What got you started into bikes/riding, ?

[zap]

Triathlon's & Lemonds TdF win in '86.

Swam like a rock in my first and only triathlon. I was dead last after the swimming leg. My cycling split was pretty darn good. Run leg was OK.

I've stuck with cycling ever since. Quite a bit more interesting than running or swimming in a pool.

[Spinner]

At age eleven I received a red Murray with chrome fenders, headlight tank and beautiful whitewalls. I rode this bike through the country side of Northern Indiana until I was 18. Of course as a teenager I had to remove the fenders and tank because that was certainly not cool.

My lust for multi-speed bikes began at age 13. The local Montgomery Wards had a European bike of some sort on display. With racing handlebars, bottle holders and shifters it was the coolest bike I had ever seen. At age eighteen, I bought a Schwinn Continental after dreaming about one from looking in a frequently reviewed Schwinn catalog. I guess seeing all those pretty girls smiling and riding in the catalog pictures was too good of a dream to not take action on.

The Continental expand my riding range from 15 and 20 mile rides to 50 and 60 mile rides. I literally wore this bike out because the only thing ever lubricated was the chain.

The rest is history. At age 50, I still think of bicycling as my link to childhood. It is still as thrilling for me to go for a ride as it was when I was 11. I can't imagine not riding a bike. Riding is singularly the most therapeutic thing that I do.

[Too Tall]

I started riding steadily at the age of 5 and NEVER quit!!! Really, I was always "the bike kid" and so it goes

Willm', you said RAAM almost as many times as BEER and you've inadvertantly drawn me in. I'm really into USCF for the immed. future but intend to race 2 man RAAM in the next 3 yrs. The current course need to change...it's dicey.

[Climb01742]

what got me started riding seriously? a few decades of running seriously.

[William]

Willm', you said RAAM almost as many times as BEER and you've inadvertantly drawn me in. I'm really into USCF for the immed. future but intend to race 2 man RAAM in the next 3 yrs. The current course

Team Titan?


William

[george]

Cycling has become my prozac! Literally. It was November 1998 when I took my Schwinn Highplains mountain bike for my free tune up at my LBS. That is when I saw a brochure for an Ironman distance race. It was described as WELCOME TO VIRTUAL INSANITY!!! EXTREME TRIATHLONS 2.4m swim/112m bike/26.2m run...Saturday, September 11, 1999 Lake Geneva WI. I took that brochure with me (and still have it). I thought to my self this IS insane but not impossible! If I set out to do this it will occupy my time and lift me out of my depression.
In 1999 I ran in ten races all 5K, 10K, and one duathlon. The following year I ran my first marathon it was the Lasalle Bank Chicago Marathon. I was bit by the marathon bug and I ran eight marathons within the next three years including three in 2003!
In November of 2000 I got a custom Rock Lobster Bicycle, and this past September my Serotta Coeur d'Acier. As far as the Ironman goal I never learned to swim, I took a few lessons this past summer and plan to continue to take lessons untill I can swim efficiently but I am enjoying the "journey to Ironman" I have raced in thirty seven races 5K through marathon and six duathlons. I still dream and visualize Ironman but have not made it happen yet...I will become an Ironman in the near future maybe 2006?

[William]

Willm', you said RAAM almost as many times as BEER

Hey, I had to try something to get the drunk to repond.


William

[vaxn8r]

Had to do something after swimming for 18 years. Couldn't face the pool anymore...still can't hardly do that anymore. Can't stand running, too bad because I'd probably be a decent tri-al lawyer, er, tri-ed and failed, er, tri geek....whatever.

No offense tri boys and girls.

[Too Tall]

T2. Yep.

Like 67-59, I got my first road bike as a result of a running injury. I had a very sore knee after training for and completing a marathon. I didn't want to lose my conditioning, so I bought a bike. Over a 10-15 year period I have migrated to pretty much biking, but recently have felt the urge to pound the pavement again.

