Riveting

I quit when I got custody of my son, the summer before he started high school. He was an aspiring athlete, and I didn't want him to see me being an advocate of smoking. I haven't smoked since, and more importantly, he hasn't. That was 15 years ago.

trailangel

Bring it on......sissies....

Ald1 

For what it's worth........When I started riding 3 years ago, my first group rides had a mysterious stranger.......a very fit middle aged man. Found out he was an ex pro racer. In our B group he would simple asked what pace the group wanted and pulled all the time. It usually started to become an A group at 20, 21 mph so a gentle reminder was sent up to him. Just a "recovery" ride for him. Now it was only a B group but after awhile he would simply take off and leave us like we were standing still. For the nubie comeback rider (me) it was something to behold. I was really in awe at the guys power without what seemed to be very little effort. We eventually caught up to him. At that point he was stopped waiting for us on his second cigarette! Could not comprehend how he could ride like he did and smoke.
Fast forward to this year at a group event. Ran into him again. The man could not keep up with a relaxed 15MPH group. He was stuggling to hang unto my wheel. I asked about him and was told he rides less and less and smokes more and more. At stops he would arrive huffing looking bad but lighting up. So sad to see and yes I do understand it is an addiction (my Mom) but PLEASE get help and quit. Think about it this way, a pack a day smoker can afford ANY bike he wants by giving up the habit! And for those well off enough to afford both ....the cost of smoking would make a great donation to a deserving charity.

Ogsarg

Congratulations on kicking the habit. It's been many years since I stopped but I do remember how hard it can be.

duffer1960

Still laughing about the time I took my no-exercise but just naturally very strong buddy for his first cross-country ski outing. He innocently lit a big cigar as if this was the normal thing to do when skiing. Off we went... Not too far down the trail, he had a coughing fit from inhaling the cigar smoke. Looked at the cigar as if surprised & puzzled, tossed it into the snow.

Phamilton

I started smoking when I was 12 and by 16 was up to a pack a day and have been ever since. I’m 38 now and started cycling as an adult about 5 years ago and still haven’t quit cigarettes, but I’ve tried many times. The irony of being a smoker and cyclist doesn’t bother me. I would rather quit but my spouse also smokes and has little desire to quit. Hard to quit by yourself. I’m sure as hell not going to quit riding just because I haven’t quit smoking.

Edit: I’m not an athlete and never was, but my fitness has increased somewhat since I started cycling despite my tobacco use remaining the same. I’m

Cyclist753

When I was a kid my siblings and I worked for our parents. No pay. 'If you don't like it then leave' was the answer to that! So... to have some kind of income, among other things, I would work elsewhere once my chores were done. I would haul hay, cut brush, milk cows (electric milkers but you still had to clean and prep machines and clean barn, etc.) and work tobacco. It was good pay for a kid. I've set it, topped it, cut it, hung it and booked it but never did have any hankering to smoke, dip, snuff or chew. Plenty of friends did but cigarette smoke is just foul! However... tobacco smells great in the barn so whenever I see some in a barn I stop to look and smell. Mmmmmm! It sure is a tough addiction to quit so hang in there.

Mogens

I smoked for 20 years, picked up the habit in college. I finally quit almost seven years ago, largely because it felt horrible hiding it from my children who were finally old enough to know better (than me). I quit cold turkey, basically just distracting myself with work and tv. I think I gained about 20 pounds. It took awhile, but I no longer think about it even nostalgically. And by picking up cycling and some other good habits, I’m in better shape at 45 than I was at 35.

slowpacer

I smoked a pack a day for 23 years and there were periods that i went up to 3 packs. I quit a few times during this time for intervals of a few months but i went back to smoking. However, the last time i tried was almost 19 years ago and i've been smoke free since then. It usually takes a few tries to be successful and every smoker knows it's very difficult to quit but one should never stop trying.

Gconan

I was able to quit smoking by vaping. After quiting for 5 years I said time to start biking again. Pathetic at first but improving with every ride. After a little riding success I stopped vaping to. Now I just need to keep improving by riding more.

Witterings

An old thread been dug up from the grave a year later ......

Giving up "the weed" about 11 years ago was the hardest thing I've ever done in my life x's 1000 ... seriously hard habit to kick so congrats to anyone else that does!!!

subgrade

I take it you don't smoke - have you been able to afford ANY bike you want?

