tessartype

My mom. Top-ranked triathlete in the country and reigning Ironman national champion. She bought me a road-bike and all the basics, and there wasn't much more she had to do - I was hooked. Two hard workouts a week, weekend rides when work allows it, and commuting through every weather from 40c heat to torrents and wind - I never thought it would happen, but I'm no longer known as "the photography guy" amongst friends, but rather "the cycling nut".

But my aluminium-framed Sora-triple-shifting bike with 36h rims always leaves me green with envy when I look at her trio of Campy Record-equipped magnesium bikes.

Terry66

I ride today for the same reason I rode when I was a kid....because it is fun.

My dad was into cars and motorcycles and was always building me cool bikes. Mostly crazy choppers that were a b***** to ride, but they looked cool. My first bike was a green Schwinn with a metal flake seat and a stick shifter.

I have always been into bikes. In fact, I got a bike as a graduation present, I got a bike for a wedding present, etc. Then I got into motorcycles, kids came along and I didn't ride for almost 15 years. In that time I got up to 286lbs. About five years ago, I decided to start getting healthy and naturally got back into cycling. Now I ride a few thousand miles a year. I do local TT races, I do group rides, I tour, I do mountain bikes, I commute occassionally and I pull the grandbaby around in a buggy.

bbattle

I rode everywhere as a kid, much further away from home than my parents would have cared to know. In high school and college, I didn't ride much at all but I bought a Huffy mtb. when I moved to New Orleans and rode everywhere on it. Graduated to a DiamondBack then a full suspension Trek. But it kept on raining and the trails were off-limits so I got my first real road bike in 2005.

Now I have a garage full of road bikes and extra bikes for the grandkids. House is full of cycling books, magazines, videos and the most expensive clothing I have is my lycra and cycling shoes.

surgeonstone

I like this thread, kind of cool seeing everyones story. It reminds me of the fact that despite the sometimes hostile, defensive, dismissive or whatever posts, we are all of a similar tribe no matter the nation and, one on one, would likely enjoy each other's company. Good job vivi

simonaway427

Rode MTB as a kid, stopped when I started driving at 16 - never touched a bike again until I was 33.

I was an avid crossfitter thru my early 30's - one day decided that despite being in amazing shape and having a muscular appearance, i wasn't having any fun. So spring of 2010 I bought a $1000 entry level cross bike. Fast fwd 1 1/2 years, I've lost a lot of muscle, about 15lbs, I have 3 bikes, and winning cross races in B cat. And enjoying every minute of it.

dayday82

I'll willing to bet too.

Megiddo

I had been riding occasionally with my wife on out cheap 15 year old Huffy's. But while riding my motorcycle at lunch I saw a bunch of riders and thought... hey I should be doing that!!!

dayday82

Are you still riding the same bike?

Mithrandir

In 2003 I decided to lose weight and took up walking. But I soon got bored of that and started looking around for something new to do. Sometime that year I ended up going to a Kraftwerk concert in Toronto, who was touring to support their new album, "Tour de France Soundtracks" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_de_France_Soundtracks), which they wrote to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the TdF.


Almost all of the songs at the concert were related to cycling, and they kept showing footage of cyclists. Up until that point I had never really considered a bicycle to be a fitness tool, but the concert really struck a chord with me, and made me think that cycling was something that could be extremely fun. After that concert I went to my parents house and got my old mountain bike out of the shed and started riding it around.

I biked a lot that year but unfortunately I stopped after two years and took a long 5 year hiatus. Finally I decided to really take control of my health and I remembered how much fun cycling was, so in May of this year I took it up again, this time with more vigour than ever before, and so far this year I've biked more than all my previous years combined. Never going to give this up now

John_V 

A similar thread was started in the 50+ forum (https://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...-cycling...you), but I'll post it here as well.

Had bikes as a kid and enjoyed them, but was never hooked on riding. After high school, I stopped riding altogether until 1987 when I became part of the Sheriff's Office MERT team (SWAT Medic). I borrowed my son-in-law's 10 speed and rode it about 10 miles a day for about two years, along with all the other physical training we had to do, but I still wasn't hooked. Riding the bike was actually boring but I did it anyway. I had to leave the MERT team because of a back injury that I sustained and pretty much gave up on all exercise and joined the Couch Potato Club for the next 20 years.

