Fifty Plus (50+) - Does your Significant other/ Spouse ride?

Mine does. Every Sunday is "our day" to ride. I let her pick where and how long and how fast (she knows I like the fast days best :D )
Well today was a fast day. It didn't start out that way though.......
Me and Wifey were just riding along visiting about vacations, house repairs, etc.... we were way out in the boonies and hadn't seen anyone else at all. (It was pretty hot out) We were riding side by side probably about 13-14 mph just having a good time. This other couple comes up behind us and we didn't hear them or know they were there...... The guy yells out "On yer Left" loud enough to be heard a half mile away.... then he starts berating us about how "you slower riders need to keep to the right". I apologized for getting in their way and they rode off in a huff.... You can see where this is going, can't ya? :D
Wifey was a bit peeved at what she perceived as the guys rudeness. She steamed on it for the next mile or so..... then looked over to me and asked, "feelin' fast today?" .... yes dear.
Well for the next 2 miles it was all I could do to keep up with her.... she only rides on Sundays, but she does ride the trainer an hour each night, so she does have some legs. Needless to say when we caught the couple, they were riding side by side... I took the lead and said rather loud, " On yer left puleeese".... and we smoked 'em. Wifey didn't let up for the rest of the ride either...... That's my Girl! :love:

Ya gotta love a girl like that!

One of the best stories I've heard in a long time!! I sure hope it turned a disappointing event into a terrific ride!!

I would ride with my wife at any speed, but she will have none of it. We've been out a time or two - I didn't press her, and it seemed as though she had a good time - each day was perfect - no mishaps. But, alas, it seems she just isn't turned on by the mechanics or the scenery - not much you can do about that. She has other redeeming qualities, so this "flaw" is truly minor.

Caruso

Tried to interest my wife in cycling but she really wasn't the least bit interested. I guess I was a little disappointed at first but I've come to really enjoy the solitariness of my evening rides. I can ride at my own pace, on the route of my choosing, and just concentrate on the ride...no conversation of the days events, work, the kids (thankfully all over 21) or anything else.
It's a mind cleansing experience that I look forward to each day.

I started riding Oct 05, three times a week. Wife said she would try it (hybrid) so we could do something together. Our riding styles and abilities are so far apart that it became a problem together. I got us a tandem road bike, and it is the best thing that brings us together in riding. She only rides her 1/2 bike when I am out of town. Do a tandem and let the stoker call the shots. Worked for me!!!!

I would ride with my wife at any speed, but she will have none of it. We've been out a time or two - I didn't press her, and it seemed as though she had a good time - each day was perfect - no mishaps. But, alas, it seems she just isn't turned on by the mechanics or the scenery - not much you can do about that. She has other redeeming qualities, so this "flaw" is truly minor. Caruso

Same with me. I've tried the tandem route as well, but no joy.
She encourages me to ride so no problems. On the tandem the kids stoke at times and I may soon be my son's stoker...

I'd look awfully funny on my tandem if my wife didn't ride....

Well done. The only time my wife is ahead of me is on the dance floor. We may ride two or 3 times a year on out semi-recumbent tandem. She is very willing to help at brevets and other ultra events. Now is RAAM would only start in SF again.

Glad you all "smoked 'em". I'd love to ride with my wife, but two operations to remove tumors from her spine and one leaky heart valve make riding an impossibility for her. She tolerates, no encourages, my riding. She says I'm always a nicer person after I return. I do regret not being able to share something I really enjoy with her, but sometimes that's just the way it goes. Every now and again, I'll read a post and see the photos from the rides some of you do with your spouse and get a little depressed. Then I think, no, I should feel this way. Now if I didn't have my wife, or if I couldn't ride, then that would be a reason to be depressed. So, Grampy, you and your Mrs. keep on doing them fast rides and teaching those rude folks a thing or two.

Glad you all "smoked 'em". I'd love to ride with my wife, but two operations to remove tumors from her spine and one leaky heart valve make riding an impossibility for her. She tolerates, no encourages, my riding. She says I'm always a nicer person after I return. I do regret not being able to share something I really enjoy with her, but sometimes that's just the way it goes. Every now and again, I'll read a post and see the photos from the rides some of you do with your spouse and get a little depressed. Then I think, no, I shouldn't feel this way. Now if I didn't have my wife, or if I couldn't ride, then that would be a reason to be depressed. So, Grampy, you and your Mrs. keep on doing them fast rides and teaching those rude folks a thing or two.

Yes, my wife and I ride together.

She LOVES, absolutely LOVES bicycling.

When we ride together I go at her speed - at times I get ahead, but then I wait for her or circle back to pick her up again.

With her bum knee, she can no longer take long hikes or even long walks. But she can bicycle.

She can not stand the heat very long, so our rides have to be planned around the cool parts of the day.

