[eaterofdog]

I did not own a bike from my teens until I was about 30. As my career got moving and my family took up my time, I found I was not able to skateboard much. And if you don't skate much, when you do ride, you fall, hard and often. So I didn't do much of anything for a while and started getting fat.

One weekend I went over to Daytona to stay at a friends crashpad. They suggested a bike ride and loaned me a piece of sh!t beach cruiser. Then they proceeded to flog my ass on 15 miles of backroads. I had a good time, somehow I had forgotten how fun bikes are.

A week later I bought a wally world bike. Rode it around a few weeks until some dude at santos told me I was going to kill myself when it broke in half. I went and bought my first good bike, a 2000 GT XCR 4000. Rode XC for a few years, then moved over to DJing and recently, trials.

I'm not so fat anymore.

 

[Dirtjumper999]

When I was like 8 or 9, I wanted to take my mountain bike (that I only rode around our farm) to a bmx race in Cleveland. My dad said he was busy and couldn't take me. So I asked my mom, and she was like "that sounds dangerous", so she called around to the bike shops and asked what was needed and how dangerous it was. I ended up going and getting a new bmx race bike out of it, turns out I was a fast little guy. So I kept riding and racing, then once I moved to Charlotte I started mountain biking more and more, then got into downhill racing, then dropped that for freeriding/dj/park/street, which is where I am now. 13 years of riding...

 

[eric strt6]

back in the days of steel skateboard and roller skate wheels my parents taught me to ride a two wheeler. I crashed the first time I tried to make a u-turn in the alley. It was a Schwinn Typhoon and the year was 1959-60. I have never been without a bike since then. My first Mt Bike was a Fisher Hoo-Koo E Koo in the mid 80's

 

[Pesqueeb]

I grew up pretty much spending every half decent day as a fish. I grew up in a town called Three Rivers, which predictably, had a lot of water. So pretty much every free moment I had was spent in the water. Kayaking, tubing, rafting, swimming etc... When I moved to the California central coast it was surfing, bogey boarding, body surfing etc... Portland was awesome because it was easy to combine all of the above. However, the front range of Colorado has a conspicuous lack of water. Mountain biking was the closest thing I could find that allowed me a similar feeling of being surrounded by nature while having a ridiculously good time. I also did not own a bike between the ages of 16-25. The biking thing seems to have taken on a life of its own however given that I now also own a road bike and am capable of amusing myself on an asphalt strip in the middle of town. I was also told by a couple docs the my physical fitness from all the biking I was doing probably saved my life when I got hit on my scooter. So, Hurray bikes!

 

[Greyhound]

Good topic!

I was heavily into BMX growing up and raced a lot. In my teen years, I got into skateboarding. A friend of mine was doing some riding on local trails back in 1995, and I borrowed a bike to go with him. It kicked my ass thoroughly and I loved every minute of it!! I went out the next day and picked up a Cannondale F2000 and proceeded to ride the rims of that b*tch. Haven't looked back since.

 

[Jeremy R]

I had a compound fracture from a motorcycle wreck where a car pulled in front of me. A year, and 5 surgeries later, I was healed and needed to build the strength back up in my leg. I bought a cheap GT hardtail just to ride around by my house, and got hooked quick. I think being layed up for a year had alot to do with how hard I jumped into mtbing. I did my very first ride in February of 1995, and entered my first race in August. Raced both xc and dh in the same weekend and I had never raced anything before in my life.
Been hooked on bikes ever since.
(I did grow up riding dirt bikes and bmx bikes though.)

 

[MMike]

I did it for the chicks

 

[TreeSaw]

I lived in a rural upstate NY town and used to ride my bike to friends and even to school (when I was older) with my friends for summer sports practice. Then I started driving and stopped biking for the most part. I started again in college when I met my husband...even took a college PE class in Mountain Biking.

 

[eric strt6]

I did it for the chicks

and you failed miserably

 

[Rockland]

Growing up in rural Maine, most activities for a kid are based outside. The forest started at the end of the block & kept on going. Riding bikes out in the woods just happened. I was completely hooked in 1991 when a friend used his summer job earnings to get a nice mtn bike. It rode so much better than the dept store specials I was familiar with. The birth of UGI !

