My main focus was alpine ski racing from an early age through college. We used cycling as one way to gain aerobic fitness prior to the season. We also ran, lifted and did various plyometrics but, we did ride quite a bit. None of it competitive for me. In HS I hated cycling and running long distance but, tolerated it to be fit for ski racing. Once in college (late 80’s) mountain biking really took off and dominated my cycling vs. road and that is where I fell in love with the bike.
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I wrestled all through high school and played basketball for fun. After some heart issues I quit doing anything that elevated my heart rate. After putting on 50# I finally had enough I got my first bike at 32 and went from riding around real easy just to lose weight to racing MTB in 2 years.
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Basketball in high school.
Running in college. (Sorry, knees.)
Commuting by bike to first real job.
Commuting by bike to grad school.
First group ride with coworker at second real job → wait, my bike can be used for more than commuting?
Addiction sets in.
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I was very active in my youth but tended not to do a lot of organized sports. Name a sport and I would do it on a casual basis. Running was my main activity but I lacked confidence to get out and do it in high school despite being asked to do cross country or do long jump with the high school based on what they would see me do in phys ed class. So the sport I did end up going out for was badminton and playing on the school team. Couldnt think of a sport that attracted less attention in the school then this. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
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Ironically I went out for cross country and I quit and became the equipment manager for the team. I tried out for basketball and got cut. I then got on the wrestling team and when I was a senior started to enjoy success. The key was our assistant coach demanded we spend more time conditioning endurance and strength.
About 27 years later I got a job close to home and realized I was headed to alcoholism & metabolic disease off ramp and got a bike. Things are much better for me now.
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In brief,
- High school Cross Country & Track (indoor/out)
- College XC & Track
- Competed a little in the same sports (3k-10k) graduate school.
As my running “career” was ending in my late 20s someone worked pretty hard to get me to try cycling. I wish I had listened. The idea of dealing with a bike and the equipment seemed outlandish to me. Too much of my identity was built around being a runner.
Got out of shape for 10 years. Started running again. Injuries. Got out of shape again.
Discovered cycling at 49 and do the best I can on local segments. I love it! But, I wish I had listened to my friend all those years ago!
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No i did not do any sports in high school, but i did some swimming in the summer as a teenager.
I had a reveal codes moment about sports and exercise when i was a senior in high school and decided to sign up for gymnastics, despite never having done any gymnastics, being way too big, and being inflexible. The gym teacher was fantastic. She had me learn and practice what i could do. I was by far the worse student in the class, a class consisting of limber thin freshman girls with backgrounds in dance and/or gymnastics. I had a blast. I wasn’t prevented from taking the class just because i would never be good at it. It was a completely different experience with regards to any other sports that i had ever attempted. At the end of the year of stretching, i was still just as inflexible as i had been at the beginning, but i had learned a lot of tricks and had thrilled in the joy of moving and learning new skills. I still sucked and it didn’t matter. I wish i remembered the PE teacher’s name and i wish i had told her how much that class meant to me and how much i appreciated that she took the effort to teach gymnastics to me, someone who was not built to be a gymnast.
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Yes, played baseball from the age of 5 - 18 and played in a men’s league from 23-25. The many years of playing baseball definitely shaped the rider I became due to the thousands and thousands of 5-15 second all out sprints I did playing baseball. That carried over to cycling by making my power profile to skew short anaerobic efforts and gave me the ability to hit some high peak power numbers for my light weight (140 lbs 1250 peak, 1000 15 second avg.) Now I am def not winning a bunch sprint but if I can make a breakaway I like my chances
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- baseball, football, track
(sandlot in grade school, then organized teams in jr high and high school)
Rode my bike all over town from 1st grade until I could drive, then returned to some biking after I got married in my twenties. In my forties I started riding regularly as an alternative to the gym, then discovered the love of exploring rural roads by bike. Gradual ramping up so that now at 65, I’ll be rolling over 10,000 km per year.
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Competitive swimmer ages 10-17. Miscellaneous activities in my 20s - mostly running and rock climbing. A lot of yoga in my 30s. Moved to SF Bay Area right before I turned 40 for work. A coworker was a top cross and MTBer and convinced me to try it. I’m now 48 and it’s been uphill/downhill ever since.
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I went to a small rural high school and most of my friends all played multiple sports.
Football (QB, SS, punter and kick returns)
Basketball (2 guard)
Baseball (P, 3B)
And the track coach would ask all the other spring teams to help fill out all the events for the league finals, so I did sprints and jumps.
I loved it. We were always active and we’d just go from sport to sport.
I tried some rugby in college and then started doing triathlon. Got into bike racing in my 30s and wish I had found it sooner.
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