Have you ever quit riding?

[Steve Shindig]

Has anyone quit riding before (not just stopped cos life got in the way etc)   but actually quit and what was your reason for doing so?  And, what was your reason for getting back into it?  (as I presume you did since you're here)

Random thread....  I don't wanna quit or anything.

[generallee]

This wil be a very interesting thread!
I can understand why people quit - money, lack of a bike, girsl, wives, cars, beer etc etc etc ...
Personally Ive ridden and owned a bike since 1983. Never once quit or givenm up or been witout a bike. Looking forward to this thread though as im keen to know poeples stories.
cheers, steve

[billstup]

I had a break of 20 years, stopped in Dec 84 and started again in August 04, and I stopped completly, I never rode a bmx at all, and only rode a mountain bike a couple of times to football training  

I stopped just because I wasn`t enjoying riding at the time, Skyway had dropped me from the full factory team because of my bad atitude (which I agree with actually) and I had started to go clubbing with my mates so I never really missed it at the time, I got back into it because life had become boring  

[Robbo]

I had a break of 20 years, stopped in Dec 84 and started again in August 04, and I stopped completly, I never rode a bmx at all, and only rode a mountain bike a couple of times to football training  

I stopped just because I wasn`t enjoying riding at the time, Skyway had dropped me from the full factory team because of my bad atitude (which I agree with actually) and I had started to go clubbing with my mates so I never really missed it at the time, I got back into it because life had become boring  

Any regrets Billy?

[Dingobmxer]

started BMXing sometime in 79 or 80 after getting a copy of BMXaction magazine and doing up my grifter, raced locally and a little further afield thanks to Bunneys Bikes where I worked, did a bit of freestyle/street at the infamous "Broadmarsh Banks" and West Bridgeford Quarterpipe made from wood nicked off the site which is now co-op with the likes of Rosscoe and Geth but stopped riding around 86 due to fooking up my arm above the wrist at the "clay pits" and got into partying for a while then motorbikes (had to ride/build streetfighters as my wrist couldnt handle riding normal race reps)

In 1996 I was working in Reading for the weekendand saw a copy of Ride magazine which had and advert for the British Champs at Slough so on the sunday on my way home to Nottingham I popped in to take a look and my spark was rekindled, I bought a Schwinn cruiser then a candy Blue SE Quad  , joined a club and have been riding ever since (my renewed interest in riding also led to me becoming a full time mountain bike guide in 2003/4 and some of 2005) racing in England and abroad (not very succsesfully but I had the BEST time)

in 1999 I got a Shiners catalogue and a computer and started buying/collecting OS stuff which led me into meeting a whole bunch of people (a lot still on here in fact) and making a shed load of friends/riding/drinking buddies

Thankyou BMX    

  DINGO

[billstup]

I had a break of 20 years, stopped in Dec 84 and started again in August 04, and I stopped completly, I never rode a bmx at all, and only rode a mountain bike a couple of times to football training  

I stopped just because I wasn`t enjoying riding at the time, Skyway had dropped me from the full factory team because of my bad atitude (which I agree with actually) and I had started to go clubbing with my mates so I never really missed it at the time, I got back into it because life had become boring  

Any regrets Billy?

Never any regrets Rob, don`t look back only look forwards  

[SaMAlex]

1982 till 2008! 26 years in April.

....and NO, I cant do a backflip! 

[harris]

since 1979 i have owned a bmx without a gap
i have had a few times when i havent ridden
as other hobbies just took up alot of my time.
i also rode when nobody in my area was riding so had to drive miles to see others.
injury did stop me a few times but that passed.
its part of me now so will always own ride and enjoy bmx till dans no more  

[se bikes]

Quit riding in 1996 when i ripped the cartilage apart in my knee, whilst waiting for surgery i discovered men and clubbing (see us chicks aren't to blame for everything!!!), had no interest in riding bikes again til last April when i met some dodgy bald bloke with a mad bike collection, got back into riding again and quit now for a year so i can drop sprogg, can't wait to race again tho

[Gary72]

