What got you into biking?

[pfunk12]

I was a serious competitive runner for years. I developed back issues that got worse over time. I had an MRI last July that scared me enough to make the sad (smart) decision to stop running. I started cycling full-time last summer. It keeps me healthy, happy and sane.

[sfa]

I'm on my third go-around with cycling. First was when I was a kid and pretty much rode my bike everywhere. Second was when I was right out of college and spent a year touring Europe by bike. That decision was made almost on a whim--I was applying for grant funding to pursue an individual project. My project was recreating the travels of a 15th century female pilgrim who, at the age of 40, up and left her husband and 15 kids and spent a large portion of the rest of her life on pilgrimage. She did it mostly on donkey/horse, so I figured a bicycle was the 20th century equivalent, so I threw that into the grant proposal. Once I was awarded the grant I then had to figure out exactly what was involved in touring by bike! This was long before the wonders of the internet made research like that easy--I pretty much figured most things out on my own as I went along. I came back from that year and kept cycling a bit, but not in any serious way, and then I fell into the adult black hole of job/kids/house responsibilities and stopped cycling altogether for years. Last year I pulled my old touring bike out of storage and got it in working order again so that I could commute to work and ride just for fun, which is still mostly what I do, although I was talked into signing up for a triathlon, so I'm doing that too. I'm not much enjoying the training though, so I doubt I'll sign up for another one after this one is over. I don't like being on my bike and thinking "gotta push harder" when I'm passing beautiful scenery! I'm still a tourist at heart.

Sarah

[lo123]

I got into cycling almost exactly 4 months ago. So, I'm a major newbie.

I've had psoriatic arthrits (similar to rheumatoid) for about 10 years now, and I let my activity level go way down from being a high school and college athlete to doing nothing. Between 2004 and 2008, I was massively flared up and could hardly get around. I needed a cane pretty frequently to be able to walk more than a very short distance. I started doing water aerobics in 2007, and my instructor persuaded my to try her spin class. By September 2008, I didn't need my cane any more and my range of motion in my worst joints was significantly better. I was able to decrease my prednisone (HUGE win), and I felt the best I had in years.
I really liked spin and what was going on with my body and got my hubby into the class and he loved it as well. We decided if we liked spin that much, how much better would it be outside on a real bike? So, in March we both got Specialized TriCross bikes so we could ride on the road and on trails near our house. On June 6, I did a 75 mile charity ride and averaged 17 mph over the ride time. I'm riding between 60 and 90 miles a week now and itching to get a real road bike. I'm officially hooked.

[Norse]

I spent a lot of time on my bike as a kid but then kind of let it go and did more running. In my early 20's I had knee surgery and the doc told me "No more running." He suggested walking/hiking, swimming or biking instead. I did a fair amount of walking and hiking but not anything with biking until I was studing for the bar exam and needed more exercise and a better stress outlet. Went and bought a Trek mountain bike and rode that thing all over (anything to avoid studying ).

Met DP and her dad was into charity rides. We did our first MS-150 with him. I, on my mountain bike. The pain! After that, bought a hybrid which I got much use out of for a few years and then of course, I wanted to go faster and I was more involved in biking so, I bought my 1st road bike. I still have the hybrid plus a third bike (mountain bike was sold to my brother) and I ride all the time now. I just love it!

[MM_QFC!]

Like others who've already posted, I rode my bike all over as a kid, but only did some infrequent and very recreational riding - went with friends on the local trail out to the brewpub, then asked how we were getting the bikes home!
AIDS took my brother's life in 1995 and in 1997, I heard about, then volunteered to help on a fundraising ride for AIDS community service organizations in the Northwest. It was about 4 months before the ride: a 4-day, 50 miles a day ride from Vancouver, B.C. back to Seattle (those of you in the area may guess that it was NOT a straight, flat route!) and I rolled my heavy hybrid out of my garage and pedaled around my neighborhood. I surprised myself by even entertaining thoughts of riding it, but kept thinking about it and made the decision as a way to honor my brother's life and legacy in a unique and significant way.
Cut to 2009 and I've been riding for the same reason ever since:to end AIDS in our world. Over 25k miles and more importantly, $110k raised so that someday soon, we can end this pandemic.
Last year, for the first time I was grounded (injured by a car) and, while I couldn't ride, I could still help out, so I drove a support vehicle across NY state all week.
This year, I'm back in the saddle again, training to ride from NYC - DC in September.
Tailwinds!
Mary

