Clyde1820

At about age 5, we moved to a place with lots of open fields and country beyond the half-dozen streets around our neighborhood. So, to get anywhere, even from one side of the small town to the other, it was easiest for a kid to be on wheels. By age 7, I was allowed to head into/across the fields all day long, so long as I was with friends and back by dark. (My, how times have changed.)

So, got "the bug" back then, I suppose. After a few years, I realized I could use my father's garage tools and a bit of creativity to build my own "cruiser" bike from scratch. (Well, didn't do the wheelset lacing, and had to pay a local shop to do a servicing on the headset and BB.) I scrounged around for discarded parts that could work, did all the repainting and wrenching myself. Lots of old bikes got left at "the dumpster" in those days. Looked like a sad and sorry case, I guess, but it was all mine. Heavy pig of a bike, I suppose, Don't recall whether it was Hi-Ten steel, but I'm assuming so. Was the perfect little project for a tyke to tackle. Didn't cost much, all things considered, which I earned doing lawns and general clean-up. Taught me basic wrenching; was my own fault if something went wrong; and, it taught me the responsibility and pride of having done it myself.

Haven't had a great number of bikes, over the years, but I've always had one or two. And have done most of the parts swaps and much of the common maintenance myself.

Wouldn't have it any other way.

bruce19

I was about 35 (now 74). My bro-in-law had just run the Boston Marathon. I was an ex-college football player who had become a couch potato. One day he said he had heard of a "bike ride" that was called Vernon to Vernon. Vernon, VT to Vernon, CT..A 100 mile ride that I came to learn was called a Century. I said, "Bob, I haven't ridden a bike since I was 15." He asked, "But, you have a bike, right?" Well, yes...a Panasonic DX2000 with a standard crank set and a 23 climbing cog. So, he convinces me to go on a 20 mile ride the weekend before V2V. After the ride he says, "That wasn't so bad right?" Well, no, it was OK. "All you have to do, he says, is THAT five times." So, the next weekend we went on the ride. We were bussed up from the LBS in Vernon, CT to Vernon, VT. Needless to say it was a LONG day. A couple miles from home and I could barely spin the pedals. I missed the next two days of work because my legs were in spasm and I couldn't walk. After I finally recovered, I thought "You are either going to learn to ride or you're going to get rid of that bike." As a former college athlete I couldn't stand not being able to do a sport. So, here I am.

AlgarveCycling

I've been cycling for as long as I can remember! Since I could walk, probably. Cycled to school from an early age. In my teens in the 80's it was BMX - Diamond Back and Hutch! Spent whole days out with friends cycling.

In '87 I got my first road racing bike. My best friend was also mates with someone whose older bro was a Pro so he got into the road racing scene and wanted me to join in too. I did. Took it pretty seriously, Regional, National Champs etc. In 2001, I found myself in the UK and my cycling reverted to occasional fun rides only for the next 17 years as Family and career took over. Then in 2019, I took it up seriously again, this time MTB and road racing.

spank226

I needed to get home from school when I stayed after for extra-curricular activities. A bike fit the bill. At the same time, there was the build up to and then the hoopla surrounding the 1984 Olympics. I started to do weekend rides of 12-15 miles (sometimes up to 30 miles) on my Murray 84 Olympic 12 speed that I got with birthday money and I liked that my body trimmed down and I found something I thought I was good at. My parents actually encouraged the cycling enough to learn of a bike shop that was having "time trials" and was forming a juniors team. They helped me get a Bridgestone 700 and took me to the team trials, which I did well enough in to earn a loaner team frame (Bianchi). The first USCF sanctioned race I did, the MD/DE District time trial championships, I won. The next race I did, the district road race championships, I did well in. I'd finally found a sport that I was ok at.

MarcusT

Always had a bike. Back then, the bike was your primary mode of transportation. If you wanted to play sports, or have a paper route, go to a friend's, one car families could not afford to take you every where. Of course, we did the crazy kid stuff, like ramp jumping, downhill kamikaze, but I did not seriously get into biking until I watched the Movie 'Breaking Away'. Got me into road racing which was the only serious biking back then.

downtube42

Like some others have said, I started when I learned how to ride as a kid, and never stopped. But the OP wants me to exclude all the early non serious riding, which is a pretty grey area itself but I'll play.

