How old were you when you started cycling?

[Brandy]

Just curious how long everyone has been cycling and how old you were when you started. For extra credit, tell how and why your got into cycling.

I'll go first...I rode around a little today, but my first real ride on my road bike will be tomorrow! http://www.paklinks.com/gs/images/smilies/yahoo.gif I'll be 29 for another nine days...then I hit the big 3-0.

[Popoki_Nui]

Um...how far back can we go? I started riding when I was five years old...so more than 40 years. :( I didn't ride much at all during my late 20's and throughout my 30's because of my carreer. I began again at 39 to get in shape for an upcoming surgery I needed, and have kept at it since.

~Sherry.

[snapdragen]

Not counting childhood through age 16, I started riding again at age 42. I had a friend who died from AIDS, and a number of friends living with HIV/AIDS. I wanted to do something, so I signed up for the California AIDS ride in 2000. Bought my bike in October 1999, did the ride in June of 2000 :eek: .

[KnottedYet]

If we count tricycles, I've been riding since I was walking. About 1 1/2 or 2. I've always had a bike. But only ever one bike at a time. I aspire to greatness, and my own stable of bikes. (a commuter, a road tourer, and a recumbent)

[maillotpois]

Also not counting childhood (where I rode more horses than bikes anyway), I started mountain biking at about 26 (DH got me my first bike with gears the weekend we got engaged) and road riding at 34. I'll be 40 in December. So I've really only just started riding! :p

[Aggie_Ama]

I didn't really do any cycling until 2004, I was 23 at the time. My DH bought me a road bike for our first anniversary. That wasn't really my present, but I got fitted for and bought it on our anniversary (5/24). That is when I got started. I didn't get the cycling bug until we signed up for the MS150 last spring and I set my mind on training for it.

I used a bike growing up to go to school and friend's houses, but I wasn't competitive. Back then I didn't even understand the gears!

[bike4ever]

I rode everywhere when I was younger. Due to college then career, like Popoki_Nui I stopped riding. I began again at age 35 when I needed to keep up with two young boys on bikes and one in a stroller. I decided to get a bike and trailer and haven't stopped riding since. I look back at where I rode when I was in high school and realize my mom would freak even now to know how far from home I went.

[Starfish]

Maillotpois, I also rode horses, not bikes, up to about age 25. Had a VERY brief stint with a mountain bike on logging roads...thought that would help me get over losing a rural, horsey lifestyle with a man. It didn't take. Then, at 35, I met my husband, who was an avid cyclist. I drug out that old mountain bike for road use, and my first 10 mile ride was a red-letter day. A couple years ago got my road bike. My (ex)husband told me I couldn't keep up on the bike, and he is gone. But, the bike stayed, and what a lifesaver. Today I talked to 2 women about showing them the ropes about biking, teaching them how to change flats, etc. I am so thankful for biking, and how it helps me through the tough days. It's true that I couldn't keep up with my husband on the bike, and I aspire to being much stronger and faster. But, I am amazed and thankful for what I *can* do on the bike. And, I love seeing what happens when women start riding and finding that strength and joy.

[roughingit]

21, and that's counting childhood! I had a two hour walk to get to work, then an 8-9 hour workday, then two more hours home...good motivation lemme tell ya!

[KSH]

I learned how to ride a bike without training wheels at 3-4 years old.

Then, I got a 10 speed later in life... I guess around 8-10? I rode that thing everywhere! I loved it!

When I was around 11-12, I tried to go ride with a group from the bike shop in town... but they said I needed the padded shorts, and I we couldn't afford them.

Well, I still rode on my own... and even rode to work until I was 17 years old.

Once I got a car though, the bike was gone.

Then, in October 2004... I decided to start doing triathlons... bought myself a Trek 1000... and I now have 2,200 miles on it!

I love bikes!

[Starfish]

bought myself a Trek 1000... and I now have 2,200 miles on it!
I love bikes!

The Trek 1000 got a great review in Bicycling Mag's big review issue. Sounds like you've liked yours?

