When and how did your love with cycling begin?

Gabbo

For as long as I can remember, I have always loved cycling. In part, that was due to being a lazy bastard. Even though as a child I use to walk to school (my dad took the car to work), I eventually grew tired of walking. So, when I was really young (can't remember exact age) my mother bought me a 2nd hand Peugeot road bike. This was my first proper bike, even though it's not one aimed towards adults.

After that I went through a phase thinking that Mountain Bikes were the best things since sliced bread! My friend had a raleigh that I was very jealous of, whereas I had to settle for an apollo which a few years down the line was to be stolen as it was leant against a thin meshy fence, all neglected and rusty - I didn't care at that point.

So, ever since then I never had a road bike... or any bike of such. We are talking many years here, and even though for the last 5 years I have been intending to buy a road bike, I just never got round to it.

The turning point was summer 2012, you got it - the TDF victory for Bradley Wiggins and Team Sky and then the mens Olympic road race down in Box Hill. These were inspiring moments, and on that exact day I told myself that I needed a road bike! I had to wait, and wait, and wait. But I knew just how much I wanted one, and I had saved enough to purchase myself a brand new Specialized Tarmac.

How did your love with cycling start? And what was your very first bike as a child?

Mikey23

When I was young it was the only way to get around because hardly anyone had a car or a telly or a mobile phone or a games console. Me and my mates just went out on our bikes and had fun. A three gear sturmey archer was state of the art...

Life got in the way, and got into it again about 18 months ago because I got bored with running and realised I could go further, faster and with less effort. First roadie about a year ago, strava, cycling holiday in France and a 'proper' bike, a spec roubaix comp at Christmas and loving it ...

Neale1978

Ive been inspired by different people on different bikes since i was a kid so.. When i was a nipper basically. Its a realm beyond mere description dear boy

pride4ever

My dad was a mad cyclist and so I had cycling rammed down my throat from an early age. Got my first road bike in 1977 and have never looked back. The recent boom in cycling in the UK as seemed like a lifetime coming but now its here I couldnt be more proud. Glorious to see so many cyclists young and old on the roads.

Joeblack

For me I just wanted to do some cardio outside of the gym because I can't stand that kind of gym work, I can run because of bad knees so cycling was my best alternative and I always loved the engineering of the bikes and how they looked.

wod1

I had a bmx as a kid but wasn't all that fussed by it, did tiny bits for the next 10 years being much more into yacht racing. Then got a £150 Argos voucher as a Christmas bonus and got a mountain bike to improve fitness as I wanted to use the voucher constructively. Started to commute 2.5 miles to work and felt it was far too far the first day. Persevered and the did some little rides at the weekends 10 miles and then 20 and then 30. Started to wonder about a road bike to go further. Moved house to a 5 mike commute so then got myself an entry level halfords TDF road bike. now doing 100 miles a week with loops on the way to work, and adventures at the weekend. Got my 100 mile planned for Easter and just hungry to ride and ride and ride. Lost shed load of weight and love being outside in the daylight, exercising on the way into work when I am mostly just sat in the office.

The_Slowboat

My first memory of being conscious of professional cycling was that as a youngster there was a bit on my road a bit like a starting gate, we used to take turns whizz up and down the road pretending to be Chris Boardman. That didn't covert into any further interest bar being supremely jealous that my cousins always happened to be in France when the tour was on.

Some years later in 2009 I'd just finished uni and was living the easy life before looking for a job, with time on my hands I found myself watching the Tour de France one day, it was the stage where Columbia split the peloton. I hadn't a clue what was happening but the commentators enthusiasm had me interested. Next day I watched it again and so on so forth for the rest of that tour. At that stage I wasn't into cycling enough to know Lance was full of shit so I found him v Bertie fascinating, Cav was winning stages and again the enthusiasm of the commentators when Wiggins went up Ventoux with the lead group was a dead giveaway that he was making a major translation.

2010 I followed the tour again, 2011 I followed a couple of classics and the grand tours, I also got my own bike that year too. By 2012 I was transfixed, I loved watching Boonen's exploits in the classics and now I love reading about it and if there are people on tv riding bikes competitively then I'll pretty much watch it. All thanks to a bit of channel hopping back in 2009. To echo the previous poster, to see it become more prevalent in British culture is fantastic.

chigman

When I got done for drink driving in 1988. :shock:

Steve

Bozman

I wouldn't call it love but I started work in 84 and I had to get there somehow, my old man stripped his old Mercian and got it resprayed, he built the bike back up and that was his gift to get me to work. Come rain, wind or shine I'd cycle, even in the winter when it snowed I'd still be the first there when others had failed.

