It has depended a lot on life situation and where I could ride.
When I was a tween we lived in the exurbs. My parents didn't worry about me much, I think. There was not much trouble to get in. I could go riding in the desert but school seemed too far.
In college riding a bike around was perfectly reasonable. But buying a new bike seemed out of reach when the fork broke. I came back one year with my dad's truck and that was it.
At my first career job, in the desert again. The first three things I got with my paycheck were an apartment, a mattress, and a mountain bike. Once again riding to work was just not reasonable but mountain biking out the front door was great.
At my second career job I moved to a city with lots of bike infrastructure, but in an apartment, and I had a dog. Spent way more time walking dog than riding bikes. Didn't miss it, filled the same niche.
After meeting my future wife and moving into a house, dog could pee in the yard and commuting became reasonable. That's where I've been since. Mountain biking on weekends and camping trips.
There was a really brief period where I was trying to beat my times on my bike around the lake but all that got interrupted by heart problems and now I just go the pace I can manage today. I use Strava mainly for logging and not for striving
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Genesis 49:16-17
Last edited by Darth Lefty; 10-25-22 at 12:52 PM.