[Brandy]

The Trek 1000 got a great review in Bicycling Mag's big review issue. Sounds like you've liked yours?

That's what I just got as well. I haven't put any miles on her yet, but she looks really pretty sitting here in my living room! http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v372/BrandyMama/laughcover.gif

[Lise]

Early memory of falling off a tricycle when I was three. Then riding my blue Schwinn without training wheels at 7. Joy-filled memory of riding my bike to swimming lessons on summer mornings when I was 8 or 9. Rode to get around in HS, had a bad endo on a dirt path with skinny tires at age 19, scraped up my face pretty badly, didn't ride too much for a few years. Rode to get around some in college until my bike was stolen...didn't ride much again for many years.

In the early '90s I would ride to work...that bike was stolen, too.

Got depressed, overweight etc. Got divorced. Started riding again in 2002, lost a bunch of weight, became a triathlete at age 42, and LOVE to ride now! And I have very, very good locks. :cool: I'll be 46 this summer. The best is yet to come. I'm looking forward to those summer mornings...sometimes I wake up and feel like I'm 8 years old again, and I can hardly wait to go ride my bike.

[Starfish]

Got depressed, overweight etc. Got divorced. Started riding again in 2002, lost a bunch of weight, became a triathlete at age 42, and LOVE to ride now!

Hey, thanks for this post. I just got divorced a few months ago (not my desire), and I sure have been grateful for the bike. I also turned 40 at the same time. Now I have a friend (50!) who did her first Ironman last year, and she wants me to train for 2007 with her! I think that is out of my league for this year, but I am hoping to be fitter and stronger at 50 than I am now. Thanks for mentioning becoming a triathlete at 42.

[allabouteva]

, became a triathlete at age 42, and LOVE to ride now!

Well, I'm 42 now, and would love to be a triathlete, but one small problem CAN'T SWIM!:p So good for you Lise!

I started when I was about 8, which is late. Didn't really get a bike until I was a bit older then that. Long story...

Then didn't ride at all in my teens, twenties, thirties.... Bought bikes in my twenties and thirties, but didn't really get the bug, until late last year, and now I really have the bug, as I've bought two bikes in 6 months (a Giant CRX hybrid and an Orbea Aqua Dama roadbike). :D

I just love riding now.... Still have some balance issues (find it hard to ride one handed etc), but who cares as long as I can ride! :)

[Lise]

Starfish and Eva--let the dream grow in you. You'll be amazed what you do. Eva, if you want to be a triathlete, you can take swimming lessons! Or be a duathlete: Run, bike run. Or be a cyclist! I want to do a 1/2 Ironman next year. It's not that I love swim or run training that much. I don't. But for *me* to have such a dream? Amazing. And now, having done 6 triathlons, a 1/2 marathon, the Chicago Marathon, and a metric century on my hybrid bike, I *know* I can do it, if I'm willing to put in the effort. I love hearing the other stories of changed lives. :D L.

[Tater]

I had a bike all through childhood and used it to get to friends' houses, to the store or wherever I needed to go. I had a Raleigh mtb that I used while I was in the Navy to go from barracks/housing to my work site, but deep down I had always wanted a road bike. That dream didn't materialize until last year and I couldn't be happier.

[Starfish]

Starfish and Eva--let the dream grow in you. You'll be amazed what you do. Eva, if you want to be a triathlete, you can take swimming lessons! Or be a duathlete: Run, bike run. Or be a cyclist! I want to do a 1/2 Ironman next year. It's not that I love swim or run training that much. I don't. But for *me* to have such a dream? Amazing. And now, having done 6 triathlons, a 1/2 marathon, the Chicago Marathon, and a metric century on my hybrid bike, I *know* I can do it, if I'm willing to put in the effort. I love hearing the other stories of changed lives. :D L.

Lise, an OT question...I know there are duathlons with run/bike. Are there duathlons with just swim/bike? I have a bad knee that makes running my biggest (at least in my mind) mental hurdle to triathlons.

