How did you become interested in cycling?

[CentralCaliBike]

Put together my first bike around '75 (it came in a box). It was a Sears ten speed road bike with a front wheel disc brake. Since I was 13 at the time I thought it would be a good idea to clean the brake with WD40. I ended up hitting a concrete wall and collapsing the frame at the headset. Sears had a pretty good warranty program and gave me a new bike.

I started watching the Tour because of a couple of German kids that lived across the street. I believe it was around '77 and there was only about an hour of coverage on Sundays. I have been fairly faithful in watching the tour as it has been available ever since.

When I started college I my only transportation was a flea market special and I used to "race" every other rider who would make it interesting while riding around the Phoenix area.

In the mid 80s one of the guys across the street started racing road and mountain bikes as well as competing in triathlons. He had a red Schwinn Paramount and rebuilt the wheels with bladed spokes. I started getting interested in cycling but did not have the money to go all out. I ended up getting touring bike and riding for longer distances. Within a couple of months I wanted a better bike.

My first decent bike was a '87 Schwinn Premis - about $700 at the time. It was not a top end bike but was much better than anything I had ridden before. I took it to law school and rode with a social group over the next three years three to four times a week (in addition to riding back and forth from school since the bike was my sole transportation for the first couple of years).

After law school I continued to ride for awhile and got into some sprint triathlons as well then work, marriage and kids got in the way for ten years or more (although I continued to following the Tour).

I got back on the bike about three years ago and have been pretty consistent ever since.

 

[Jux1893]

With my dad and my brother, on the side of the roads of Serra da Estrela, in the 90's.

Started seeying all Cycling I could catch on TV since then, and more recently I started riding my 50€ bike, just for the sport.

 

[Oldman]

Saw Rebecca Twigg in a skinsuit...nothing else. I didn't realize it took 15-20 hrs a week to get that physique and that all the other women that rode wouldn't necessarily resemble her. Well, actually, I did come to realize it after I was riding those kind of miles and then it was too late.

 

[sashimono]

Blew my head gasket -- couldn't afford to get it fixed. Been riding ever since. Started watching the tdf in 2000.

 

[Carols]

My dad. He was a USA domestic pro racer in his youth (1932-37) and then owned a bike shop. My youth was spent on the bike and trips to the velodrome, where I saw Eddy(!) and to road races. Cycling is in my blood...

 

[Oldman]

My dad. He was a USA domestic pro racer in his youth (1932-37) and then owned a bike shop. My youth was spent on the bike and trips to the velodrome, where I saw Eddy(!) and to road races. Cycling is in my blood...

Cool history. You should provide some stories.

 

[ashortcyclist]

have ridden a bike since a wee child, bike touring, commuting, watched track cycling at San Diego Velodrome in the late 1970s, watched Zinger, Coors Classic in the 1980s in Denver ... fun fun criteriums in Wash Park, saw the final stage of the 1987 TDF in Paris --- won by American Jeff Pierce, TDF by Stephen Roche

Big fan of Davis Phinney & Connie Carpenter (because Connie also was a rower, a sport which I also participate in).

Never would be a racer because of my size (I don't even think my 2 different wheel size Terry bicycle qualifies)

 

[andy1234]

Some brilliant comments. Lucho Herrera crashing, Roche on the joux plane, Rebecca Twigg in a skin suit! Lol
It makes a refreshing read after some time in the clinic forum.

One of my first memories was seeing Phil Anderson winning the commonwealth games road race in Edmonton But I was only 6 (my dad was a cyclist) so I can't claim to be hooked by then!

The thing that really captured my imagination was seeing Sean Kelly hammering a time trial at clonmel in the Nissan tour if Ireland(1985 I think)
The noise of disc wheels and the sheer speed of the guy blew me away.

 

[Nathan Scot]

How cycling became the obsession

The first race I remember watching on television was the Olympic Road race 1984. I think I had seen a crit race sponsored by 7-11 in downtown Dallas prior to that. Davis Phinney and Ron Kiefel were the memorable riders that day, but the most vivid memory was seeing an Alpha Romeo rider crash, ripping his lycra to shreds. Until this point, I had done a lot of bike riding, but it was as transportation and commuting. This idea that bikes could be raced was new and exciting.

In 1986, I had two friends who were riding and I joined them on rides around White Rock Lake. They had lycra shorts and a Peugeot and a Centurion. I had my girlfriend’s Sears Free Spirit. I soon discovered that I was stronger than they were, but the difference in bikes was huge. Soon, I too had a Campy Triomphe equipped Peugeot that cost me $600, but a real bike with all of the subtleties that only in the know roadies could discern.

I followed the results of the Tour, waiting till the next day to find out who was leading after every stage as it was printed in the recesses of the newspaper’s sports pages.

