What got you hooked?

bipedal

ColinJ wrote:

Pross wrote:

it was LeMond v Fignon in 89 that really got me hooked (I was just starting to get into cycling as a sport for myself at that time as well).

I hadn't owned a bike for 20 years but I went out and bought one after watching the '89 TdF on Channel 4.

Me too - watched it aged 10 with my dad, and asked for a racing bike for my brithday

jonginge

RichN95 wrote:

FJS wrote:

Like all other kids of my age I knew, I started to take an interest in the Tour de France in 1988. But, pretentious little snob I was, I wanted to distinguish myself from all boys around me supporting Steven Rooks and Gert-Jan Theunisse, and for some reason picked Fabio Parra ( I think I really wanted to support Lucho Herrera, but thought he was a bit too mainstream too ).

Fabio Parra won the stage the first time I ever saw the Tour (or any pro race) live. Morzine 1988.

Might have won on Alpe d'Huez, too, if the crowds and motorbikes hadn't stopped him from attacking... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTHhWf6BSEM

sonny73

JonGinge wrote:

Might have won on Alpe d'Huez, too, if the crowds and motorbikes hadn't stopped him from attacking... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTHhWf6BSEM

Man that music is intense

Gavin Cook

Watching Lucho Hererra and Bernard Hinault got me interested in Cycling.

jpb08

Man, bikes looked big back then...Not a compact geometry in sight...

RichN95.

JonGinge wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

FJS wrote:

Like all other kids of my age I knew, I started to take an interest in the Tour de France in 1988. But, pretentious little snob I was, I wanted to distinguish myself from all boys around me supporting Steven Rooks and Gert-Jan Theunisse, and for some reason picked Fabio Parra ( I think I really wanted to support Lucho Herrera, but thought he was a bit too mainstream too ).

Fabio Parra won the stage the first time I ever saw the Tour (or any pro race) live. Morzine 1988.

Might have won on Alpe d'Huez, too, if the crowds and motorbikes hadn't stopped him from attacking... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTHhWf6BSEM

I saw that stage too, but only when it passed through the town we were staying in, not on the Alpe itself.

gattocattivo

I'd guess for most peopleof my age, unless they came from a cycling family, it would have been through seeing the Tour on Channel 4 in the 80s. For me, oddly, this wasn't the case. Millar KOM in 84 - didn't know a thing about it. Lemond, first English-speaking winner in 86 - ditto. Roche winning in 87 - was dimly aware of through newspaper reports, but didn't pay much attention and certainly didn't see anything on TV. Similarly, I remember reading about Delgado testing positive for something that wasn't quite banned yet in 1988, but I still hadn't seen a thing.

By that stage I was a 15-year-old who'd got into cycling as a leisure thing - I didn't know anything about racing or anyone who raced. Me and my mate went cycling on a youth hostelling holiday and did 65 miles in one day. I reckoned this was pretty incredible. Then somebody on my daily morning paperound started getting Cycling Weekly and I had a peek at it and decided I'd buy myself a copy. I'm pretty sure the first one I got had Sally Hodge(s) (not 100% sure about the name - a Welsh woman, I think) on the cover in a rainbow jersey for something on the track. When I read it I couldn't make sense of it: the idea that people could ride 100 miles at 27mph just seemed utterly insane to me, I thought it was a misprint or a misunderstanding.

Despite this, I got hooked and started buying the magazine every week. This was exactly the worst time to get into cycling: the season was just about to finish. I saw highlights of the Nissan Classic and then nothing happened for months. I joined a cycling club in the January and started racing in the spring. By the time the Tour finally came round I was absolutely obsessed with cycling and desperate to see some real action on TV (rather than just read about it a week or two later). The first Tour I saw was the 1989 one: it doesn’t really get better than that.

Roscobob

Lance. Sorry!

I had absolutely no interest in cycling but my father and I were both going through cancer treatments in the summer of 2003 which left long days to fill so we watched the Tour. Armstrong won his 5th and because of my situation it was inspiring. I was bought his books and I was hooked.

Now I am a little more educated on the sport and I'm not blind to the obvious but it was still him that got me into the sport.

AndyRubio

Contador in Paris-Nice 2006 believe it or not, looked so smooth and relaxed on the bike.

ms_tree

Mid 90s Wimbledon was rained off so changed channels and Le Tour was on Channel 4. Gradually realised there were other races and slowly got hooked. Then in 98 Pantani's ride - so started getting magazines, got cable so could watch Eurosport. Started readimg books. Like Tusher got bored during the Armstrong years but fortunately there were other races and riders to follow. Now I've become a complete bore to everyone I know!!

The Kennington Kaiser

Err, Landis' ride to Morzine in 06







OK, only joking - 84 Tour and Millar's exploits in the mountains, like several on here. Have vague memories of Fignon looking cool in the tricolore jersey and Herrera and the other colombians blasting it up the climbs. Happy days.

matty boy 80

2005, long weekend up the mountain in a tent above Saint lary soulon and below the plait d'det,had watched cycling on tv if it was on ,after that brought a bike and cant get enough of it on tv or on one of my bikes .

Cheshire_Cat

"The Tashkent Terror" - Djamolidine Abdoujaparov
Delgado v Roche (87)
LeMond v Fignon (89)

fearby

The TV series "Breaking Away" I think. Bought a magazine and got a bike shortly after that. Got a load of old copies of "Cycling" magazine from parent's friend and the rest is history....