How old were you when you started cycling?

[Lise]

Early memory of falling off a tricycle when I was three. Then riding my blue Schwinn without training wheels at 7. Joy-filled memory of riding my bike to swimming lessons on summer mornings when I was 8 or 9. Rode to get around in HS, had a bad endo on a dirt path with skinny tires at age 19, scraped up my face pretty badly, didn't ride too much for a few years. Rode to get around some in college until my bike was stolen...didn't ride much again for many years.

In the early '90s I would ride to work...that bike was stolen, too.

Got depressed, overweight etc. Got divorced. Started riding again in 2002, lost a bunch of weight, became a triathlete at age 42, and LOVE to ride now! And I have very, very good locks. I'll be 46 this summer. The best is yet to come. I'm looking forward to those summer mornings...sometimes I wake up and feel like I'm 8 years old again, and I can hardly wait to go ride my bike.

[Starfish]

Got depressed, overweight etc. Got divorced. Started riding again in 2002, lost a bunch of weight, became a triathlete at age 42, and LOVE to ride now!

Hey, thanks for this post. I just got divorced a few months ago (not my desire), and I sure have been grateful for the bike. I also turned 40 at the same time. Now I have a friend (50!) who did her first Ironman last year, and she wants me to train for 2007 with her! I think that is out of my league for this year, but I am hoping to be fitter and stronger at 50 than I am now. Thanks for mentioning becoming a triathlete at 42.

[allabouteva]

, became a triathlete at age 42, and LOVE to ride now!

Well, I'm 42 now, and would love to be a triathlete, but one small problem CAN'T SWIM! So good for you Lise!

I started when I was about 8, which is late. Didn't really get a bike until I was a bit older then that. Long story...

Then didn't ride at all in my teens, twenties, thirties.... Bought bikes in my twenties and thirties, but didn't really get the bug, until late last year, and now I really have the bug, as I've bought two bikes in 6 months (a Giant CRX hybrid and an Orbea Aqua Dama roadbike).

I just love riding now.... Still have some balance issues (find it hard to ride one handed etc), but who cares as long as I can ride!

[Lise]

Starfish and Eva--let the dream grow in you. You'll be amazed what you do. Eva, if you want to be a triathlete, you can take swimming lessons! Or be a duathlete: Run, bike run. Or be a cyclist! I want to do a 1/2 Ironman next year. It's not that I love swim or run training that much. I don't. But for *me* to have such a dream? Amazing. And now, having done 6 triathlons, a 1/2 marathon, the Chicago Marathon, and a metric century on my hybrid bike, I *know* I can do it, if I'm willing to put in the effort. I love hearing the other stories of changed lives. L.

[Tater]

I had a bike all through childhood and used it to get to friends' houses, to the store or wherever I needed to go. I had a Raleigh mtb that I used while I was in the Navy to go from barracks/housing to my work site, but deep down I had always wanted a road bike. That dream didn't materialize until last year and I couldn't be happier.

[Starfish]

Starfish and Eva--let the dream grow in you. You'll be amazed what you do. Eva, if you want to be a triathlete, you can take swimming lessons! Or be a duathlete: Run, bike run. Or be a cyclist! I want to do a 1/2 Ironman next year. It's not that I love swim or run training that much. I don't. But for *me* to have such a dream? Amazing. And now, having done 6 triathlons, a 1/2 marathon, the Chicago Marathon, and a metric century on my hybrid bike, I *know* I can do it, if I'm willing to put in the effort. I love hearing the other stories of changed lives. L.

Lise, an OT question...I know there are duathlons with run/bike. Are there duathlons with just swim/bike? I have a bad knee that makes running my biggest (at least in my mind) mental hurdle to triathlons.

[CR400]

I started cycling again at 26, however I have only been at it for a year and a half won't be two years untill September. So that makes me 28.
I got into cycling because I wanted to lose weight and start racing. Plus I wanted to do the charity rides that people do at my church. We have a 70 mile ride to the Childrens hospital to deliver stuffed animals next Saturday. So that's why I got back into cycling.

My biggest problem was that I didn't have a good enough bike until I bought my Cannondale.

[jeannierides]

Like a lot of you, I rode when I was a kid. We always had bikes, and rode them everywhere! Then I grew up. Grownups didn't do *kid* stuff. SO. I behaved like a grownup for many many years. Not necessarily happy, mind you, but grown up just the same. Three years ago I decided being grownup (or at least behaving like one) wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I started running. Ran my first half marathon a few months later. About a year and a half ago, I got my first road bike. I now have several centuries under my belt & am having more fun & am in better shape than I have been in years.
Today I celebrated my 56th birthday.

[Lise]

Like a lot of you, I rode when I was a kid. We always had bikes, and rode them everywhere! Then I grew up. Grownups didn't do *kid* stuff. SO. I behaved like a grownup for many many years. Not necessarily happy, mind you, but grown up just the same. Three years ago I decided being grownup (or at least behaving like one) wasn't all it was cracked up to be. I started running. Ran my first half marathon a few months later. About a year and a half ago, I got my first road bike. I now have several centuries under my belt & am having more fun & am in better shape than I have been in years.
Today I celebrated my 56th birthday.

Happy birthday! You're ten years and several centuries ahead of me. L.

[Lise]

Lise, an OT question...I know there are duathlons with run/bike. Are there duathlons with just swim/bike? I have a bad knee that makes running my biggest (at least in my mind) mental hurdle to triathlons.

I think there are, but I can't remember what they're called. An Aquathalon is a run/swim/run. http://usatriathlon.org/Aquathlon/Aquathlon_home.htm If I turn up the info about bike/swim/bike, I'll pass it on.

[ptsheridan]

I started now.. at age 45 so I could participate in a sprint Tri. Some people have to learn how to swim, I had to learn how to ride a bike. Yes I got on a tricycle apprarently once but my loving over protective parents didn't think I was athletic enough. I grew up swimming instead.

Since I never had a bike before, I long dreamed of owning a Schwinn. So though they may not be the most highly rated of bikes, I am very happy atop my blue Schwinn bike. I fell 4 weeks ago which scared me a bit but you just have to get back on..

[Lise]

I started now.. at age 45 so I could participate in a sprint Tri. Some people have to learn how to swim, I had to learn how to ride a bike. Yes I got on a tricycle apprarently once but my loving over protective parents didn't think I was athletic enough. I grew up swimming instead.

Since I never had a bike before, I long dreamed of owning a Schwinn. So though they may not be the most highly rated of bikes, I am very happy atop my blue Schwinn bike. I fell 4 weeks ago which scared me a bit but you just have to get back on..

That is funny. Like swimming is safe. My big fear in the tri was the swimming. I grew up swimming in pools and Lake Michigan, but then, as a teen, witnessed a horrible swimming accident/drowning. It was, in part, because the kid who died had bad eyesight, and whacked his head against a wall he couldn't see. As my eyesight got worse over the years, I got nearly phobic about swimming. Now I've had Lasik for a year, and I'm still amazed at how I can see in the water.

Learning to ride a bike is great. Sure, you may fall sometimes, but probably not much, and if you wear your helmet, you'll probably be fine. Funny how we have different fears, right? I had a bike accident in my teens in which I scraped up my face and still have scars. I was riding a '70s skinny tired bike on a dirt path, caught a rut, and went down, face first. Now I am *only* afraid when I'm on a rutted dirt path. I have to remind myself that I'll be OK crossing things like bridges and railroad tracks, too. I'd like to learn to mtb, and overcome my fear of rut-tire interaction. L.

[allabouteva]

You guys are awesome.

Lise, I tried to learn to swim about 5 years ago. I can swim a little, but not great and not far.

I should've been a little more persevering. After the one lesson, which was held indoors in a over chlorinated pool made me very woozy and sick to my stomach.

I should try again......But I'm not a huge water fan.....I'm happiest on my bike regardless of the number of times I've fallen!

eva

[Prairiedog]

Hello everyone.

I started riding a bike again four years ago, casually not so much for exercise although the point of getting the bike was to ride to town for exercise with my kids for ball in the summer. It is 4 miles one way. I had two kids in a Burley adding 75 pounds and the route is all gravel and hilly. My legs were like cast iron after that first summer.

This spring, at the tender age of 44 I just bought a new bike, Giant Yukon, so I can use the bike for pure exercise purposes. I have always worked out and stayed fit...I'm using biking mainly for crosstraining and something to do outdoors besides running. I bike mostly on gravel roads but do jump on paved roads too. So I don't fit into any category...not a road biker, not a mountain biker. I'm a gravel biker. That would be the expression I got from the guys at the bike shop when they asked me what kind of biking I did.

I have just found this website this week so I have really enjoyed reading alot of the threads already. I have also bought three books this week on triathlon training...it's a goal.

[Prairiedog]

Eva...I wanted to comment to you about swimming. You should try lessons again. Listen, I have been a swimmer all my life but never a competitive swimmer...a couple of years ago I got a book on improving your swimming technique for speed in the water and omg, it has been like relearning how to swim all over again. I had no idea I was doing it all wrong or at least, not doing it right. When I decide to get serious about a triathlon I will need to work with a swimming coach to improve my technique in the water.

Don't be embarrassed or afraid, take those swimming lessons!