Mmmmm, I'll go, but feel free to NOT share this if my history is too off-putting!

I'm 48. I rode for recreation and transportation from childhood through age 33.

When I was 27, a friend of mine got me interested in racing. I spent a few years doing that, and I got as fast as I was going to get and still be any good at anything else in my life. I knew that I'd never be Olympic or pro caliber even if I did give up the rest of my life. That's when I burned out really hard. It just wasn't fun any more. I didn't get on a bicycle again for 10 years.

When DH and I got our winter home, within a short ride of many stores, businesses and restaurants, we got hybrid bikes to run around town. I thought I'd forgotten how to ride, I was that unsteady on mine. Two years later, which is two years ago, I signed up for a Women's Quest retreat, not knowing which sport they were going to emphasize at that particular session, and I was pretty apprehensive when I learned there would be a lot of cycling.

I needn't have been. In those three days I re-discovered everything I loved about cycling. I'd finally been away from it long enough to enjoy it again. And I'm back.

What do I love about it?

The naked, knife-edge exhilaration of a fast descent.

Cresting a long hill, physically depleted, and being awestruck by an amazing panorama for miles around.

Experiencing my surroundings at that unique pace: slow enough to see and hear a lot that I might miss on a motorcycle, fast enough to cover more miles and see more places than I'd be able to walk or run. Smelling the smells (flowers, pine, cedar, ocean, loam, and yes the less pleasant smells too), feeling the sun and wind on my skin.

Feeling the rain on my skin, and realizing that a warm rain actually feels really good once I quit worrying about the cleaning I'm going to have to do afterward.

Finding in myself the resources to meet a challenge.

Having a machine that lets me go out and not challenge myself when I don't feel like it, unlike running where I always have to dig deep.

Sharing camaraderie with other riders... or being really alone with myself.

Cycling is all of that and more.