Before that as kids we used to cycle the 13 miles to Donington Park to watch the motorbike racing, that was a great bit of freedom for a bunch of young lads.

tetley10

Used to cycle plenty as a kid. Had a red Grifter to begin with, then progressed onto a 10 speed Emelle road bike.
Used to play a lot of sport through my teens and 20s but since that stopped I've become a fat lard a$s. So got the old cycle to work scheme sorted before Christmas. Picked up a Cube Peloton and I'm hooked again. Forgot how quick a road bike is. I also love a bit of shiny new kit and having not cycled or a while ive been able to go looking for loads of shiny new kit.

mamba80

pride4ever wrote:

My dad was a mad cyclist and so I had cycling rammed down my throat from an early age. Got my first road bike in 1977 and have never looked back. The recent boom in cycling in the UK as seemed like a lifetime coming but now its here I couldnt be more proud. Glorious to see so many cyclists young and old on the roads.

An article in an old boys annual of TomSimpson and his Peugeot team - i d never heard of cycle racing b4 that but i was hooked - a few yrs later, swopped a Charlton road bike (found on a tip) for a Viking race bike, then sold that to help fund a Peugeot Professional.

Personally, i liked it when riding a bike was seen as slightly accentric, we were just a tolerated minority, now everyone and his dog has a bike

boogi11

Joeblack wrote:

For me I just wanted to do some cardio outside of the gym because I can't stand that kind of gym work, I can run because of bad knees so cycling was my best alternative and I always loved the engineering of the bikes and how they looked.

Same here, knees are screwed, wanted to shift some weight, and the gym bores me stupid, so I got into cycling and now ant get enough , ironically, I now train indoors on the rollers, just as boring but seems to be for a good cause.

And like wise I'm fascinated by the variety of bikes, Roll on my new rose when I an decide which one to buy

Hoopdriver

Right from the moment I climbed aboard the secondhand Eisenhower-era Schwinn newsboy my parents bought me when I was about 6 in 1964 and felt that almost aerial sense of liberation as I set off down the footpath.

Bhoy1888

A mixture of the price of fuel and the realisation that it's not that far to work and cycling is just free phys (well minus the cost of the bike and gear of course).

AlexMac1973

It all started back in 81, my parents bought me a raleigh burner for xmas as I destroyed a bike by just standing next to it!

I went through the years of doing bmx at national and brit level until I came down with glandular fever in my early teens, back in those days I used to go wheel to wheel with the like of Jamie Staff before getting ill. Until then I wouldn't think twice of getting on my bike with a mate and going 7 or more miles just to get somewhere.
After that I never really stopped using a bike, came in handy when living in cambridge for a few years.

Have to admit, as a kid I always wanted to ride the TDF, still do. Looking back if I'd have had the encouragement I'd have considered going pro just so I'd not have to get a proper job :roll: . Suppose that inspiration came from watching Stephen Roche back in 87, but I got too busy with spending time in the arcades with my mates.

I still go bmxing, and even raced at last years world championships in Birmingham. But am leaning more to being out on the road these days, just come back from a ride out in 3°C weather with added wind chill, hows that for the love of cycling.

johnny25

When I first had a bike - 1976.

Had a pause for 15 years in early 90's due to uni, work, achilles injury, girls and drink.

mike6

Had planned to ride the Coast to Coast, 2001 I think,from Whitehaven to Tynemouth, but Foot and Mouth was rampant so we did it on the road instead. I only had a mountain bike at the time so I put slicks on. The rest of the guys were on there road bikes and it was the furthest, by a factor of three, that I had ever riden, but I enjoyed it so much I sold the MB two weeks later and bought my first road bike.
Been hooked ever since.

YIMan

There aren't any cyclists in my family, so who knows where I got it from.

Had a Raleigh Boxer aged about 5. Got a Grifter when I was 8. I was always out and about, riding and BMX-jumping on the building site, as a kid. Got my first road bike - a Raleigh Winner - aged about 13 - used to ride 60/70 miles around the North-east with my mates, it didn't even occur to me how far it was at the time.