Phamilton

People waste their money on all sorts of things they’d waste on cigarettes if they smoked. Lottery tickets, clearance aisle stuff, fast food, Starbucks, bike parts they don’t need and will never use, you name it.
We already know it’s bad for us, and we already know it’s a waste of money. We have already become marginalized socially. That’s something non-smokers would do well to keep in mind when trying to talk to smokers about smoking. We already get the abuse everywhere. The habit may as well be a skin color or religion.
Edit: for clarity, I’m describing the experience as a smoker in 2019 USA. I don’t know how smoking is treated elsewhere.

Ald1 

Well I did smoke decades ago. And YES I can afford any bike I want. So what? What does that have to do with anything. Again read entire post. I lost friends and loved one's to smoking. Not judging. It's your business what you do. As pointing out the obvious, it's an addiction, it's proven to slowly kill people and I support and applaud anyone who quits and understand how hard it is to do this. Yes people spend a lot of money on what you might lable as "waste." That's your option. Mine is spending money that is PROVEN to slowly kill you is something I discourage. OK? BTW what does a pack cost these days? Someone told me in my state Pa. it's pushing $10.00. It that true?

subgrade

Good for you. I was just pointing out that this type of maths (if I stop spending 10$ on something every day, after a year I'll have $3650) rarely work that way in real life. I am not condoning smoking or any other unhealthy habits in any way though.

livedarklions

I'm old enough to remember when the marginalization worked the other way--that you couldn't go many places in public if you couldn't or wouldn't tolerate other people's cigarette smoke in public indoor spaces. As someone who very rapidly will start to feel ill if I'm in a confined space with cigarette smoke, I welcome that sort of marginalization of smoking--that's a "your rights end at the end of my nose" kind of thing.

That said, I think that smoking is a lot like obesity--behavioral issues that impair the person physically, but for the most part not mentally. Having been morbidly obese at one time, I can say with absolute certainty that having people lecture me or shame me or insult me was absolutely of no help whatsoever in spurring me to successfully take and keep off the weight. Those people were not telling me anything I didn't think myself and, if anything, just made me want to say nasty things about them. Knowing a habit is irrational and destructive does not really help you figure out how to break it.

For me, it was only when I started to actually feel the start of years of debilitation and decline that would have inevitably followed if I continued the way I was going when I started doing the very hard work of restructuring my eating and activities.

BTW, anyone who feels an urge to talk an adult out of vaping or nicotine gum or patches, learn to MYOB. You can't know what their alternatives really are unless you're inside their head.

Milton Keynes

No argument here. When I have a migraine, my sense of smell becomes really acute and even mild smells become nearly unbearable. I've had a migraine or other bad headache when someone comes in smoking a cig, and the smell makes me totally nauseous. I'm not sure but I think cigarette smoke might trigger my migraines.

Phamilton

I wonder where you live that smoking is permitted in any public place. I’d be surprised if the laws aren’t more strict or at least equally as strict as here in the UK, if your username is your location. There’s no smoking inside any public place except for tobacco stores, and no smoking within 20 feet of the entrance of any public building, and many college and hospital campuses ban smoking from the entire campus property. Where are you that you aren’t protected from indoor smoking?

Phamilton

Body odor smell makes me nauseous but I’m not going to blame my migraines on other people’s bad hygiene.

Pass some laws about unwashed asses and armpits AND HANDS in public places.

Phamilton

I’ll quit smoking when you quit pissing all over the restroom at the grocery store.

Phamilton

I’d rather be the jerk smoking outside the restaurant who washes his hands after he smokes than the lady who left her crapped-in pants in the restroom.

Milton Keynes

My automotive shop, when I have the overhead doors open during the summer some people assume that they can just walk in while smoking. I have to tell them to take it back outside. Even when they're standing outside smoking, the stench comes into the shop. I think I'm going to have to make the entire property non-smoking.

Milton Keynes

OK, we get it. There are other bad habits which are just as olfactorily offensive. That doesn't make smoking any better.

downtube42

I recently saw my nephew, after maybe 10 years. Unbelievable.

I'm 59 and he's 53, but anybody looking at us would guess he's 65 and I'm 50. I don't think he could run 30 feet without stopping to wheeze for 5 minutes, then have a smoke to calm him down.

Good on you for quitting.

livedarklions

If you keep it outside, I don't care if you set your entire head on fire, but if I'm in an indoor space with a cigarette, I'm going to have several hours to a day of respiratory problems. I don't think I'm even slightly unusual in that regard.

This isn't just a matter of unpleasant smells, smoke is an irritant in the medical sense. I have no such issues being around vaping.

Washing hands is also a public health issue, but good luck figuring out how to enforce that one.