Why do you cycle?

[Night Train]

Depends on the ride itself.
When I am over in York to see Arch I can't park near her home so I ride from where I can park the car. It is also easier to get around York by bike then by car when I am too lazy to walk. It is also easier to move stuff about by bike and trailer when we are doing craft fairs, car boots and auto jumbles, or if I am delivering stuff to St Nicholas Fields.

At home I ride, so as to not drive locally, when I can. It is a practical thing.

When Arch and I are meeting up with friends, on and off the forums, I am cycling for fun and social pleasure.

Overall I am a practical cyclist, getting from A to B and transporting stuff. It is just a mode of transport that is usually fun and healthy too. I don't do mountain biking, racing (against the clock or others), stunts, distance for the sake of it, or many of the other 'cycling type stuff' except for going out to eat cake and drink tea with other like minded people on bikes.

 

[Nebulous]

I've never done any exercise/ sport seriously. I spent about 20 years slowly, so slowly that nobody really noticed, getting fatter. Yet I always had an idea that sometime in some way I'd change it. I started losing weight, and when keeping the weightloss going became more difficult, I looked for a way of upping my exercise to burn more calories. I didn't want to run as I wasn't sure my knees would cope. So I bought a roadbike two years ago and it took off from there.

The bike quickly became more important than the weight. My main driver is speed and competing. I look at faster people and ask myself what it would take to get there. My times have improved this year, but I'm still a long way off the good guys, even the good guys in my age group. I'm determined to do what it takes to become more competitive. If I do that and it doesn't work, then so be it - that's life. I don't want this to be another of those "I wonder how it would have been if I'd taken that seriously?" moments.

 

[Hip Priest]

getting sick of sweaty armpits in my face 1st thing in the morning on the bus and tube was another factor in why i ride.

For me it was more the unreliability. I finish at 5pm and was regularly getting home after 6pm. Cycling, I'm home between 5:30 and 5:35, pretty much guaranteed.

 

[subaqua]

For me it was more the unreliability. I finish at 5pm and was regularly getting home after 6pm. Cycling, I'm home between 5:30 and 5:35, pretty much guaranteed.

thats also a bonus for me.


door to door its quicker than the tube bus and walk i need

 

[SimonJKH]

I needed to find a form of exercise that I could actually enjoy.

 

[subaqua]

I needed to find a form of exercise that I could actually enjoy.

i found one of them with my girlfriend who then turned into my wife

 

[Sittingduck]

If I could cycle all day every day I think I would.

Work gets in the way

I'd go along with this. I think somebody from this very forum wrote that 'work is just something that gets in the way of bike rides'. Never a truer word has been written, IMHO

 

[tonyhalsall]

I have a number of hobbies and interests and find that in all of them - many people are more fanatical than I am.
I fly light aircraft and microlights for fun and I have been doing it since 1987 but my hours are considerably less than average because I just do it for fun.
I ride motorcycles but I am not part of any group and I don't indulge in mammoth tours and outings
I enjoy cycling - but just in my own way and in my own time
I think we should all do just what we want without feeling pressurised or intimated by peer pressure to adopt someone else's view of how we should partake in our hobby.

 

[Dave 123]

I cycle to get to work- the days I don't I feel crap!
I cycle for leisure and fitness.
I cycle to get tired.... tired is better than fidgety and bored.
I cycle because I can. One day I will be put in a box, and the buggers will screw the lid down!

 

[SpokeyDokey]

I just like being outdoors doing stuff.

 

[MattHB]

To start with I rode to loose weight, then I started riding to commute as well because I love it, then to get fitter, now I'm fit I ride to get super fit and to try to see just how fast I can be I love it more the better I get. I've met some great friends too.

 

[AndyPeace]

I cycle because it does me good. Not just physically, but also confidnce, mood and pride. I'm not that fast and compared to many dont go that far but it's always a highlight in my day to be out on a bike.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Only started cycling because I was sick of the bus!

This.
Only started a year ago, should have started it 30 years ago!
All those years wasted waiting for buses, not going places or even not taking jobs because of bad public transport
Some unexpected advantages of my cycling have been:
weight loss
much improved mood and stamina
discovery of places on my doorstep not noticed before
discovery of places further afield never bothered to visit before
... new pals!

 

[Boon 51]

Its go to work or go for a ride... non contest..
PS.. Plus SHMBO says I get under her feet...

 

[Ian H]

After 'commuting' to school on a bike I quickly learned that I was more suited to endurance than speed, and turned to touring, which gradually became more long-distance. Rode a few road-races in my youth, still ride time-trials (planning my fourth 24hr next year). Most of my riding nowadays is touring, audax (obviously) and TTs.