[Dekonick]

For me it started with my first bike. I was 6, and it was blue and had no trainig wheels. AFter a rough start (trees...bushes...curbs...) I began going everywhere (well a 3 block radius - which is the world to a 6 year old - and with the world as it is today, I know my parents wouldnt have let me leave their sight - too bad things have changed)

Moved to Belgium at age 7. A family friend (Belgian) was a cyclist and raced TT's. Everyone in Europe also rides so who was I to argue? I rode a 3sp typical euro beater bike until we moved to Florida (at age 14)

In Florida I got my first (to me) real bike - a 10 speed with friction shifters! Woot! FREEDOM! I rode that sucker everywhere -

Rode alot until sophmore year in HS - then gas power took over. My bike secretly disowned me and rusted away...

THen came college. Well - I drank, and stumbled - didnt begin cycling again until a frat brother sold me his road bike. It was too small, but a 12 sp indexed steel ride. I rode more and more. After I traded in that bike, I moved to an Epic (JUNK JUNK JUNK - but still nice at the time) -I rode that epic 5 days a week (college lets you ride all da time... didnt appreciate it at the time as I always assumed time would never be an issue) Finally the LBS (after witnessing me ride all da time) convinced me to buy a Serotta. I did and have never looked back. I still have that bike, and it is IMHO the first 'true' road bike I ever owned. All of the others were just teachers...guiding me.

I will always own 2 of my bikes - the Colorado and the Hors Categorie. I doubt Ill ever be like Douglas, with a herd rather than a stable - but I envision more bikes in my future. I just hope I am healthy enough to ride em as well as Sandy, Dan, and Bob do when I reach their age (which is quite young!)

OH DARN. Boston wont read this - wait! BEER BEER BEER - there!

[djg]

I'm not really sure what got me started in cycling. Somehow or other my interest in riding bikes became such that my dad found our way to a gitane dealer in Rochester, New York, in the dark ages of 1973, as we approached my 13th birthday. Those who remember, remember: those were not the days of a dizzying aray of road bikes at every corner LBS. Touring: again, I dunno. But somehow, in high school, my friend Bill and I started talking about a ride around New York state--southern tier, addies, etc. He ordered us each a set of these pannier things from AYH and I had a tent and a camp stove and off we went.

Racing: I played tennis freshman year of college and had a sort of bad year all around. College adjustment. Sub-optimal tennis. And a falling out with the tennis program. Within a year I was somehow pondering bike racing and I believe it was all cemented for me at a race in France. Early fall. Rain. Fast. I just happened upon it and I knew it was cool. That was it. Junior year I was racing on the college team.

[Ozz]

I played soccer for about 25 years, have broken both legs, my nose, my collarbone, torn hamstring, and have had too many ankle sprains to count. Nearly all my buddies I have played with have had knee surgeries. I figured it was time to either slow down my play or hang up my boots. Since the intensity of my play was my hallmark, I figured I'd better bow out of the sport.

I needed something to replace it, and mountain biking looked fun, so I picked up an REI Ponderosa (1988) - it was a blast until a buddy talked me into doing an American Lung Association fundraising ride (Trek Tri-Island - 1993??). This was all road riding and the 30 lb bike didn't work in my favor, but I realized it was a blast to ride on the road. I liked going fast!

The next year I bought a road bike - Specialized Allez Pro (lugged steel, silver with yellow decals). I was hooked...and no cycling injuries since!

BTW - In 2001 I thought I would give soccer another try. I hooked up with my old buddies on their co-rec team, figuring it would be pretty easy. Well, we are all about 40 or so, and they have never left the "A" division, so we were playing 20 somethings....after the first game, I had a sprained ankle, black toenail, and an aggravated sciatica that required a couple epidural cortisone treatments...I will stick with cycling.

Am I the only one on this forum who was never a jock?

[William]

Am I the only one on this forum who was never a jock?

Ahhhhhh yeaaaahhhh. How exactly did you get in here?

Umm, wait right here.

( HEY TT GET DOWN HERE!!!)



William