What got you started into bikes/riding, ?

[BlueHampsten]

Well, 15 years of baseball and softball as well as 20 years of racquetball wore out both of my hips.

One of my racquetball buddies said come ride bikes with us in the mountains. I bought a used Trek 5500 equipped with Ultegra 9 speed and started to ride 16 years ago.

I had both hips resurfaced and have continued to ride since. Don't plan to stop until I can't ride anymore.

Great for physical fitness, good times, good friends and keeps me busy planning my next bike build.

[madsciencenow]

My dad bought me a Golden Eagle BMX when I was maybe five or six years old. I rode that bike for many years and even did a 50 miler on there with him. I pretty much always had a mountain bike going through middle school, high school and then through college. In my late 20s I was fat and outta shape and started running and kinda quit riding (I really wasn’t doing enough to call it quitting). I ran for the next 7-10 years and lost 50 lbs. About seven years into running I relocated and about the same time picked up a road bike and got back into riding on my off day of running. I ran into a few local riders while out on one of these rides and found out about some additional rides from these dudes. I figured out real quick that riding once a week wasn’t enough to hang on a group ride so I started riding more and gradually the running faded into the back ground (probably a good thing as I’m not sure my body could continue to handle the miles I was doing). Two years ago I finally gave running up and have been riding 6-7 days a week. I’d like to get back into running but it’s hard to do both well so for now I’ll just be riding.


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[untarded]

I was a competitive distance runner inspired by Lemond as a kid and always enjoyed cycling but it was a sport I couldn't afford. Ran for a big college and several years after. The turning point for me was when one of my college teammates had a knee replacement at 40.

[paredown]

We rode all the time as kids--including paper routes--but the cool bike phase started when we were in our early teens. We had seen exactly one a "real racing bike" in the basement of a family friend (a Cinelli)--but didn't quite know what to make of it. It was the mid-'60s and information (and bikes) were scarce.

Then one friend bought a decent "10 speed" bike, and my older brother went on a bike trip with him, riding some clunker.

Shortly after, my best friend and I got matching French imports from our one good shop--Simplex gears and squealing center pull brakes--and started riding everywhere. Then both my brothers picked up used bikes, and we rode to the beach together, and explored the city. Another friend who lived in a different city was inspired--and he got a bike, and then stumbled onto his local racing scene.

When he next visited he was full of stories of "real race bikes"--and the arms race began; bikes got upgraded, all of us tried racing for a time...

[gbcoupe]

My folks used to ride, but they hung their bikes up well before I got the bug. I had to go along on a few family bike camping trips. I remember those as torturous. I suppose that planted the seed though.

My bike was stolen while I was fishing with a friend at a nearby quarry. Found a replacement in the local paper. A gold and black Chiorda. It had upright bars and a plush spring seat. Not cool, those had to go. So I guess I started wrenching, upgrading and riding all at the same time.

2 friends bought bikes at about the same time. A Peugeot PX-10 and a C.Itoh. We started venturing out for long rides. Just the 3 of us. Joined AYH shortly after. We did century rides almost every weekend from early spring - fall. I ground the hub bearings to bits.

This was all several years before we were able to drive. We grew up and my buddies stopped riding during college. I guess I never got smart.

[fords4life]

My Dad road when I was a kid, but aside from cruising the neighborhood it was never something I was into. This last May my wife decided she wanted bikes for our anniversary. I picked up a Trek DS1 and have 500 miles on it. I'm a bigger guy and have knee problems from a birth defect. I also have 3 year old son that I want to do things with. Riding has been amazing for my knees and my health and I'm hooked. Currently cleaning up my Dad's old '85 Raleigh Prestige to try a road bike.

[Sawas]

My best friend got me started on BMX bixes when I was about 14. The OCD me even in that age made me buy parts and build the best damn BMX bike ever.

[Cy Trivialities]

sweet fixies.

[crappygator]

A friend who recently introduced me to road biking. Before that just occasionally took out my hybrid.

[97CSI]

Needed exercise (as in being too 'fat'). Did not lose that much weight, but much healthier and a great way to "get outside".

[ripvanrando]

Not sure but I do recall a formative incident. The rich kid in 6th grade had a Raleigh Super Course and he let me take it for a ride. I got it up on the big ring and smallest cog. I just kept pounding the pedals and the speed was wicked intoxicating. Somehow the chain jumped off the big ring and I went over the bars. No spills, no thrills.

It took me many years of saving to get a decent bike. I was maybe 17 or 18.

[SlowPokePete]

We loved riding bike when I was a kid.

Learned to ride a two wheeler at age four ... talked my mother into taking the training wheels off, interrupting her from a bs and tea session on the back porch with my best friend's mom, Mrs. Baron.

License at age 16 kept me off the bike, but around 22 years old i wanted to do triathlons, and bought a Cannondale SR500 (Aki @carpediemracing wouldn't remember me, but I think he worked at the shop in Norwalk, Better Bicycle Center, where I bought it brand new).

Quit the triathlons in favor of whitewater, had kids, gained a bunch of weight, and eventually got back into it.

Ex-wife wasn't too tolerant of bike rides, as in "well you already rode your bike once this week" but my wife Debbie gets it and understands my need to ride regularly.

SPP

[Gummee]

As a kid, I sttarted riding my BMX bike to go fishing down on the Potomac.

Got a license and stopped riding till I got to college when I figured out a bicycle was the easiest way to get to class. Don't have to pay for parking and you can park your bike right outside the building(s) class was in. Win!

Got an 87 Rockhopper and decided that riding in the mountains around Blacksburg looked like fun and started riding 'seriously'

Been uphill ever since (or is that downhill?)

M

[ntb1001]

I was a kid in grade 7 and had a teacher that liked cycling. He gave me a book about bikes and some info about the sport with some old pictures of races in Europe. I was hooked after that. It got worse in High School. I had a teacher that happened to being to the same cycling club I was in. When he realized I was a student in his school...he made sure I was in one of his classes...and he let me ride to school everyday and store my bike in his classroom.
He even tried starting a school cycling club. Didn’t work out...but it was fun.


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[54ny77]

i somehow had a clunker of a 10 speed (schwinn varsity) and got hooked on the freedom it brought. i could actually go up hills with those gears! started hanging out at local bike shop, learned to work on my own bike and became "that kid" who just hung out all the time, asking questions about everything. fortunately, the guys at the shop took a liking to me and taught me some stuff. one was very good & competitive rider & racer, who inspired me to take things further.

fast forward a lot of bikes and miles later, pretty cool thing is i had a reunion lunch with two of those shop guys last year. we're all quite a bit older!

so yep, bikes were, and largely still is, a big part of the ingredients of my life.