Viewing 40 posts - 41 through 80 (of 94 total)
  • Why did you start cycling?
  • emsz
    Free Member

    Cody, love your story.

    You should, soon.

    brooess
    Free Member

    No choice. My Dad was a roadie in his younger years so got taught how to ride aged 4 (that was 1977) and not looked back. Only regret I guess is we’ve never ridden together – he quit before he had kids cos he felt there was too much traffic

    deadlydarcy
    Free Member

    I only ride pink bikes though.

    It’s pink…ish. 😀

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    cinnamon_girl
    Full Member

    Hmmmm … red? Red = fast. 8)

    jonb
    Free Member

    I rode as a teenager as a means of getting about and going/exploring places.

    I stopped when my bike broke as I couldn’t afford to replace it. Few years later went off to uni. In my 3rd year it was a particularly dry winter and spring so there was not much kayaking to be done. Fruit/Neil of SuperStar fame leant me his bike and I was amazed what suspension and disc brakes let you do. Bought one that summer (after working in a warehouse moving heavy things) and have never looked back. Took me to GT for the first time as well which was probably what got me really hooked on it being a sport rather than just a mode of transport. Taken over from kayaking now as it’s so much easier to arrange.

    Bunnyhop
    Full Member

    My sister and I always rode bikes from being wee. We later used to cycle for miles around the flat Cheshire countryside, vist a tea room, stuff our faces and cycle home.

    Then I heard about mtbs, whooppee, a bit more to it than just riding tarmac, I thought. Sister however had a realy bad fall on one of our first ever (proper) mtb rides and broke her arm. She’s never ridden an mtb since.

    My skiing buddy Rod, told me he had a bike, so we hooked up together, rode all the trails around the Peak District (late 1990s). Then found a group to ride with. Finally met hubby on a skiing holiday and got him into mtbing. He’s really good now and I’m just average, don’t care though, ‘cos I love it.

    P.S. Hippy, happy, birthday to you cinnamon_girl (it was my birthday on Sunday).

    stanfree
    Free Member

    I bought a Specialized Hard Rock back In 2003 but didn’t really ride It much , then went to my mates stag weekend In fort bill around 2008 and did the laggan Red as part of the weekend. Got back and took my old spesh down to Glentress loved It and never really looked back.

    cinnamon_girl
    Full Member

    bunnyhop – thank you. 🙂 And a belated Happy Birthday to you! Any nice biking pressies?

    mustard
    Free Member

    deadlydarcy
    To lose weight.

    😆

    I never really stopped since my stabilisers were taken off. One of my strongest memories as a kid was riding across the playing fields beside the house on my first ride on the Gresham Flyer I had inherited from my older sisters. I went flying (see what I did there? 🙄 ) over the bars as the brakes were the opposite way round to the Puch I had before – happy days!

    deadlydarcy
    Free Member

    Gresham Flyer

    OMG, that was one of my best friends, Liz’s bike as a kid. We used to joke about it for years afterwards. Thanks for bringing back some happy memories. What fun we had on that bike v

    BillMC
    Full Member

    I cycled as a teenager (time trials etc on a Condor fixie) to escape London and family. Then got into climbing then surfing. Started cycling again to get fit for surfing and then found cycling gave me a bigger buzz. I’ve cycled so much in the last two days I’ve got cramp in my arms….painfully funny!

    B.A.Nana
    Free Member

    I decided to start mtbing with a walking/climbing mate in 1995, bought a 2nd hand GT Timberline for £200 and we rode most stuff in the southern Yorkshire Dales and did a few trips to the alps when it wasn’t common. Lost interest in 2000 due to said mate being a bit of a PITA, but my new to be Bro-in-law got me hooked again in 2006.

    djglover
    Free Member

    When I needed something to break my ****ing addiction, cycling was there

    King-ocelot
    Free Member

    Always had bikes, hand me downs till I was 16 my paper round/Christmas money jar was full and I brought my first brand new bike. Cycling has been main method of transport, still not brought one of them car things. My older cousin was a huge influence, like the hand me down bikes hand me down mountain bike magazines were full of exotica, some had suspension and shifters actually under the handlebar.

    yamyamblade
    Free Member

    Rode like everyone from about 4, Dad was into motorbikes but had to sell up when kids came along so brought me a scrambler for my 7th birthday to ride along old railway line,good old council clamped down on that after 1 week.