 

[JohnE]

I did it for the chicks

+1...and to get fit for other sports.

 

[woodsguy]

I started with training wheels at 5 and took them off at 6. I got my first bmx bike (Schwinn Predator) at 8 or 9 and mostly just rode it around town and the dirt ruts around the new houses being built in my neighborhood. Biking then tapered off and at 13 I started skateboarding. Did that all throughout high school. In my junior year all the skaters in town formed clicks (I blame driver’s licenses and drinking) and since there weren’t too many other skaters that didn’t drink I just had a couple of people to skate with. Nevertheless, I skated every day it wasn’t raining. Mostly half pipe. Then when the two people I skated with moved away the summer of 1990 I focused on soccer (it was the first year for soccer in my hs).

In May of 1991 one of my soccer friends loaned me his gf&#8217;s brother&#8217;s bike and took me out on some atv trails. I was amazed how easily it rolled over rough terrain and even off trail. A week later I went down to the local sporting goods store and bought a Schwinn Impact Pro (cromo). I beat the heck out of it on the local atv trails (that is all there is in central pa) but did take it on a trip to out west to Moab and Durango. After that trip got my first fs bike a GF Joshua in 1996. I moved to MA in 1997 and got my current bike a Cannondale Prophet in 2005. I guess I&#8217;m what you would call an aggressive xc rider. I&#8217;ll do small drops and jumps of <5&#8217; and can handle minor dh but mostly stick to the singletrack. I try and get out as often as I can. Last year I rode 800 miles on rocky New England trails.

 

[johnbryanpeters]

Grew up on two wheels. That is all.

 

[IH8Rice]

started working at a bike shop when i was 13 which got me into real mountain biking. i started riding when i was 2

 

[Repack Rider]

I worked as a roadie for a San Francisco rock band in the sixties. I had a car, and the guys in the band drove it into the ground. I figured that if I got another one, the same thing would happen, so I got a bike because I knew no one would borrow it. It turned out that I was good at cycling. That was 40 years ago and now I have some really nice bikes.

 

[stevew]

I have never been without a bike.

 

[Damo]

My whole life was centered around surfing. I've been surfing since I was a little lad. I wasn't interested in bikes in the least.

However, a surf friend introduced me to mountain bikes by letting me use one of his bikes and we went on a few rides together with some others. I found I was alright on a bike and it slowly replaced surfing as my number one sport.

Surfing was too fickle, relying on a lot of different conditions coming together and I was getting disillusioned often with traveling and getting shtty waves.

Mountain biking on the other hand could be done anytime regardless of the conditions.

 

[Da Peach]

'cause MMike told me it was cool.

 

[rockarollah]

I always liked biking when I was young, thought it was a fun thing to do. Was really hard on bikes too... I wore out my 24" mountain bike's wheels from skids, then bashed in the rims, etc...

I was a teenager at the time when mountain biking was 'cool' (was 13 in '96) and started reading books and magazines on it. From my first job, I saved and bought a '97 Trek 6000 in early '98, joined two clubs that season and never looked back. I'm so glad I had that sport at that time, it got me a new group of friends and helped me get through teenhood.

12 years later and after university, a career, bunch of moves across the country, still loving it. It's the sort of sport where you're always meeting new people and finding new places to ride. And yes, it's great going from an old hardtail with a Quadra 5 and cantis to a FS bike with proper suspension and hydro disks.

 

[Prettym1k3]

Back in 2005 I sold off all of my cars (well, both of them) and spent $240.00 on a Haro V12 Hardtail bike with an SR Suntour fork that I thought was the shiz. I rode that bike to the bus to get to college.

A few weeks later, my buddy called me and told me that he wanted to take me mountain biking. I get there, and all I see is Hayes 8" rotors, 888 RC2's, Bullits, Norco Shores, Vanillas, DHX Coils, and anywhere from 6-8" of suspension.

4 weeks later I went and bought a used Iron Horse SGS Pro and never looked back.

I've been riding as little as once a week or as much as 3-4 times a week ever since then. It's my outlet, and I have my buddies Todd and Isaac to thank for it. They don't ride anymore (Todd got a new job far away and Isaac went the route of Moto-X and wakeboarding), but man... I owe my passion to them. ALL to them.

