How old when you started road biking?

hugo15
hugo15 Posts: 1,101
edited November 2008 in The bottom bracket
Was about 14 when I started. Rode for about 4 years before heading off to university and beer looked a much more attractive option to training :lol: . Started again when I was 28 (now mid 30's).
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Comments

  • whyamihere
    whyamihere Posts: 7,695
    Properly, 18. I'd been commuting to college for a couple of years before that though, and had been riding mountain bikes since I was about 11.
  • unclemalc
    unclemalc Posts: 563
    whyamihere wrote:
    Properly, 18. I'd been commuting to college for a couple of years before that though, and had been riding mountain bikes since I was about 11.

    Been riding bikes since ~7 or 8 but only had 3-speeds from age 13 until I left Uni. Then had LONG time away from bikes until 1996, then started road biking for fitness and been doing it ever since.
    I'm 52 now... :shock: so I must have been...40-odd
    Spring!
    Singlespeeds in town rule.
  • Red Rock
    Red Rock Posts: 517
    As a child I was often out and about on my bike. Then as I discovered cars, and only returned to cycling when mountain bikes came about (around 1988). Over the years I clocked up thousands of miles on my trusty old Orange Clockwork until this time last year, when I treated myself to my first road bike, a Kuota Kharma :D

    I'm now 50 years of age and still feel like a 10 year old when I'm out and about on my bike.

    Cycling, the secret to eternal youth 8)
  • mercsport
    mercsport Posts: 664
    About twelve - to school - and so on , till 17 .

    Got going again about 28 , hit my peak in my 40's and moderately consistent up to now - 62 .

    Still enjoy it but am less tolerant of the wind and rain than ever .
    "Lick My Decals Off, Baby"
  • OFOAB
    OFOAB Posts: 905
    Serious road riding 14/15ish; then booze, fags, girls and university at 18; 30 subsequent years of work, stress, family, good times, bad times; return to riding at 50ish - it was a damn sight harder to get fit second time around and some bugger had made all the hills steeper but I'm still loving every minute of it, and I'm getting on for 60 now
    I wish I was any place but the someplace I\'m in
  • on the road
    on the road Posts: 5,631
    Was 7 when I started, 36 years ago. Started with a Chopper then got a road bike that was too big for me at 12 years of age. Been a cyclist (give or take a few years) ever since.
  • LA
    LA Posts: 26
    Pestered my parent for a proper 'racer' when I was 10 & got one when I was 12. Rode it until probably 18 when & then off to Uni & started work. Bought a new one at 26 but had a serious knee injury which kept me off the bike for best part of 10 years.

    Now 41 & been cycling seriously for three years & trying to make up for lost time. :D
    Life is not a rehearsal
  • Jez mon
    Jez mon Posts: 3,809
    14 when I started, started racing at 16 but what with one thing and another exams, ice hockey, broken collarbone, still haven't done much, now a fresher at Uni, I have far less time than I thought I would, but probably just need to work out some time management skills.
    You live and learn. At any rate, you live
  • hammerite
    hammerite Posts: 3,408
    I've always ridden bikes, although with some periods of prolonged absence. I had a road bike while at uni but that was only a make do £15 job out of the local paper.

    I only started riding properly about 18 months ago, age 29.

    Not raced yet, apart from a few triathlons. Next season I may dabble in a few friendly time trials, the odd sportive and see how I get on from there. I'll never make it to the ultra competitive, race winning category, but if I can hold on and enjoy busting a gut then I'll be happy.
  • Being a family man I always made sure the kids had bikes maintained them and always learned the kids how to ride there bikes correctly a lot has changed since them days I smoked for 30 years and last year I gave up the fags soon afterwards my health started to decline I ended up in hospital for a weekend that same week I was told i had thyrod trouble and within three months my weight had hit a massive 3 stone heaver doctors were writting letters telling me my collestrol was at an all time high and I would have to change my diet and exercise I hate walking i have always driven a car and that weekend i wenbt to a carboot sale where i saw my perfect way of transport and a way for me to loose the extra weight there stood a 26in rapidreactor 10 speed black bike for twenty quid since then months passed miles had been cycled both on and off road and me and the love of my bike had began and i lost most of my weight all because of that old bike my only regret was why didnt I ride my bike earlier im 46 years old i feel like i have my childhood back when im on my bike and this week another car boot and I found a montantana aggressor I just hope i find that same love with the new bike as i give my old friend away to someone who cannot aford a bike and before i go I would like to thank a girl called karen at work who told me to join this site. and thanks to anyone who reads this
    wiz
  • Being a family man I always made sure the kids had bikes maintained them and always learned the kids how to ride there bikes correctly a lot has changed since them days I smoked for 30 years and last year I gave up the fags soon afterwards my health started to decline I ended up in hospital for a weekend that same week I was told i had thyrod trouble and within three months my weight had hit a massive 3 stone heaver doctors were writting letters telling me my collestrol was at an all time high and I would have to change my diet and exercise I hate walking i have always driven a car and that weekend i wenbt to a carboot sale where i saw my perfect way of transport and a way for me to loose the extra weight there stood a 26in rapidreactor 10 speed black bike for twenty quid since then months passed miles had been cycled both on and off road and me and the love of my bike had began and i lost most of my weight all because of that old bike my only regret was why didnt I ride my bike earlier im 46 years old i feel like i have my childhood back when im on my bike and this week another car boot and I found a montantana aggressor I just hope i find that same love with the new bike as i give my old friend away to someone who cannot aford a bike and before i go I would like to thank a girl called karen at work who told me to join this site. and thanks to anyone who reads this
    wiz
  • iain_j
    iain_j Posts: 1,941
    Been riding for as long as I can remember, but I got my first "real" bike when I was 21. Used it to ride to and from university, then on Wednesday afternoons I'd ride the 10 miles to my parent's house for driving lessons, then on the odd days when I'd have a whole afternoon off, I'd start going for a few hours' riding along the river - first "long" ride was about 25 miles (first experience of headwinds too :roll: )