First got into the Tour de France in about 1986 and have been an avid fan ever since - I've seen it in Paris (Pantani 1998) and Canterbury/London and may finally make it to the Alps this year.

Lived in France for a year in 1994 and bought a road bike out there, had no car so it was my only way to get around.

I used to look down on mountain bikes as the only time I ever saw them was being ridden round the streets. But in 1996 I got my first mountain bike and have been all around the country and to the Alps riding mountain bikes since.

I love both road and mountain biking, would love to have a go at track cycling. I don't go for all this pigeon-holing of being a roadie or MTBer.

Magic Spanner

on off love affair for me since a BSA Javelin in mid 70s
current affair began 2 and a half years ago. no sign of it fading yet

keef66

My family never had a car, and my dad cycled to work until he retired at 65, so we grew up knowing that cycling was the only way to get about. First bike was a sit up and beg gas-pipe special fitted with recycled odds and ends and Sturmey Archer 5 speed gears. Everything, including the wheels and mudguards was made of steel, and it weighed a ton. Probably lasted me from the age of 8 to 11, but it did enable me to roam up to 25 miles away. Then at grammar school I bought a proper 'racer' from a mate. He worked in a bike shop at weekends, so it had some lightweight components: alloy wheels & handlebars, Weinmann brake levers and calipers. 5 speed friction downtube shifter / Huret derailleur. I thought it was the dog's danglies. Suddenly I was able to go a lot further / faster. Did a youth hostelling tour of the Wye valley, and several trips to the coast and back. 100 miles in a day was possible in the summer. 3 or 4 years later I bought a 10 speed Raleigh Tour of Britain off another mate and swapped in all the decent light alloy stuff off the old bike. That then saw me through university and into my first job before it was stolen while on loan to a colleague. It wasn't insured, and since I was by then driving, it wasn't replaced. During the next 10 years or so I was busy getting married, buying houses, having children etc, and then one day on a whim I bought a £50 BSO in a box from a disused garage forecourt. It was a rigid MTB with fairly crappy components, but it held together long enough to rekindle my love of cycling. I then splashed out on a properly light mountain bike with LX / XT groupset, and that felt so much better. Progressively found myself doing more and more road riding, so put some slick tyres on it, but knew in my heart I wanted a road bike. Just over 5 years ago, and at the ripe old age of 50 and recovering from knee surgery, I bought myself a new Racelight Tk with 105. Love it. It still puts a smile on my face like that first 'racer' when I was 11.

MrChuck

My parents never had a car so when I started doing some after school stuff and couldn't get the bus I rode. When I got my first summer job I rode a couple of times and liked it, which was the start of riding for fun rather than just to get about. Around the same time (late 80s/early 90s I suppose) I cottoned on to the Tour coverage on C4. Basically since then I've always ridden both to get around and for fun and fitness. There've been periods where I've done more and times when I've done less but it's basically been pretty constant for the last 20-25 years. I've never owned a car, and hope to be riding until I physically can't.

Matchstick Man

1986 Lemond won his first Tour and the images beamed into the lounge via Channel 4 struck a 13 year old as quite cool. It helped that Greg was a blond haired American with big Oakley sunglasses 8)
Roll on to 1992 and seeing Boardman win at the Olympics made me go and buy a bike and take up the sport rather than being a casual fan for three weeks in the summer.
20+ years later I'm a fit almost 40year old with a few nice bikes in the garage, a couple of kids who see cycling as a normal healthy activity, I've had uninterrupted membership of my local club for all that tim, been club sec for a few years, promoted half a dozen races, helped out at dozens more and passionately believe in cycling as a mode of transport as well as a hobby and a sport. Cycling has given me great health, allowed me to see places I would never have been to otherwise, let me make lifelong friendships and also for some periods given me an income.

Love it

ricey155

3 years ago a good friend 74 years old a proper mad keen lad (sadly passsed away now) said get yourself a road bike best exercise you could do after about 6 months i gave in and bought a bike £600 orbea and off we went for a ride !!

3 years on love it infact I can't ride enough, 900 miles for 2 years then 3600 in 2012 i want more but no racing unless its against myself :roll: