What got you into biking?

[Crankin]

My DH and younger son got me into cycling. I had really enjoyed riding as an early adolescent and rode everywhere on my 3 speed Raleigh, on some tough hills, too. I loved it because as far as other sports went, I am a total failure. I was in remedial PE as a HS sophomore and I have horrible eye hand coordination. Don't like competition too much, either! But, when I was in remedial PE, I found out that I like fitness oriented stuff and I have good endurance. This was in 1969, when individual sports were not popular and there wasn't much out there for girls.
I rode until I moved to Miami and no one rode or walked. I had a couple of cheap bikes, later, in AZ (5, 10 speed Univegas) in grad school and when I was first married, but I never rode more than 5-10 miles. I distinctly remember riding the *wrong way* down Rural Rd. between Elliot and Chandler Blvd. in south Tempe, and having a bad experience with a car, and never riding again for a long time.
In the meantime, I got into aerobics/step and became an instructor. Basically, after 10 years, I got burned out, and while I still went to classes, it was in a half hearted way. I started gaining weight, my cholesterol went up, and I wasn't feeling too good about myself. During this time, my son started running and then mountain biking, in 1999. MY DH bought a mountain bike and started going with my son. I had been encouraging my DH to do something because he was getting FAT and the tennis he played wasn't helping. When my son signed up to go on a 3 week tour from MA to Maine, Vermont and back, we bought him a road bike. As a surprise, my DH bought a road bike while he was gone and started going out to practice riding before my son came back. I didn't know my DH had ridden as a kid, like 50-70 mile rides. Well, my son came back from that trip a riding monster... he went out and did a century with a group of adults the week he came back! He started racing that fall and pretty soon my DH couldn't keep up with him.
Around this time I got serious about losing weight and started walking and seriously going to aerobics again. In the fall of 2000 my DH refit his mountain bike for me and bought me shorts and a jersey. He took me out on a 6 mile ride where he had to push me up a small hill with the back of his hand. Even though I was humiliated, I was hooked. After all, I was supposed to be the fit one! I rode that bike for 2 years and in September 2002, I bought an entry level Cannondale road bike. My son (and by this time we had our German exchange student living with us, who was also a racer) went out with me at 6 AM on a Sunday and taught me to use my clipless pedals!
Pretty much I haven't looked back since. I'm on my 3d road bike and also have a hybrid and mountain bike. I became a bike trip leader for AMC, but I have kept that to a minimum, since I was starting to burn out on that, too. My DH has mellowed a bit and we ride together all of the time, even though he is faster than me. Our goal is to ride off into the sunset on our bikes when we die...

[crazycanuck]

Sorry for the long post

(I think I had a bike when I lived in Edmonton but not sure what it was..I wasn't into cycling but certainly remember cycling to work in the early parts of winter.)

I think it was 2004...We were living in Auckland & I had a trip planned to visit family back in Canada & knew I wouldn't have a job when i returned. Anywho, ventured back & upon return to NZ, I suggested to Ian, I'd like to buy a bike. We were both overweight & oddly enough the gym that we were members at moved & I wanted something else. So, we bought cheap bikes as we had no idea if we'd enjoy it or love it. We started cycling to work & thought we'd die when we had to cycle 10km. Ended up discovering Woodhill in Auckland (fairly new then) & of course Rotovegas , sparking our love affair with dirt..

Crap bikes were stolen(someone did us a huge favour!!!) & ended up with new bikes that were too big (we didn't have a clue at the time..). We were transferred to Perth a year later. We are heavily involved in the mtn bike community & have a good crew of friends who do dirt as well.

We've gone from couch slobs to riders active in mtb club races, enduros, 6hr & 12hr events.

Road doesn't do it for us-great training tool for dirt though!

I've attached an old photo from 2002(prior to cycling & getting my thyroid under control) & one from our quick visit to NZ last christmas. Ian often opens old photos such as the first one i've posted to stop me from whining about my weight.

[sundial]

CC, your story is inspirational.

I went through stages of exercise as a kid. I lived near canals so I explored them by bike. Later I turned to running--it was the thing to do according to Jim Fixx. Then aerobics was the hot trend. Then weight training. As I got older and my knee joint continued to deteriorate my orthos encouraged me to swim or cycle. I picked the latter. I bought a mtb and slicks and rode my heart out. Then I became intrigued by the reviews of a Terry bike and bought one with the money I saved from my first real job. The rest, as they say, is history.

[arielmoon]

I started riding in May of 2008 at age 40 and I have ridden over 3,000 miles. My BF got me to join him on his old Trek 2300 (Well, first he let me ride his Madone for 2 rides to get me interested) and I bought my Madone not quite a year ago.

I had a 10 speed as a kid and rode my bike everywhere until I learned to drive. I was too involved with team sports and riding horses to consider keeping up with it.

I am glad I was re-introduced to it!