I was kinda forced to quit, my bike was stolen (Torker Magnum 200) and the friends I was hanging around with was not into bikes, ended up with a Raleigh racer for awhile until stolen. Got a BMX again in late 2005 as I was fed up with walking to the local shops with my son riding his bike, he used to ride off, come back, ride off, come back and tell me to Hurry up, so I got a Diamond Back Joker
Then discovered the local race track at Dagenham and had just left a job, so I would pick the kids up from school and he would ask to go over the track, was going 2-3 times a week and got involved in the Club over there, still am.
Harrison the eldest then decided after 10 months of racing and the best part of £600 spent on him, helmet, race kit bikes etc,etc he did not want to race anymore. BUT he still loves riding and likes to jump so we go to rOm and Skaterham and the local skatepark. I still race in the Old School Series and love it, but also really enjoy the skateparks and riding with my son. Cant see me giving up riding in the near future I'm 35 and there are some slightly older and inspirational riders out there(on here aswell) 2BOB and Stupple and HUMPS who at 55 still pedals round the track impressivly.

[Swivel]

Good thread... ok started riding when I was 10 and gave up riding when I was about 17ish, got into restoring cars and the whole "I've got a drivers license thing" and was more interested in being in my Mini then riding. And I had some bike stuff nicked which pee'd me off and that made me avoid the sport for a while, although if it came on TV then I did always watch it then and wonder why I gave up... then when 22 I got a Dyno GT built especially for me when I had a lot of dough, fookin really nice it was too, so I started riding again for 3 years on/off but had no-one really to ride with, all my mates didn't class BMX as something they would do in their twenties only teens so I was on my jack jones. Then at 25 gave it up, met the wrong women, had a disaster of a relationship which nearly cost me my business too and to this day at 34, I haven't got on a bike since. Rob (rarman) said to come out but I am so inexperienced now and I never did much ramp stuff only ground and its moved on in such a way i'd look like a dinosaur... so i'll stick with restoring until I can get up the courage again to ride 

[Dingobmxer]

Quit riding in 1996 when i ripped the cartilage apart in my knee, whilst waiting for surgery i discovered men and clubbing (see us chicks aren't to blame for everything!!!), had no interest in riding bikes again til last April when i met some dodgy bald bloke with a mad bike collection, got back into riding again and quit now for a year so i can drop sprogg, can't wait to race again tho

you should sell that story  to Mills and Boon Queenie, you make it sound SO romantic  

  DINGO

[perry]

small hop gone wrong had my blackbike sold the same day

bought a mk2 escort and made it quick

moving to lincolnshire was a crushing blow to any idea of riding

fell into the whole old school ford scene , to the point where most old ford owners that use the internet know my name and im friends with the editor and deputy editor of retro ford magazine . for a few months 50% of the content on the back page was stuff i had found lol

walked into a job running a shop and having bikes around all day made me buy a standard 250s and build it up on the cheap

started riding with the locals in town ( it felt strange riding with people that had only just been born when i started riding lol )

bought a terrible one

[TwoBobRob]

I quit at the end of 84, same as Bill.  My knee was just not working, I'd been stiffed at a couple of corrupt competitions and if I'm completely honest I had a very bad case of Rom disease, even though I was driving by then I wasn't really travelling to ride, only to do demos for Ammaco.  Stuck at Rom for too long finally drove me mad.  So that was that.

I went off to play street hockey for a few years, then spent a few years in the gym...... bang. 1993....

Then I saw High5 all about Hoffman and it was all on again    Cheers Mat.

Rode and built ramps from 93 to 2000, opened and closed a bmx shop along the way, made some friends.  Got fat and lazy and got my head wrecked by a couple of women.  Girls are evil.  Threw the towel in again.  

Got involved in a bit of supermoto riding, did some trackdays and had some cracking weekends away. Bang. 2004.

One sunday morning about September time, for no particular reason other than I had nowt better to do I dragged my arse down to Rom for a bit of a rollaround..... And there is Arma and SuperbikeDan.  Hadn't seen them since 84.  Within a week or two I bumped into Billstup there too, hadn't seen him in 20 year either.  Met Rombloke at the same time and here I am.

