How long have you been cycling?

[John Ponting]

Not sure how long I've been cycling but I've been married 39 years so it could be a long time.

I was taught to ride by an Italian POW a few years after end of WW2. Then, like many people, I had a bike right through to end of 2nd school. Did some club riding and club TT for a few years. Had a break for 1st car. Started cycling again shortly before starting a family and continued for a few more years. Having a full velodrome in home town meant I could easily spend time riding track and helping with juniour training for a while. Had another break for motorbikes and sports cars. Bought a bike about 3 years ago and wish I'd never stopped. Now get to encourage 3x grandsons on local roads and trails. Haven't ridden so far this week but have had 2 turbo sessions, a walk along the Lee Navigation and a session with the osteopath.

 

[Randochap]

Interesting to read what got in the way of cycling for so many: the infernal combustion engines.

Luckily -- but for a brief infatuation with the Jaguar E-type at 12 y/o -- I've never much cared for cars or motorcycles.

I watched my friends in UK desert their bicycles as soon as they could get their hands on an old "Beezer" or "Fanny B." In Canada, there was no real bicycle culture -- youths couldn't wait to turn in their "Mustang" banana seat bikes for a real Ford Mustang.

Meanwhile, I stood aside, working in bike shops and climbing gear shops, spending all my paltry wages on bikes and alpine gear. I didn't get my drivers' license until I was 30 and have owned motor vehicles only sporadically. The one I have (bought for $450 in 1996) now sits with a flat tyre and covered in 6 months of dust. It's not worth a fraction of any of my main bikes.

Five years ago, I moved to a village within a city where car ownership is redundant, unless I want to drive to the interior or another province. The main reason for this move was specifically because the town is bike-friendly and the actual area was chosen because I can walk and cycle everywhere.

I often think of all the kids who are robbed of the experience of their own engines by early adoption of the motorized wheelchair known as the motor vehicle. They never become familiar with the visceral wonder of their own miraculous motor. Rather than learning to develop their own power and vitality, instead, they are stolen away by the counterfeit thrill of gasoline powered speed.

How many lives have been laid waste by this car culture?

It is literally worse than the scourge of drugs.

 

[jig-sore]

always used to be on bikes when i was young, never into ball sports.

started with a boxer, grifter and chopper, then went to BMX and a "racer" for school.
then had a Raleigh Mustang MTB, the pink and white paint job one, like this...

had this nicked and got the red and black model, like this...

then HAD to cycle to work when i left school (1990), 8 miles each way, five days a week.

then had a gap of a few years when i started driving, (late 1991-1994 ish) then one day i decided to buy a bike just to "get out on". first an MTB then a road bike. cycled a fair bit until the kids came along (1999) and then the cycling just faded out.

got back into it last year (2008) because i was getting really unfit and because the kids can ride now as well. improved a lot over the last year and now back up to the standard i used to be. just started commuting as well, 11.5 miles each way

 

[HJ]

I have been cycling on and off for more years than I care to remember, here is a blog post which I wrote about commuting a few years ago, but I was cycling long before that...


[wisper]
I have been riding a bike for something over forty years...
[/wisper]

 

[Jane Smart]

Nice blog HJ

 

[Sittingduck]

always used to be on bikes when i was young, never into ball sports.

started with a boxer, grifter and chopper, then went to BMX and a "racer" for school.
then had a Raleigh Mustang MTB, the pink and white paint job one, like this...

I had the original Black & WHite one that came out a year or so before the pink version My first MTB / ATB. Purchased from Jimboalle's beloved Tom Crowther Cycles in Solihull no less!

My first proper bike was also a Boxer - bright Yellow it was

 

[scots_lass]

Well I am a real beginner. Cycled occasionally as a child (more than 40 years ago!) but only started cycling regularly a few weeks back! Not sure if I am going to be more than a fairweather cyclist but really enjoying it so far!

 

[Jane Smart]

Well I am a real beginner. Cycled occasionally as a child (more than 40 years ago!) but only started cycling regularly a few weeks back! Not sure if I am going to be more than a fairweather cyclist but really enjoying it so far!