[CR400]

I started cycling again at 26, however I have only been at it for a year and a half won't be two years untill September. So that makes me 28.
I got into cycling because I wanted to lose weight and start racing. Plus I wanted to do the charity rides that people do at my church. We have a 70 mile ride to the Childrens hospital to deliver stuffed animals next Saturday. So that's why I got back into cycling.

My biggest problem was that I didn't have a good enough bike until I bought my Cannondale.

[jeannierides]

Like a lot of you, I rode when I was a kid. We always had bikes, and rode them everywhere! Then I grew up. Grownups didn't do *kid* stuff. SO. I behaved like a grownup for many many years. Not necessarily happy, mind you, but grown up just the same. Three years ago I decided being grownup (or at least behaving like one) wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I started running. Ran my first half marathon a few months later. About a year and a half ago, I got my first road bike. I now have several centuries under my belt & am having more fun & am in better shape than I have been in years.
Today I celebrated my 56th birthday. :D

[Lise]

Like a lot of you, I rode when I was a kid. We always had bikes, and rode them everywhere! Then I grew up. Grownups didn't do *kid* stuff. SO. I behaved like a grownup for many many years. Not necessarily happy, mind you, but grown up just the same. Three years ago I decided being grownup (or at least behaving like one) wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I started running. Ran my first half marathon a few months later. About a year and a half ago, I got my first road bike. I now have several centuries under my belt & am having more fun & am in better shape than I have been in years.
Today I celebrated my 56th birthday. :D
Happy birthday! You're ten years and several centuries ahead of me. :D L.

[Lise]

Lise, an OT question...I know there are duathlons with run/bike. Are there duathlons with just swim/bike? I have a bad knee that makes running my biggest (at least in my mind) mental hurdle to triathlons.
I think there are, but I can't remember what they're called. An Aquathalon is a run/swim/run. http://usatriathlon.org/Aquathlon/Aquathlon_home.htm If I turn up the info about bike/swim/bike, I'll pass it on.

[ptsheridan]

I started now.. at age 45 so I could participate in a sprint Tri. Some people have to learn how to swim, I had to learn how to ride a bike. Yes I got on a tricycle apprarently once but my loving over protective parents didn't think I was athletic enough. I grew up swimming instead.

Since I never had a bike before, I long dreamed of owning a Schwinn. So though they may not be the most highly rated of bikes, I am very happy atop my blue Schwinn bike. I fell 4 weeks ago which scared me a bit but you just have to get back on..

[Lise]

I started now.. at age 45 so I could participate in a sprint Tri. Some people have to learn how to swim, I had to learn how to ride a bike. Yes I got on a tricycle apprarently once but my loving over protective parents didn't think I was athletic enough. I grew up swimming instead.

Since I never had a bike before, I long dreamed of owning a Schwinn. So though they may not be the most highly rated of bikes, I am very happy atop my blue Schwinn bike. I fell 4 weeks ago which scared me a bit but you just have to get back on..
That is funny. Like swimming is safe. :rolleyes: My big fear in the tri was the swimming. I grew up swimming in pools and Lake Michigan, but then, as a teen, witnessed a horrible swimming accident/drowning. It was, in part, because the kid who died had bad eyesight, and whacked his head against a wall he couldn't see. As my eyesight got worse over the years, I got nearly phobic about swimming. Now I've had Lasik for a year, and I'm still amazed at how I can see in the water.

Learning to ride a bike is great. Sure, you may fall sometimes, but probably not much, and if you wear your helmet, you'll probably be fine. Funny how we have different fears, right? I had a bike accident in my teens in which I scraped up my face and still have scars. I was riding a '70s skinny tired bike on a dirt path, caught a rut, and went down, face first. Now I am *only* afraid when I'm on a rutted dirt path. I have to remind myself that I'll be OK crossing things like bridges and railroad tracks, too. I'd like to learn to mtb, and overcome my fear of rut-tire interaction. :) L.

[allabouteva]

You guys are awesome.

Lise, I tried to learn to swim about 5 years ago. I can swim a little, but not great and not far.

