Jay Turberville

Good plan. Some people will advise you that you are losing time due to the longer commute. But in reality you are recovering time otherwise wasted while driving. For me, I figured I was getting 50 minutes of exercise for the cost of a mere 20 minutes of more time since my car commute time was 30 minutes. Combining both directions, I was getting 100 minutes of exercise for about 40 minutes of lost time. Total win.

And I hope you find the same thing I found, I felt better psychologically - even when cycling in bad weather - for having spent more time outside.

msalvetti

My first bike used to belong to my cousin. My Dad fixed it up, painted it blue and white, banana seat, sissy bar, etc. This was probably in the late 1960's. My parents got me my first new bike when I was in 6th grade. A Raleigh 5-speed. I remember it cost $100.



I stopped riding it sometime in high school and didn't ride again for maybe 15-20 years. That's when I bought the Mongoose in my signature so I had a bike to ride with our kids when they were learning to ride. About 15 years ago I started riding again off and on to try and get exercise, but I hated riding on the street. Then in 2021 they finished a bike path through town. I rode the Mongoose 1600 miles that year and really enjoyed it. In 2022 I got the Trek and managed 2,700 miles. Last year I did about 3,200.

I ride mostly for exercise, and the bike path is crucial because I always ride after work, so much of the year it is dark. I hate riding on the street during the day, never mind at night.

Mark

Deal4Fuji

Like several of you I grew up in a perfect bike riding neighborhood and smaller sized town where a kid could ride a bike most everywhere. I worked in the family business and my "pay" was in things like bikes & 1st cars. Dad was on the frugal side and I was unlucky with having several bikes stolen while playing basketball at various gyms and even from behind the family business, so he didn't want to spring for a bike shop bike.

My 1st cars were nice, but big engine gas guzzlers he got good deals on since we were going through the 1st "energy crisis" in the mid to late 70's. When I got to college in Wilmington NC and out of the dorms where I could walk everywhere, I started thinking about a nicer bike. One of my roommates had a nice Raleigh road bike and I really liked it. I was working at a furniture store while in school and being paid real money for a change and Dad allowed me to put some education money into a nice bike I could commute with. I bought an entry level Fuji Supreme, it was the cheapest model they made in a tall 27" frame. I rode that bike all over Wilmington and still have it today.

As I got into adulthood and started a family, I gradually got out of cycling. I'm an endorphin junkie and have always had a "sport" that has gone from basketball, ultimate frisbee, running, golf, weight lifting, and in 2014 I decided to get back to cycling and joined a local bike club and Bike Forums. I really liked steel frame bikes and started looking for good deals on used bikes and built up quite a collection and luckily my family and especially my wife supported this. Every bike acquisition was a gift occasion so my wife appreciated not having to come up with something I'd like. As I've aged I've started having some arthritis issues in my knee & hip and am not as able to "hang" on group rides on steel bikes so I've just bought my 1st carbon fiber bike.

AE86Trueno

Initially I wanted to get alternative sport/exercise as my main sport is Badminton. I have been playing Badminton for 39 years, about 10 years ago I had surgery after injury and snapped my ACL ligament completely and recently another injury to meniscus tear which require another surgery on same knee.
I actually pick up Cycling since few years back just more of fun weekend ride and help my knee but ended up enjoying it more than I initially though.
I use Bike as exercise and commuting initially but then realized I can stop and enjoy the scenery more than if I ride car, and tinkering with the bike gears pretty fun too.

Sierra_rider

I guess my "story" starts with my parents, my mother was big into running and the old man rode he made out of an old Schwinn, back in the 70s/80s. I got a bike for my 4th birthday, but the old man was too much of a hard ass to bother putting training wheels on it. He didn't even really do much to show me how to ride it, he just said that I'd find a way if I wanted it bad enough. I guess I wanted it bad enough and finally rode it within a couple weeks of receiving it. Funny enough, my dad wasn't even there when I first rode it, he was at work. My dad would take me for short rides on that bike and I'd also follow my mom on her runs.

Later on, I kinda got into mountain bikes...had some rigids and 1 hardtail, all were rim brakes. I'll catch some flak for saying this but, I never really enjoyed those old mtbs, they just weren't that good at the trails I had available to me(technical moto trails.) Anyway, throughout my childhood and into adulthood, I got more into dirtbikes and less into bicycles. Eventually I did get my first road bike when I was 20(old steel frame Specialized.) A couple years later, I replaced that with a Trek 5200, which was my first "proper" road bike. Later on, I replaced that with a Ridley Helium.

Anyway, I was riding those road bikes a few times a week, but I don't know that I'd really consider myself a serious "cyclist" then. I would only go ride for an hour or so and then call it quits. I also picked up quite the drinking habit by then and wasn't in the best of shape. After a couple of little wake-up calls, I started drinking less and riding more. On a whim, I signed up for my first XC mtb race on a heavy alloy FS 26'er I had. I got completely smoked in my first race, but I was hooked at that point. I ended up buying a new FS 29'er XC bike and was amazed at what an improvement that was compared to the MTBs I was used to riding. I progressively got more serious about it and have since enjoyed some success on the amatuer level.

