How long have you been riding now.

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CourierDriver, what a good topic!

I was a very unathletic child and didn't learn to ride a bike until I was seven. My parents had bought me this mutant used bike will balloon tires that got frequent flats, and replaced it with a new Glider from Eaton's. (Dad was not at all mechanical and didn't know how to fix a flat.) The Glider was red with 20" wheels, single-speed with a coaster brake. It had the standard "endorsed by Gordie Howe" sticker on the frame. I was smitten. In retrospect this bike held up amazingly well for three years until it was stolen when I was 10, getting basically no maintenance. The one exception was the rear hub - it had a small port with a spring-loaded flap over it, and I used to squirt a bit of 3-in-1 oil in there periodically. (Foreshadowing for a future BITOGer!) The other thing I had was a leather woggle that went around the rear hub and keep it shiny clean.

The Gliders were manufactured by Raleigh of Nottingham back then, and were really good bikes. Heavy by modern standards, but very durable. (Expensive too - I remember seeing the littlest Glider with 16" wheels hanging on the wall at the Polo Park Eaton's in 1964, with its $39.99 price tag, which works out to C$330 now!)

After the 1st Glider was stolen, I went without a bike for a year, and then when I was 11 my parents bought me another single-speed Glider, this one green with 24" wheels. I rode it for about three years before completely outgrowing it. I walked or bused for a couple of years and then got very into cars and had no interest in cycling. So in all I cycled for about six years when young.

I did not own a bike for over 10 years after that. In April of my 2nd year and final semester at technical college I tired of riding "the iron lung" (Winnipeg Transit) to school and bought a used Canadian Tire (CCM?) 5-speed from a classmate ($60, probably about half-price of new) and started cycle commuting. No helmet, no cycling clothes, and I was not that fit, but what a difference it made! To that point I'd worried that I might not make it through the course, but cycling seemed to really help with my academic work. Blood flow to the brain or whatever. I felt great, and my fitness improved dramatically. As a student I also really appreciated saving $20 or so on monthly bus passes.

I rode that bike for a couple of years, and then bought my first good bike, a new Norco Bigfoot 15-speed mountain bike.

Cycling 2.0 started in April 1982, so 37-1/2 years ago. (How did I ever get to be this old?) I am in awe of CR94's accumulated mileage. My best estimate would be that I've ridden about a third of what he has - probably at least 150K km, but likely less than 200K km. (So I guess the between 1964 and now that works out to about 43-1/2 years of cycling.)

My wife is an avid cyclist, and we cycle year-around, using our fat bikes and studded tires in the winter. (So I've come full circle - back to balloon tires, but unlike my 1st bike, these almost never go flat.)

Our sons are also dedicated cyclists, and we fully expect that the next generation will be as well.
 
I rode all the time as a kid on my department store bike. Even a couple of years in college when I had no car.

Between 1985 and 2012, not so much.

I got back into it in 2012 with an, at the time, last years left over Giant Defy 2 road bike. I might ride a 1000 miles a year outside as I usually only get to ride on weekends, so probably a couple hundred miles per month over the course of 5 to 6 months.
 
Its a beautiful day here in Chattanooga tn, riding is on the menu...high around 60/ windy, but clear as of now...
 
Originally Posted by CourierDriver
Its a beautiful day here in Chattanooga tn, riding is on the menu...high around 60/ windy, but clear as of now...
Not quite as nice here ... started out around -10 C (12 F) heading into a nasty N wind for our 10 km ride to church. Lots of ice on the side streets, but we were OK with the studded tires. The sun came up in a clear sky after several cloudy days and it was glorious. Coming home was great with full sun on our faces and the wind at our backs.

Talked with a couple of gentlemen at church, both in their late 80s and both still riding regularly. Keep it going, Courier Driver!
 
Originally Posted by Number_35
Originally Posted by CourierDriver
Its a beautiful day here in Chattanooga tn, riding is on the menu...high around 60/ windy, but clear as of now...
Not quite as nice here ... started out around -10 C (12 F) heading into a nasty N wind for our 10 km ride to church. Lots of ice on the side streets, but we were OK with the studded tires. The sun came up in a clear sky after several cloudy days and it was glorious. Coming home was great with full sun on our faces and the wind at our backs.

Talked with a couple of gentlemen at church, both in their late 80s and both still riding regularly. Keep it going, Courier Driver!

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