Soon we started to go on the long rides out of Richardson Bike Mart into Collin County. Once I heard in reverential tones that a young prodigy named Lance Armstrong would join us. However, I was most impressed with an elder statesman of cycling, the very continental Peter Green, who was at least 60, but rode with and economy and friendliness that made the group rides seem convivial (at least until Peter dropped all of us after 50 or 60 miles.) Lance was very strong but obviously could have learned a few things from Mr. Green.

Soon enough, I was scouring sales and bike catalogs to get C-record components. I worked odd hours and didn’t get to race much, but it was obvious that network television coverage excluded the long hours of suffering that bike races really were.

I saw three stages of the Tour of Texas, one where Inga Thompson destroyed the field, and I talked to Nelson Vails and Scott Berryman. My dad had a friend who knew Jeanne Longo.

A few forays into triathlons really showed how little they helped as a cyclists, and the difference in roadie and tri culture was very evident, even then.

LeMond was always my hero, especially after 89, even though the 90 tour was disappointing due to the way he calculated his eventual victory. He seemed so strong in 91 but Indurain’s victory was a huge disappointment.
Lance Armstrong’s successes were rewarding since he was a fellow Texan and it made following cycling more personal. After following the sport through the initial excitement, the bleak Indurain years, and Festina, Puerto, the tragedy of Floyd’s demise, I find watching the ProTour to be no different than other big time sports, and enjoy following friends and neighbors who are domestic pro riders and I try to develop collegiate cycling, which is very rewarding.

 

[chasbo]

First post here after lurking forever...

I was hanging out with my uncle around christmas in 1983 and he was riding his rollers at the time. I asked a million stupid noob questions about bikes and he patiently answered all of them. He told me all about Eddie and racing in europe and why it was so fun. I was 20 and in the army and within a year had my own bike and was learning the ropes.

Now, after more than 20 years of cycling and as a 15 year veteran of the industry, I am a long time wrench, I can't imagine any other sport that comes close in terms of raw excitement.

 

[Boeing]

Cycling in general or roadie?

My dad always had a road bike and he always fixed me up with one. Even when I was all about BMX he bought me a roadie and let it sit in the garage ready to ride. I got a flat on the BMX and needed to get to the skate shop in the valley so I jumped on the road bike and was stoked how fast I got there. SO I started mixing in a road ride now and again the was riding with him. Then I figure out how trick his bike was at the time Colongo Master with Record six speed

Riding with Dad is a special thing to this day. He is 78 now and we went out a few weeks ago for the first time in many years. It was slow but great time and brought back great memories. I went with the race bike and 39 23 the whole way and didnt even notice he was pinning it on my wheel like the old days..

Thanks Dad for getting me into this

 

[hector5950]

My Dad took me to the North Boulder Park Criterium for the Red Zinger the year Phil Anderson lapped the field twice. Been hooked since.

 

[smoking roach]

I've been pretty crazy about mountain biking since 1991 but it wasn't until the 1996 Tour de France that made me want to start road riding.

Bjarne Riis' performance in the 96 Tour totally blew me away. I bought a road bike in 97' and have been increasingly crazy about cycling and the TdF ever since.

Bjarne Riis is the Man!

 

[ferryman]

1984 TDF, Robert Millar, Stage win to Guzet-Neige and KOM overall. I was gobsmacked that a wee working class Scottish guy could be at the forefront of such a colourful and exotic spectacle. Misty eyes smily

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

Went to a rival HS to LeMond. Wasn't so impressed by him winning the Jr. Worlds (ho-hum, a cyclist) as much as later finding out he rode his bike up to Lake Tahoe and back all the time, which seemed impossible.

Also got interested from reading "my" name in tiny print in the local paper as holding the Maillot Jaune in the Tour one year.

At 21 I went by a LBS all the time and kept staring at a high end Raleigh in the window and thinking how cool it would be to have it and ride it and that I'd get fit doing it. Never did, and didn't actually get into cycling until I was 26 and never looked back. It wasn't long before I did the "impossible" - took a trip and rode my bike up to Lake Tahoe and back.

 

[TopCarbon]

Alexi Grehwal winning the road race. I saw it live, thats when it all started.

 

[andy1234]

Alexi Grehwal winning the road race. I saw it live, thats when it all started.

I loved watching that whole olympics, although it was a sign of things to come on the *cough* preparation front. I remember the US track team had the coolest looking kit that year, plastic skin suits and silver disc wheels.

It meant staying up late or getting up early for a young lad in the uk though.

 

[ashortcyclist]

article --- on coors classic

Here's a link to an old article on the races that got me sooo interested in watching pro racing.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1121058/index.htm

 

[Merckx11]

I saw the track racing in the 72 Olympics from Munich on ABC.
It looked really cool. I was 10. I had my first racing license by 1974.
I rode with Merckx. pretty cool.

 

[dgodave]

Great thread.
A little extra:
.
Joe Murray was my first bike racing hero.
Lemond was my first road hero.
.
Then I took a break from racing and rode from the coast of Oregon to Eastpost Maine. I'm happy to be a fan, and leave the racing to others, while use the bike for exploring.
.