I did quit another time in 97 just because the job had got on top of me, but it only lasted about 4 months. I got such a barrage of phone calls and texts from so many friends I'd forgotten I had, all the love brought me back in. Good times.

That's it now though.  I won't ever quit again. I'll have a bike and I'll ride so long as my old bones allow me to do so.  

[se bikes]

Quit riding in 1996 when i ripped the cartilage apart in my knee, whilst waiting for surgery i discovered men and clubbing (see us chicks aren't to blame for everything!!!), had no interest in riding bikes again til last April when i met some dodgy bald bloke with a mad bike collection, got back into riding again and quit now for a year so i can drop sprogg, can't wait to race again tho

you should sell that story  to Mills and Boon Queenie, you make it sound SO romantic 

  DINGO

  if i gave you the romantic story it'd ruin his hard as nails image

[bmxmatt1974]

had my first bike xmas 1980 i think. rode up till about 86 when i got into skating. i used to hang round with a couple of riders while i was skating so still looked at the magazines. i went to a skate/bike shop in 1995 to get a new board and ended up buying a bike aswell - i just got my first credit card   

i still skated a little but got more into riding, then stopped skating all together a couple of years later.
now i am more into racing than riding skateparks, which is what i started off doing when i first had bmx

[RATTY]

Started in late 79, dis-located my knee in 83. Rode again 6-8 months later when the knee was fixed but just to work, stopped completely when I got a car.

I heard about Neil Ruffell in late 05, was well gutted as I knew him as a kid, did some internet research, Met 796 and san marco who told me about RAD, met Sam, Nishiki again, raced for the first time in 25 years at MK06, now I cant get enough. Best move I ever made

[skids]

I cant remember the exact year I started riding,but it was VERY early 80's. around the time OBMX was in production.
first bike was a piranha with the straight spoke metal mags[well heavy] and worked my way up to a second hand
DP freestyler...My Mum didnt have the money to buy me Haro/PK/SKYWAY etc, but was grateful for what I had.
I still amazes me now how some of the parents could afford some the bikes that were around back then-
£400 was like a months wage for my Mum, and thats how much a built-up Ripper or TA was!!!!
Anyway;I rode untill 85 and then my bike was stolen, and as money was tight [paper round pocket money only]
I was forced to QUIT..........cried my eyes out. then break dancing for a few years, then girls, beer, but always still
kept my eye on the bmx scene.I bought the odd bike parts here and there, and finally done my first build last year.
I can do 360's, rockwalks and not much else......but really want to get back some of my old tricks.
I'm 40 this year, and would love to pull a 360 out of a bowl at rom,like I used to.....28 years ago!!!
     bit ambitious, I know.............but I just cant put this thing to bed.
..................................Gary.

[dialledbikes]

I rode BMX first time round from 1980 to 1986 (had a Grifter before that).  Didn't ride a bike at all until 1990 when I got my first mountain bike as something to do during the holidays from Uni.

Started doing stuff on the MTB which reminded me of BMX (jumping, bunny hops, back hops, etc), found a copy of Invert (what Ride was called before it became Ride), saw that BMX wasn't dead, bought a Skyway TA off a mate's cousin (he also had a Raleigh Pro/Aero in his shed), raced at Alvaston national in 1991 and knocked myself unconscious in the bombhole, lost 4 front teeth and broke 2 bones in my right hand!  Decided to stick to mountain biking for a while and did that continuously (mainly XC) until 1995-ish when I bought an S&M Holmes from custom riders, which then got upgraded to a Standard Bicycle Moto Cross.

Did one race on the Standard (David Maw Memorial Race at Chesterfield) and got the bug back again.  But then broke my collarbone a few weeks later on a return trip to Chessy and also gave myself a semi scalping cos I wasn't wearing a helmet    Took some more time off from BMX (though still kept the Standard and bought a Kastan cruiser) and mainly just did mountain biking.

