What got you started into bikes/riding, ?

[Dekonick]

Jock or Jerk?

I know some girls that think I was one of the two...

I've never played any organized sports. I rode a Schwinn Continental in high school and didn't touch a bike (except for Harleys) until my mid 30's when I bought a Specializwd Crossroads for exercise. I was hooked and followed that up with a Bianchi Campione and, for the last 4 years, a Concours.

February 21, 2001 I decided to quit smoking. The next day I pulled out my old mountain bike, I figured I had to reward myself somehow. Afterall, if I ride I can't smoke, if I smoke I can't ride right?

Anyway, about a month later I bought what I thought was a decent mountain bike (that was about nine mountain bikes ago). That Summer some of my riding partners talked me into getting a road bike to help me train (Lemond Nevada City, what a pos, but anyway). The second day I had it I decided to take a decent ride on it, ended up being my first metric century. Since then I have been hooked.

Oh, also I did my first American Lung Association 100 mile charity ride when I was 11, it was a three day rails to trails event. I did that ride nine times, the last time about killed me. I started smoking when I turned 18.....what can I say, all the cool people did it....so I thought. Anyway, I quit riding when I turned 19, lungs couldn't handle it, plus it took time away from my new sport of choice....women.

It took me close to eight years to wise up and quit those things, life is so much better when it isn't being contolled by little white cancer sticks. Anyway, thats why I got back into riding.

I got interested in cycling because I was tired of the injuries resulting from running. Cycling is so much more joint friendly. Having said that, my passion has always been running.

[Michael Katz]

At age 10 my parents bought me a Raleigh with coaster brakes in the rear, a hand brake up front and a Sturmy Archer 3 speed hub. I rode that sucker everywhere - to school, to friends houses, little league games, stores. Even put a light on it so I could ride after the sun went down. It was my means of independence, of the freedom to go where I wanted, when I wanted and to feel self reliant and responsible for myself. It was also just a great way to play - to race my friends around the block, ride back into the woods near my house, get airborn off of drop offs in neighbors' back yards, to try to impress girls with all sorts of dopey feats of daring do and all the other goofy things that my friends and I could dream up.

At 15 I took some money I had saved up from shoveling snow in the winter and bought myself my first "racing bike" - a Gitane with pedal cages and tubular tires. Suddenly my horizons were expanded with the capabilities of my new bike. A friend and I would pack some lunch in a backpack and take off for excursions to "distant places", disappearing all day long on adventures that left us exhausted but glowing with satisfaction by the end of the day. We knew nothing about ride nutrition or hydration or, in my case even how to change a tubular tire (I didn't even carry a spare), but there must be a god that watches over the innocents and we always returned safe and sound (and I never even flatted once).

At 17 I got my first car and the bike went by the wayside as my play time got taken up with cars and motorcyles. Over the years I kept in shape by running and lifting weights. In July 1993, my wife's brother-in-law with some degree of smugness announced that he was doing an MS 150 ride in September with a friend of his and invited me to do it with them if I thought I could "keep up". Made some wise *** comments about how I was turning 40 and they didn't want to be too tough on me. I decided it would be a fun adventure and challenge and took him up on his offer.

So I went out and bought myself a new road bike from the same neighborhood shop my old Raleigh had come from and set out to get prepared for this epic ride. Didn't know much of anything about training but I read in the MS 150 literature that if I could do 30 miles in about 2 hours I would be ok for 75. So for 2 months I rode 30 miles 2x a week and did a third "long" ride of 40 miles each week just to be on the safe side.

The fateful day arrived, on the weekend of my 40th birthday, and off I went. Simply put, it was a blast. The sight and sound of all these bicyclists, the synergy of riding with others, the intoxicating effect of pushing my body to perform at the levels and duration required to do the ride, and the intense gratification of meeting the challenge I had set for myself. Much to my surprise, I had no trouble hanging with my brother-in-law and his friend.

I was hooked. I began to voraciously devour evrything I could read about how to be a better cyclist, joined a local bike club and rediscovered the joys that had captured me as a kid. Even decided to organize and run an annual family cycling day in my community as away of trying to help the kids in my community discover the joys of biking I had experienced as a kid in that same comuunity some 30 years earlier. Ironically, I only rode one more MS 150 with my brother-in-law and his friend before they lost interest in riding. Their challenge to me, however, led to me giving to myself the best 40th birthday present - one that will continue for many years to come.

[William]

Newer members, what got you started?

William

[Skrawny]

Every great story told by a guy usually starts with the words, "Well you see there was this girl..."

I started running in graduate school. I was hitting on a good looking girl next to me, and she said "Do you run? We could go on a fiver next weekend"

"Uh, sure!" Was my response. That day I bought shoes and the most flattering running gear I could find. Although the relationship did not work out, I became addicted to endurance sports.

Unfortunately after several marathons my knees got delicate enough that I got to the point that if I really wanted that all day endurance feeling, I had to very sloooooowly ramp up my training. A friend of my suggested a road bike as something that I could satisfy my love of endurance sports, nature and my desire to explore. I bought an entry level Specialized in San Diego about 2 years ago and realized that this is the sport for me. I have since moved to Northern California, put several thousand miles into that Specialized, and moved up to a Serotta (see the thread "The New Trigger" under images for unabashed gushing about my new bike).
-s

Like a few others, I was a runner. I wasn't a good runner, but I ran. I ran to exorcise the demons, exercise my heart, excite my body. I kept getting injured. Eventually, a disc in my neck collapsed and had to be replaced. Shiny new titanium parts and the doc said "no more running - no spine compression". Almost four years ago - six weeks before RAGBRAI, a friend said - get a bike, let's ride across Iowa. So I bought a prior year's model of a Bianchi (Sora components, no less!) and began training. One week across Iowa drinking and riding and I was hooked! This past year, the same friend (Chris) told me it was time to upgrade. He found a bike on this forum, and BlastinBob was kind enough to cut me a deal on the most beautiful piece of machinary that I've ever owned (and I LOVE my new RX-8). I'm no better biker than I was a runner. But now, and for as long as I possibly can dream - I'm a biker. Actually, I prefer cyclist - too many folks hereabouts think biker means Harley rider.