On my 63rd birthday, my wife got me a chromoly framed Giant Sedona ST, after years of me defying my doctors advice to start exercising. I was about 30 lbs overweight and had a gut on me to the point where I couldn't see my feet while standing up unless I was leaning over. I started riding the bike because I didn't want to have my wife spend the money and have the bike sit and collect dust. Something between 1987 and two years ago changed dramatically, because I couldn't stop riding and became addicted. I would ride every day (weather permitting) and kept increasing the miles every week. I gave the Sedona to my brother and bought a Giant Cypress in mid July of 2010 and, to date, have put 2,361 miles on it. In October of 2010, I got my Defy 2 road bike so that I could start doing charity rides. I didn't start riding it until last November as I wanted to wait until I got my Retul fitting. As of yesterday's ride I have 3,006 miles on the Defy. I also lost 25 lbs within the first year and have about 5 more to go in order for me to get back to the weight I was 20 years ago (150).

At 65 and retired, I now ride an average of 30 miles a day, 4 days a week and try and get in 40+ mile rides on the weekends. I don't know if I'm doing too much riding, but my doctor's and my body are telling me not to stop or slow down. I think I'll take that advice!

idc

Rode a lot as a kid with my brother just around the block, and my mum would take my brother and I out on weekend rides on the road, with traffic (she had a road bike, we had mostly crappy used kids bikes). By the time I was in HS my bro and friends would ride weekend miles on roads on our rigid MTBs (my first LBS bike/new bike, a black Diamondback Outlook, and my brother got a GT). In hindsight some of it was pretty dangerous road riding for a bunch of teens, especially when we gave the finger getting honked, but that's adolescence. I would often find the steepest hills around my neighbourhood and link them into regular solo rides of around 10 mi. I would also go for random rides when I was in a crappy mood, sort of a zen place for me. I think I also went to CM twice around this time.

I commuted to university occasionally until my Diamondback was stolen Once I finished university I first worked in Brisbane (Australia) which was my first experience living in a city with MUPs, and I commuted to work a fair bit on my now better spec'd out hardtail Avanti MTB with LX/XT, Raceface cranks, etc. This bike also did some decent off-road duty. When I worked in London 6+ years ago I finally got a flat bar 700c x 25 bike (Ridgeback Genesis) for commuting and started putting in more serious road miles. When I first moved to DC 5 years ago I just bought a cheap hardtail MTB for commuting and later brought over the hybrid, but I finally got a full road bike this July at the ripe old age of 32 and I've been doing 100mi+/wk when fit/able, and I commute almost daily. Broke my arm riding in the wet in August, but then did my first shop ride and then century in September. I was always a bit skeptical of spandex and the roadie culture (preferred the commuter/utility attitudes) but I've gotten comfortable with it now. With all these miles I'll finally have to learn proper bike maintenance now.

tagaproject6

Interesting coincidence?!?

AdelaaR

When I turned 30 I knew I wanted to start doing sports.
I live in "De Vlaamse Ardennen" -which is sort of a cycling Mekka- and so the natural choice was to get a bike and start doing the famous hills

MikeyBoyAz

I was tired of paying $1000+ for a semester parking spot on campus, and knew a place to secure a bike while on campus. Now that I am graduated (last May), I do it for health.

pallen

I spent many, many hours of the day as a kid on my bike. I would go to play with friends or just ride. My bike was freedom. When I got to high school I learned that a good hard ride was a great way to blow off steam. I would go ride hard for an hour or so every day. In college, I moved to one of the most non-cycling friendly towns around here and left the bike back home, but I missed getting out to ride. Eventually, I picked up a bike at a garage sale and actually rode to work for a little while, much to everyone's shock and amazement.

After college, I got married and moved overseas for 4 years. When we came back I wanted to get a bike. We had spent all our money living overseas and were broke so we got some cheap-o Walmart bikes. My wife and I loved riding around the neighborhood. My Walmart bike was getting worn out, the front crank wobbled, the RD wouldn't stay adjusted, it rattled and banged.

Then we unknowingly moved right into the middle of the Fort Worth bike mecca. There were bikes out and about everywhere. One Sunday evening we were out riding around the neighborhood and came across a group that meets weekly at the pub at the end of the street. They were very friendly and invited us to join their weekly rides. We made lots of friends, started riding a LOT more, upgraded bike a few times, and now I commute to work.