    We joined local scrambling club 4 years and lots and lots of money later Dad told me he couldn’t afford it any longer so did I want to have a go at BMX instead did this for a couple of years then did Beacon charity bike ride and joined Wolverhampton Wheelers !! 3 years of Road,Crit & Track Racing Beer and Woman took over

    15 Years later new Brother in Law had a GT and I moved to Chapeltown in Sheffield and got myself a Halfords GT Special and never looked back, Youngest lad now goes to watch Speedway so think were in Trouble!!

    monksie
    Free Member

    I was in my very early twenties walking down the road with a mate. We saw a bike that wasn’t locked up so we nicked it to sell on (I wasn’t a very nice person in those days – it’s one of the worst things I have ever done).
    I hadn’t learnt to ride a bike as a kid so my mate showed me how.
    By the time I’d learnt, the bike was damaged beyond (as much as we could) repair so we couldn’t sell it. We dumped it but I’d caught the bug.
    I feel very bad every time I think of liberating that bike from its owner.
    I’ve only ever stolen a bike once.
    If you lived on the private housing estate near Hazel Grove swimming pool about 20 years ago and had a light blue Muddy Fox bike stolen fron your garden, you owe me a kicking and I owe you some money with my shame and apologies.
    email in my profile.
    That’s the first time other than telling my wife that I’ve confessed to that. I feel quite odd.

    Gee-Jay
    Free Member

    Divorce, figured nobody would want to go out with a fat body and needed something to do rather than going home to an empty house. I could have tried running but figured it would be better on the joints to ride.

    Back married now, back to marriage weight 🙂 but still riding and not as wobbly as I was first time round

    nockmeister
    Free Member

    Cycled everywhere as a kid. Happy memories..like finally growing into my fathers Carlton 5speed racer…stopped when 16.
    .
    .
    28yrs later, started again through C2W scheme 3yrs ago to try and combat obesity. Was working until 5mths ago..one healed collar bone later i’m just about to get back in the saddle this weekend, gulp.

    Monksie…Shady Oak estate eh?!?

    monksie
    Free Member

    The very one nockmeister. We were walking back to Offerton Estate from Cheadle Hulme nick. Not because I’d been in trouble though.
    Not yours was it?
    It’s nice to see that Cycle to Work HAS resulted in regular cyclists.

    corroded
    Free Member

    I saved up for my first mtb when I was 13 or so (that was a lot of paper rounds). I’d always been into cycling (BMX) and had lusted after one for ages. Rode it right up until I went to uni at 18, where I got lured away from biking by various temptations. Went travelling with a friend after uni – he wasn’t a mtber but brought back a knackered Cannondale Killer V that I just had to have. Bought it off him, restored it, and have been back on assorted bikes ever since. It also coincided with giving up my hedonistic ways and was something to channel my energies into that provided an endorphin rush of its own.

    yunki
    Free Member

    I was a grubby snot nosed estate kid from somewhere about 1980 onwards.. that was one of the big cycling boom eras and so every kid had a bike of some description..
    ramps in the street instead of jumpers for goalposts and all that..

    As a result I rode off-road.. street and flatland from as soon as I could walk.. I was pretty good by my mid teens but then other more important things came along to distract me..

    these distractions were deep and intense and so kept me away from regular cycling for some twenty years although brief forays into ramp riding.. unicycling and schooling my much younger siblings in some basic xc and downhill were regular features during this period..

    started back regularly cycling for fitness and a distraction from the pub.. me and a few pub regulars started riding together.. soon we were doing epic xc explorations weekly and training in the evenings..

    ace

    Ecky-Thump
    Free Member

    As a kid/teenager, we moved to the middle of nowhere and two wheels was the only practical way to go visit friends. No matter which direction you came from, home was at the top of a 1000ft hill. Challenge!