 

[jimmydean]

BMX in my younger years until skateboards dominated my life until about 1987. Then got into road racing for 2 years, but never had the dedication to devote HOURS of training since chicks are fun to ride, too.

Bought my first mountain bike in 1992 living in San Diego after dating the bike shop owners daughter. Never rode it much, then it got stolen. 2 months later I won a "2 wheel drive" bike from 91X for some outdoor expo. Rode that POS when I moved to Portland, then upgraded to my ProFlex 855 pogo stick of death.

Stopped riding much until 1999 when I started seeing freeride videos. Bought a Stinky and rode the piss out of that bike.

I still don't ride as much as I'd like, but I enjoy it. I am really digging the SS dirt jumper at the skate park and BMX track with my daughter. This summer I will be out a lot more and racing BMX in the old man cruiser class. It's cheaper and easier access than downhill, but I would like to build a DH rid again soon.

 

[I Are Baboon]

Riding a bike was a big part of my youth, since I had three paper routes and the bike was necessary. As far mountain biking goes though, the wife got me into it. She was a mountain biker when we met and I was not. She convinced me to join her once and I was immediately hooked.

 

[MMike]

since I was a little lad.

How did Da Peach not pick up on this?

 

[Da Peach]

My whole life was centered around surfing. I've been surfing since I was a little lad. I wasn't interested in bikes in the least.

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How did Da Peach not pick up on this?

I know! Damn iPhone... I'm back at me real computer now, so....










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Damo:

 

[MMike]

Berries and cream!!!

 

[sanjuro]

Didn't get a drivers license until I was 21.

 

[Jeremy R]

Didn't get a drivers license until I was 21.

Big props to you.
Now, if only other Asians would follow your fine example....

 

[AngryMetalsmith]

I raced BMX as a kid for 3 years then got into skating and did that up until art school. I had a Schwinn Mesa Runner that I commuted on and started doing longer rides. In 1990 or 91 ( a little fuzzy ) I bought a Trek 7000, the one with the neon green splatter paint and started doing XC races. I spent a few years racing all over the Southeast and Mid Atlantic. I did over 40 sport class races. In '95 I opened my first studio/gallery and got serious about my career and quit training. I kept riding but didn't get amped up until I bought a '97 Specialized FSR and got into DH. I got a bunch of top 5 finishes and decided to move up to expert, that would be the last time I saw the podium. Oh well I had a lot of fun. Twenty years of mountain biking and I still love it.

 

[jdcamb]

I was talking to Jeebus one day and he said I was getting Fat and thought I should get a DUI and lose my License. I bought a bike and rode with Jeebus a few times, but man is he fast. So my goal was to be as fast as Jeebus. After I won a few world championship and beat lance in the tour I have leveled off and now just ride for fun. After a few more years I ran into Jeebus again, I asked him where he has been. He told me to look at those deep trenches in the wet trails behind him. Apperently he has been right behind me the whole time... That Jeebus fellow is way cool! I just wish he would take a shower and get his bike tuned up.....

 

[dante]

Started when I was about 4 on a little 12" wheeled bike with no chain and no training wheels. Thankfully my house was on a hill, so I'd start at the top and coast down, and when I got to the bottom I'd just fall off. (there's a picture of me in my Easter Sunday suit ripping down said hill on a bigwheel, but I don't have it in digital form at the moment)

From there I lived on bikes until I got to college, doing quite a bit of mtn biking either on my parents property or on the dirt-bike trails across the street. Got out of it in college, but the year after I graduated one of my friends (who I'd been mtn biking with in HS) said he'd put down a deposit on a mtn bike at WalMart. The bike was so light, "he could lift it with ONE ARM!!" I thought this was an excellent idea, bought a GT Aggressor the following weekend...

He hardly ever rode that bike, and sold it a year or so later to another friend.

I rode every day and somehow ended up in the cycling industry...

Interesting how our lives evolve and take various paths.

