how did you get here?

[Climb01742]

rode a lot the last three days. lots of time to think. got to pondering my athletic history.

ran track in high school. 100/220/440, all in yards. had enough fast twitch to go sub-10 seconds/sub-21 secs/sub-50 secs. just barely sub, but hey, sub. which was ok fast, but not real fast. went to artsy-fartsy college, just ran on my own. graduated, worked, and ran road races. 5k/10k. respectable times but nothing to brag about. not enuf slow twitch, i think. ran 100 mile weeks just to see if i could. got injured. after running every day for 20 years, took up triathlons to rehab. again, respectable times but i only saw the winners after they had collected their prizes. and showered. had a child. no more races, no more 10 hour training days sat/sun or 3-4 hour training days mon-fri. fell more in love with riding. i can wind it up pretty good for short bursts, but after 2-3 hours, i start coasting. i like to spin. can't mash to save my life. or knees. again, i think my fast twitch muscles like spinning, high turnover. looking back, i got started running and racing and smiling when i could twitch fast for short intense bursts. but those kind of races are hard to find. most races, either running or riding post college are more suited to slow twitch pursuits. but i still find moments when i can twitch 'em fast, and man do i love it. that's how i got here.

how did your athletic fun and games get you here?

[dave thompson]

Until I bought my first bicycle, I had no athletic endeavors. Zero. Nada. Zilch. Oh I did the mandatory gym class stuff in Jr. high and high school, plus the required energy expenditure in Air Force boot camp. But beyond that, my athleticism went to sitting on the couch pounding the TV remote looking for F1 races early Sunday mornings.

The bicycle has been my turning point. My wife was a marathoner until arthritis in her right foot forced surgery, with screws and staples, and put a halt to that. She took up bicycling as a way to keep fit, and drug me into it kicking and screaming. For some reason that I can't put my finger on, bikes struck a resonant chord with me. I ain't too bad, even for my young age. I ride 2~3,000 miles a year. Two weeks ago I did a 32 mile ride with one stop, flat to mildly rolling, and maintained a 14.9 mph average. I've done centuries two days in a row. I've done tons of long rides, and am training for several multi-day long rides this year.

So now at the age of 62, I'm trying to make up for all that wasted unused time and trying to crowd a lifetimes worth of athletics into whatever time I have left. And I'm having a blast!

[Andreu]

Many years playing football (Soccer) - a slightly dodgy back - then dragged into cycling by an old cyclo cross pro when I was about 24 and I wished I had started cycling earlier. I love road racing and I have just had my best couple of years ever (at 37) with many top ten placings ....not won a race yet...and now I am in Spain I don't think this is going to happen until I am a vet - well thats the plan anyway(I wish! ;) ). But I do seem to be getting stronger and stronger and other sports like football don't allow such long "careers".

A

[pale scotsman]

Played soccer and swam competitively as a youth while living in Europe. In my mid teens I ran track, soccer, and started having fainting spells under high exersion. Turned out my sternum was growing inward and crowding my lungs, and heart. Had that fixed and had to lay off sports for a couple years. Not to mention not being able to sneeze for 18 months.

I ended up losing so much weight that I was 140lb. at 6'2" when I graduated highshcool. Stick Boy! My girlfriend and I were known as the no butt couple!

Tried to get back into swimming but my aerobic capacity was shot. Bought a Cannondale (thanks Mom!) when I was 18 and got back in shape. Hit the weights, and mountain biked for years until hitting the road again in late '02. Truthfully I forgot how much fun it was. :)

[Bruce H.]

I always did some athletics. Could never sit still. Did HS football, then Sandlot back in the 60's. Then nothing while a student. In 1983 a friend said he was doing a Triathlon. Never really heard of it but figured if he could, I could. Lost 50 lbs and did "The Mighty Hamptons" when John Howard did it.(We came out of the water almost the same time. He had a track bike and wound up 2nd while I was 700+. Then I decided to try a marathon to see if I could do an ironman. I finished the inaugural Pittsburgh marathon but gave up hopes of Hawaii.
Took 9 years off and in 2001, joined a local health club. Took off the 45 lbs I regained over the 9 years. Trained for and completed "Americas Most Beautiful Bike ride" of 100 miles in Lake Tahoe for the Leukemia Society. Got readdicted to cycling and love every minute I am on the bike!
Thankfully the weather Guru's were wrong and I was able to do 2 hours today!
Bruce H.

[David Berry]

I had had bikes growing up of course. But my junior year in college is when I really got started in college. I was in Golden, Colorado and mountian biking was getting really big. I didn't want to mountain bike though, I wanted something that would get me around town since I didn't have a car. So I bought a Miyata Hybrid. I used it for commuting, but I also fell in love with cycling. It was great to ride to far off places, the things you would see, how astonished people were that I rode '25 or 30 miles'.