I should've been a little more persevering. After the one lesson, which was held indoors in a over chlorinated pool made me very woozy and sick to my stomach.

I should try again......But I'm not a huge water fan.....I'm happiest on my bike regardless of the number of times I've fallen!

eva

[Prairiedog]

Hello everyone.

I started riding a bike again four years ago, casually not so much for exercise although the point of getting the bike was to ride to town for exercise with my kids for ball in the summer. It is 4 miles one way. I had two kids in a Burley adding 75 pounds and the route is all gravel and hilly. My legs were like cast iron after that first summer.

This spring, at the tender age of 44 I just bought a new bike, Giant Yukon, so I can use the bike for pure exercise purposes. I have always worked out and stayed fit...I'm using biking mainly for crosstraining and something to do outdoors besides running. I bike mostly on gravel roads but do jump on paved roads too. So I don't fit into any category...not a road biker, not a mountain biker. I'm a gravel biker. :rolleyes: That would be the expression I got from the guys at the bike shop when they asked me what kind of biking I did.

I have just found this website this week so I have really enjoyed reading alot of the threads already. I have also bought three books this week on triathlon training...it's a goal.

[Prairiedog]

Eva...I wanted to comment to you about swimming. You should try lessons again. Listen, I have been a swimmer all my life but never a competitive swimmer...a couple of years ago I got a book on improving your swimming technique for speed in the water and omg, it has been like relearning how to swim all over again. I had no idea I was doing it all wrong or at least, not doing it right. When I decide to get serious about a triathlon I will need to work with a swimming coach to improve my technique in the water.

Don't be embarrassed or afraid, take those swimming lessons!

[SandyLS]

I started biking (as an adult) about four years ago. I was looking for an activity that hubby and I could enjoy together. He also started to ride a bike (recumbent) about that time. I started with my daughter's old mountian bike and bought my first road bike last year. I turned 59 last month. Also, I became a certified scuba diver at the age of 53. I guess this year I am going to take up kayaking since I won a beautiful new Hurricane kayak in a drawing I entered at a cross country ski event last March. Lucky me! I think that I am just trying to prove to myself that I am not too old to be doing all of these foolish things. So far it seems to be working! :o

[Marangel]

I started indoor cycling when I was 39, mountain biking when I was 42. I got my road bike a year ago when I was 44 and did just over 3000 miles my first year! I'm hooked!

[Prairiedog]

Sandy!!! You won a new kayak?!?!?!! Wow. Why doesn't that stuff ever happen to me?!! I love to kayak, you are so lucky. Please enjoy your kayak and think of me, okay? :D

[RoadRaven]

I learned to ride a two wheeeler when I was about 6, and rode to/from school til I was 18.

Then no riding at all, and at 39 hopped back on a bike.

I have been riding for 18 months now and fitter than at any other time in my life!

:D

Haven't ever won a kayak though - that must have been dayam cool Sandy

[Lise]

I guess this year I am going to take up kayaking since I won a beautiful new Hurricane kayak in a drawing I entered at a cross country ski event last March. Lucky me! I think that I am just trying to prove to myself that I am not too old to be doing all of these foolish things. So far it seems to be working! :o
I love this-- you won a kayak at a x-c ski event! Oh, man, my 50s are going to be great! I'll be 46 in July, and expect to have my best tri season ever this year, then plan to do a 1/2 IM at the end of next season. Who knows what other sports I might pick up? I am delighted to be around you inspiring women! :D

[mtkitchn]

Rode a lot as a kid until my mid teens. Took up biking again in November at age 40. Plan to do a century ride sometime this year. Love to show off to my little brother that I'm in better shape than he is.:D

[jobob]

I biked around a lot in junior high & high school, especially before I got my driver's license :o with my trusty tres-kewl baby blue CCM 10 speed.

