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I was living on Maui and met two men from the Czech Republic that were racing in the Exterra race that year and I was able to go on a cycly ride with them. That was only last October and I have been addicted since then! Then I had only a heavy mountain bike...Of course, I had to upgrade! :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Melstar
I started watching cycling on tv when I was in France in 2000 and got interested in it as a sport. Then I thought maybe I could take up riding. Eventually I started taking spinning (my gym calls them cycling) classes to see if I thought I would like riding. Finally, after two years of talking about buying bikes with my husband--who still doesn't have one--I went out and bought a bike this year. Riding isn't much like stationary cycling, but I really enjoy it. As a nonathelete I feel that I have accomplished something when I finish a group ride.
[FONT="Comic Sans MS"]My beloved Big brother . . . and 9/11. He got called back into the Army just after 9/11 and he had to get fit again. His knees were too worn out to take upi running again so he went to the bike shop in Augusta SC (he was stationed at Fort Gordon) and bought a bike.- a Trek X/O we both call blackbike. He really started digging it so we went back to the bike shop and bought a 5200-(carbon fiber baby:D ) He brought it to my house at CHristmas and told me to ride it . ." it's faster than Harry Potter's broom.";)
I had not ridden a bike since I sailed over the handlebars of my roommate's
(way too small) 10-speed in college- about 18 years ago- I took the Lord's name in vain- in front of the Baptist Student Union- shortly thereafter went to the ER for stitches- I was done with bikes.
Forward a lot of years & it's cold And I'm riding down my street on 2 teeny tires that look as big as my pinky- my tennies grasping at clipless pedals... scary, but cool.
He took the bike back to SC with him, but left a copy of "It's Not About The Bike". That made Lance my hero and showed me how cool bikes can be.
Brother gave me my Giant Sedona for Xmas the next year- I was riding sporadically there for a while, but now I'm on a roll- planning to ride across the Big Dam Bridge in Little Rock on October 1- [/FONT]
http://www.bigdambridge.com/
The Sedona is named Boo-sikki ( It's blue, Boo is my brother's nick name and we're country). Boo also promised to take the X/O to the shop for a tune up and pass it down the line-- Besides he's got the 5200, a Madone & A rock Hopper
I started when I was a kid and kept going until I was doing regular centuries in my late 20s. When we were kids we all rode bikes to school, so everyone had one. I started with the blue Schwinn, too.
Sometime in my 30s I stopped due to back problems and other distractions. I've been going to a gym, but lately it seems like such an artificial activity. That and I'm 50, and while the 30-year-olds are nice to look at, I sometimes feel old and rumpled there.
So I started walking on my local multi-use path, which follows the creeks and is quite lovely. Then I started noticing the people go by on bikes. :cool: They were going a lot faster! Most of them had smiles on their faces! Somehow I must have mentioned this at home, because one day my GF said, "why don't you buy a bicycle?" That did it! That was in May this year. Now I feel strong and not the least bit rumpled. And I've met some really nice people here.
I rode my ten-speed to school in 6th and 7th grade - and of course before then - but not after.
I knew nothing about cycling when I started dating my bf, who has been cycling for years. Gradually I became interested, and once I decided I wanted a bike of my own, I was hooked. Here is a pic of my angel who lead me to cycling :D
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52127842@N00/212738379/
A trainer at my gym, who coaxed me in to his spin class and taught me that, completely unbeknownst to myself for 44 years, I had an inner athlete waiting to come out.
well... mom and dad started me on this little trike before I could walk terribly well, and I loved it- I could go SO much faster than when I was walking... after that we (my sis and I) always had bikes that fit us reasonably well... her with pink and streamers, mine black with threatening mudguards. :rolleyes:
My last bike was a *heavy* blue 26"er... no idea the frame size, but Huffy... I rode with Mom on her Schwinn around town, but it always tired me out so much (and I'm sure my undiagnosed exercise-induced asthma didn't help):rolleyes:
Back then, a mile was walkable, but why walk that far if you could drive? It was a mile to downtown, but "only the trouble kids" hung out there... and it was "dangerous". :rolleyes: So I didn't leave much.