I kept riding after I got out of college, and then started doing it for fitness. I hadn't every really done much before, other than the required P.E. class. The more I rode, the better I got.

I spent a year in Korea as an expat. Couldn't ride with all the traffic. Major downer. When I got back to the US, I remember those first couple rides, how great it was to be amongst the green grass and trees, and the feeling of fresh air and freedom.

Eventually I bought my Serotta. I got into doing metric centuries and century rides after that, and I just love cycling. I can't imagine doing anything else. I'm happiest when I'm on my bike doing a 75 mile ride somewhere.

I've done Cycle Oregon, Hotter n Hell, Seattle to Portland (in a day). All those jerseys now proudly hang in my closet and go out with me on rides. This year, I'll add Ride the Rockies to that list. When I'm out on a ride like that, in the middle of nature, no cars, I just say to myself "Where would you rather be than right here right now?"

And to think it all started with that Miyata Hybrid.

David

[Birddog]

I was just thinking yesterday, that the 2 sports that I still really enjoy and that I have always been pretty good at, are skiing and bicycling. I have been involved in sports since the 3rd grade, and that was nearly 50 years ago. I played football, baseball, ice hockey and a little basketball. Football was always my favorite, but I was undersized. I was good enough in HS track (distance runner) to be considered for a scholarship to a local directional school, but injuries kept me from it. Instead, I enrolled in a nearby private school and decided to turn out for their swim team (with no competitive swimming background) which was starting its program from scratch. The coach interviewed me, found out I ran distance and decided to make me a "project". By the time I was a senior, I medaled in conference. A few years after college, I moved to a ski resort and lived there for several years before moving back to the city. In the city I longed for something to do and got involved in cycling a little, and then triathlons. Medaled a lot, but seldom won, eventually tired of the obsessive compulsive behaviour nec. in triathlon to be successful and just started to cycle more, it was always my favorite anyway. I ride about 6 to 7 thousand miles a year now, and seldom miss a weekend unless I'm skiing. I'm also a PSIA Level 2 instructor, but cycling is my preferred pastime.
Birddog

[csb]

[Tom]

Went to college a few miles down the road from where Serotta builds their bikes.

Drank my way out of school.

Started running because I had to do something and it doesn't take any brains to run.

Wound up working at the place where I met she who is as loony as I am.

Went on a bike trip with her. Rode a good steel bike for a week with a bunch of decent riders.

Didn't have the brains to stretch enough for the way I used to run.

I live a few miles south of where Serotta builds their bikes.

[MartyE]

with the exception of cruising the neighborhood as a kid I started riding
to keep my legs fresh for snow skiing over the summers. Found I enjoyed the bike more than the skis. I had to give up the skiing about 20 years ago as my knees were giving me alot of pain after a day on the slopes. Took up
scubadiving about 7 years ago, am at assistant instructor level currently.
These are only 2 "athletic" activities that I participate in currently and I feel that cycling greatly enhances the diving. As much as I love the diving the
cycling is still my first passion.

Marty

[Sandy]

At age 2, my parents noticed that I had been blessed with extraordinary athletic gifts. They were struggling trying to move around the furniture in the living room and were having great difficulty in moving a 100 pound sofa. With a smile on my face and a mess in my diapers (used them until age 14) I lifted that sucker over my head, laughed and carried it up 4 flights to the attic and left it there. It is still gathering dust, as my wimp parents were not strong enough to bring it back downstairs. I started training at age 3 to enter weightlifting contests, and naturally, won all 438 that I entered. By age 5, I weighed 480 pounds and had only 2 percent body fat (No steroids for me, only Flintstone vitamins) . I was having trouble finding items heavy enough to lift in order to improve on my 154 world records. I was forced to stop weightlifting after dropping and ruining my dad's favorite pink Cadillac. Besides, none of the olympic lifters wanted to compete with an eight year old like me. I was really good, or should I say great! Yes, I was great, the best ever!

By age 6, I was heavily into running and racing. It all started accidentally. I was with my parents at my first Greyhound race. I always loved dogs, and when I initially saw these beautiful critters running around the course, I slid out of my straight jacket, that my parents used on me, and started chasing. It was such fun, running alongside of these beauties, softly stroking them as they were trying to catch that silly looking thing that they were chasing. By age 7, I was entering the races, disguised as a dog. It was really not much fun since I always caught the lure and the owners of the track became increasingly nasty to me when I chewed up what I was chasing. They were mean people. Anyway, I got disenchanted with running and simply stopped, but not before I was timed at 3.2 seconds for a 100 yard dash (not meters in my day). I was the best runner of all time, past, present, or future.