[indigoiis]

My husband used to ride both mountain and road but had shelved both bikes in the attic of our garage. He also suffered(ers) from depression. After I quit smoking (in 03) and then drinking (in 04) I pulled my old freebie junker bike out of the garage and started riding to get healthy again. Once I started riding with the lbs he took notice and started to ride again. His depression, while not completely in remission, has been lessened by his return to riding. I could kiss Ernesto Colnago.

[TrekTheKaty]

At 30, I was overweight. Although I'd never been athletic, I took up running to get in shape. After a few years of slow marathons and half-marathons, I hurt my back. Chiropractor said to pick a new sport! My sister had just started riding after digging a bike out of the dumpster. I took my old hybrid around the block and discovered it didn't aggravate my back. DH was relieved--he'd done a lot of riding and had tried to get me started while we were dating. The rest is history--3 years and counting..........

[Fontinalis]

The invisible insuline is what they call exercise. My family has a history of diabetes, and I didn't want to become diabetic. So, I was doing 30 to 45 minutes of laps daily for two years. Never missed a day. And I looooooved it. But I was afraid that if I didn't do something else to exercise daily, I would start to either be bored, or get tired of it eventually. So I decided to get back on a bike after ... 32 years. I am turning 50 this year, and had not rode a bike since I was 18. I started by doing some stationary bike. That lasted a whole .. two weeks. Now THAT is boring. lol Bought a bike in mid March (that is winter snow storm season where I live) and had to wait until late April to ride it outdoors. And I have used my bike for a daily commute every day since. It is pure blissful rides morning and nights, a commute in the city. A mix of bike paths, shared roads, park, back alleys, parkings. And it just pure sheer joy and fun fun fun.

[Trigress]

Well, I've always hated cycling, ever since I was a kid and did it out of lack of alternative transport. But I never liked it.

I've never liked any endurance sport, really, being a sprinter I prefer exercise like weight training, martial arts and so on. However, a bit of stamina never was a bad thing, and after reading an article in Elle ( I know) I began running. Or jogging, really. And I loved it! So much in fact that I contracted the inevitable runner's knee. It came and went repeatedly, and I began looking for alternative workouts, and cycling was the most obvious, fulfilling my criteria of possible to do outdoors and good endurance training. It took me quite some time though, as I truly did hate cycling. But I'd tried triathlon and loved it, despite the horrid cycling leg, and I decided to buy a new bike. I was going to buy an MTB, but then out of the blue my cousin told me that he had a friend who imported road bikes and that he could get one cheap for me. Nine months and a lot of oatmeal later I was the proud owner of a bright red Italian carbon road bike and I have never looked back. This was in 2005, I've sorted out my runner's knee by now, done two half ironmen and are about to really take the plunge - I want to let the little sprinter in me come out and get to those mass sprints!

My DH is a road cyclist, I don't think he ever imagined how fond I would become of both cycling and my little red bike, or that I would join a cycling club and even become a referee!

[pinkbikes]

I grew up in a small seaside town and rode my bike to school and generally get around. Then I was sent away to boarding school and riding stopped. I immersed myself in waterpolo and martial arts with a bit of middle distance running thrown in.

I got more serious about the martial arts and was at university and training for my second dan when I injured my inner thigh. No - not doing a high flying kick or anything serious - but doing the cancan in the lounge room with my dad horsing around! Needless to say, with the stupidity of youth, I kept rushing back into training and re-injuring the offending thigh, so returned to swimming to stay fit while I recuperated.

Somebody noticed I was a pretty decent swimmer and thrust a leaflet for an all women's triathlon at me and suggested I enter. This was 1983 and triathlon was pretty much in its infancy here. I borrowed my cousin's old Peugot 10speed which was too big for both of us, trained for a few weeks and gave it a lash. A lifetime love affair with the triathlon was born and I never returned to martial arts.

I bought my first road bike in 1984 and still have it to this day. My first date with DH was a ride on our road bikes in 1986. We continued to ride in many triathlons over the years, sometimes as an individual and sometimes in teams. While we were paying off a huge mortgage with monstrous interest rates in the late 80s cycling was our entertainment, our exercise, and our social life with our friends.

We dabbled in early mountain bikes and hybrids around the time we eased out of triathlons and then had our DD. I carted her around on the back of my rigid MTB and then on a trailgater behind the hybrid as she grew, but it was mainly social. I put on weight and took up tapdancing.

Once a year (regardless of how fat I was) I pulled down the beloved roadie and competed in the corporate triathlon. It is a shortcourse tri where teams of three each do a full tri as a relay. I could always pump out a pretty good swim and then slide backward through the field doing ok on the bike and crap in the run! I suffered terrible bike envy (as much as I loved mine) looking at all the beautiful new machinery. But I would convince myself there was no point buying a new one if I only used it for three months of the year to train and ride in the little tri.

