Mybike-alancollier

How I Came To Enjoy Cycling
What got me into cycling? I've always done it... Before I can remember, I had a little 'trundle' - 4 wheels and a steering wheel, pushed by putting your feet on the floor. Apparently I could go quite quickly along the front path... Mum & Dad still bring out the photos to embarass me occasionally! After that came a small trike. Pedals on front wheel. Graduated to pavement outside the house. Then a small bike with stabilisers. I eventually learned to ride without them after they bent so far upwards that I would fall off before they touched down! Then (about 5 yrs old) a 2nd hand bike with big balloon tyres. This lasted quite a while. Eventually it got too small, and Dad had a look through the small ads again. I eventually got : A GRIFTER!!! A really excellent bike, apart from its occasional tendency to slip out of gear (OUCH!!!). I've still got the scars on my shins! I even spent some of my pocket money on a dynamo and lights for it. I was dead impressed when the LBS gave me a twin headlight instead of the single at no extra cost. One day I was cycling back from the library when someone stopped me to ask directions, then pushed me off the bike and rode off on it. I was devestated. The Police came and took details, and even took me for a drive round the area to see if we could find the person. I never saw it again. It was replaced by my first 'racing' bike. 10 gears. This was the first bike I did more than a couple of miles at a time on. I cycled to school on it. One day it was stolen from the school bike racks. It had only been locked with a combination lock that I could open with my eyes shut. At least the insurance paid out... For a while, I used my Dad's 30 old Suntour - I resprayed it blue rather than the previous rust finish, and it did just fine until the insurance coughed up. Next came a Raleigh 'Equipe' racer. 12 gears. This was quite a good bike. It lasted me many years, although it changed colour and spec on several occasions when the frame broke, followed by the forks a year later, and another frame after that. That one was stolen twice: I receovered it the first time, with no help from the Police. the second time, it went with 15 others from college, never to be seen again. It was replaced with a similar Raleigh I've still got this on at my parents'. My current bike is a Giant Peloton. 14 gears and STI shifters. Much nicer than the Raleigh, (and more expensive) I bought it with my first pay cheque after I finished my PhD. 5 years old and still on its first frame, although much other stuff has been replaced. It's on 'hilly' gearing now I'm in Sheffield, rather than the almost straight through block I had in Cambridge. I love it. Thinking of getting a MTB to ride trails with my wife - 23mm road tyres at 100 psi get a bit skittish on anything worse thasn the local roads... Enjoy cycling!!! Alan Collier