Started collecting old school stuff around 1999.  Started racing again at the Peckham Fun Day in 2004.  Started racing cruiser class in 2005.  Started racing OS as well in 2007.  Racing 40+ cruiser at regional and nationals this year.

During this time (1994 onwards) I was working in quite a "high powered" (in their eyes/minds, not mine) job in the City doing all sorts of banking and finance deals (stuff like re-financing/sale and leaseback of ships, aircraft, power stations, etc).  I remember working on one deal until around 4am on a Saturday morning, then heading down to Hastings for the Backyard Jam at 11am.  Most of the people at the firms/banks I worked at couldn't understand this thing I was into.

Started dialled bikes in 2003.  Initially making mountain bike frames, but with the intention of making BMX race frames and having my own team eventually.  The main reason I started my bike company is because I took stock of my life and saw that the most constant thread that ran through it was a love of riding bikes, so I decided to do something I was passionate about with the hope that it would one day free me from the rat race.  Still have to work for a living, but no longer in the City 

[reay900tap]

superb thread stevie..

 Started riding when I was 20-21ish, had just found the wounderfull world of credit cards and 'needed' something to  purchase! walked passed the local bike shop and in the window was (at the time) best BMX I had ever seen.... a diamond back venom, a snip at £300!
I walked into the shop and brought it with a few extras then rode away with a massive smile.

I had never really been into BMX and kinda missed out on the whole 'being a kid and riding' .. I new nothing of any other riders locally or if anyone still rode a BMX.. I searched for magazines, videos etc but at the time (1996ish) there was little about, mainstream at least.
 Then I meet Ian, subversion on here, he just collared me riding past him one day and insisted on meeting up at the old local skate ramp, we meet on the Saturday and he completely blew me away with what could be done on a bicycle!! he then lent me a barrage of vids, which I watched non stop for a couple of days!   I was completely hooked..

I try and ride everyday, whether it be a street, car park, trails, skatepark or my lounge! and pretty much have done for 10 years,
Infact the longest I've been off my bike was 5 weeks when I smashed my right ankle...

There isn't really a week that pass's when I don't think about quiting, things like the local councils, local pissheads, chav's etc etc
the bad days when nothing goes right, they all add up and I ask myself why am I doing this??..

But.... mostly, all I think about is riding, new ways of hitting an old spot, new variations on tricks, its never ending,
all the amazing people and friends I've meet, all the future friends still to come,

so could I really give up?? stop riding?? never to pick up a BMX?? watch a bike dvd ??

well, I've pretty much laid out the date for quiting riding, it just so happens to be the same day that I'd have quit breathing!!! 

[andy619]

I started riding in 83, I was forced to tear down my QP in 88 by the local asswads.  I stopped competing by 89 because I could hang anymore, no sponsors, nowhere to ride that was close by-nobody to ride with, and I was working 5-6 days a week.  I still would ride my bike occasionally,until a guy I worked with took me to the Glamis sand dunes and that began the stretch of time when I spent fall to spring weekends launching off 150' deep sand dunes.  Then in 93 I began desert racing, turning wrenches and racing baja until I married and moved away in 96.  I now have three children 3, 5, and 7.  My son,5 , asked me to get a bike so I could ride with him and I did in July 07.  I am riding 1-2 times a month at the moment, but I have a quarter-pipe being delivered to my house this saturday and will be building a little mini park in my yard next month.  I spent 17 years away from bmx and now I'm back. 

[pickle]

there's been some great replies so far, so i'll buck the trend and give you my story.

