I’d watched OSM with great interest and used the maps on my smartphone (probably an Nokia N95 at the time…) but I didn’t start to contribute until I took up cycling again.

Before OSM finding a decent cyclable path or somewhere to lock up your bike safely was a case of scouring OS maps, finding pdfs on council websites or knowing the right cycling group. Now OSM is pretty much the best source of cycle routes, cycle parking (my particular fetish is getting as much of the cycle parking in Bristol mapped), and other useful points of interest for a cyclist, like bike shops and water fountains.