My folks decided to use me to make some money so they foolishly had me take tennis and golf lessons. I was just too strong for either game. I was now 9 and weighed 520 pounds of solid and natural muscle. I kept destroying the pathetic tennis balls and could not control the golf balls enough on my 1500-2000 yard drives to have them circle back to drop on the greens which were, for some stupid reason, only a few hundred yards from the tee. I could never understand that. I am still quite proud of my all time record drive. I am not sure how long it was, as I really did not have time to wait for it to finally land, some place in Europe.

The next few years of my athletic life were spent in the NBA and the NFL,establishing over 700 records. I am most proud of my triple-triple in the NBA, playing for the Boston Celtics, scoring 145 points, with 109 rebounds, and 108 assists. My NFL single season records of 22,000 yards rushing and 497 catches are my favorites, especially the receiving record, in which 85 of the catches were over 75 yards and 53 of those were done with me being both the receiver and the passer.

Well, I could go on and on and tell you about my 48 goals in a single international soccer game, my undefeated heavyweight boxing record of 250-0, in which 143 of the knockouts occurred with me knocking my lady opponents out of the ring, with one particularly ugly lady knocked out of the stadium (had crowds of 250,000 on average), and stories about my olympic swimming and diving. But why should I continue??? All of you are simply grossly inferior to me anyway and are now probably so absolutely jealous of how super I really am.

Besides, the original post was to tell how we got into cycling. To me it was quite simple. I was the best in every other sport and because of such, I was banned from participating. I chose cycling by default as there was nothing left. Unfortunately, my 825 muscular pounds are still causing me troubles in the sport. I am constantly destroying bicycle parts,especially crankarms. Since the repairs are getting too expensive, I might give up cycling all together and try checkers or chess. But they will probably be much too easy for me, since I am as smart as I am athletic.

Simply Superior Simply Sensational Simply Simple,


Still Serotta Sandy

[keno]

I can attest to the veracity of his athletic accomplishments. The training secrets that I have employed with Sanford, as I have always called him, continue to be cloaked in mystery.

In all candor, I must admit that Sanford has come to an impasse in his bicycle riding (I differentiate from riding, in general, as he also rides horses. Actually, in a strange reversal he has become the only unterjockey in the USA, a situation in which the horse rides him as his strength and speed allow him to carry a horse to victory faster than conventional jockeys can ride their horses over the distance. He may be in the Belmont this year if it doesn't conflict with Serotta Open House Weekend.)

The iimpasses that Sanford has reached is that he can run far more quickly than he can ride a bike, while running even wearing conventional road shoes with cleats on them as well as uncomfortable, yet well-seasoned, riding shorts. His problems are exacerbated in uphill streches most particularly.

We will continue to experiment and hope to find a resolution soon.

As for how I got here, my life is a broad compendium of bad judgment covering manifold areas of great, some, little and no importance.

coach keno

[JohnS]

"Uncomfortable, yet well-seasoned, riding shorts"? Did he buy the ones that you had for sale? :)

[keno]

---- one ---- and they call you...for the rest of your life.

In this case, however, Sanford often seems to be wearing the same riding clothes kept in the little chest next to his crib.

coach keno

[djg]

I always liked bikes and cycling--got my first real "10 speed" (a gitane junior racer) when I was thirteen and did some touring in high school. But my history with competitive sports started elsewhere. I played competitive tennis from the age of 10 and some soccer too. Also did some high school ski racing, although not especially well. I hooked many a gate at Bristol "Mountain," which I gather is just around the corner from DBRK. I went off to college and played tennis as a freshman, but had an off year and didn't fit in with the program. So that was that. As for ski racing, I wasn't nearly good enough to race for Dartmouth--that was a non starter, if you will. I'd been intrigued by bike racing for a few years and a study abroad thing in France cinched it for me. I came back, scrimped and scammed enough to buy a proper road racing bike (a 531 raleigh that had been destined for the french market and was spec'd with french parts and was, for its day, way light) and joined the college team (in those days at least, you showed up, committed to training, and you were on). I had the benefit of riding for a good college team where some really strong riders were interested in developing the team as a team, and that meant giving a lot of time to newbies like me. And that's how I got started.

[Legend_1970]

Watched Greg LeMond on his TT bike on the final stage of the 89 TDF on the local news. I was hooked.