 

[KleinGuy]

I was on a bike everyday as a kid. I don't remember how old I was when I got my first bike (5 or 6 maybe?). Started riding it the morning I got it on training wheels. By the end of the same day I had gone to one training wheel and then none at all! I rode around my neighborhood and jumped on our homemade ramps a lot until I was about 12. Then my parents would actually let me go back into the woods behind our house by myself. I got with some friends and we made some trails. I decided that it was starting to suck on all the hilly spots and creek crossings on a single speed BMX bike. I noticed my brothers Schwinn road bike had gears and a lightbulb went off in my head. So I started riding his road bike on the trails until he found out and started yelling at me, ha. Thats when I got my Pacific Mountain bike from Toys r us. I broke it in 3 months and talked my dad into getting me a new Diamondback Sorrento DX (fully rigid). After 4 months of riding it my friend that I always rode with got a new Gary Fisher with a Judy XC on the front. I was so mad! So after about 3 months of mowing lawns and selling some of my stuff, along with my Diamondback, I bought a new 1997 Klein Pulse Pro. Started riding real trails, racing and buying more bikes. Haven't looked back since!

 

[kingbee]

I think I was in Jr. High when my buddy down the street took me on a short hiking trail in the woods by our neighborhood. I think the trial was maybe a half mile. But thats all it took to get me hooked on riding single track.

I rode the Walmart 10spd until the wheels were so un-true that they rubbed on the frame (I unhooked the brakes just so I could keep riding). After months of begging and mowing lawns I purchased a Trek 6000, eventually upgraded to a Judy XC long travel...80mm.

A guy I went to church with found out I mtn biked and took me to my first "real trail". I was hooked even more. Lots of camping and biking trips through high school and college. Once I got my first real job I spent every dime on building more bikes. To this day I still get the same excited feeling of flying through trails. I got into DH and DJ for a few seasons even raced for a while. I have gone back to riding XC, though I still love a smooth drop or a couple big jumps.

That was probably 18 years ago when I really started riding.

 

[Pesqueeb]

I did it for the chicks

Well, now we know what happened to Missy Giove.

 

[golgiaparatus]

Was competitive swimmer from 8-23. After college I needed some kind of athletic activity... some old swimmer buddies talked me into buying a $700 trek hard tail... that was 10 years ago.

 

[OGRipper]

I can't remember not being into bikes. I was hooked from the time I rode a tricycle. Got my first bmx bike when I was like 9 or something. Got my first bike shop job at 13 after the owner saw me doing tricks. Once in the shop world I got exposed to all kinds of bikes and that was it.

 

[boogenman]

A buddy of mine got a MTB for his birthday and his dad got a bike too so they could ride together, I ended up riding with him not his dad.

They were old ass Scotts, probably 1992 models. I got my first bike in 1993, a Diamondback Sorrento Sport. I delivered a $hit ton of newspapers to buy that bike.

 

[Westy]

Got a Raleigh Renegade when I was 4, all over after that.

 

[pnj]

First bike in 1977 at the age of 7. Schwinn Jr. StingRay

Saw a BMX Plus! magazine on a family trip around 1981. Turned my bike into a bmx by taking off the bannana seat and stealing the seat off my brothers 12 speed.

Saved up cash to buy a Redline MX II frame/fork.
Raced in the ABA, 12-13 year novice class. I sucked.

FREESTYLIN' the magazine came out in 1983/84. I was hooked. I didn't have to get a ride to the race track or try to pedal really fast. I could just hang out in a parking lot and do tricks.

 

[binary visions]

When I was in 6th grade, we moved in the middle of the school year. At the time, I was unhappy about the move: I really liked where we were, and moving in the middle of the school year sucks, especially in middle school, and we were moving from this very rural area to the middle of Main St in a much larger city. Plus, we were only moving to a temporary rental house while we built a house - but the houses weren't in the same school district, so any roots I put down were just going to be torn up again 6 months later.

Consequently, I spent a lot of that year burying myself in various distractions. After I wore the heck out of a crappy hand-me-down BMX bike, my dad bought me my first real bike - a Schwinn Sidewinder. It was primarily ridden on roads and dirt paths but I rode that thing into the ground over the course of 3 years. I learned just enough about maintenance to keep it from falling apart, or to re-attach something when it came off.

Up until that point, I kinda thought everyone used bikes for transportation and I was the only one who took off for a ride just to be on two wheels and enjoy the outdoors. Then, when I got into high school, I found that there were lots of people who rode for fun and trails around to be ridden. Been riding ever since.

 

[gonefirefightin]

saw some hot chicks doing it, good way to meet them, now I look at thier bike first