What was your sport before coming to cycling?

sy

I know some of you have cycled all your lives but just curious to see what was your sport(s) background before you became hooked on pedal power.

My background was football, running and badminton. After breaking my ankle for a second time I lost flexibility in the joint and couldn't run effectively anymore so I took to the bike and 26 years later I'm still hooked.

Captain Havoc

sy wrote: »

I know some of you have cycled all your lives but just curious to see what was your sport(s) background before you became hooked on pedal power.

My background was football, running and badminton. After breaking my ankle for a second time I lost flexibility in the joint and couldn't run effectively anymore so I took to the bike and 26 years later I'm still hooked.

I attempt to play soccer mostly, I play with a team here in Kilkenny, I'm a full back on either side but seem to be utilised as a winger. I also play a lot of golf.

IM0

when I was young [7-11] I was MAAAD into soccer, and always active, when not doin that, climbing trees, and the usual stuff...

I would also rob by bigger brothers bike from an early age 10+ and started kicking my friends asses at that in races in the park.
Also go into tennis [:eek:]for a few years around then.

then I went all arty and lazy [guitar/band stuff/playstation] in my teens
before going on a trip abroad and a guy in a bikeshop talked me into cycletouring the whole country so I said "yeah that sounds cool!" and off I went for a 3000km tour, got in a couple of hundred k in the month before I left and than BAM! that was me hooked never looked back since!

vektarman

I played hockey for years but found the astroturf pitches eventually giving my ankles and knees a pounding so took up the sedate pastime of cycling.

levitronix

This is kind of funny played GAA for years, but my main competitive sport was golf .. " golf the new cycling haha " played at junior and senior level and played off 2 for years before frustration got the better of me and i gave up the sport the day after the senior cup provincial final and never looked back, now cycling is my main sport but i dable in marathon running and ironman events

km991148

eating cake mainly.. no real change its now a combination of 'sports'

ROK ON

Rugby.
Followed by a decade if eating and drinking almost anything.

Lumen

I played hockey very badly at school, then nothing for 15 years or so apart from a couple of years of leisure cycling at university.

I was so unfit prior to taking up cycling again that it took me six months of walking 3km a day before I could do even that without back pain and leg aches.

lyders

Mostly yacht racing. Bit of volleyball too.

xz

Played a lot of Rugby, Soccer and Gaelic Football when I was in my school years, then I discovered cigarettes and alcohol and became a couch potato for a long time.

mike12

Played loads of soccer and GAA before taking up rugby in my early 20's stoped cycling around then play a lot of golf as well as cycling now.

manwithaplan

Played a bit of soccer and gaelic football (badly) in my school days. Like most here, I drank and caroused away my twenties (does pool count as a sport?) before getting active. I took up hill walking and did a lot of it before children came along and I couldn't afford the time. I started jogging and running then. My endurance was good but I kept getting niggling injuries.

I have cycled all my life but only took it up relatively recently as a pastime (it's only that for now). I am enjoying it thoroughly but, with four children, time is still a limiting factor.

Caroline_ie

Mainly figure skating and moto cross, then an attempt to becoming a rock star then after I failed ... my work's gym and now cycling for the past 4 years.

seamus

I was 8 in 1990 so was mad into soccer for about 2 years. Then it was hurling and Tae Kwon-Do. Then I broke my kneecap (dislocated it while skateboarding, long story) when I was 11 and was unable to do anything for two months and turned into a right lazy little baxtard.

In 2nd year a friend got me into MTBing which I was crazy into for about 3 years (though in my mind it feels like we were at it for 10 years), but then we all turned into drinking teenagers, and BMX became more attractive because you got to do stuff and hurt yourself without putting in much effort. I also occassionally dabbled with golf and tennis during secondary school.

Once I went to college, I got a car (and soon after, a motorbike) and the notion of doing anything which didn't involve beer & food seemed insane - like everyone else it would seem. So I had about 6 years of zero exercise before I moved back to my current job 3.5 years ago, had already sold my motorbike, so I needed a way to get into work that didn't involve public transport which ended up in me buying a new bike. I hacked away at it (just going in and out of work in boots and a tracksuit) before I decided to start buying proper gear last year.

RobFowl

Caroline_ie wrote: »

then an attempt to becoming a rock star .

You tube clip required ............