When I was 12, I was hit by a car while riding my brother's bike in the neighborhood. Nothing too serious, just a concussion and some abrasions. Somehow out of the deal my parents bought me a brand new drop bar ten speed road bike. Boy was my brother pissed. That bike took me from cruising around the neighborhood on a sting-ray wannabe, to venturing out of the suburbs into the countryside, where I became a cyclist.

The car, by the way, was a brand new yellow 73ish Honda Civic. It was pretty mangled.

downtube42

Speaking of Breaking Away, check out the real Dave

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Blase

He was my high school biology teacher. Truly a weird dude, wore knickers and rode his bike year round, which was way outside normal in the 70's in Indiana. Definitely a cycling inspiration, and it was super exciting to hear a movie was being made around his stories.

StargazeCyclist

About 4 years ago I was moving to a new home 2.5 km from office. Instead of walking I thought a bike would be convenient. Besides, I thought I could well ride to more places, like going out of city for star grazing, with my telescope. I ended up buying a cheap 21 speed from Walmart. In order to train myself for that stargazing trip I rode more and more. I joined a cycling club, did my first 50 mile solo, and found that I couldn't catch up because of the bike, so I bought a road bike.

PGHNeil

Yup. That pretty much sums it up. I’ve been riding since I was 6 years old. Back then I rode to get out of the house and have some “me” time. Nothing has really changed except I’ve gotten slightly more driven and less adventurous- but that’s symptomatic of age.

DorkDisk

The clothing, definitely the tights.

Milton Keynes

Back in the summer of 2015, I noticed that my T-shirts were getting tight. I knew I needed to lose weight, but didn't yet have the impetus to go about it. Not until I stepped on the scales for the first time in a long time and was shocked to see that I weighed 280. So that goaded me into finally getting serious about doing something about my health. My sister and her husband were avid cyclists, and she convinced me to give it a go. So I pulled my old mountain bike out of the shed, cleaned it up and started riding. It was hard work on that heavy old Walmart bike, but I kept at it. I always hated exercise, but I liked riding a bicycle since I was a kid. I kept pushing myself to go further and further, but it was still hard until I finally bought a new bike which fit me correctly, then it was hardly an effort to get out and ride. During this time I cut back on carbs & sugar and dropped 60 lbs. I went from never exercising to riding 10 miles in the morning and going on longer rides on the weekends, and eventually doing two century rides. I still enjoy going on long rides and finding new places to go, as well as doing group rides with friends. And now, having a regular form of exercise which I actually enjoy, I never want to go back to my sedentary lifestyle. I certainly feel better now.

GreatDane84

Once the training wheels came off,I never stopped riding! Fifty years later I still ride every week. Why? Because it’s awesome fun.

rsbob 

i respect your honesty and questionable taste. Ever consider joining the ballet? With the ballet, even if it’s snowing or raining, you will be indoors and dry, and won’t have to clean and lube your chain, unless you feel compelled.

MarcusT

Thanks for the link. I watched the movie numerous times, but never thought to look into the background story

jfa100

picked it up during university for grocery shopping! started with a Schwinn bike from Target, decked that thing out and then proceeded down the rabbit hole

Machka 

My father taught me to ride when I was 6 years old back in the 1970s.

gios

My brother.

LV2TNDM

I was surprised to see "Breaking Away" somewhat late in this thread. That movie is what cemented my love of cycling. Bikes have been a life-long love affair for me.

That said, I learned to ride somewhat late in life at eight years old. I still remember the frustration of learning in the back yard on aggregate concrete and lawn. It was hard but I figured it out; a crash into the picnic table and benches was the most painful memory.

I grew up riding the typical one-speed coaster-brake bikes. First bike was an orange Columbia. Not a very nice bike. When that one broke, I was rewarded with a 20" silver and black (Go Raidaz!) Schwinn Scrambler. This was mid '70's when bike jumping became the craze. Every kid on the block built a wooden ramp. I think my record was jumping eight friends lying in front of the jump. Luckily, my dad was an amateur photographer and snapped a darn good pic of me in my heyday on the wooden ramps:


(Sorry, tried to shrink pic with no luck.)
Pretty good air time! Helmets? What helmets??? Ha, ha, the kickstand always came down.

