Were you athletic as a kid?

[7rider]

I’ve noticed a lot of posts with the recurring theme of people having a hard time getting comfortable on their bikes. Some just don’t feel stable; others have problems learning to shift or problems going clipless. So I’m just curious, have the people who take to all the things associated with riding a bit easier than others been “athletes” all their lives and those experiencing more difficulty new to the “athletic” world?

Sooooo NOT athletic here.
I was an overweight couch potato. My sister would drag me kicking and screaming to the YMCA to swim and would have me ride a bike alongside her when she ran. She may as well have been pulling teeth. I just wanted to sit and read and talk to no one.

I can't say I took (or currently take) to any athletic endeavor easily. I have the natural grace of an ox. If I can't bull my way through anything through sheer determination and brute force, I don't try. Consequently, you'll never see me on a dance floor (unless I've had about 6 gin and tonics!).

[IFjane]

Hey everyone - Regina's serving gin & tonics over here! (get in line!)

[7rider]

Hey, it's FRIDAY!! WooHoo!! Who needs cookies?
(just don't ask me to dance!)

[five one]

I wish Title IX existed when I was a teenager. Then I might have taken up a sport in high school. The boys had the inter-school sports, we had sports clubs. Oh, and cheerleading which I was soooooo not into.

Those rubber boots only kept our shoes *sort of* dry. Popcicle toes were the norm. My snowsuits had elastic that went under my foot to keep the pants tucked in. When I walked to school, I wore two or three pairs of tights. Girls couldn't wear pants to school back then. Somehow we survived. And now look back on those times with great fondness.

IFJane, Paul was spoken for by my best friend Debbie, so you couldn't have had him anyway. You can have him now, though . But I don't reckon Paul will be marrying again.

Mimi, I only wore makeup back then to keep up with my friends. Totally peer pressure. Nowadays I can be out the door in five minutes.

[IFjane]

IFJane, Paul was spoken for by my best friend Debbie, so you couldn't have had him anyway. You can have him now, though . But I don't reckon Paul will be marrying again.

Oh, I don't want Paul now....he's old and wrinkled....(Jane is looking in the mirror.) OMG!!!

[aicabsolut]

I was pretty athletic.

Started riding horses at age 5. (still ride when I get the chance)
I did a slew of track and field events until high school, when I just focused on sprinting and hurdling...until I got injured. In high school and college there wasn't much time for anything besides horses, that being a year-round sport.

As a younger kid, though, I played softball, basketball, soccer. I didn't live in a good area for biking, so I was pretty much out only occasionally on a cruiser. I wasn't good at some other wheeled balance sports like rollerblading or skateboarding. I am supposedly built for swimming, but I had a bad experience when I was learning as a toddler, and aside from that, I find it to be NO fun. I'm a land sports girl. I've been weight lifting since maybe 7th grade.

Getting my road bike recently was a big adjustment. I could ride it fine--I mean, you never forget, right? But I'm still a noob, so the body position along with balance whatnot is taking some time with respect to taking hands off the bars. I wasn't the most graceful learning to go clipless, but I let my nerves make me tense (same sorts of tensing up and getting nervous put me on the ground a few times from horses as a young kid, so no changes there!). The whole hill climbing thing is also new because there were NO hills at home.

I'm also new to the whole endurance training thing. That could be the biggest factor in terms of athletics background.