How did you get back into cycling?

[mike]

I stopped rowing about 4 years ago because I was fed up waiting for other people to turn up for a crew outing and I'm crap at sculling. 

I hate golf and am too heavy to run, so cycling seemed to fit the bill.  It's fun too.

[IanDG]

Another one of the, 'never gave it up' crowd, but there were a few years when it had to be organised as a special activity rather than an everyday thing because the work commute went from a handful of miles to a hundred mile motorway round trip.

Altho' I commented that I've never not been into it, there were phases of my life where cycling took a back seat. Cycling has been an exciting part of my life since i first learnt to ride on 2 wheels. I went from being a racing cyclist to a commuter/leisure cyclist, to a dad taking kids on kiddie seats/trailers. Now I'm back to building up for long rides and tours and, with a new club started up here, hopefully I may get a race or 2 in over the next few years 

[simonali]

Hit 40 and didn't like what I saw in the mirror! Only really had a couple of years out after selling my bike and not getting another. Wifey bought me one for the big 4-0 burfdee and now I'm cycling to work whenever the weather's OK. Off today and doing a 40ish miler, but that will involve stopping at pubs, so it probably won't do me much good!

[Dave]

I was never that 'in' to cycling, but I'd had bikes on and off from childhood to mid-20s (and boy do I regret not discovering mountain biking in the mid-90s  ).

Didn't ride then for nearly ten years. Then changed jobs and doctors. Went for a check-up and got told to lose a lot of weight and do a lot more exercise; so I bought a bike. Five years later, here I am. Fitter and slimmer than I've ever been. Still not any happier though...

[Chris S]

and another, why  do some people give it up ?

In my case, a 30 year love affair with the infernal combustion engine.

[alecstilleyedye]

recently got back into cycling by getting a job that made cycling in a no-brainer. i really found the bug again, joined the local club, upgraded bits and spent too long on cycling fora.

[ian]

I spent my teenage years trying to kill myself on a BMX (bike broke first). I predate the Nintendo generation so being outside in the fresh air was still considered normal and not worthy of an ASBO. Gradually drifted away into more adolescent cider-marinaded pursuits.

Returned to cycling during my PhD on an old, second-hand Raleigh Arena conscripted to carry me between Edinburgh's new town and West Mains Road. That poor little bike was probably subjected to the kind of abuse that'd have you calling the bicycle equivalent of social services. Unmaintained, bounced across cobbles, left outside the pub to fend for itself in the rain. But I enjoyed whizzing home even if I never got beyond a platonic relationship with any kind of maintenance regimen.

Took my cycling habit with me to my next job. Unfortunately, a brief cycle vs. car Jesus-esque death and resurrection incident led not to the creation of a new Easter holiday and chocolate-scoffing excuse (and rather mundanely was caused by a Toyota), but instead to several months of enforced lethargy and much ouchy-ouchy.

Several months of enforced lethargy became several years of voluntary lethargy, and cycling disappeared into that haze of youthful remembrance. Then, last October, in the wake of a house move I discovered myself in deepest, darkest zone 4 with a zone 1-2 travelcard to renew. Since I was no longer travelling into central London on a routine basis it didn't seem like reasonable value for money. Plus, to be honest, I was getting a bit fed up with the public aspect of public transport. Late trains, invisible buses, shitty feet on seats, mouthy mobile phoners, and the constant tinny rap soundtrack of ASBO youth unable to understand the concept of headphones. Since there are some stupid rules about intolerance not being a good reason for shooting people I bought a car. And a bike. (And no, I'm not very good at the value for money thing.)

Started using the bike on a daily basis to get to the swimming pool and back. This extended into my periodic commutes into central London, and ever-extending weekend rides throughout London and to the green places where the sheepy things hang out.

[JohnP]

and another, why  do some people give it up ?

Far too many other calls on limited free time.

Accountancy studies & exams; squash 4 nights a week; work; marriage; family; motorcycle training; long distance touring; MGing; aging parents .... free time available again (or at least, reprioritised).

Bit much to quote myself but ...

I guess I never really gave it up:
Velodrome in town meant weekly track league to watch
Easter Hilly TT marshalling
Pusher Offer at Weekly 10
Spectating at road events within about 40 miles
TV bike racing
Motorcycling up Alpe d'Huez, visiting Simpson Memmorial, Col d'Aubisque etc

[scott]

Middle aged bloke desperately attempting to recapture lost youth.

Erm--yeah.

I rode continuously (yes, never once getting off the bike) from about age four or five through age 18. Meandered all over town as a kid; added road riding as a teen. Mostly stopped in college because none of my friends rode. Long gap with occasional bike ownership, but mostly hiked rather than rode.