Caroline_ie

RobFowl wrote: »

You tube clip required ............

There was no youtube at the time.
* Photo on the left with the bass.

shaungil

Rugby. Marathons triathlons and one ironman led to a gammy hip and bad jellyfish stings leading to anaphalactic (SP?) shock so no more running or swimming meant cycling was what was left for me.
It was always my favurite of the three tri sports anyway so an easy decision.

garminguy

when i started secondary school where rugby is the number one sport, i had to make the choice between rugby and athletics cos the training schedules clashed and i chose athletics, which in hindsight was a good decision cos we won loads of titles and the rugby team got hammered most matches.

when i left school and got a job, one of the first things i bought was a blue and while concorde colombus slx which cost me 650 pounds and a months to pay off!

Bullmastiff

10 yrs of Bodybuilding & martial arts, took up cycling to help drop/make weight for competition. Hooked now!:D

Chips Lovell

Rugby

godihatedehills

Hockey also.

Not sure if it has really helped with the cycling or not.

ROK ON

Caroline_ie wrote: »

, then an attempt to becoming a rock star then after I failed ... my work's gym and now cycling for the past 4 years.

"this one time at bandcamp . . ."

amjon.

Rowing for about 4 years, cross country, rugby and cricket before that along with the obligatory dable with GAA as a kid.

anoble66

kitesurfing - but there isnt much suitable wind or time these days so dont get out too often, hence the need for a new hobby to spend lots of cash on :pac:

CheGuedara

'before coming to cycling?' ????

Well there was that learning to walk bit - does that count?

Did some XC running & orienteering in my teens as well and still get a bit distracted by mountaineering and some surfing

yop

Soccer and GAA for the previous 26 years, then tried to take myself out in a car crash last May.

No car so bought a bike

Sín é

teufelswerk

Before cycling? Cannot compute.

One of the boring ones who's been at this since 8 or 9. Started racing xc u12s, was costing far too much money breaking stuff every weekend!! My mum bought me a road bike and started racing u12s/14s. Left the competitive side at 18 as everybody seems to do when college and alcohol make sunday morning spins seem out of the question. Only wish A4 was an option back then as senior 3 always seemed that step too far!!
23 now, hope I can get another 50 years out of it!!

Esroh

In School running was the no1 did my marathon at 18. Then 24years of riding Horses where the only bike I had only came out when the car as getting a service.
Years of falls meant the marathon 25 years on was a non starter which led to a year of Hillwalking challenges and then I spotted a link to TOI Challenge 07 and decided I wanted to ride 08

niceonetom

Was a competitive swimmer and gymnast up to the age of about 13 or 14 when my knees gave up. I smoothly transitioned to smoking and binge eating though, and by college I was smoking dope at art-school level... several years of corpulence and wheezing followed.

damoz

GAA till a few years ago - decided to pack it in before my knees and ankles did. Then ran for a while - too much like hard work. Now cycling - good exercise, low impact. High cost though

el tel

I boxed for 10 years before taking up cycling at 18. Also played a fair bit of handball and football in that time too.

Bluefoam

I don't remember a time without riding a bike...

crashoveroid

sy wrote: »

I know some of you have cycled all your lives but just curious to see what was your sport(s) background before you became hooked on pedal power.

My background was football, running and badminton. After breaking my ankle for a second time I lost flexibility in the joint and couldn't run effectively anymore so I took to the bike and 26 years later I'm still hooked.

For me always been cycling never liked any other sport been took a few years off in Uni to kill my liver but once that was done with back to the bike been at it since.
Touching on nearly 18 years now of cycling scary and im still crap.
I live in hope

DirkVoodoo

Football and golf, but not at any competitive level. I was never really "sporty" growing up, I came into all these in my 20s.

All the wasted years!

Repolho

I think I must have tried just about every sport when I was growing up. Athletics, Football, Hurling, Soccer, Rugby, Tennis, Badminton, Golf. I was never any good at any of them and could never really make the team so I spent a lot of time warming the benches but I tried!

Didn;t really play anything in college but went to the gym regularly.

After college, I played tennis & badminton (still do!). I started putting on lots of weight when I bought my first car even though I was probably doing as much exercise and put it down to the fact that I was driving everwhere now when previously I cycled. So I bought a new bike to keep fit and try and lose some weight. Still cycling, still enjoying it! Found out about "sportives" only last year so trying a few of those now.