[dirtdigger88]

When I was a kid I rode my bike all of the time, I know most kids do, but the kids in my neighborhood rode all day. We built ramps and learned tricks. We even built a 10 foot high ramp to jump our bikes into the lake that we lived on. That is how I learned to do a "table top".
I got my first road bike at age 13, a Reliegh Supercourse!! I still rode all the time, to school, across town, to other towns. When I went to college I did not have a car (I couldn't afford one) so I rode my Supercourse everywhere, rain or shine. I was a "core" commuter and did not even know it. After college I saved money to buy a couple of different mountain bikes, one I still have is my FSR. All decked out with all the best goods from 5 years ago, that bike still rocks. I bought my second real road bike in 2001, I got it to train to ride my MTB, I figured I would ride the road during the week to be in shape for the MTB on the weekends. Little did I know I would rediscover road riding. Short of the occasional time on my FSR, all of my time is on my road bikes. I had lusted for a ti bike back from my days as a kid reading BMX Plus and Moutainbike Action, this year ended up being the year that I could finally buy my dream, I just never realized that my Legend Ti is what I have been wanting all my life, Pure perfection in the form of a simple machine. How did I get here, I have always been here. :beer: :beer: :beer:

Jason

[SManning]

I never did anything athletic as a kid, except to ride my bike to and from Quick Trip. My parents tried taking me to dance lessons but I was horrible at it. I couldn't stand wearing those leotards and the funky shoes. For some reason, my body just couldn't do what I wanted it to do. I flunked gym as a 5th grader because I couldn't run the 40 yard dash fast enough. If I even hit the ball while playing softball, it was a very big accomplishment. I was pretty much done with anything physical by the time I finished elementary school. I was so tired of being laughed at! So, I was a musician. I played piano, clarinet, violin and organ. While everyone else was playing softball, I was sitting in the living room and practicing.

During my senior year of college and my first two years of grad school I was extremely stressed out. The only thing I could come up with to combat stress was to exercise. So, I decided I needed to lose some college weight and signed up for water aerobics at the local community center. It made a difference and I lost my college weight.

When I married my husband we moved to Michigan. We were bored so we bought mountain bikes. I thought I'd ride it around the paved path at Kensington and that would be about it. Well, Matt decided we needed to try a real mountain bike trail in Holly. I about killed myself riding the West Loop at Holdridge Lakes, no helmet, just a water bottle. So, to make a long story short I became addicted to mountain biking that summer. One year later I did my first mountain bike race and bought a road bike. The next year I started racing in the Sport class and did o'kay, by the third year I was winning races. Four years later, I'm racing expert and Cat 4 and training very seriously. I'm excited to see what this season brings.

[Sandy]

SManning,

I like your history very much. Neat little story!

SmirMan

[jpw]

My grandmother worked for Raleigh and i got lots of bicycles as a child. What fun. When i got older, early teens older, cycling was less cool, but later i remember running home from school to catch the edited highlights of that days TdeF stage. It was incredible, but strangely it didn't inspire me to start riding again. That came later when i got a job at the local University. Commuter crazy!! Loved every minute of it. Great memories, almost brings a tear to my eye, truly. Magical moments.

[jpw]

Forgot to mention the bikes. Amongst many were a Chopper, a Grifter, and my first road bike a five speed Raleigh Arena. The ten speed version was called the Record. I didn't get that one. The Arena was a powder blue. I remember the saddle as if it were right in my hands now. A criss-cross dianomd effect pattern on the top with plastic piping around the edge. I remember taking it on what seemed like the longest ride imaginable, for a child. I thank my grandmother for those experiences. She's still alive and with it, thankfully.

[DonH]

I got into cycling as a result of 3 things.
#1- I was heavily into offroad motorcycle racing and needed a way to train that didnt beat up my knees as much as running.
#2-I had a high stress job that was killing me psychologically.
#3-I had a high stress/high maintenance girlfriend that was killing me psychologically and financially.
Bicycles saved me from a life of self imposed insanity and poor choices.

[froze]

I had always been a naturally fast runner when I was kid. I also as a kid like to see if I could fly and applied that thought process to bikes, so I would try to jump off anything I could find that would allow a running start. When I got into high school I was a anti-jock type of person...in fact I was anti just about anything! Anyway one day on the track field the gym teacher had us run the 100 and I unoffically (since not on the track team) broke the schools track record-this was without any training! Later that year with more class running I broke the 5 minute mile. I then started to run for fun and ended up running an average of 4 miles a day. I had a beater 10 speed i but did not ride it much.

I got into cycling because I figured out that you could actually go someplace far away in the same time it would take me to run. So in 76 I bought a Trek TX900 which was a racing bike with Campy Super Record stuff but the bike was more bike than I ever used and didn't even use it much so I sold it a year later to get a car that I lusted for.

From that time until 79 I only ran; but in 79 I broke a foot and would not be able to run for a long time on it so I bought a Trek 412, and it was on this bike that I started racing even though it was a sport frame and not a racing frame. I was slowly upgrading the 412's components to Suntour Superbe when I crashed and totaled the 412 in 1984 and got the current Trek 660 that I ride today. I transferred all the old Superbe components from the old bike and then added the remaining components that were not Superbe to it than. I raced this bike until 89 at which time I got so burned out from riding (averaging 18,000 miles a year!) I "retired" for 5 years and did not ride at all. I've been averaging about 4,500 miles a year since 94 although this year I have not gotten on it yet, I will start up soon.