Just curious as to what got everyone in to this sport. Personally I started about 14 years ago because my brother in law bought a cheap bike, well cheap by what I we gave for our last bikes. I think he gave 350.00 for it. We were in to lifting weights and he bought the bike to get in some cardio. He talked me in to buying a Gary Fisher Marlin for 300.00. I couldn't believe I was paying that for a bike. My very first ride was on Caney Loop. I suffered, that's about all I can say about it. The second ride was also Caney and I still suffered but had a blast, I was officially hooked. Within 6 months I payed 1000.00 for a GT Zaskar, sold my weights and dreamed only of riding. I still have the passion but do mostly road riding these days. Not because I like it more than mtbiking, mostly due to trail conditions around here. I really miss the trails.
How bout you guys? What got you started?
March 31, 2007 by Boonerider
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What got me started cycling
I always had a passion for mountain biking. When I was a little boy around 13 years of age I took my fifteen speed on the horse trails behind my barn. I would ride to the top of the point and descend down the steep side of the hill. I'm not sure how I survived didn't crash now that I look back on it. I first started to get into some serious mountain biking in 02-03. I joined a group after school back home. It was a center and they tried to provide activities that young people would enjoy. The activity I was most interest in was mountain biking. We trained on back roads and some trails in eastern kentucky for a trip to the Sheltowee and other trails in the London/Cumberland area. My bike at that time was a Mongoose that I purchased from Wal-Mart. I could have borrowed one of the bikes at the center, but I was afraid that I would break something on it. We stayed at the Holly Bay campground and the riding at London was a blast. We went after some big rains a few weeks earlier so we got to see some spectacular waterfalls. It couldn't have worked out any better. The trails were fairly dry and we got to see the falls that are usually dried up. By the end of that trip I had warped my rear rim and busted the grip shift for my rear derailleur. I had another shifter at home and I fixed the rim, but I realized department store bikes were not designed for mountain biking. None of the bikes from the center were broken. Wait I think someone broke a rear derailleur shifter, but that's not bad considering we were all newbs and there were maybe 6-10 riders.
Now I have purchased my own bike at Cave Run bikes. It's a Giant Yukon and I got it for 450 dollars, a fortune for a college student, but I had to have disc brakes after riding in London. The water and dirt from streams will eat your break pads and not to mention your breaks aren't as strong. My student loan money bought me this bike, but I didn't care. I felt like I deserved a present after being in college for three years. Now I've gotten my girlfriend into mountain biking. She has already started claiming the Yukon. I’m hoping it will work out so we can spend some quality time together and stay fit. It also gives me a reason to upgrade my bike for the future.
The disc brakes, which I had to have, already saved my life or kept me from crashing into a ditch full of rock. I was traveling around 50 or so mph down a paved mountain to find a gate closed at the bottom. The road goes from the top directly down the side of the mountain. My bike was brand new at the time. I had to see how fast I could get it going. The brakes got so hot my discs changed to the color purple. If it was V-brakes I'm sure they would have melted. I'm very glad I decided on getting disc brakes since I'm not smart enough to scout the area ahead of me.
Oh yea, my first ride, on the Yukon, was at the Caney Loop. I still enjoy that trail a lot and I hate to see it destroyed by the horses. The fast single track is a lot of fun.
Caney Back in the day
Rod I wish you could have ridden it when it was pristine. It was so fast and fun, you could do the whole 9.9 mile loop in under 50 minutes. Man I took the trails for granted back then. I didn't know that one day they would be trampled to death.
I wrote our State Rep. Hal Rogers a long letter regarding trail conditions today. I hope that it does some good.
Approx. 15 yrs. ago I had
Approx. 15 yrs. ago I had been riding about 1,000 miles per year on the road (a recent hire at the place I worked, who was straight out of college, talked me into getting a road bike). Needing a little more challenge and excitement I decided to give mountain biking a try.
Back in those days, the city of Lou. would hold "police" auctions and I purchased an old Raleigh M-20, rigid, that they dragged upon stage for only $10. It was missing a front wheel (got one that someone had put out in the trash) and a seat and seat post. The seat post tube was damaged and I had to take a hand reamer and ream it out to accept the seat post. Many of those first rides ended up w/me dismounting the bike as it took spill after spill, often careening end over end down a steep portion of trail.
Approx. 1 year after that I purhcased a $650 Gary Fisher Hoo Koo E Koo (or something like that) and due to the purchase price, I was a bit hesitant to ride it too hard.
Due to our often times rainy weather and respect for the trails, I now split my time between road and off-road.
DBNF Trails...