I guess I wrote all that to say, I don't know what got me into bikes. Its just always been part of life at some level or another.

dalava

Breaking Away

dalava

No disrespect to all you cyclocross aficionados, this is just too funny... HTFU on a dirt-wrapped bike on the gravel part of a coned off smooth asphalt road

What's wrong with just HTFU on the road instead

FastRod

I loved riding since I was three. Around when I was five, my mum said I was pretty good and could keep up with her =P. I'm currently fifteen and got my first "real" bike at twelve when I decided just to get faster by putting in more distance. It's the speed, the corners, etc that keeps me on my bike. Racing off from the traffic lights once the lights hit green just trying to take off as quick as possible just challenge the car beside you, all fun haha. Cycling in overall is just, fun. ( non racer here =P )

KDTX

1. BMX
2. Watching Lemonds' .08 win over Fignon
3. Seeing pictures of muddy riders from Paris-Roubaix and not knowing what it was....then doing the research on it and thought it was cool.
4. I was always better on the bike than my friends who where better at football, basketball, baseball, etc.

pallen

haha, If I had seen that movie when it came out, it probably would have been my favorite movie.

chris1548

Like most 5 year-olds, my parents wouldn't give me the keys to the car. After that it was all downhill and uphill on two wheels.

Seriously, always because it was fun. Rode a bike as a kid. Rode a bike to deliver papers in Jr. High, rode a bike to HS. Chased women in my 20's. Caught one at 30 and started riding again. Love the speed of a road bike, love the challenges of a mountain bike, love the ride and what you see on a touring bike. So far, haven't figured out what's not to love.

Probably won't ever make it to the Tour, and at 63 some people say I should give up on that! But, hey, it's still as much fun as when I was 5!

ColinL

It's interesting looking back on early childhood memories now that I'm 36, and have a 4 year-old son.

I started riding without training wheels a few months before I turned 5. My dad says I saw older kids riding around without training wheels and asked him to take them off. Supposedly I took right too it, but I'm sure there were some crashes. My son just did this same thing last month.

My uncle-- dad's younger brother (by 8 years, age 16)-- was racing BMX and I started that a few months after I was 5. Problem is, I didn't have any practice. I literally went to a starting gate the first time ever at age 5 and had never ridden a track or any jump bigger than a few inches high. Suddenly there are 5 foot high berms and 3 foot high jumps!

I don't remember for sure how many kids were in that race with me, maybe 4-5. We all crashed on the first jump. I got up the fastest and won the moto. The second moto, we all crashed the first jump again! I came in 2nd. By this time I was scared of the jumps.

...And, I never raced BMX again.

I'll prepare my own son a bit better for racing. My dad was barely a man himself, whereas I had a kid a lot later in life and I know better. Even after my disasterous start if I'd had some solo time to practice a starting gate and riding on a BMX track I would've been able to move ahead. But the way I came into it was too much, too soon, too young.


Anyway, I rode mountainbikes a ton from middle school to college. Then I stopped for a lot of years and rode very infrequently. I borrowed a road bike from my dad for a year or two and finally I bought a road bike of my own. It's a whole new love for me. I ride for fun, fitness and as time with my family. The whole family rides... Singletrack pulling a Trail-A-Bike will get your heart going!

Seattle Forrest

I loved riding bikes as a kid, and never stopped loving bikes. I had a BMX when I was little, out grew it and had some kind of flat bar hybrid. I lived in the boonies, and that bike, apart from just making me feel like I was flying, was my ticket out of the neighborhood, at least further than I could walk. I've been without a bike a few times in life, and it never felt right.

simonaway427

Here's the other end of the course



Nope, Tricross is long gone. Cervelo S1 for the road, Felt F75x for cross.

unionmade

loved riding as a kid. Got my first drop bar road bike at 12 in 1979 (Miyata something). Rode it all over suburban NJ. It was freedom. And, yes, Breaking Away was my favorite movie. Got a bianchi touring bike of a friend in college, rode it for a bit. Then just sort of stopped around 91.

Fast forward to 2010, my buddie at work finally got me on a commuter (11miles round trip to work). Can't bear the thought of taking the subway anymore (rode home last night with a sore throat/fever in a driving rain rather than bear the green line in Boston). Then got a bonus this summer and dropped the cash on a Litespeed M1 Rival from CC. Got it the last week of July. Due to work/kids, don't get on the road bike during the week, and the deal with the Mrs. is only one group ride on the weekend. Just passed 1,000 miles on it, can't wait to see what I can do with a full season next year.