After Anders was born, my options for getting to work were bus (unreliable) or car/van (ridiculous for a 3-mile commute). Plus domesticity led to thoughts of adventure. Cycling seemed like a solution for both needs. Still commuting, rarely doing more but always looking for chances to ride.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

For the last 2 years I've worked on the opposite side of town to where I live and I wasn't looking forward to getting the bus through town once the digging up starts for the tramline nobody wants. So about this time last year I joined our Bike to Work scheme. Prior to that, I don't think I'd ridden a bike since about 1983, so it was a big step for me. Now my job has just changed again (I'll probably pass anth on my commute) and I'll be using the bike to go all over south east Edinburgh visiting clients.

[Martin]

I never really gave up apart from a brief dalliance with motorbikes between the age of 17-21 (Mrs Zoom refused to go on the back so that was that)

I started seriously with the L2B in '91 and did it and various others every year plus the Jolly Wheelers in St Albans every week (an unofficial road race to the pub), although it was another 7 yeards before I joined a club which led to TTs which led to suicidal thought which led to Audax.

[steveB]

I've cycled on and off all my life, more off than on.  Even when I was a little kid of seven years old me and a mate would cycle through country lanes, there was very little traffic in the fifties.

I cycled to school between the ages of 11 and 16 and would often cycle to a mates house of an evening which was a daily total of about twenty miles.

I often bought bikes as a money saving scheme but cars and motorbikes were my real love.  In the 90s I started to cycle for fitness and got into touring, I especially liked the Sustrans on road/off road cycle paths, the C2C being my best bit of fun ride ever.

I joined C+ to try to get some knowledge on bikes as I have never bought the right bike for me yet - I'm almost there* about fifteen bikes later.  One thing I do know is that it only takes three months for a fat old (about 60) bastard like me to get cycling fit, that's fit enough for me and my purposes, the rest of you can go as fast as you like!

Cycling is the perfect way to see the countryside, slow enough to take everything in, fast enough to make progress from area to area.

*Trekking bikes are the best and comfiest bikes for the elderly gentleman, a little slow, but that doesn't matter.  I just wish I had known this before I spent £550 on my present bike - I would have spent two grand and got the top of the range, still, there's always next time.

[PeterM]

Got back into cycling after a operation for a collapsed lung in my early 20s.  Dragged out the old 3-speed on which I'd explored the Cheshire lanes as a kid because other forms of exercise were (more) painful at the time.  The bug bit again, and I progressed via a gas-pipe Puch 'sports' bike to a couple of Mercians, riding mostly on my own.  Then I discovered audax.  Which is also riding mostly on my own, but with banter at controls (and between them sometimes)...

[clarion]

I lost touch with cycling in my late 20s.  I put off getting back on the bike for ages, because it was never convenient for everyone else in the household for me to be out for an hour or more in our packed (no - really!) weekends.

So I just decided I was going to wake up early on sundays, walk & feed the dogs, then get an hour in before everyone else woke up - even if, at first, an hour was me struggling to the edge of town & back 

Built up slowly (verrrrry slowly  ) from there.

[andrew w]

I cycled from about age 7 to 17: we used to go everywhere on bikes between the ages of about 9 and 13.  Then along came other distractions - girls, cars, drinking, marriage, children, cricket, squash etc. Cycling just got forgotten about.  Then in the mid 1980s when I was about 35, I was browsing in a bookshop and I picked up a book called "Cycle Touring in France" by Rob Hunter.  It really inspired me, and I bought a Dawes Galaxy.  I didn't go touring in France, but I did a couple of Youth Hostel tours in England (one from Leeds to Hadrian's Wall and back and one round the Lake District) and I've never stopped cycling since.

I pretty soon decided that loaded touring wasn't my greatest love, so these days (and about 10 bikes later) I either do day rides or supported holidays.  I've still got the "Cycle Touring in France" book that started it all off.

Andrew

[Pedaldog.]

I came out of the coma and had no driving license from the brain injuries.
Was mostly in wheelchair, moved on to two sticks and then brother got me a Pashley Piccadot trike. Frst ride was 1 1/2 miles on the flat and the doctor was called out and told me never to do anything so mad again!
I moved on and in the past few years have managed 1000 mile months! Not doing much at all at the moment but I will get back riding proper soon.
Next Tuesday (15th April) is the 12th Anniversary of the day I didn't die!
I will celebrate it with a short walk and some sort of ride on a bike or trike.

[woollypigs]

what a top man , and I wish you many great miles in the future and do enjoy next Tuesday