    Then came odd days during the summer hols when I'd go out for the whole day, and that first epic 90-odd mile run from St Helens to the Cat & Fiddle and back fuelled by a few packets of crisps and chocolate bars - I'm surprised I ever got back on the bike again after that :shock: :lol:
  • DavidBelcher
    DavidBelcher Posts: 2,684
    Jake151 wrote:
    nice

    16 ent too late to start racing and all is it?

    Absolutely not - I didn't start racing until I was nearly 25!! Although if you want to end up right at the top level, an early start (late teens or before) is usually a good thing.

    David
    "It is not enough merely to win; others must lose." - Gore Vidal
  • I was 26/27, which was a bit old really. I started by trying to do 30ish miles and nearly didn't make it. I'm 29 now and have done several 100+miles rides and enjoy riding 30-50miles a day. I ride about 100-150miles a week now.

    I am so road. :D
    jedster wrote:
    Just off to contemplate my own mortality and inevitable descent into decrepedness.
    FCN 3 or 4 on road depending on clothing
    FCN 8 off road because I'm too old to go racing around.
  • EasyTom
    EasyTom Posts: 46
    A bit old - what!?! I bought my first ever derailleur clad bike at 37 :o I loved my chopper when I was a kid but the next bike I got was a hybrid (for commuting in London) when I was about 30, then a fixed and then a lovely Colnago when I became 37 and moved to Devon. Now I race TT's and am hoping to do my first bunch races next year and I love it :D

    Never too late - never too old :)
    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
    Tom -
    http://www.sharpenson.co.uk
  • hambones
    hambones Posts: 407
    3 years ago, when i was 38
    Still breathing.....
  • sicrow
    sicrow Posts: 791
    After years of Lacrosse, Cricket and Golf I rode a charity 50 miler on my mountain bike around Cheshire 2 years ago and loved it and got hooked - 38 now, hardly playing any golf and can't wait to get out on my Roubaix at any opportunity (or at least that's what the missus and the kids say)
  • JC.152
    JC.152 Posts: 645
    2 years ago when I was 13 I started to ride on the road before then just riding round on the farm didn't do much racing last year and then did all sort of races this year(TT,road races,hillclimbs)
  • Always had a mountain bike but only bought a road bike at 25 at the start of this year
    Not lost, just exploring...
  • passout
    passout Posts: 4,425
    4 years old. Entered my fist Sportive at 6 and won the Tour by the time I was 8. I'm now 10 and have retired due to bad knees (nothing to do with with the drugs related stories).
    'Happiness serves hardly any other purpose than to make unhappiness possible' Marcel Proust.
  • Had a bike from age of 7 I guess - a Halfords 22 shopper when my mate had a Grifter - the shame. Got my first 'racer' - a Raleigh Arena bought by hording Christmas and Birthday money for a year - when I was about 13. Did the London to Brighton on that in 1984 when I was 14. Got a Raleigh Record Sprint soon after that and then went to University. Got in the CC there, bought a new racing frame (which fitted, unlike the old Record) out of my grant and did a few races. Knee problems provided helpful cover for a chronic lack of talent, but carried on riding on and off and mainly for fun through a year at work, three years back at University and until I got a proper job, got married and had the first of our children. That put me off a bike for about four years, but dug the old thing out of the shed, fixed it back up and got back out there about five years ago. Bought my first complete new bike since 1986 in 2005 to go with the old one now devoted to winter duties. I've never owned a mountain bike (only ever ridden one about four times) so always a roadie and no plans to change, although if my wife buys me a nice mountain bike for my 40th next year I may have to reconsider.
  • 18.

    Spent my first year riding solo and dropping weight (5 stone!). Second year I spent training with the local triathlon club, and this year i've started going out with a proper cycling club (most of whom, worryingly, are ex-pro's, with the odd active pro thrown in for good measure :shock: ).