I know what you mean, Boone. I raced BMX back in the early to mid '80's and started mountain biking while I was at MSU back in '89. I bought a chartreuse Haro Impulse Comp with the elevated chainstays mail-order on my first Visa (it took me 7 years to pay off that $500 bike) but had to wait a day to take it to the trails because the build was accompanied by a 12 pack of Bush Light. Needless to say, my first trip out by Stony Cove hooked me for life. I took about 8 years off after I got married and started a family, but I have fortunately returned to the mountain bike and am very appreciative of the trails we have a Capitol View. I've always wanted to go back to Cave Run and ride the old Caney Loop, but it doesn't sound like it would be worth the trip. I'll be heading that way in May for a conference at Carter Caves...I'll bring my bike "just in case".
Fadeto
Let me know when you are coming and maybe we can get together and ride. Caney is just one of many trails here and there are much better trails here even when Caney is in good shape.
@ Boonerider
I'll be heading up there on the 15th of May and my conference is on the 16th and 17th. I should be able to ride most of the afternoon on the 15th, any other ride would have to be a quick one. Thanks for the invite and I look forward to revisiting those trails.
I would have loved to have
I would have loved to have road the Caney Loop back in the day. I bet it would have been a blast. I would like to get up with you and fadeto if you don't care. If you don't I won't be offended though. Oh yea I'll be in Morehead all summer so I can do some serious riding. Anyone doing rails for trails?
I'm glad you wrote Hal Rogers. I hope we can get something done about this.
Rod
Of course you are invited. The bigger the group the better the ride. The only reason I haven't invited you out for a ride already is that I haven't been on the trails since they thawed out. I've been a roadie lately. As soon as the spring rains subside we will hit the trails for sure. Trail conditions will improve this summer, they always do.
Why you started cycling
I got my first mountain bike in 1998. At the time I was wrenching and when I pulled a bright orange rigid Cannondale M400 out of a box I knew it had to be mine. I'd ridden a rental bike or two previously on my initial geared cranking times. Riding a bike in the woods away from society while just being at one with the bike rules. I think I'll be riding in the woods until I'm dead....
Why I started cycling
I bought my first cheap mountain bike about 4 years ago just to ride around on the road. It was a 300.00 GT something. I decided to try a trail or two in Cherokee park and was hooked. The next two years I slowly started to ride more and last year did my first few races on a new race fit rig. It has been great. I am finally starting to get the confidence and fitness level to the point where I can enjoy a ride and still enjoy the rest of the day. It has been a slow process, but it has been a great one too. I hope to become a much better rider in the next few years and incorporate road riding in as more than just something to do when the trails are wet. Well that's pretty much it.
@Rdenny
"I hope to become a much better rider in the next few years and incorporate road riding in as more than just something to do when the trails are wet. Well that's pretty much it."
That's the reason I bought a road bike. I just wanted something to do when the trails were wet.
Weirdest thing happened. I actually love road riding. I always swore that I would never get a road bike and if I did there was no way I would like it. Oh well shows what I know.
ridin w/ Boonerider
I haven't had time to ride to be honest with you. I went for an 8 mile ride with my friend on some fireroads out toward Morehead's golf course, on 60 near the new powerline, and it was okay. I was thinking about doing a huge loop someday. Leave the campus, ride past the golf course take a left, and then ride down at Rodburn. I need to drive that in my car to get an idea of what I'm getting myself into, but it would be a nice training loop. I just realized I could bike on around to campus if I have the energy.
This storm has messed everything up. A ton of fast falling rain just hit the trails and now another rain will have to hit them again before it gets warm. I wish these midlatitude cyclones would leave us alone.
I just reread your post and you're right about the summer conditions. I just rented a place in Morehead so I'll be around. Oh yea if you know anyone with an affordable road bike let me know. I think someone abandoned a classic huffy 10 speed road bike on campus so I may ride it until I can get something decent. I love biking in general so I believe I'll enjoy road riding.
A few years back,
say about 48 years ago, in W.Va., my friends and I would take shortcuts between streets via some dirt paths which connected them. Had a red, Western Auto coaster braked, fendered, tank back then. But I sure did love to ride it. Then I bought a 3-spd hubbed bike, think it might have been a Columbia, or something like that. I put it together out of pieces from boxes. Put new bearings in the hubs and adjusted them, when I was about 9-10 years old. And figured out how to adjust that 3 spd perfectly! My first "build". THen I stopped for a long time. My family moved to Md., I got married, moved to a nice semi-rural area, and there was a rail-trail nearby. I had an old 10 or 12 spd in the garage and started riding the rail trail (about 15-16 years ago). After a while, bought a hybrid, then a mtn.bike, and started riding around the York-Shrewsbury Pa. areas. Some great parks with miles and miles of trails, and a club with which the local park systems works well. Just bought a road bike, and probably will end up road riding as much as trail riding, as most trails are a fair distance from where I now live, here in KY. I'll still mtn.bike, but probably not as much as I used to. Have to see how it works out once warmer weather hits. It doesn't help that my mtn.bike is a tank, but at 56 yrs old, I don't see myself spending a bit of coin on something I don't ride that often anymore. Still enjoy trail riding, but not much on log crossings and the more technical terrain now.