Who got you started on cycling?

[Tiffanie]

(lol! i had the tricycles and 2-wheelers with training wheels... and then whatever speed bikes while growing up... but when i answered..... i thought you's all meant who/what got me started as an adult rider!!!!!!! soooooooooooo if you go back to childhood... then of course it was mom and dad who bought me my first bike!)

That's what I thought too! But I was seeing a lot of posts about childhood riding so thought I'd chime in there as well.

[mimitabby]

Being a serious co-dependent, I approached this in my typical bass-ackwards sort of way.
DH was having a lot of fun riding and i pretty much avoided it. He even took our sons and got them involved, I did sag.
He had a group of friends he rode with and a few years ago; they all moved away. So DH sat and vegetated and got depressed.
I realized that the only way to get him off HIS butt was for ME to start riding... Even though I said more than a 5 mile ride was too much for me...
So I got him to "train me" for the STP ride, what, in 2003. and I haven't looked back.

[chickwhorips]

i always had some kind of bike since i was a wee-one.

did a few rides in the summer with my stepmom and her sister. the big higlight of that was going to taco bell, we didn't have fast food where i lived in the country. use to ride around everywhere, mainly to get away from my stepmom when i got older.

when i turned 16 i begged for a mtb from my parents when we moved to phx. want that instead of a car. i got the car.

finially once i moved up here i got the mtb that i always wanted thanks to my BF and am now really into cycling. i actually know about it now, instead of something i just did to get away. well i still do it just to get away, but you know what i mean.

[winddance]

My dad got me started. He's always had a passion for cycling. When he was a kid, he used to put together complete bikes from parts he would find, and he put my brother and I on tricycles and bicycles as soon as we were big enough to reach the pedals. I always had a bike available, but never really liked my last mtb, so I stopped riding.

He bought his first schmancy road bike a year or two ago, and I got jealous. I rode my mom's hybrid while visiting and couldn't keep up with him, so I decided that I wanted a road bike too! Whenever I go to visit my parents, I bring my bike with me and my father and I chase each other to the beach. I definitely have cycling to thank for bringing me closer to my father.

[HappyAnika]

When I was little I started riding bikes with my next door neighbor, a girl about my age. I loved riding for fun. Didn't ride at all when we lived in the mountains, steep dirt roads, and all of my friends lived at least 15 miles away. Then in junior high we lived in a city again and my parents got me a 10 speed so I could ride to school. My brother and I would go out on evenings and ride around the neighborhood and the parks. We would race each other and I loved going fast and feeling the wind rush by. Then I quit riding again . . . in college my (ex) bf was a road racer, along with several of my friends. I was baffled that anyone would ride 100 miles for fun! I thought about taking it up, but never did. 3 years ago DH decided he wanted to start riding to work to get some exercise and decrease his dependency on his deteriorating car. I thought, wow, I could never ride 10 miles to work! Then last summer some more of our friends starting biking, including 2 women. That's what put me over, I knew if they were doing it, I could too. I started riding a crappy mountain bike that my best friend had some how left in my garage . . . I remembered loving that feeling of speed and quickly decided that I needed a road bike. Now I ride 20 miles to work (and 20 miles home)! So to sum up I was influenced by a lot of men, but it was the women who inspired me to just do it.

[GLC1968]

Just thought I'd ditto Caligirl...I also only gave the most recent road biking reason...I've also pretty much always had a bike since I was a little girl.

Actually, my college roommate got me on a mountain bike back in the 80's. She had this gorgeous yellow Trek that would stare at me across our dorm room. A year of that, and I had to have my own. I bought a bright red one! I rode that baby all over New England until I was ready to upgrade to a Specialized Rockhopper with actual shocks! Woowhee! I had to really scrape to come up with the $800 to by a previous year's model, but man I loved that bike. I still have it...and still ride it...over 10 years later.

I didn't become totally obsessed with biking until I got out on the road though...that's where my previous story started.

[makbike]

I have my older brother, Johnny, to thank. He cycled across the UK and France one summer and I thought that was just so cool. While he was there some stole his bike and he had to purchase a cheap/used bike while in France. He brought that bike home with him and sold it to me for $12 (I might mention that was $12 too much for this bike). It was in reality a piece of junk (didn't shift well, brakes barely worked, etc), however, I loved to ride that bike and ride I did until it died on day out on the road. Johnny made arrangements for me to purchase a used Univega Grand Turismo from a local shop and it was love at first ride. I still ride this bike today and I can't image not riding it. So thank you big brother for being such a great role model and for introducing me to bicycling!

[Brandy]

I started taking Spinning classes last year and one day in the spring, I was reading a copy of the local free newspaper, OC Weekly while I was on the treadmill at the gym. Their cover story was about a local cycling group and the article planted a seed for me. I tried riding my hybrid/town bike a few times after that and it just felt all wrong to me. It was too heavy, too upright and too slow for me! I wanted the power I felt in the Spinning classes and I knew I needed a road bike. I searched Craigslist for months with no luck and then finally found a near new 2005 Trek 1000 WSD in my size, so I came here to ask if they thought it was a fair price and then snatched it up. I've been hooked from day one!

[vicvroom]

Well, I rode a bike as a kid. I even delivered pizza in Philadelphia in the late 80's on a 3 speed I picked up at a thrift store.

I hadn't ridden since.

Then I started running 3 years ago, and really wanted to try triathlons, so DH and I went got a couple entry level mountain bikes (I figured I could use it on and off road, and if I really liked tri's, I woud either get a better road or tri bike).

I really liked riding, and I was pretty fast on my mountain bike, so I got my road bike last year - a steel de Rosa, and I love it!

I wish I could get DH to ride more. He goes out on short rides a once or twice a week, and we did the Rosarito-Ensenada ride together - his longest ride ever.

[Melstar]

Thanks for sharing your stories! From childhood family activities to romantic courtships, medical advice and family bonding time, not forgetting Caligurl's falling wine bottle cycling roots!! Really fun to read all about other peoples experiences haha.

I actually got sucked into cycling when i was working overseas for a bit. I got to know some friends who used to invite a group of us to their countryside estate on the weekends, where we got to go biking/sightseeing. I loved it so much that i decided i simply had to get a bike when i got back.

I was in fact toying with the idea of going on a tour around the country, but after chatting with some people who have done it, it sounded pretty tough, so i guess i've put it down as one of those things I would like to do in the distant future.

~E~

[rheidis73]

Hey everyone. New here to the forums, so i thought i'll just post to say hi!

I'm wondering, how did ya'll get started on cycling? It seems most of the time its the guys introducing us to the sport. Is that the usual case of things?

And yes I come under the category as mentioned above.

~E~

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!

[mlove]

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.

[Hub]

[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 ) 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

[dachshund]

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. 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.

[cherinyc]

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
http://www.flickr.com/photos/52127842@N00/212738379/