The purpose of this qualitative study is to examine how adults informally learn through engaging with their bicycles in the sport of amateur road racing, and to understand how this learning has shaped their individual and social identities. The study is grounded in two intersecting theoretical frameworks: embodied adult learning theory (especially those discourses drawing on Merleau-Ponty's philosophy of the body); and actor network theory (ANT), which focuses on how human beings and objects within a network act as one "assemblage." The design of the study combines an autoethnographic approach with narrative inquiry, and thus examines both the writer's personal experiences in amateur bicycle road racing and its unique subculture as embodied learning, and the narratives of six amateur road racers chosen according to purposeful criteria. Data collection for the narrative portion consisted primarily of two semi-structured interviews with each of the six participants. Additionally, participant-provided visual documents and artifacts were used as elicitation devices to revisit racers' bodily movements in athletic action. An autoethographic analysis was employed to examine the writer's personal racing stories, while narrative analysis was used to examine the participants' racing stories. Data analysis revealed three themes of findings. The first focuses on the role of networks in changing identity, and how bicycle racing pushed the rider in a competitive setting in the natural world and resulted in a more positive identity. The second theme focuses on riders' relationship with their always co-present bicycle, where they felt at one with it, except in times of stress when the bicycle became "other." The third theme focused on the role of self-imposed pain and will as part of competition. The study concludes with a discussion of the findings in light of actor network theory, and embodied adult learning theory and offers suggestions for theory and practice. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]