[WindingRoad]

Life Crisis. Yeah that's what prompted me to start riding. I had ended an eleven year relationship, become very unhealthy and was at the jumping off point pretty much. Not to mention I had just moved to a large city and wasn't comfortable with that yet, see I'm from a very small town, people scary. Ironically by some twist of fate, I ended up in a bike shop. It was the same bike shop I went to as a kid with my mom and dad so there was always the 'happy' effect when I went there. I was just skulking around the showroom floor and reminiscing in my mind when the owner approached me and started asking me about what I wanted. I had no idea but somehow I ended up trying out a Giant OCR3 road bike. I rode in around the parking lot and it was strange how quickly I felt at home on that bike. Guess it reminded me of my old twelve speed Rally I had when I was a kid. Whatever it was it made me happy when I rode it. It was expensive for me at the time so I had to make a few payments before it was officially mine to take home. I came to 'visit' it and ride it around the parking lot a few times in the meantime. They probably thought I was completely mad thinking about this now . I finally paid it off and brought it home. I think I stared at it in the living room for the first three days because it looked so cool, LOL. Somewhere along the journey I discovered this new thing called "group rides". After battling the urge to chicken out as I had done numerous other times, one morning I actually went to one of these rides and met some really nice people. I rode that bike over 2,000 miles the summer of 2006 on group rides and had so much fun, made new friends and got in incredible shape. It truly was one of the greatest times in my life. I had regained my physique, my courage and a social life. I'm very grateful for the nice people in my local cycling club they have no idea what they did for me that summer.

[jobob]

I started riding sometime in 2002 (although I used to bike a lot in junior high & high school, mainly just to get around though, before I got my drivers license. ).

My husband and I were both seriously overweight (I still have a picture from 2002 that I use to remind ourselves just how fat we had become - aack!). So along with watching our diets we decided we’d start biking, so we both bought hybrid bikes.

We're fortunate enough to have a great place to bike. We live near the Alameda Creek Trail, a multi-use trail that runs along both sides of Alameda Creek from the Niles District in Fremont to the San Francisco Bay near the Dumbarton Bridge. It’s a paved trail on one side, and mostly dirt trail on the other. Near the bay end, the paved side connects to a paved trail that goes around Coyote Hills Park, with a few very gentle climbs (and one optional short yet steep climb).

I was so timid at first that more often than not we rode on the unpaved side of the AC Trail - all those fast racer guys & girls whizzing by really frightened me! After a while I got used to riding on the “scary” paved side, though.

We were really enjoying going out on rides together. And the Alameda Creek Trail was a really nice ride. There were a couple of parks along the trail -- Quarry Park was a fave -- and we’d pack some sandwiches and make a day of it. Heck we did some 20 mile rides sometimes !

Boy in the beginning we were really huffing and puffing over those hills in Coyote Hills Park! (Lee more so than me. He had a lot more weight to lug around ) Yeah, I get a chuckle when I ride over those hills nowadays -- they're now molehills instead of mountains

Lee really took to this riding thing, much more than I. He managed to lose about 50 pounds -- not just from the riding of course, but it sure helped. Over time he got a couple of used bikes (one a Bridgestone RB-2) and started toodling around a lot more.

In the fall of 2003 Lee started lusting over a road bike called a Romulus built by a company called Rivendell. We both thought it cost a ridiculous amount of money -- $1400 for a bicycle?!?! Get real! -- but all the riding Lee was doing was really doing wonders for him, he was losing lots of weight and getting fit, and he really enjoyed it, and if the Romuus would keep him interested in biking then I thought it would be well worth the money.

So, at my urging (some may say nagging!) Lee bought himself a Romulus. And he really took to it. So now we’d go out, he riding his Romulus and me riding my clunky hybrid. Which was still OK, but then I got thinking, wouldn’t it be cool to go on longer rides?

I tried his Romulus (we're about the same height) and it was really creepy for me at first but then I started to really like riding it. And I started thinking of getting a road bike of my own.

Right around then I came across a notice for a training ride program for women put on by a local cycling club, intended to improve mechanical and road riding skills and to build endurance for longer rides, culminating in the Cinderella Century, an all-women’s metric century in our area.

Oh, and I also came across TE around then. Here’s my very first post on TE.
http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=842
It's kind of fun reading the replies - little did I know what I was getting myself into.

Soon thereafter I bought myself a Romulus just like Lee’s (thanks in very large part to the urging from my new TE friends )

I met snap and mellissam on that Cinderella Training Series, and, mostly through TE, I met a lot of other great folks on rides in my area (you’ve seen the list on the other thread ) and made lots of friendships that have continued on to this day.

And thanks in large part to the support and encouragement of those friends and you folks on TE, I'm a much stronger rider today and I still really love to ride.

Cheers, gang!

[maillotpois]

What a fun thread!

I started riding in January 2001 (after years of spinning and riding a MTB a bit). My husband and I signed up to do a century with TNT. I'd done 3 marathons with them, and am a terrible runner and honestly I really don't much like running. My husband had ridden in college, etc., but he was seriously out of shape. (He got into a LOT better shape a few years after we started riding.)

When I started riding I was amazed that I wasn't always last anymore like I was as a runner (at least I wasn't always last til the first time I did the Death Ride a year later ). I never considered myself an athlete til I started riding a bike. I stink at ball sports and was in remedial PE when I was in elementary school (that's back when they had funding for that sort of thing.) Now I definitely consider myself an endurance athlete. I started coaching the TNT century program in 2002, and have been coaching the Death Ride for TNT for about 4 years now. I really enjoy seeing other people exceed their endurance cycling expectations.

[anabanana]

Well, I've always loved bike riding!

As a child growing up in a small town in Florida, I used to ride to school, the beach and to my friends' house. It was how I got around. I always loved it and was never afraid of traffic. Once I got married, my husband and I got bikes and would ride around first alone and then with the kids. When we moved to Georgia, we started mountain biking. I didn't do it all the time though. In the meantime, my husband began mountain biking with some friends and did a few races. He was seriously into it now. He always wanted me to do it with him. I finally got into cycling (seriously) last year. I got my first road bike for my birthday in 2007 but rode maybe once a week. Then last November I started Weight Watchers because I had gained a lot of weight. So I decided what a great way to exercise than to do something I really love and I can do it with my husband! I got a new mountain bike this April... it's absolutely beautiful. And for mother's day my husband upgraded my road bike... it's also beautiful. Yes... he spoils me when it comes to anything having to do with cycling. I ride 4 to 5 times a week. I'm in great shape now and have lost over 40 lbs.

I did my first group ride yesterday (the Hospitality Highway Century in Atlanta, GA). I've always been scared to ride with a bunch of people. I loved it! I did 61 miles and felt great.

I know I'll be 70 years old and riding along side my husband.
It's a great way to spend quality time together. It also keeps me in shape and healthy.

[skhill]

My one year anniversary of starting to ride again was this last weekend, too! I pulled out my old piece o'crap bike from a big-box store, and started down the road. At the time, I had been doing as much of my life on foot as I could, for exercise and to save on gas, and I saw the bike as a way to speed up my trips and extend the car-free range. Then I realized how fun it is....

Now I have 2 bikes, I routinely ride more miles in a week than I drive, and I've dropped almost 20 more pounds and I'm in the best shape of my life... And on top of that, it's absolutely liberating to get around town under my own power. I've also gotten to know (and love) my neighborhood and city and the surrounding rural areas better than ever.

On the downside, now I'm known at church as the crazy bike lady. Just because I turned up at a MLK event with panniers full of home-baked desserts on a morning with a negative wind chill.... Why not?

[Loraura]

Spin class at the gym is what got me started. I loved it so much. After a few months I thought to myself "I could do this on a real bike!"

And so it began!

I cancelled my gym membership many months ago. Don't need it! My gym is outside my front door now.