You did 20 miles today, in the rain, don't put yourself down that was a great achievement

 

[palinurus]

Been cycling since I was five. Needed transport when I was a kid, some of my friends lived a mile or so away (no way was I walking that far).

When I started work I thought I'd use my bike (a cheap Peugeot from Marshall Ward catalogue), figured I'd learn to drive and get a car after a while. As usual never got around to it.

The Peugeot (originally bought 'cos it looked like Robert Millar's bike, very superficially) did a year or so. Then a Muddy Fox Courier did the next 11 years, then a Marin MTB for six years, then came the "Blue Hack"- retired only two weeks ago, now I've got a Specialized Singlecross.

I've got, and have had, other bikes but those were my commute /everyday riding machines.

Only commuting until I hit 36 then, following a thread on the C+ forum, I entered a time trial. Still doing that. Started Cyclocross last season.

35 years later.

 

[Davidc]

Interesting posts - and I just discovered from Jane Smart's profile that at the moment I've got the same steed as her new one....

I started with a triang trike 54 years ago, aged 3, see below.

Learnt to ride on 2 wheels aged 6 (I'm told I took 10 minutes to learn balance and several hours to learn how the rod brakes worked!!!!!). That was a child's Humber bike, second hand and too big for me.

Had a Raleigh with a SA 3 speed when I was 11 (I'd passed the 11+). It was a horrible bike but I still enjoyed it, until I tried using it for longer distances.

Bought a Holdsworth Cyclone with my Saturday job money when I was 16. Best bike I've ever owned. Toured with it, and used it as transport. Took it to university with me and rode it daily up Bristol's Whiteladies road and Blackboy hill. The antidote to any known hangover but no longer legally possible!

That got stolen in 1974, and like many people I went down market when I replaced it, with a Pugeot tourer. That lasted me from 1974 until 1996, when one of the chainstays got bent when a moton forced me off the road. Still commuted sometimes by then, but not much else apart from going out with my son.

Had a flat bar early ish mtb (OK, BSO) for a while, from about 1988 until it got stolen in Ipswich in 1998. Then ended up with the kid's cast-offs. Much less cycling after that.

After major life changes for the first time, by age 55 I wasn't doing much cycling, but decided after serious illness to buy a bike that fitted me to get more exercise - and not surprisingly started using it a lot.

Now looking for a good steel tourer ......

I've never stopped cycling, but the amount has varied. Helps that I didn't learn to drive until I was 22 and needed it for my job, and have never liked cars nor found them Objects Of Desire. Rather I dislike them, think they're an evil neccesitated by lack of an alternative, and would prefer them not to exist!

Why is cycling so expensive, and why doesn't my wife understand why I want need 2 bikes????

 

[fossyant]

Started with a Budgie, got a Chopper next, then got a Coventry Eagle......

Then got a Raleigh Road Ace (531 and Shimano 600.Ultegra)

Then got this about 20 years ago...

It was rather a lot of money at the time , but has been well worth it - pic taken just a few months ago........ Cycling properly - i.e. club level since 16, soooooo 23 years......not long enough !

 

[northolthornet]

I've been cycling for 3 days! Getting back in the saddle after 24 yrs. I got bored doing an hour of C.V. in the gym, but I have found out that 20 mins on a bike is the same as an hour on a cross trainer! My aim to be able to cycle 13 miles to work.

 

[Bigtwin]

Started with a Budgie, got a Chopper next, then got a Coventry Eagle......

Then got a Raleigh Road Ace (531 and Shimano 600.Ultegra)

Then got this about 20 years ago...

It was rather a lot of money at the time , but has been well worth it - pic taken just a few months ago........ Cycling properly - i.e. club level since 16, soooooo 23 years......not long enough !

Lovely bike. But just seeing that saddle angle makes my eyes water...

 

[fossyant]

Lovely bike. But just seeing that saddle angle makes my eyes water...

100% level....................

 

[Jane Smart]

I've been cycling for 3 days! Getting back in the saddle after 24 yrs. I got bored doing an hour of C.V. in the gym, but I have found out that 20 mins on a bike is the same as an hour on a cross trainer! My aim to be able to cycle 13 miles to work.

You can do it no problem