 

[Francois the Postman]

Watching cycling with my dad when I was young, mid 70s. Didn't really grasp the subtleties then, but plenty of Dutch names to cheer for in those years (Raas, Knetemann, Zoetemelk, Kuiper, Lubberding - WC and 10 TdF stage victories in 1978 alone). And with the added benefit of watching the Belgian coverage, still my gold standard. There was something special about the TV coverage too. It always started with the Eurovision fanfare. It was in the days when going live for an international broadcast was an event in its own right. A technical feat that they didn't always managed to pull off. That tune is etched into my brain.

Every town in my area (scrap that, every small group of houses with something resembling a church around it) had a summer fete, which inevitably included an amateur crit round that church. They still do. From the moment I got to see cycling in the flesh, it really started to fascinated me. The summer sounds of bad speakers and cyclists whizzing past me in the corner, whilst holding more candy floss on a stick than someone my size should be entrusted with, will be with me always.

I got a 10 speed tour-bike when I was 12, as close to a "proper" racing bike as I managed to talk out of my parents at that age. From football shoes to track suits, I usually got fopped off with the cheap alternatives to brand names that looked like them, but weren't. I guess I did some expert begging that day, as we went in for "a bike to muck about with", and I walked out with a genuine Raleigh tour-bike. I felt like I joined Team Post at age 12 and it's still the "one thing I got when i was young" I remember first, and most fondly. It still stands at my parents place for when I make home visits. It still does the trick.

It didn't take long before fell in love with the long solitary rides and communal camping trips. Living on the Dutch Belgium border meant a nigh endless amount of country lanes between fields and woods, and along canals. Tarmac and dedicated cycle lanes through nature on the Dutch side, cobbles and concrete plates on the Belgian one. And boy did they have cobbles in those days. I clocked up far more road miles on those afternoons and evenings than I manage to do now though.

Went abroad and ended up in place where cycling was some weird "forrun" pastime. On the road and TV. Then Al Gore invented the internet and bit by bit the streams and fansites got me hooked up with my favourite sport again. Now we have more TV channels to fill than we know what to do with, so it's no surprise that someone shows us more and more races too. With and without Lance. And to top it off, the EU started to insist that member states addressed the cycling networks in their nations.

Civilization has been creeping into this area, slowly, and suddenly life is looking sunny and good again.

And I've discovered that I'm the slow cog in the machinery now, I'm not as fit as I used to be.

But it is holding that barrier on the corner, years ago, the sound and the wind draught on that day, that got me hooked.

It's the rather unique interplay between individual class and team dynamics that is keeping me hooked.

 

[chasbo]

Joe Murray was my first bike racing hero.

Joe Murray will always be one of my heroes. I heard so many epic stories about him from one of his old teammates. He was a true warrior!

 

[crispy]

I've got a good, if convoluted, story. When I was in high school my best friend was a bit of a troublemaker and at some point his mom had enough and kicked him out of the house. He went to live with an ex-girlfriend's dad who had been sort of a father figure for him. But he wanted to keep going to the same school and couldn't get there on the bus anymore so he got a bike and started riding to school. That led him to start doing triathlons and then bike racing. I used to go with him to one particular group ride that started at the beach and I'd surf or skate while the ride was going on.

Then I went to college and bought a touring bike mainly for transportation. I came home one weekend and my friend set me up with a bunch of his old clothes and parts and I went back and did my first group ride with the local team. I hung on pretty well for it being my first ride and that gave me the confidence to keep going back. A few months later I did my first race. That was over 20 years ago and I'm still hooked (though sidetracked with a 2 year old at the moment).

 

[dgodave]

Joe Murray will always be one of my heroes. I heard so many epic stories about him from one of his old teammates. He was a true warrior!

For sure.
I used to ride with him all the time on the Fisher team thurs nite rides in Fairfax. (Well, "with" him until the hills.... was it thurs? my memory!)
.

 

[superleicht]

Eddy, Rass, Zoetemelk, de Vlaminick, Agostinho, van Impe, Kelly, Hinault - those were the guys I followed in the late 70s and early 80s. Jacque Boyer and John Howard were the American riders that impressed me, as well as LeMond when he hit the scene.

In 1982 I bought an A-D Superleicht with Campy N.R. grouppo - cost me $850 bucks mail order from Pedal Pushers in Florida. (Couldn't afford an Ultima like Connie rode.) Had it shipped all the way to Ft. Stockton, Texas where I was working the oil fields. Brutal riding in the summer - exposed roads and 110F (43C to the civilized world!) in the afternoons. When starting, I wondered how the pros rode races at 40kph - after riding 12-15k kilometers, I figured it out! BTW, most of that riding was on Clement tubes - spent quite a few evenings patching and sewing.

Rode some am. races in Texas and Louisiana in 83-84, commuting 78 miles round-trip to a job at a bike shop. Earning a real living got in the way, so I became an occasional rider. Still ride road and mountain bike, but not as much as I would like (or my waistline tells me I shoud!)

Still have the Superleicht!