My name is Judy Linscheid and I have been a road cyclist for approximately 8 years now.  I first learned to ride a two-wheeler in Kindergarten, after my friend, Ruthie, announced one morning that she had thrown away her training wheels over the weekend.   I couldn’t bear the thought that she could do it and I couldn’t (I had been on training wheels for quite some time).   Once I got the hang of it, I have never forgotten.

As a child I spent a lot of time outside – much of it on a bike.   It wasn’t serious sport, just fun.  On Sundays, when the corner Atlantic Richfield station (now ARCO) was closed, we turned the place into a track and rode around and around in circles.   On other days we pretended to be a motorcycle gang, riding single file and “terrorizing” the neighborhood.   Yes, we had fun.

In high school, I joined the drill team – not exactly athletic, but when the 80s aerobic dance craze came along, my experience in performing dance routines landed me  a job teaching at a gym to earn some extra money in college.  To this day, I still think they made a mistake in hiring me, but I’m glad they did.

A lot changed in the industry over the years.    We started out in tights, leotards and leg warmers, gradually moving away from a “dance” look to a more athletic one.  But the important thing was and still is health.  I feel blessed to have been a part of the fitness industry because it gave me a healthy lifestyle for myself and also my children.

I gave up teaching in 2005 when I began my nursing career.  I bought my first bike and was excited to get outside of the gym walls and smell the fresh air for a change.  I started out riding with my husband and a few of his friends.   I soon learned that the cycling community was comprised of not only recreational riders, but very competitive and serious athletes.   Competitive by nature, I found myself pushing very hard to try and keep up with the “fast guys”.   I was as fast as some, faster than others, yet probably slower than most.  I rode alone many weekdays, but on Saturdays, I always tried to join up with a group.  I believe groups are great.    You not only get a chance to see how you fare next to others, but you get to meet some awesome friends as well.   Here in San Diego, we are in, what I call “cycling paradise.”  On Saturdays I feel like a little kid again, out on the rode with others who take time out to play.    Aren’t we all just kids at heart?   We push ourselves to beat our record (or a friend’s record) on Strava.   But at the end of the day, it really is about having fun.