[vandeda]

I don't race, but I do long distance riding and have attempted to do some touring, but the plans haven't worked out for that one yet. What got me started on that? More than anything, the challenge. I liked the challenge. I started as a mountain biker about 5 years ago. Mountain biking looked like a lot of fun, and I have a bunch of friends from work who mountain bike. At the time, I had no interest in road riding ... zero, nada, zip. But, then I wound up getting my Centurion Le Mans for free from a guy in my group ... maybe 4 years ago was it?

The Centurion sat for a full year before I finally road it. The reason I jumped on it? I injured my back mountain biking. Landed flat on my back ... with my tire pump between the pump and the pavement (OK, so I was on the road at the time foolin' around a bit after a ride). Put me out of commission for about 5 weeks. I decided to take it easy and do some road rides on the Centurion before jumping back onto the mountain bike. So, I did my first ride ... 20 miles. I think shortly after, I signed up for the MS150 that year ... but only for 1 day, so 75 miles. Oh my gosh, but I never road that far ... heck, I had just done my first road ride. Next ride ... 30 miles, then 50 miles, then 80, then 100. All within a span of 3 weeks I think. My next goal was 150 miles, but I only made it 140 miles ... I was ready to shoot myself as mentally I was a gone, I had lost that battle well before 140 miles, but I needed to get home.

Anyway, I like the challenge. I'm more driven because most of my non-biking friends and relatives think I'm either nuts or stupid. Unfortunately, even though biking is a large part of my life, many of my close friends & family hear very little about my biking adventures because I could care less about being shot down for it, fortunately, I have a lot of biking buddies at work who share the same passion And my biking buddies are some awesome people too, really friendly, really funny, and a great group to ride with.

Dan

[slowgoing]

Bought a bike to get to my girlfriend’s house faster when I was 14. Every minute counts!

Bought a Raleigh Supercourse when I spent a college summer in Bakersfield working in the oil fields and the bus drivers went on strike for the entire summer.

[shinomaster]

Got me started..


So simple shino.....

[roadie7]

Becasue I had to keep my son occupied when he was very young, I discovered he loved riding on the seat on the back of my old bike. This kept him happy and I re-discovered the joy of riding. As he grew up, we rode together, visited the bike store together and ended up working together at the bike store (I started and he joined me after hanging out at the store for 2 years). So, 8 years later after working and being together on rides, I watch his dust as he passes me on the mountain bike trail and the road. It has always given us a focal point as we both grew older. By the way, he's a great bike salesman who is studying to be a phys ed teacher.

[soulspinner]

My little brother got me into riding. It was the only sport or athletic endeavor he could beat me at. I wound up doing some racing and time trialing and although I couldgo 23 minutes and change for 10 miles, I was no match for him. At 5-8 and a half 130 pounds his strength to weight ratio and ability to suck up O2 was amazing. He would never race, prefering to tour places like Nova Scotia. When he died in 1989 I got so upset I couldnt ride. Some years later I am fat and the doctor says I am headed for heart disease. My brother-in-law dies and leaves me a Colnago MXL. Its now 5 years later. The cholesterol is under 200 and the ti-glycerides down to good levels after soaring to over 500. Now when I ride I have a great feeling of being connected to my little bro. He never had anything as nice as my Strong with Campy, but then, hes probably smiling down at me knowing he didnt need such great bike to kick my tail...

[Jeff N.]

An old war buddie of mine was a CAT-3 racer and I credit him with getting me involved with cycling. Funny thing is....he got divorced, fell into a depression, and practically gave away all his bike-related stuff, and doesn't ride at all anymore, and its been years since I last saw him. Jeff N.

[1centaur]

Confluence of two forces got me going again.

My co-manager at work injured his knee skiing and doc told him to cycle for rehab. A couple of weeks later he suggested we go on a ride together. I had not been on a bike in nearly 20 years and did not want to look like a 98-pound weakling so I got in some practice rides - 10 miles was an achievement.

Then my father died and that made me examine my mortality. Too many years behind a desk, no sport to break up the diet/exercise treadmill, not much achievement outside of work - plus my father had a heart attack though he was not fat and I wanted to be fitter. Also I remembered the freedom I had felt riding my bike as a teenager. I bought a nice bike (Lemond Zurich) to replace my 25-year old bike and kept riding. Loved what it did for making me feel strong, allowing me to eat more without gaining weight, de-stressing my life, teaching me about acheivement and endurance and limits (20 miles, 50 miles, 75 miles, 100 miles).

So now I have lots of nice bikes and hang out in this and other forums and understand and look forward to pro racing and contribute knowledge and opinion back to the cycling community - it's become my hobby and my passion and my joy. Ironically, as I began reporting back my "practice" progress to my co-worker, he became less interested in riding with me, and we never did ride together, I have offered to let him use my Nag (only bike I have that would fit him) and he actually did a ride on his comfort bike of 30 miles once, but he fears I would blow him away (I think). I wouldn't though - I would just slow down a little and enjoy the sights a little more.