What got you into cycling?

[Killiekevin]

Interesting reading another thread about the 1989 TDF being the catalyst for getting another poster into cycling and was wondering what got everyone else into cycling?

Mine was the 2012 TDF, watching Froome support Wiggins and the hype and euphoria around British sport at the time got me off my arse and finally made me buy a bike which I had been procrastinating about for years, mainly because i was scared to cycle in the roads as I hadnt been on a bike since childhood. Four years later now cycling five days a week to work circa 35 miles per day and it was the best decision I ever made. Lost 3 stone as well and generally feel healthier and happier than I ever have.

 

[ianrauk]

My dad buying me a bike when I was a toddler...

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Getting a bike when I was 8 (my parents didn't have much money to spare).

 

[shouldbeinbed]

A little red Universal bike with white mudguards and a little white tool bag from Cedar Cycles near Cambridge when I was 5. I still have the spanners 42 years later.

 

[cosmicbike]

My dad buying me a bike when I was a toddler...

That ^^
I remember it being red, with white tyres. I was the 2nd in line to use it after big brother.

Also remember 'the plank', a scaffold board on bricks which we rode up onto to get the stabilisers off the ground.

 

[raleighnut]

Always had a bike/trike but spent some time riding motopcycles, then petrol went over £1 a Gallon (1986?) and I have since only owned cycles/trikes and before anyone asks I don't go 'cadging' lifts off car driving friends/relations.

 

[Drago]

My bike kind of got me into cycling by default.

 

[ACS]

A doctor suggesting that if I continued to run excessive milages on the road I would cause my joints irreparable damage. Like most 'committed' (addicted ??) runners I carried injuries, shin splints, joint tenderness etc regardless. Foolish I know, but hindsight is a truly wonderful gift.

So I switched to Triathlon for my 'fix'. Reducing my running milage down to 40 a week I filled the gap with cycling, swimming and some static rowing. After about 7 years, a change of job and family circumstances drastically reduced my training time and I had to make a choice. So I chose cycling, mainly time trailing.

Had a nasty accident which resulted in no training for about 18 months. Suddenly I had a lot of spare time so I decided to get an education.

Fast forward to April 2009 and my granddaughter (who was 6 years old) stood in front of me and asked me when the baby was due. It was that moment I realised that a change in life style was necessary and being 16 stone was not acceptable.

Working 10 miles from home, satisfying the exercise element was obvious and I started to commute on a second-hand hybrid. My first effort took 1 hour 7 minutes and it hurt. Since then I have joined the Audax community, worn out at least 3 bikes grooving back and forward and I'm 13 stone working towards 12 but I'm finding it difficult.

What got me into cycling? A doctor, who was also my training partner and friend, being honest with me. His no nonsense message probably saved me from a life in a wheel chair.

 

[jonnysnorocket]

Lycra

 

[r04DiE]

Over 20 years ago, I was a sheet metal worker and the place I worked for sort of bought up another place and with that purchase came a bloke called Brian. Brian was a toolmaker. He was a nice bloke, East End, knew The Krays but never admitted to it, he was quiet but everyone knew their place with him. I ran the semi-skilled section at the time and now and then one of the lads would ask Brian if they could borrow a drill bit or something; he always said 'No'.

He was right to do this as most of the lads had no respect for tools and they would just end up buggering them up. One day, one of the skilled blokes asked Brian if he could borrow something and there ensued lots of umming and ah-ing before he finally gave the tool up. I used to talk to him, I took an interest in what he did - I was used to working to 0.5 or 0.25mm and here's this bloke working to 0.00 something inches. He showed me how the vertical mill worked, the surface grinder, the lathe and I that's what made me take up engineering.

So I hopped on the motorcycle and went to the local college, who I found only offered part-time courses (that you could do alongside your day job) with a day release. My firm wouldn't have given me a day off to learn another job, so the guy who interviewed me, (Bob), suggested I do all of my theory out of books and all of my practical at an evening class that they ran for old blokes making steam engines and the like. I got to know them all, and I got to know Bob well too, and what a lovely bunch they were. Bob took a shine to me and, after about the 3rd year, I had started to struggle so he invited me to his house (he was local to me), on a Tuesday evening, where we went through the syllabus and he helped me out wherever I needed it. That was always followed by a couple of pints at the local pub. We always wanted a couple more, and Bob was a keen cyclist. One day, he told me that he'd seen a second-hand Peugeot road bike, it had oval tubing and the cables were run inside the tubes. I bought it, and from that day on, we cycled to the pub and always had three or four pints.

I have been on the bike ever since. Kids, family stuff and those sorts of things have derailed cycling a bit but I have always come back to it. This year I bought my first new bike. Thanks, Brian, and thanks, Bob!

 

[Gert Lush]

Foot pain.

 

[mark st1]

Having a paper round that would scare the most hardy of hikers. Road biking though was the Olympics in 2012 kind of made chubbys on drop bars a little more acceptable. imo.

 

[Sheffield_Tiger]

Wanting independance as a teenager. My friends, with mountain bikes (OK, Townsend BSO's in lurid colours to match the 1990 Global Hypercolour T-Shirts) all planning a bike ride

We never had a lot, so I got a £30 Raleigh Traveller from a rough-arsed 2nd hand dealers

Actually, that didn't get me so much into CYCLING as it got me into learning how to FIX bikes

 

[speccy1]

I used to cycle as a kid, and then it disappeared until I was in my early 20`s. The guys I work with said "have you got a bike? We can cycle on a Friday evening with a pub stop half way" this sounded good to me and I bought a bike.

Anyhoo, the first ride arrived, and I HATED it, the air was blue, every hill I was evil. On the following days my legs would not hold me up, and I couldn`t sit down either.....say no more!!

I did keep trying though, and slowly I found it getting easier, bit by bit, and I discovered a new life! I then started riding on my own, further and further, and I was loving it! Now, 16 years later it`s a massive part of my life and have met so many wonderful people and had such great experiences that I will never look back.

So grateful for those early days, or it may never have happened

 

[gavroche]

Spur of the moment really. Five years ago my wife asked me to take her time sheets to her firm's office five miles away. Not wanting to take the car I opted to go on my 20 year old mountain bike gathering dust in the cellar. I pumped the tyres up and I went . It took me 50 minutes each way then and used to come back sweating and with a very red face. Since then, I now have three proper road bikes, loads of cycling gear and wear lycra. My wife is now retired and it now takes me 25 minutes to cycle past her old office.