Turbulent Bill

Athletics and soccer mainly, liberally mixed with lots of injuries. Got into cycling for college commuting / occasional MTB, good exercise for me as I always found it difficult. Realised I actually liked it, and was willing to spend more on my bike than the car...

abcdggs

Primary school involved hurling (with a short stint on kildare team) and badminton (won something at the one competition i did) secondary school involved hockey during the winter (won a couple of leagues at that) and athletics during the summer. now cycling seems to be my college past time so we'll see if i have nay success

bcmf

Gaa and Soccer....until a nasty hole destroyed my knee. No more high impact for me. Got a loan of a friends bike......sprinted....crashed....bike written off..hooked

Blowfish

In primary school I played Olympic Handball, Soccer and went to the Leinster School's Athletics Championship every year, though I didn't really train all that much for it.

In secondary I kept up the Soccer and Athletics (100m, 200m, 400m, 400m relay, long jump, triple jump, high jump) and started commuting by bike. Best result was 4th in the Leinster Schools in the 200m and in the triple jump. I tried Basketball and Badminton which were the other sports the school played but was pretty crap at them so didn't last long.

In College and after I played 5 a side a fair bit, but slowly drifted away from any regular exercise other than the commute.

I blame you lot for me actually taking up cycling as a sport as I came on here last year looking to upgrade my commuter but ended up coming away with a Focus Cayo and an interest in actually using the bike for more than just getting me from a to b

GlennaMaddy

CheGuedara wrote: »

'before coming to cycling?' ????
Well there was that learning to walk bit - does that count?
Did some XC running & orienteering in my teens as well and still get a bit distracted by mountaineering and some surfing

+1

Like most others here, spent my twenties drinking until GP told me I was obese :eek: all the while I was thinking I was still 'fit'

Did soccer and athletics in school, was more into the athletics though and kept that going 'til the end of secondary school. Got bored of it in college and didn't do much then. Have been cycling almost daily since secondary school though, give or take a few breaks here or there. Not sure if commuting counts as a sport though.

Did try or, well, was forced by the parents into trying golf for a very short period of my life. A broken collar bone from a different activity stopped me playing that and happily I've never gone back.

Greyspoke

Have tried so many sports (pretty much all individual ones) that I probably can't remember them all but competed quite successfully to Nat Champs level at athletics (javelin), weightlifting (olympic and powerlifting), orienteeing, hill running, mountain biking and mountain bike oreinteering. I think the first thing I ever wanted to excel at was cycling but I just got sidetracked by success in other sports though now cycling is mostly what I do though not competitively except for a bit of mtb.

petethedrummer

Caroline_ie wrote: »

an attempt to becoming a rock star then after I failed ... .

I'm still attempting this.

ROK ON

I am surprised at the amount of folks with an athletics background. Where I am from kids played rugby hurling or soccer. I actually don't know anyone with a back ground in athletics. We share a diverse space here.

Caroline_ie

I also attempted Basket ball and Volley ball ... but realized one does not get taller by playing it ...

FergusF

Did a bit of athletics (800 & 2000m) in secondary school, but I cannot remember a time when I did not have a bike.

-K2-

Rowing in school to National championship winning level. Took a few years off, as appears to be the norm. Took up running a few years ago but never really enjoyed it.

Cycling FTW.

DirkVoodoo

Hmm...this is making me want to dig up my "boards cycling forum 5-a-side thread" from last year, it kind of died a death but there seems to be more people around now.

biomed32

a stint in field athletics, long distance running, swimming and basketball. commuted everywhere on my grey then yellow MTB gave up sport alltogether during the LC and the first year of college. Caught the cycling bug again after being involved in the GC

godihatedehills

ROK ON wrote: »

I am surprised at the amount of folks with an athletics background. Where I am from kids played rugby hurling or soccer. I actually don't know anyone with a back ground in athletics. We share a diverse space here.

what did the girls play? or were there any?

ROK ON

godihatedehills wrote: »

what did the girls play? or were there any?

As a teen most girls I associated with played absolutely no sport other than smoking.
My wife played some golf and her sisters golfed and played gaelic football. But other than you lot none of the women that I know play any sport. Which is pretty sad indictment of parents/schooling.