I started riding BMX in about 82 when my mum and dad broke themselves to get me a Burner GS from the Freemans catalogue, they didn't have a pot to pee in but my whole life suddenly had meaning!  i would ride that bike everywhere! i would clean it every day and strip the crank and headset regularly.....like most of you i guess? i bet there's not many 12/13 year olds that could set up or strip a bike nowadays??
anyways it changed over time to being streetbeat green with blue Z's, then blue Tuffs with coaster.....but i only ever had that burner and i loved it.......when i wasn't riding i would pretend to be riding and do jumps and tricks with my fingers  but i also had another pasion in my life from before BMX.....Football! i loved (and still do) the game and played it whenever i could, on Sundays i would go out on my BMX with my footy kit on, play for about 3 hours then come home to change into a clean footy kit and have a bite to eat then play football till it was dark (or my dad would come and call for me to come in).  None of my friends at school rode BMX's or understood the beauty of them.  I guess like most of us......about 85 (15 years old) girls and peer pressure got the better of me and i stopped riding my BMX and concentrated on football and Music, this had become my new passion!  i was always listening to Simple minds and U2 and i guess i just stopped riding.

I did also get in with 'the wrong crowd' and i got into shop lifting and so on, until i got cought and sent to court in about 84, i got a conditional discharge but seeing my mum in tears i realised what a little scroat i'd become! and as stupid as it sounds i found an old fishing rod and real in the garage...........i had found Fishing! and more inportantly a whole new bunch of friends.....within 4 years i was winning matches and was a very active member of a local fishing club (even had a go on the commitee!) but along came my future wife and it all stopped!  along came my son    and all my time was taken up looking after both of them (the now ex wife lost her marbles!)

after a seperation and divorce in 98/2000 i found MTB's.....from 2000 up to now i spent a small fortune on MTB's but always wanted to build up an old BMX, so had a look on ebay and bought a green street beat, the auction had a little link to RADBMX and i was home again!!!  it was like taking off a real tight pair of shoes that you've had to stand in all day and sitting with a glass of red wine!  i was hooked!  so i got back into BMX about 2005 and since becoming a member of RAD i've had the fortune of meeting some of the nicest guys ever! and would call them real friends!   

[DJ]

I started riding when I was 8 years old........ 1984!! I rode for a few years until it became uncool so I started playing football down the local park with all the really cool blokes. Then I discovered girls, beer, fred perry etc & wouldnt have got back on a bmx for the life of me, Imagine how that would look to "the guys"?
I drifted few the next few years in at raves wearing dunagrees & listening to techno music until I discovered the sierra cosworth. Driving in this amazing automobile I would laugh at "kids" on bmx bikes in the street but still reminisce about "the good old days".... but never out loud.
I mean, why would I have want to have been into something that wasnt popular? Why would I have wanted to search the local shops for bmx parts &/or magazines? Got to events that were in cold, dank northern parks with a handful of people, even if they did all know each other? ride bikes that have 3 inch thick dropouts? Are you crazy?
Then suddenly I realised I was getting older & I wished I was still that kid that had a smile, no debt & no points on my license so i bought another bike but realised BMX was actually just full of bitching kids in tight jeans, weird looking bikes made of string & wood & old men who hate anything that wasnt made before 1986 so I thought fook it, Im off! 

[jackel]

got my first bike in 1982 my parents about broke thereselves to buy me a secondhand tuff burner(blue with yellow skyways and a set of yellow odi mushrooms)  loved that bike and swapped bits with mates save pocket money and paper round money and ended up with a silverfox(mt racing) with landing gears cw copies and a load of other parts i,d managed to get cheap.this was up to 86 when someone borrowed my bike to go into town and it got nicked (prick never payed for it) was just starting to work just after that training yts (robbing barstewards) so didnt end up getting another bike till 02-03 when i saw a silverfox on ebay and had to have it then bought a green streetbeat put loads of bits on it.sold that for a big loss :(then bought an aero pro off ebay but then my gobi was moaning about space etc so sold that as well about 2-2 and a half years ago.allways kept my ebay silverfox and just built it up with trick bits.now in the process of building my haro master.thinking of getting a newer bmx for abuse so my old school rides dont get hurt though so probably didnt ride between 86-03 and dont ride a lot now but looking at going to the meets to see if i can get some of the old sparkle back

[reay900tap]

'but realised BMX was actually just full of bitching kids in tight jeans, weird looking bikes made of string & wood & old men who hate anything that wasnt made before 1986'


hahahahaha.. sounds like a subversion comment!!!