I'm pretty much hooked at this point, cycling keeps my head on straight, and I've never enjoyed something this much in my life. Besides the XC racing, I've been getting into gravel racing. I still ride the road a lot, I've got a couple of road bikes that I ride on the regular, my Canyon Endurace and Ultimate.

EddyR

Like many on here I started as a kid. I was born in 1940 so not many new bikes around untill about 1947 and I got a new english 3 speed that opened the world for me. 15-20 mile rides were as nothing back then. Later in the 1960’s when my wife Rebecca and i moved to Port Crane NY near the Catskill mountains i started riding all the paved roads in the mountains. Took me five years but I did every road within 200 miles. Today I have a hard time pushing a bike over some of those roads. Youth is great to remember as our ability slows down.
EddyR

blacknbluebikes 

My wife and I were visiting her brother in 2010.
On the third day, I couldn't listen to him talk about himself anymore. He's just too great.
I borrowed a bike from the garage and set off on the L.A. strand.
After a while, I realized I'd gone 13 miles north and had to turn around.
When I got back 2.5 hrs later, my wife was not happy. "Where have you been?"
"Well, you always tell me I have to start exercising." And kept on doing it.

(glad my name's not on this... <grin>)

Bald Paul

I remember Snap-On credit!
$100 a week for the rest of your life.

RB1-luvr

I think I've said this before in this forum: cycling is the only thing I didn't have to struggle at to be good. It came naturally to me.

Bikedud

This and then .....

many years later, this.

1989Pre 

Three things;
Unregistered
Uninsured
Attaching Plates

staehpj1

My family was a bike family long before I was born. It was for utility and recreation back then. The whole family rode. I naturally ride when I was oid enough. I did the paperboy thing and got around by bike as a kid. I never really stopped even when I started driving. I went through phases where I rode more or less and for different reasons. Other things were my primary recreational activities at times. Motorcycle racing, backpacking, whitewater canoeing, kayaking (whitewate and sea at different times), and running/trail running were a few things that took my focus for longish periods. At times I my biking was just casually riding, training for fitness in some other sport, commuting, mountain biking, racing in one form or another, or touring.

I have always has a bike or three around and rode at least casually.

wheelreason

"Watch your line Summers!"...

EJM73

Mine was the BMX craze in the 80's. I raced and did the freestyle stuff. In College moved to road bike.

indyfabz

I got "fat" (doctor's word) in college. Had always ridden as a kid. Started again to lose weight. Lost 90 lbs. in 9 months through cycling and diet change, all the while realizing that, as an adult, the activity opened up more possibilities than it did when I was a kid. I have since seen a decent chunk of this country and a couple of places in Europe by bike.

JustinHS777

The mechanical, human powered, fitness and a little bit of danger aspect of it. After my knee surgery pedaling is less impact on the knees than running.

ofajen

Riding around was a lot of what kids did in my neighborhood. It also came very naturally to me. When I was six, it took maybe one minute and putting my foot down a couple times before I felt comfortable riding around.

A few years later, I got a hand me down 10 speed and taught myself bike maintenance by checking out all the available library books on bicycles. Gradually I was riding all over our part of town to visit friends.

When I was 12, I bought my own road bike and started riding all over town and soon I was riding nearby country highways and doing about 250 miles per week.

In high school I started driving, dating and doing other sports, so not as many hours of cycling. I’ve always been a habitual exerciser but it has varied over the years.

At this point I’m running more than cycling, especially now that it’s winter, but I plan to keep cycling some too.

Otto

downtube42

David Blase, the true life inspiration for Dave in Breaking Away, was my HS biology teacher.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Blase

His stories in class were essentially turned into the bits of the movie. Drafting a semi down SR37. Fantasizing about an Italian race team. Winning the IU little 500. Taping his shoes to the pedals in the race. He had a brief stint as a professional cyclist after IU.

Mr. Blase created an annual Little 500 bike race at my HS. He even managed to borrow actual IU Little 5 bikes from the university, for our race.

I was into cycling before Mr Blase, but he opened my eyes to the idea of cycling as an adult activity.

Edit: Out of curiousity I did some searching. Mr Blase finished the 160 mile Ride Across Indiana (RAIN) in 2018 at the age of 79, in 17:23. That's finisher 526 out of over 1000. Well done, Mr Blase.

2nd Edit: Haha his 17:23 beat my 18:48, done at age 50.

bampilot06

I was fat. Now I’m not. Still too fat for this sport though.

SCbike864

Grew up riding bikes with friends. Hadn’t ridden a bike since I got the keys to my truck at 16.

During COVID, wanted to get back in shape. Started running and picked up a bike as well

rsbob 

What got me into cycling? I lost a bet.