A couple of years ago, I put in a stirling effort, lost 10kg and put a bit of extra effort into training and then kept riding after the tri was over and really was enjoying it. A bit of money came my way for filling in for my boss at work and I decided to buy a new roadie. I spent a few weeks agonising over specs and eventually bought my Shogun Ninja, which is a boring but nice, 105 equipped bike with carbon fork, seatpost and seat stays, and it was "a bargain as long as you like black" since it was about to be last year's stock! I have ridden it and loved it immensely and DD has her beady little eyes fixed on it with hopes that she will grow into it soon!

Of course this opened the biking floodgates at our house once more. DH followed me out of the store the day I picked it up with a MTB to ride in our local forest. Shortly afterward I bought a MTB so I could ride with him. We discovered a whole new bunch of friends and connected within our neighbourhood through riding in the forest 1km from our door! Other roadie friends joined us in the forest and we started doing a few endurance MTB races.

I bought a better MTB! DH had bought and sold two in this time! We decided to try cycle touring and bought a tandem so DD could join us! DH decided it was time for him to re-discover road biking, so he bought a used Giant TCR to ride. He loved it but wanted something more touring-style, so bought another relaxed roadie. DD started to ride in the forest with us, so we sold her cheapie girlie department store bike and bought her a little Trek MTB. It's just gotten out of hand. I have now done the bike leg for a couple of olympic distance triathlons for a team and really have the bug for a nice 40km TT, so would like a nicer roadie! Maybe when DD grows into that current roadie!

Riding is now back to being a HUGE part of our lives as individuals (we each have our own circles for individual rides) and as a family. We even manage to get the odd ride in as a couple too! Touring on a tandem with DD has a been very special and has helped us communicate very well as she enters that tricky time of adolescence.

I have used cycling to increase my circle of friends within my colleagues at work (even got the boss onto a MTB, into a race and tore skin off him) because there just seems to be something about engineers and bikes that go well together! I even take a bike to work to ride around town to meetings. It clears my head and I just enjoy the feel of freedom (however brief) immensely. I love bikes. I love the way they feel, the way they make me feel, and I can see myself riding them forever given the choice!

[Hub]

Lance- by proxy-

He inspired my brother - Pscyclepath- who introduced me to Lance (at least the books & such).

[Jen72]

I started cycling July 3, 2009, three weeks ago. I just turned 37 and I'm way overweight, high blood pressure, scared of becoming diabetic, and sick of it all. In addition I moved to Washington not long ago and haven't really made any friends.

My aunt and I joined weight watchers and started walking on the Centennial Trail nightly as I looked at the cyclist speeding by me I thought about how much fun I had as a kid riding my bike and pretty soon I was eaten up with the idea of getting myself a bike. After some trial and error I ended up with a Specialized Dolce and I love it. In the short time I've put over 300 miles on my bike and climbing. I cycle at least 15 miles a day now and today I rode 26 miles which is the most I've ridden in one day. I've lost 10 lbs and my weekly weight loss is picking up speed.

I'm having so much fun now and feel so dang good everyday. I can't see myself going back to the lethargic lifestyle I had before. I'm thinking I can reach my goal weight in about 7-8 months. I feel a freedom now in not letting food take control of my life. It's an addiction for me that I'm working on and getting better all the time. I made a sign to put on the Fridge saying nothing tastes as good as being thin as a reminder and it works. I really just want to be healthy, look good again, have more self confidence instead of always being so shy, and feel strong. I really can't get over how much fun I'm having now.

[BabyBlueNTulsa]

A very good friend, who is over 40 yrs my senior, got me interested in sports. First it was running (which I no longer do b/c of my back), and then cycling.

By the way.. I will be 40 in a month! My buddy STILL rides!

[nerdgirl]

My boyfriend got me into mountain biking

He really wanted to share his passion with me. I had a lot of reservations because I was 39 at the time, I have allergies, severe asthma, and rheumatoid arthritis. It seemed like the most completely wrong sport for me! But I've always been an adrenaline junkie, and tend to do things people tell me I can't do because of my health, just to prove them wrong.

All it took was following him downhill once, like 10 minutes into the ride, and I was sooooo hooked! It was a rough road healthwise, and he has been the most patient and awesome teacher. Here it is a year later, I'm healthier, happier, and I've progressed by leaps and bounds to where I'm really finding my way towards aggressive riding (you know, jumps, drops, rocks, etc.)

Oh yeah, and I still have the best mountain biking shred buddy ever-- my boyfriend

[Lesley_x]

I got diagnosed with an autoimmune condition a couple of years ago causing fatigue + joint pain. One day I got fed up and decided I needed to take up some form of exercise to combat it, as it was getting the better of me. I tried running but my knees and feet couldn't handle it, so I figured cycling was a good low impact sport to try.

A very expensive venture but very worthwhile.

I also want to get fit and lose weight, but these are secondary to improving my health.

[Lakerider]

Everytime I start out on a bike ride I say, "This is so cool!"