Why Did You Stop? Why Did You Start Again?

A recent post by someone who, as an adult, is just wanting to start riding, got me thinking.  I've been riding since age 4, and have always considered myself a cyclist, even when I lived in bike-unfriendly suburbs and didn't ride very often.

For those of you who went years without riding, or didn't start until adulthood, I'd like to know how and why you went from non- cyclist to cyclist.

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Permalink Reply by Simon Phearson on March 2, 2014 at 2:25pm

I biked as a child, but not much after adolescence until I picked it back up in my "poor student" years - it was how I got around without a car in cities that were designed around living with cars, after I moved off campus. After graduating, I bike-commuted for a couple of years before going back to school, when I dropped it again because I lived within walking distance of school and (then being in Chicago) could rely on public transit for everything else.

My current phase: I've taken it up again more seriously in the past couple of years because I missed the sort of mindset biking puts me in. It's also helped me to get in the best shape of my life. But it wouldn't have been nearly as feasible, given my present circumstances, if my workplace didn't have things like on-site locker and bike rooms. 

Permalink Reply by Joe Guzzardo on March 2, 2014 at 3:22pm

Hi Simon, Wow, on-site locker and bike rooms. That's really cool. Mind telling us where you work? As for myself, I starting bike commuting when I was working at 600 W Chicago, a very bike friendly work place. Riding along the LFT for most of that commute was great and I've been trying to do it ever since, but unfortunately, not this winter.

Simon Phearson said:

I biked as a child, but not much after adolescence until I picked it back up in my "poor student" years - it was how I got around without a car in cities that were designed around living with cars, after I moved off campus. After graduating, I bike-commuted for a couple of years before going back to school, when I dropped it again because I lived within walking distance of school and (then being in Chicago) could rely on public transit for everything else.

My current phase: I've taken it up again more seriously in the past couple of years because I missed the sort of mindset biking puts me in. It's also helped me to get in the best shape of my life. But it wouldn't have been nearly as feasible, given my present circumstances, if my workplace didn't have things like on-site locker and bike rooms. 

Permalink Reply by Simon Phearson on March 2, 2014 at 4:09pm

I don't feel comfortable sharing where I work, but I will say it's a newer building, so it's designed to be a bit more environment-friendly.

I've been fortunate in that my previous, non-office employers have also proven unusually receptive to bike-commuting. I worked at a grocery store for a year, for instance, and the managers there let me store my bike in the breakroom. Likewise, I worked at a factory for a couple of years where I could chain my bike in a less-trafficked area of the warehouse. Even when I was temping, I could often store my bike indoors (though more often I u-locked it around young trees, fence posts, etc.).


Joe Guzzardo said:

Hi Simon, Wow, on-site locker and bike rooms. That's really cool. Mind telling us where you work? As for myself, I starting bike commuting when I was working at 600 W Chicago, a very bike friendly work place. Riding along the LFT for most of that commute was great and I've been trying to do it ever since, but unfortunately, not this winter.

Simon Phearson said:

I biked as a child, but not much after adolescence until I picked it back up in my "poor student" years - it was how I got around without a car in cities that were designed around living with cars, after I moved off campus. After graduating, I bike-commuted for a couple of years before going back to school, when I dropped it again because I lived within walking distance of school and (then being in Chicago) could rely on public transit for everything else.

My current phase: I've taken it up again more seriously in the past couple of years because I missed the sort of mindset biking puts me in. It's also helped me to get in the best shape of my life. But it wouldn't have been nearly as feasible, given my present circumstances, if my workplace didn't have things like on-site locker and bike rooms. 

Permalink Reply by Drewbacca on March 2, 2014 at 4:41pm

I thought that I outgrew my bike, the car replaced it as transportation because I could and my destinations grew increasingly further away (living in rural PA). I wasn't about to get in the habit of riding 30+ miles on a dept. store bike. 

I got back into it while in the Navy since a number of my friends were recreational cyclists (and one a dedicated commuter). After a while, their hobby started to rub off. I bought my first adult bike after I got out of the military and took up commuting during version two of my college years (in Seattle). I've been a dedicated cyclist ever since. Seeing adults on bikes made a big difference in my perspective. 

Permalink Reply by Reboot Oxnard on March 3, 2014 at 1:17am

What can I say, I'm a leisure rider, not a lifestyle rider. I like cycling - a lot - but it's an adjunct to my life, not the center of it. Give me a nice trail and I'm a happy guy, even going for days. But as soon as it stops being fun, I'm done. Much of my lifestyle simply doesn't integrate well with cycling: I'm not going to commute wearing a business suit, period; I'm not going to ride in the snow and the cold and usually avoid going out if it looks like rain; most of the time I value my hide too much to ride in city streets for anything other than short, strategic distances when nothing else is available, and; if I have to carry twenty pounds of chain and a tool kit so I can disassemble my bike before locking it up at each destination, nah, I'm going to use something with four wheels.

