Your very first ride

[davdandy]

Are you SURE?

Methinks there was a bit of sneaky editing!

Damn,you got me bang to rights.Call the rozzers.

 

[Dayvo]

Damn,you got me bang to rights.Call the rozzers.

 

[Pat "5mph"]

Never having been on a bike for decades, about 10 years ago I took a fancy on a BSO at a car boot sale.
Rode it to town for coffee with my friend and back, a 12 mile round trip, without ill effects, but I must have walked the hill home, can't quite remember.
Cycled mostly on the pavement, did not know any better!
Continued riding the bso occasionally during summer, for short trips, knowing nothing about putting air in the tyres!
Never had sore bum problems, thought walking up hills was perfectly normal
Another 5 years passed before starting cycle commuting in earnest ... still on my bso!
Discovering Cycle Chat opened my eyes: wot, it needs ... oil???

 

[s7ephanie]

about a year ago after car finally gave up i decided to ride to shops HA i got about 1500 meters up the road (incline) and had to return home - within a week i had made it to village and no stopping me now, although hills are still a problem

 

[Dayvo]

about a year ago after car finally gave up i decided to ride to shops HA i got about 1500 meters up the road (incline) and had to return home - within a week i had made it to village and no stopping me now, although hills are still a problem

You don't have to walk down them!

 

[BrynCP]

November 2013. I did 3.3 miles, which was a boring 3 laps around my local streets as I was afraid I couldn't ride in a straight enough line to be out in traffic. Averaged 9.6mph and was tired out after it.

Eight months on, and today in comparison I just completed 18.5 miles in 1hr 5, averaged 17mph and am still awake! (That's my best average speed to date, my best distance is 66 miles)

 

[raleighnut]

There's never been a time in my life when I didn't own and ride at least 1 bike

 

[Katherine]

I've always ridden, to college and work before I had a car or a family! Started seriously about 3 years ago when I saw the advert for the first Great Manchester Cycle. Up till then, I had some trouser clips and a sam brown reflective belt. Now I have waterproofs, lots of dri fit and reflective clothes and I've worn out the bike! I didn't have a holder for a water bottle before I started training and it's only this year that I've discovered electrolyte drinks and energy bars.
I started by doing about 7 miles, including stopping at the top of a hill to admire the view. After a few months, riding one lap of 13 miles in the Manchester Cycle was so easy that I immediately started training for 2 laps which I did last year. After Christmas this year I started training for 50 miles for sports relief in March which was a challenge!!! Jobs at home and in the garden have claimed me now, but I'm still doing 40 miles a week. I don't want to lose everything that I've gained!

 

[ScotiaLass]

Guys,i said childhood excepted.I was referring to rides since you took the hobby up seriously,in recent times not as young sprogs.

Didn't see that....but first childhood memories are nice too

 

[Berties]

Never road for years,came back to a 13 mile commute on a old thumper of a mountain bike ,first run in's took over one hour ,tea towel taped to saddle bottom on fire,over taken by old boys leather saddled tourers(just a Image set in my mind)
Changed bikes upgraded,got more miles down,now can do ride in 36 mins average 20.5mph

 

[Bryony]

Last year was my first time back on a bike in about 11 years. I managed 2 miles but it almost killed me! The cycling bug bit me though and now I'm planning my first 50 miler!

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

If I exclude childhood (cycled all through my childhood as well), then I guess that would put me in U6th form and subsequently university, so my first ride would probably have been a very boring commute on my old BSA racer (5 speed) from my rented accommodation in Ashton-on-Ribble to uni lectures in Preston city (?) centre, an entire 2 miles each way.

 

[Cubist]

I broke my leg in a bike smash back in 1993. I hadn't ridden a push bike since I was at Uni, and in those days federation insurance used to pay a few quid a week if you were off sick or injured. As part of the rehab I bought a used Emelle MTB with the £150 that accrued, in the days before the Chinese bought the brand and turned it into tat. I used it to get myself back to fitness, and the first ride in it was York to Selby. Loved it , then lost interest after a few months, and the bike was put into the garage. In 2008 a mate persuaded me to dust it down and ride the Colne Valley MTB challenge route with him and the local Cubs and Scout group who organise and Marshall the challenge. Cubester was the proud owner of a sports shop MTB at the time. We rode a condensed child friendly version of the route, but it still involved some epic climbing and some decent bridle ways. I remember coming down one section at speed unable to focus cos my eyeballs were jiggling so much. We probably did about fifteen miles that day, and I remember a fair bit of pushing ( I was about 17 stone and a heavy smoker) but I was bitten by the bug big style.

 

[davdandy]

Funny as some of us oldies still refer to a road bike as a push bike or a push iron.

 

[w00hoo_kent]

I mucked about on bikes as a kid. Bought my first racer at 15 in '85 and it was my freedom until I could start driving, I presume if got sold/scrapped at some point. My old man turned up with a purple Raliegh MTB in '91 (looking back, probably nicked and bought in a pub for £20) basically a race frame with knobbly tyres, which I did trails on and commuted a bit, by '92 I was living in Aylesford and my commute included a bit of my current Chatham commute (if I met my 22 year old self now I'd show them a clean set of heels in no time flat) I got married in '92 in the Autumn and came back to bad weather which stopped me commuting and I rode a lot less. In '94 I had a motorbike accident that left me with significant back problems and from that fitness issues. In 2011 I threw the purple Raliegh away during a clear out (I still regret that) within 6 months I'd bought a second hand hard tail Mongoose and my first ride out on that would have been with my teenager, driving with the bikes across the Medway valley to avoid the hills and trying to do 7 miles or so of flat, muddy trails and failing hideously I was so unfit (and around 23 stone at this point) then working out every ride from our house goes uphill at some point, we live midway up the valley, and almost dying trying to do a less than 4 mile loop on the road. We were talking a few days ago and my now almost 20 year old said back then I was a sweating mass of flab saying "I'm done for, go on without me, bury me where I fall" whereas now they couldn't keep up with me if they wanted to :-)

So, a 3.7 mile loop with, looking back on it, maybe 200ft of elevation.