The Scrambler frame eventually broke, so I graduated to the likes of a Mongoose nickle-plated BMX bike. Man, was that a great bike! Tore up and down the streets, hills and trails of San Jose. My only regret is not racing BMX. A friend owned a local bike shop, so I'm sure I could have asked them for guidance and gotten involved. Anyway, I spent many days pushing that Mongoose up the local fire trails and blasting down. One eight mile downhill was our favorite epic days on the bikes. But every time I hit a steep hill and cursed, "Why don't they put GEARS on these things???" I didn't realize the mountain bike had already been invented and was being perfected just a few miles north in Marin Co. (And ironically, my family often picnicked in Fairfax, GROUND ZERO of mountain bike development.)

Then my parents took me to see a new movie my dad had read good reviews about, "Breaking Away!" Well, that was it for me. I absolutely loved this film. The most memorable part for me was when David was casually tooling along next to the girl he was suiting on the sidewalk. You could hear his finely-tuned Campy components meshing beautifully with each pedal stroke. The director of this film DEFINITELY got it! That plus the racing and everything is what prompted me to BEG for a road bike.

Luckily, my parents were well off and generous enough to give me one. I'm pretty sure they saw the ambition and excitement in my eyes. After a bit of searching (I wasn't a total bike geek yet - didn't know much of anything about Campy or all the really nice Italian stuff), I found a beautiful Raliegh Super Course. That was the one and it came home shortly thereafter. (Thanks Mom & Dad!) I rode that thing EVERYWHERE. To school and back was a foregone conclusion. Turns out the local back country roads near my house were REALLY steep, so that's what I rode. I had no idea how stupid steep they were; all I knew is that I really enjoyed riding and I just did it.

So that's what started it all for me. Life-long cyclist is the result. I actually typed much more but realized it was WAY TLDNR. Save it for my memoir! But I'm glad to see the "Breaking Away" reference. A great movie for so many reasons, not just cycling.

crankholio

I bought a bike from Sports Authority many years ago for around $300. It was one of the best bikes they had. I kept taking it back because the shifting was never quite right. I got to know the mechanic a little bit, and he finally let slip that the quality of merchandise they sell wasn't really the best. I didn't know any better, but he suggested I just return the bike and go to a bike shop. I ended up spending a little over $500 on the cheapest Cannondale mountain bike the local bike shop had. I loved it, and it was all downhill from there...or uphill...downhill and uphill.

50PlusCycling

Wanting to go places but not being old enough to drive a car.

rydabent

As I mentioned earlier when I was very young I could either walk to school or ride. After I got my first and only job, I was off the bike for a while. Then when my first two sons got old enough to ride in the late 70s I started riding with them to give my wife a break, and to spend some quality time with the boys. I fed them some of my values on the sly if they knew it or not. I have been riding ever since.

355Mono

Girls. When that didn't work, I kept riding for fun.

TricycleTom

As a young teen, I had to ride seven miles to visit other car-mad friends, and as my legs grew, I didn't know to raise my seat. I generally avoided sports and such. Then, around age 21, I had to do a quick errand, and borrowed a bike, which was a revelation. Somewhat encouraged by an occasional racer I knew, I got a bike for daily use, and then toured as well.

wajou

I enjoyed reading this thread. For me, having not cycled since my teens, i was tempted by a commute of 40km (round trip) with the ambition of just one day doing it for a sense of accomplishment. When I eventually mustered up the courage and a borrowed bike from a buddy, I smashed it in one go (to my own surprise). It became my daily commute, but the sense of enjoyment and freedom that came with it is the ultimate benefit. Cycling has become a way of life.

ps this is my first post on a forum like this.

Cycle Tourist

I lived in the country and used a fat tire coaster brake bike to extend my travels as a kid. Got my first 3 speed when I was 8 and after stripping the fenders chain guard and inverting the handlebars traveled to the adjacent towns before I got my first car at 16. Years later when my car broke down I bought a 12 speed Japanese Cro-moly to do the 60 miles a day. I graduated to a Cannondale and took up racing. When I got too old/slow to race, I repurposed an entry level Univega to a loaded touring bike with the help of Bicycling magazine and set off every year with all my vacation time saved up. I've ridden recumbents, top of the line touring bikes and some very interesting hybrid conversions on my tours. I'm retired now but still ride almost every day. I tour every year for at least a couple of weeks on a self contained solo trip. It keeps me semi-sane. My current wife understands my addiction. My yearly solo trips cost me a marriage early on. (oh well). I've learned their are only two possessions one really needs, a good sleeping bag and a Brooks saddle, everything else is negotiable.🤗