Cars are often faster, safer, more comfortable and more convenient than bikes. Heck, much of the time so is walking. That's a powerful argument to someone with a moral superstructure that's flexible enough to care about priorities like that. I rode a lot as a kid but the breeding years left me too little time and too few opportunities to indulge myself. Now that the spawn are gone and I'm semi-retired, I've gone from gazing wistfully at an old friend gathering dust in the garage to a small handful of toys that give me great pleasure.

Permalink Reply by Alex Z on March 3, 2014 at 4:07am

As a kid: lived in a subdivision, could bike to friends' houses but much else.

As an adult in Chicago: always wanted to bike but was scared of getting hit and killed by a car. Then at age 26, saw my girlfriend riding and felt emboldened. Haven't looked back. :)

Permalink Reply by Christine (5.0) on March 3, 2014 at 6:06am

Why I started

I learned to ride without training wheels when I was three and a half years old.  I always enjoyed cycling.  As a child, it was mostly around the cul-de-sac with my neighbor, and the occasional trail ride with the family.  It was nice.

Why I didn't do it much

I lived in a very car-centric suburb of St. Louis.  My highschool was only a mile away, so I walked.  I didn't consider biking, because there were so many hills, and no bike lanes.  The next closest thing was the grocery store, three miles away horizontally, and probably three miles vertically from the hills.  So, biking as a practical activity was never a thing.

Why I stopped

When I went to college, it was a very small campus.  There wasn't much point in biking for transportation around it, partially because it was more fun to walk and talk with friends anyway.  The college was off of a highway which led into town, which didn't feel very safe.  So although I brought a ($99 from Target) bike with me, I used it once or twice.  Then I left it locked in a basement for too long, and it got donated to Charity.  There was an internship where I could have used a bike to get to work... but it didn't even occur to me.

After college, I started working in Oakbrook Terrace, and I lived in Oak Park.  I didn't own a bicycle, and didn't have a place to store one.  I borrowed a bike from Greenline Wheels in Oak Park and tried out the route to work.  What should have taken 2-2.5 hours took... much longer.  I was pretty out of shape.  They were closed by the time I tried to return it (but they were cool about it, thanks guys!).  But I had a great time regardless, and thought, "man, I really need to get a bike."

Why I got a bike

Every year my dad does the MS150 in St. Louis.  His brother is a pretty big contributor to  my dad's fundraising efforts, so my dad gets to be a high level fundraiser.  With this he gets a $150 gift card to a LBS in St Louis.  With it in the past he has used the funds towards bikes for my mom, himself, and my sister, so finally it was my turn!  So I had to wait until I was in STL to pick it out, and then had to wait for them to be in Chicago to get it delivered, but finally, after I moved to Logan Square and worked in the city, I had a bike!

Why I became a full-time cyclist


Like I said, I've always liked cycling.  And it just made sense to start biking to work; it took slightly less time (thanks, .7 mile walk to the blue line), I realllly needed to get in shape (I'm maintaining a 65lb loss, although I still need to lose more) and it saved me the cost of a monthly CTA pass.  So, just like that, I became a cyclist, biking to work, to social events, and for errands and grocery shopping.

I still know very little about bikes, but when I was a driver I knew very little about cars, so whatever.

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on March 3, 2014 at 12:54pm

I don't know how old I was the year my sister and I got matching Schwinn single speed bikes.  Actually, I am older so I got a "26 inch" bike and she got a "24 inch" bike.  We must not have been much different heights then.  Now she has about 5 inches on me.  

I had to learn to ride it. No training wheels and I had a scar on my knee for most of my adult life to prove it. (Now the wrinkles cover it.) We lived on the northwest side and rode our bikes everywhere.  Then my parents joined the exodus to the suburbs and we moved to a place that was not close to anything.  Then I got to the age of getting a driver's license and it never occurred to me to ride a bike.

Fast forward about 40 years.  I had managed to get back to living in the city.  I wish I knew what made me decide I wanted to ride a bike again.  Maybe it was all those people I saw on Milwaukee.  Whatever it was, I started commuting and found out I love riding a bike.  I love commuting, I love riding for recreation, I love riding some longer distances, and I want to take some bike trips.  I have to admit, though, that I don't love riding in snow, and this winter has worn me down a bit.  The good thing about it has been that if it is above zero and sunny, I think it looks like a good day to ride to work!