    Although I feel I started quite late and had a self inflicted handicap of not doing anything for 3 years and being like a house end, i'm hoping I can continue with the progress i've made and start racing competitively next year.
    "A cyclist has nothing to lose but his chain"

    PTP Runner Up 2015
  • I bought myself a bike for my 40th birthday 5 months ago, knocking out 30 milers quite comfortably now and enjoying every minute.
    It's not the size of dog in the fight but the size of fight in the dog.
  • sicknote
    sicknote Posts: 901
    edited October 2008
    I got my first racer ( Raleigh Arena too ) at 15 and used to ride it everywhere but made the mistake of lending it to a friend and getting it back rusty :cry:

    After some time on a hybrid with a 10 year break ( the joy of kids ) but it was teaching them that has get me back on it and now have just got an old racer and loving it all over again.

    P.s I am not 40 and enjoying getting fit again plus I did London to Cambridge on my hybrid this and will be doing more next year.
  • trickeyja
    trickeyja Posts: 202
    I'm also 16 and have recently bought a road bike after saving from a job over the summer. I have been using a mountain bike for quite a few years though. Whereabouts are you from? I'm in Cheltenham.. I don't really know many other people my age who are interested in road biking yet...
  • sian_c
    sian_c Posts: 101
    Jake151 wrote:
    16 ent too late to start racing and all is it?

    or am i thinking of swimming and once you hit a certain age there ent no hope for you

    After a long break (at least 10 years) from being on a bike at all, I got my very first road bike last year to do Lands End to John O'Groats with my brothers (age 29). We managed the 1026 miles in 12 days, but would still not class myself as a 'cyclist' - I find it a lot of hard work! But am enjoying it & wouldn't swap back from my road bike 8)

    Though I don't take part in races or any such thing, I would say for sure, based on the people I saw out on the road when doing LEJOG, that you are most definitely NOT too old to get into it seriously! We were being overtaken by a lot of much older people on the road (though they were usually not carrying any luggage :wink: )

    Good luck!
  • Been riding since I was 5 and started racing my friends on a Raleigh Chopper when I was about 12. Placed 3rd in a school sports day grass track cycle race on my chopper behind 2 guys on proper road bikes (not fixed) when I was about 14. Got a 10 speed racer, BSA, when I was about 15 and continued racing my friends around the streets until someone in a local club asked us if we had considered entering proper cycle races. My first race was a criterium which I won! I did some grass track fixed racing, some road races, more crits. But 15-17 was the peak of my performance and it's been all downhill since then! Now at the age of 43 I am about to buy my first mountain bike and want to try racing on that.
    No-one wanted to eat Patagonia Toothfish so they renamed it Chilean Sea Bass and now it's in danger of over fishing!
  • I don't feel I got into road so late in life, so thank you to all those who, said they got into road after the age of 30.

    EasyTom: I still don't have a derailler clad bike, I'm still on the singlespeed. (I sold my geared bike then moved to bath. :oops: )
    jedster wrote:
    Just off to contemplate my own mortality and inevitable descent into decrepedness.
    FCN 3 or 4 on road depending on clothing
    FCN 8 off road because I'm too old to go racing around.
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    learned to ride on a tiny little bike when I was 6 or 7.

    At 9 or so I got a full-sized bike which was way too big for me. Seemed to be built from leftovers / things scavenged from the dump. Sturmey Archer 3 speed with sit up and beg handlebars. Used to ride miles on it anyway.

    Age 13 at secondary school I bought a second hand racer off a mate. (he wanted to buy some drums) He worked weekends in a bike shop so it had 5 spd campag, weinmann brakes and a brooks saddle.

    3 years later I bought another 2nd hand bargain off another mate who was saving up for a moped. Raleigh tour of britain, 10 speed. I cannibalised the old bike and put all the good alloy components on the new one. I did thousands of miles on this bike over the next 10 years. Touring, commuting, socialising, London to Brighton etc. It was my only form of transport, and saw me through university and into the world of work.
    Then in 1982 I lent it to a mate and he had it nicked from Sainsbury's car park. Of course it wasn't insured. Gutted!

    The next 10 years I was bike-less, but concerned with job changes, marriage, mortgages moving house, having children and zero disposable income.

    in 1993-ish, now aged 36, mountain bikes had arrived and I decided I wanted one. Still penniless so I bought a bike in a box from a bloke trading on an old garage forecourt. It cost £60 and was completely rubbish, but I loved it.

    1997, about to turn 40, cashed in the Woolwich shares and bought a proper mountain bike in the sales (smart move in hindsight!) Used to do a lot of off-road stuff with and without the kids. Marvellous!

    Last year turned 50, finally admitted I could no longer stand the beating that off-road riding involved. I put slicks on the thing and started to ride exclusively on the road. Big mistake; I got the speed bug.

    The mtb has just gone to Uni with our eldest son, and I've just spent some more of his inheritance on a proper road bike. I'm 51 now, fitter than I've been for years, and loving every minute on the bike.