...until I got my car at 18 and my (now ex) dh and I drove to Eugene.
He'd always been on his 'bent, and said "You need a bike. It's the only way to go in Eugene" So like a nice little co-dependant I said "Okay" having never biked in a city so large, and got this Huffy that was (honestly) a poop magnet. Ride it ANYWHERE on the sidewalk or MUT and it had dog leavings SOMEWHERE on it. Got old real fast- esp the weight, size, and geometry ($8 goodwill bike) so after being a good girl, I got my first 'real' bike...
Miss Cakes (B*tch Cakes is her full name, but she's more the respectable lady now)
...Miss Cakes taught me that I was perfect the way I was... and the chains of my co-dependancy were slowly broken...
Cars come and go (with nasty insurance dealings, etc)... but bikes are forever.
My dad bought my first bike, a $5 fixie at a garage sale! My bike messenger ex-bf got me interested in riding bikes, he helped me pick out my first road bike/hybrid (Specialized Crossroads). But, I would say my friend got me started in cycling, she invited me to go for a ride with a Cinderella training group, and now I love it :D
Cheers!
Great stories~
Had a pink bike with streamers and a banana seat that glittered when I was small. Rode to school until I got my license and a '65 Corvair to drive.
Cheap 10 sp in college. I too, flew over the handlebars. But being a jock, I took a roll and stood up, no worse for the wear. (No helmet) Same college years, my bf-turned husband-turned ex, got me on the road for one ride. I hated it. He had ridden a large part of the country to get to UCD, did the double century (was it double then?) soon after we moved in together. I did NOT like it. I didn't see the point to ride out somewhere and then come back. It was no fun, I was hot, uncomfortable and sticky. I much prefered my tennis and karate to this.
Didn't ride afterwards. Had kids, raised kids, got out of shape. Then one day, I was at a stop light in my car, when two trim, lycra clad riders sprinted through the intersection in front of me. It was our quiet secretary from school! Hey, she looked pretty awesome zooming on her bike behind her husband, and I wanted to be like that again. Started riding downtown and on bike paths. I remember almost bonking at the bank after riding a whopping 5 miles one day. :-) Started on a few club rides. Bought a Specialized Dolce Elite last year. Lost 20 pounds. I can now wear a tanktop from college that wouldn't even go over my shoulders 2 years ago!
In the hopefully not too near future, I want to get a Greenspeed GT3 and do some self supported touring. It would be great to meet a guy that would be willing to do the biking/triking thing with me!
It's great reading everyone's stories! It's almost like a collection of testimonials--
"Why YOU Should Start Cycling!"
My own story starts, like many others, when I was quite young and my dad (in the navy then) brought home from Greece two fancy-shmancy European bikes, but in miniature, for my brother and me. They were the talk of the neighborhood--skinny tires (mine were 24"), hand brakes instead of coaster brakes, and multiple speeds (3 or 5, I think). I learned to ride a two-wheeler on that bike--Dad didn't believe in using training wheels. And it hurt me mightily before I caught on, but when I did--well, I still remember that feeling.
Fast forward through a couple of less spectacular bikes after I outgrew that first one, to the Schwinn touring bike I got when I was in college--only for "tours" across campus, of course. I still had it but hadn't ridden it in years when, in my mid-30s, I was driving home and saw a club ride going on--people cycling and smiling--not at all like the grim faces I saw when I'd go out running. I got home, lubed and tightened up the old Schwinn in the garage, pumped up the tires, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Well, not quite. I hit a bad spot a few years ago--back injury, knee injury, time-intensive family obligations. But now, I'm ba-ack, and loving it as always.
I was never really into cycling as a child. I had a crappy bike it was heavy and because I was in and out of hospital a lot with a bone infection I was warned to stay clear of any exercise whatsoever.
So I can REALLY say that BF has gotten me into it... and he was annoyed yesturday that I was DROOLING over the SUB zero Pro for AU$3200 for over an hour... abike which he's fuming is better and more expensive than his. I want it!!!