    Only really got back into biking again about four years ago, when I realised I was getting fat, feeling crap and had better do something about it. Bought myself a Rockhopper for my 40th and haven’t looked back. Still got it as a moorland mile muncher. Lost weight, made new friends, feel good 🙂

    clubber
    Free Member

    Because I wanted a mountain bike, being into technology and engineering, basically. I got one (a 4 year old ’91 Pine Mountain) and got taken riding by some mates who were already into mtbing. That was it, the bug bit.

    AdamW
    Free Member

    Couldn’t afford a bike as a kid but got a Giant in 1988 after finishing my first degree. Did stuff in Snowdon area for a while then moved to Nottingham. Didn’t do owt for years until I got a Raleigh Cro-Mo Max III which was utterly crap then a few years later got a Rockhopper.

    Caught bug fully about 2.5 years ago commuting to work on singlespeed. Now got a Trek and have started to get out as much as I can.

    Great for weight loss!

    sucklingmatt
    Free Member

    I had broken off my engagement, and I had been out running. but there was no buzz…then my mates said they were going out mountain biking, so I went and purchased my first bike (GT Avalanche 2) and i became addicted. It wasn’t long that I left those initial friends behind in my wake as i got fitter and faster in my new found singledom spare time life.

    fitness kept growing getting faster and faster and I got more and more addicted…proceeded to purchase even more expensive bikes and rode everyday……then a year later i got back with the woman i broke the engagement off with settled down had kids and engaged and getting married next week, and now i am lucky if i ride once a week…..but i have no complaints

    bigyinn
    Free Member

    Always ridden bikes since I was old enough too.
    Started with some thing that came off the bin lorry, then a Raleigh Wayfarer with 3spd Sturmy Archer gears, then a Dawes racer something with bent forks and 5spd derailleur gears.
    Used to ride the Dawes along the West Highland way with caliper brakes and steel rims (brake pads had leather inserts EEEKKK) back in 1986.
    Got my first MTB (Giant Coldrock) after saving up from my sat job in 1989. Got the bike and told my boss to poke his job at the beginning of a sat shift. Had 4 Marins, 1 GT and 1 Specialized since then.
    Never stopped riding since. Its my escape!

    speckledbob
    Free Member

    Started riding at 6 with my dad. He would push me up the hard bits. Clocked up some good miles even at that age. Started racing at 12 and stopped at 17 due to beer and women, and also because it was taking up my whole life and I wanted to try other stuff. Did some weight training, then running, then climbing and mountaineering. Always rode my bike though. About five years ago i damaged my knee so had to stop running. So started mountain biking and wish i’d done it 20 years ago.

    makkag
    Free Member

    Used to BMX quite a bit in mid to late 80’s .. and always had a bike but really got back into it about a year ago after being unable to play footy anymore through injury .. needed a replacement buzz and found it on a MTB now its an absorbing hobby that sees me on a bike at least 6 days a week (i commute through canal paths and woods, lucky i know) and i have never looked back .. off on my first alps adventure this year! truely bitten by the bug

    anotherdeadhero
    Free Member

    I always have ridden, since I was a small boy. Always loved bikes. It was the easiest way for me to explore the Shropshire hills and get out of the house too.

    I guess I started MTB’ing properly, rather than dabbling when I decided to knock rugby on the head – I was fed up of being injured constantly.

    Then I went to Uni, joined the club, and never looked back.

    iDave
    Free Member

    I’m amazed so many on here ride bikes 😉

    I’m off out on t’road bike for a wee pootle as it’s nice and sunny and the local dual-cabbageways will be empty.

    ernie_lynch
    Free Member

    the local dual-cabbageways will be empty.

