. I had the biggest smile when I eventually arrived back home at 1am.

When the pain returned the next day, I got on the bike again. Repeat and repeat. I started getting faster and faster, travelling further and further. Now I can't get enough of it. I participate in the fast group rides, and I'm looking to start racing in the fall.

I've cycled my whole life, but only now has it become my life.

bonz50

last summer I started training for a triathlon, about 2 months in I was playing street hockey with my boys and blew my knee out... ACL/MCL tears... running became a chore so I gave up on it and started going for biking as my primary fitness activity... that's the short story...

the slightly longer story is that I used to be in quite excellent condition... college soccer player (div 1), infantry soldier in the early 90's, i was in perfect biking shape/weight back then (1990, 6-1, 142 lbs)... torn cartilage ended my playing career (to much astroturf back then), infantry work wasn't helping my knees (no injuries but some aching from humpin a 70lb pack and the m60 machine gun 15 miles thru sand)... flash forward a few year, met my wife and etc, got out of school, desk job + wife that cooks was to good for me = me ballooning up to 242lbs just before my first son was born in 01... got my weight back down to 195lbs then severally herniated a disc in my lower back (and 4 other minor herniations) from bad form during a weight lifting session... weight comes back during the down time, back to about 230ish, then comes the street hockey injury, pretty much leaving cycling as the only enjoyable low impact activity left for me now at 42 yrs old... started researching a bike when I first started training for the tri last year... now instead of getting a tri-bike i changed course and bought a road bike instead... pretty happy with how things have changed considering the path I took getting here...