Permalink Reply by Lisa Curcio on March 3, 2014 at 1:30pm

I don't know why, either.  But there is something so viscerally fun about riding a bike, that maybe that's it.

h' 1.0 said:

 but having a heck of a time remembering why it became so important to me so quickly.

Permalink Reply by Jose Zayas on March 3, 2014 at 3:11pm
I had a bike as a kid, I believe a Huffy from Sears. I remember riding for fun, putting a strip of a plastic cup so that when it hit the spokes it sounded like a motorcycle, fun memories. After that I went into skating because it was what was going on in my neighborhood, after that the "natural" progression went to a car. I grew up in Puerto Rico, an immensley car centric island, so owning a car was as much for transportation as it was a way of saying you were somebody. Not having a car put you in a wierd spot in high school and college life. Around 2008 the whole colorful fixie craze invaded the island. I was far behind but when I got in the whole PR bike culture I became consumed by riding. It felt liberating, I was drinking a lot less, smoking a lot less (cigarrettes), made me feel healthy while at the same time I could get to the beach without worrying about parking. Anyways, I'm not a good storyteller, but after moving to Chicago in 2012 it's become my side passion next to cooking. I would wear a jacket at 75 degrees in PR now I'm riding to work in below zero temps which makes me feel awesome! I have also become a much less car dependant person. I've gone from the colorful fixie craze to now owning three bikes, riding clipless, and hopefully dragging myself to my first race this year. Riding, wether half a mile to buy groceries or a few dozen to go to the Indiana border, makes me feel really effing great. In a sense it can be selfish sometimes, it's kind of me time, but in other ways it has helped with socializing with other people who enjoy cycling and others who just want to know how the hell people ride along cars and the winter and all that stuff. It just opens a new world, a new way to experience life and human connection with each other and nature, I guess.
Permalink Reply by Kevin C Dormant on March 3, 2014 at 3:23pm
You're an excellent storyteller and that's an excellent story.

Jose Zayas said:
I had a bike as a kid, I believe a Huffy from Sears. I remember riding for fun, putting a strip of a plastic cup so that when it hit the spokes it sounded like a motorcycle, fun memories. After that I went into skating because it was what was going on in my neighborhood, after that the "natural" progression went to a car. I grew up in Puerto Rico, an immensley car centric island, so owning a car was as much for transportation as it was a way of saying you were somebody. Not having a car put you in a wierd spot in high school and college life. Around 2008 the whole colorful fixie craze invaded the island. I was far behind but when I got in the whole PR bike culture I became consumed by riding. It felt liberating, I was drinking a lot less, smoking a lot less (cigarrettes), made me feel healthy while at the same time I could get to the beach without worrying about parking. Anyways, I'm not a good storyteller, but after moving to Chicago in 2012 it's become my side passion next to cooking. I would wear a jacket at 75 degrees in PR now I'm riding to work in below zero temps which makes me feel awesome! I have also become a much less car dependant person. I've gone from the colorful fixie craze to now owning three bikes, riding clipless, and hopefully dragging myself to my first race this year. Riding, wether half a mile to buy groceries or a few dozen to go to the Indiana border, makes me feel really effing great. In a sense it can be selfish sometimes, it's kind of me time, but in other ways it has helped with socializing with other people who enjoy cycling and others who just want to know how the hell people ride along cars and the winter and all that stuff. It just opens a new world, a new way to experience life and human connection with each other and nature, I guess.
Permalink Reply by Nançois on March 4, 2014 at 3:39am

I grew up riding a bike since about age 5. I remember the day my dad took the training wheels off my first bike and I just took off down the driveway immediately. Didn't realize back then that he had been looking forward to helping me learn to get my balance without the training wheels--oops! We lived in a small New England city, and I could bike everywhere--to school, downtown, in the forest preserve by our house--anywhere, as long as you could deal with the hills. By the time I graduated from college, though, I grew sick of dealing with them and by the time I moved out to Chicago it didn't even occur to me to bring my long-forgotten bike. I couldn't afford a car so walked and took CTA everywhere. Gradually, though, it dawned on me that Hey! It's totally flat here! So began a series of bikes (two junkers stolen, one more just given away when I finally got my first "nice" bike in 2001, which I still have along with two vintage additions to the fleet) and the renewed good times of riding everywhere.

When I was a kid, my dad would take all the family bikes out of the shed on Patriot's Day (Massachusetts holiday--third Monday in April) and put them in the garage for us to use all summer. They went back to the shed on the weekend Daylight Savings Time ended in the fall. But about five years ago I finally figured out that the good times didn't have to end in October. This is my fourth winter as a year-round biker and I figure if I can make it through this one, the next 30 years should be a breeze! Still no car, but now I ride to work in style. So happy to have found a community of people who offer continuous inspiration and advice!

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