    You can’t beat a “wee pootle” on an empty dual-cabbageway eh ?

    Give me an empty dual-cabbageway over those boring winding country lanes any day of the week.

    Midnighthour
    Free Member

    My mum always cycled for fun and transport. First we biked to school with me on the back of the bike. Then I went with her on my own bike (about 3 miles each way)by the time I started junior school. At weekends and holidays we went for fun rides where the aim was to just pick roads at random and see where they went. It was exhausting (me on a Raleigh 18″ shopper type by then, weighed a ton) but a huge adventure and really taught me not to fear getting lost and to learn how to get home again ok. Moved up to a Raleigh 20″ by the time I was 11 or 12. She was sensible but when the road was clear she had no fear at all of hills and zoomed down them like she had never heard of brakes. It was a riot.

    Have cycled intermittently ever since, sometimes taking a break of a couple of years, but always going back. Biking with my mum – best memories I have of my childhood. Wonderful. Exciting. So grateful to her for those times and memories.

    Junkyard
    Free Member

    always have from being a wee bairn.
    Serioulsy into BMX as a youth then roadie – lived in wales only ever rode road 😳 then distracted by life and chemicals but always riding then touring/camping then MTB when i could no longer play football easily.

    iDave
    Free Member

    ernie, a dual-cabbageway is a winding country lane but with grass down the middle 🙄

    It’s where I do all but about 10% of my road riding.

    Bunnyhop
    Full Member

    cinnamon_girl –

    Any nice biking pressies?

    No pressies 🙁 But loads of cake 😀
    How about you birthday girl? (edit) Forgot to mention, I found a whole dead badger on Monday’s ride, let me know if you want it 😆

    Monksie –

    If you lived on the private housing estate near Hazel Grove swimming pool about 20 years ago

    Me, me me, I lived there. You are indeed a bad man and next time I see you you’re getting a knuckle rap and a good telling off (shakes head in disgust). Only kidding my old friend, I know you would never ever do that kind of thing again.

    bagpuss72
    Free Member

    Coz Binners made me…. *sighs*

    No seriously, to build up fitness. lose weight and see ‘stuff’ I do alot of hiking and this was a natural progression to cover more ground quicker or not as the case may be on a climb 😀

    ernie_lynch
    Free Member

    ernie, a dual-cabbageway is a winding country lane but with grass down the middle 🙄

    Well I never, winding country lanes with grass down the middle – what’s the idea of that then……..country lanes too wide ?

    Around my manor you’re lucky if the lanes on the North Downs are wide enough for a car and a bike – never mind about two lanes with grass down the middle.

    You sound as if you live in right proper posh parts.

    iDave
    Free Member

    Who mentioned 2 lanes?

    sor
    Free Member

    Cycled from young age up until around mid-teens (what were those black Raleighs that were a size up from Grifters? Bombers? I managed to destroy TWO of those doing a paper-run for years!) when I got distracted by girls and then cars and then beers.

    Years later, married, the wife and I bought a bike each. Cheap, expensive, horrid things that were used on rare sunny days but otherwise were left to rust away in the shed.

    Then years later again (this would be about 10 years ago), divorced and having moved home to within a few miles of work, I started using that bike to commute. Really enjoyed cycling and feeling fitter. Upgraded the bike to a £200 EBC Courier which was a revelation compared to the bike I had. So enjoyed cycling even more! Started going further and further on it, weekends away, on and off road. Used it for everything so sold the car and never replaced it.

    Since then I’ve bought a mountain bike, a road bike, a Singlecross, upgraded the mountain bike, upgraded the road bike, looked at getting a BMX (never had one as a kid)…

    ernie_lynch
    Free Member

    Who mentioned 2 lanes?

    A single lane with grass in the middle and traffic going in both directions ?

    Cool………I can see the attraction with riding on that.

    Although not necessarily the thinking behind it.

Viewing 40 posts - 41 through 80 (of 94 total)

The topic ‘Why did you start cycling?’ is closed to new replies.