I'm 46. I've been cycling regularly for the last 4 years. But, I learned to ride when I was 4 (it was a birthday present for my mother--4 yos think like that). I rode everywhere a lot when I was a child and would rather ride my bike than do anything else that little girls like to do. Through my teen years I rode a bike everywhere I went, until I got a license, and then got a car in my senior year. I still rode for recreation, though.

I had a bike up until my first child was born at age 20. I took him on a ride in my backpack when he was just 3 months old. (It was a risk, I know that now, but I was young, stupid, and desperate to ride--and he grew up in spite of me.) That was the last time I rode or owned a bike for 20+ years. Life took over and I began raising children, working, divorcing, remarrying, paying the bills, moving, etc. I don't remember what happened to the bike I had when I was 20, but I do remember buying new brakes for it that summer and fixing it up so I could ride.

I got back into it about 2004 because my youngest child was big enough to ride with me, and the guy I bought this house from sold me his RV bikes while he was moving ($50 each, Wal-Mart bikes, his and hers). My youngest and I started riding them, and the next summer we bought mountain bikes.

The next spring I bought a road bike, which is the kind of bike I always had in my teens. (They were always getting stolen, but replacements seemed easy to come by.) Now I have two old steel bikes, a 1985 Schwinn cruiser, the mountain bike, and my modern road bike, a garage full of tools and parts and etc., etc.

What I would say to anyone new is to try to put the fear aside. We do many things every day more dangerous without really thinking about it. Go at your own pace, keep an open mind, and consider it an adventure.

Karen