My biggest crash to date knock wood was way back then when I was riding with my best friend on our way back from tennis lessons at the community college across town, and I looked back to say something to her and neglected to notice a station wagon (this of course is mid-70s, no such thing as mini vans or SUVs back then) had stopped directly ahead of me. I saw it just in time to do a perfect 90-degree low-speed T-bone into the back of said station wagon. I kept going over the handlebars and did a face plant into the back door.

When everyone picked me and the bike up from the ground, I was spitting out little bits of tooth which was disconcerting :eek: We checked out my bike it looked OK at first, but the front wheel wouldn't turn. It took a moment to figure out that the fork had bent back perfectly symetrically (owing to the precise right angle of my collision :rolleyes: ) and the front tire was smooshed back against the downtube. I remember crying "my beautiful bike!!" (see, I was One of Us even back then). Station Wagon Mom - who was understandably a bit shaken up by the fact that a teenager whacked herself into the back of her car - drove me & my bike home and made sure I was OK. I found I had a little inverted v-shaped chunk missing from the bottom of my 2 top front teeth where they met. I hightailed it to my dentist, who found no major damage and filed down my 2 front teeth so the ^ wouldn't be so obvious. (So my 2 top front teeth are to this day about a mm or so shorter than god originally intended)

Dad took the bike back to the bike shop where we bought it, and either they didn't have a replacement light blue fork available or it cost too much (we were not well off and this was the least expensive 10-speed in the bike shop, I think the bike had cost $95 on sale and my parents balked at the price), but next thing I knew they put an uuuugly unpainted steel replacement fork on it. Whaaa, they ruined my beautiful bike. :(

I still toodled around on it but it wasn't quite the same, I thought it looked so dorky with the steel fork, the rest of it being such a pretty light blue. I brought it with me to college and my BF at the time told me he'd "fix it up" for me but instead he messed it up somehow and it never quite shifted right again. bozo. The bike eventually was stolen but it was no biggie for me by then.

Fast forward almost 25 years. Lee and I decided we were getting entirely too fat so we bought hybrid bikes to toodle around on. He took to it like gangbusters and started losing lots of weight. There was a road bike he was longing for, I urged him to get it, after a few weeks I asked if I could try it, and I wouldn't give it back until I got one of my own. :D That was Pokey, which marked the start of when I really got into cycling. It was December of 2003, and I had just turned 44.

So there you have it. :)

[Brandy]

I love reading all of the stories...thank you so much for sharing!

[jobob]

There seems to be a lot of us in our forties, esp mid-40's. We might be near the top of the bell curve here ! :cool:

- jo "46.5" bob

[RoadRaven]

Yeah, Jobob... certainly a pattern here... alot of us cycling loads in our teens and then stopping for kids, career, marriage etc and coming back to it in our late 30s and 40s

I think its fantastic!

We rock, Bike Goddesses!!!

[easterbird]

never biked as a child...grew up on a farm in southern PA. Took a used bike to college but never rode it around campus because I really didn't know how and how could I learn?? Fast forward many years to Sept 2005, I am overweight,retired and ready to take on life but my knees quit...osteoarthritis. A physical therapist mentions as part of rehabbing that biking might be good exercise for me. The rest is history for me(recent). First bike ride Sept 12 2005. Bought Giant Sedona comfort bike Oct 2005, bought Giant OCR C2 Mar 2006. I am hooked and I love it.So far have logged ~2500 miles since the first 'bite'. I just want to ride and ride and ride. Nothing is as much fun or lifts my spirits like feeling the wind in my face(alright, I hate a head wind too!) and the power of pushing the pedals and myself. Know what I mean??

[RoadRaven]

I just want to ride and ride and ride. Nothing is as much fun or lifts my spirits like feeling the wind in my face(alright, I hate a head wind too!) and the power of pushing the pedals and myself. Know what I mean??

Absolutely Easter!!!
Wonderful - its freedom... its one thing where we are completely in control... its moving meditation and I love it... Always thrilled to hear your kind of story.

Now just to convince my boss to keep paying me while I solve problems on the road... there must be a way to frame the idea so he actually believes me...

Hmmm ---- hes a triathlete... maybe I could convince him that we have team meetings in a bunch ride...