Were you athletic as a kid?

[hellosunshine]

chubby,teased,self conscious outsider!athletic?no,dreaded sports.country bumpkin living in the yorkshire dales,we just walked and walked.lycra clad cyclists were scoffed at!



35,slim,hit civilisation,knocked about by life experiences-took to the bike like duck to water!

after my first stop at some traffic lights when i went over like a domino,being clipless is second nature,it comes like breathing.

[DirtDiva]

I was a wannabe tomboy when I was a kid. I was adventurous, loved exploring and just generally being outdoors getting dirty, but no athlete - I was far too uncoordinated (couldn't throw or catch at all really until I was about nine) and not nearly fast enough to keep up with the boys. I didn't struggle with getting on a bike as more than a means of transport because I'd always had a bike since the day I turned four and I have that natural tendency to want to give thngs a go.

The interest in being fit and active has always been there, but when I was younger my idea of what "athletic" meant was quite different. I always thought that "athletes" were the kinds of people who really excelled at one or two sports and could pick up any sport and play it well. I thought an "athlete" was something you either were or weren't, rather than something you worked to become, but how can you not call someone who rides a century or does a triathlon athletic? I still don't think of myself as athletic (or even sporty), but of course I often ride with people who put in a lot more miles each week than I do and that influences my opinion considerably as I can't help but compare myself to them. I suspect your average couch potato would think I was obsessed...

I certainly wasn't athletic as a kid (much more the nerdy, musical type), but I was actually involved in quite a few different things over the course of my time at school, just none of it was competitive and most of it was stuff I simply gave a go for a year or so. I don't think I understood that organized sports were something you could just do for fun until I was about seventeen. Even now, I only enjoy playing team sports when going out for a beer after the game is more important than the scoreline. It's not that I'm non-competitive, I just need to be competing with myself first in order to enjoy competing against others. How hard can I push myself? How smart can I be? (Yes, it's all about me, girls! ) I think the reason I get so much out of cycling (on and off road) is that it can be as social or not as you wish whilst really testing your limits, be they phisical or mental, at the same time.