She knows I need to go on longer rides and faster rides, so often we will ride together aways and then she will turn back and I will go on.

It was my wife who got me riding this year. At this point she is a stronger rider than I am so I don't have to worry about slowing for her, only keeping up. In fact, Saturday we did the Nashua River Trail (25 miles round trip) and at one point she was hammering at 19-20mph for about 6 miles and I thought I was going to freakin die before she slowed down because of a crossroads.

Smoked 'em, eh? Way to go for the two of you!

My wife and I resumed riding last year after 25 years off bikes. We bought hybrids for our 42nd wedding anniversary last June and have thoroughly enjoyed riding together a couple times a week ever since. It doesn't matter if it's an hour on a trainer during the winter, a 5 mile spin around the neighborhood, a 10 mile ride to a breakfast spot, or a 40 mile day trip (long for us) on a canal tow path.

For our anniversary this year, we took the weekend to ride the last 40 miles of the Hennepin Canal Trail, and take in a music festival and craft fair in Geneseo, IL, a town along the canal ... even took a very short ride on the Great River Trail on the Mississippi River.

Normally Wifey would just let 'em go, but this guy's mouth and the fact that they started riding side by side after they passed us was just to much for her.

Last fall on the same section of trail she just started hammering for no apparent reason. After a mile or so I noticed on the road that runs parallel to the trail about 200yds. away, a farmer was pulling a wagon load of grain. She kept lookin' over at him and I realized she was "racing" this tractor. Now keep in mind the Farmer had no idea he was in a race, but that didn't mean anything to my Wife....:p I even asked her if she wanted me to take a pull... she said no, it was between her and the Farmer.... LOL
She did win the town line Sprint by the way....

You definitely have a keeper Grampy! My wife is not a rider. She will use a treadmill and so in the middle of this winter on bad days I would go with her and use a stationary bike while she did the treadmill. That was nice to do together.
However for biking, she could ride slowly through some local neighborhoods, but has fear of traffic etc. that one encounters out on the country roads. She has been great at encouraging me to ride and for that matter, the Trek 5200 I got for Christmas was a gift from her.

I laughed! I want to be just like her! I ride by myself, husband is just not interested.

and we have had a couple of decades worth of social riding in California, Surrey UK, France, and now here in Bahrain where we take the occasional ride out past the gas flares and the camels in the mornings when it's only 38 degrees C, before it warms up! (picture in the rogues gallery).
We're currently planning the Russian 'Golden Ring' fund raising tour - (link attached) http://www.childrensfireandburntrust.org.uk/
I'll tell you all how that goes
Best,
Richard;)

The wife and I just purchased a Cannondale road tandem and we are really enjoying it. Communication is easy and good and she is quickly learning cadence and a good riding style. She shunned the idea of clippless pedals, so I purchsed a convertible Shimmano pedal that is platform on one side and clipless on the other. I adjusted the release to light and showed her how they worked. She imediately adapted to them and realized their benifits riding hills etc. Tandems are great, next year a road bike for her, then we'll have the option of the tandem or seperate bikes. Life is good!

My bride of nineteen years has recently joined me, we purchased her a Trek 7300 hybrid that she has been enjoying. I try to make Saturday my solo day and Sunday 'our' day. I ride at her pace, and am seeing her slowly improve her average speed. We had her riding local MUPs for about two months to get used to handling the bike and shifting, she'd never really rode much at all when she was younger. She has just graduated to local country roads with wide shoulders two weeks ago, and actually likes them better than the paved trails she had been riding. I'm very happy that she is interested, it's a great way for us to spend time together in a pleasant outdoor setting :p .

B'Dog

Wow, so far I'm the only wife writing about the husband! C'mon gals, where are ya? My husband rides a bike trainer a couple of days a week in the winter, but getting him out on the bike is tough because what he likes is to cut and haul wood on weekends. (Yes, he loves that, though it just looks like backbreaking work to me!) Plus we play golf together. That's our weekend/and/or/vacation time together, and it's great. I mostly ride solo. He just doesn't have the bike bug like I do.

My wife got me into biking; she is a triathelete (formerly a mostly runner).

I ride more than her because she also swims and runs, so at this point in the season I am stronger than her on the bike most of the time. My opinion is that this is partly because she overtrains. So I'll get way ahead of her sometimes (this is hard not to do on a significant downhill because of our weight difference), and sometimes this bothers her and sometimes not, but she is always happy to ride with me (and me with her). We typically do maybe 2-3 rides/week together when the weather is good.

She's a little frustrated at the end of a ride that she doesn't have a higher average speed, although I know that I've had to do a lot of miles and try a lot of things before I saw a noticeable increase, so I try to encourage her as best I can.

Based on a canoeing trip that we took many years ago (where we each accused the other of not paddling), I'm not sure that a tandem would work for us.:eek:

Hats off to you, Grampy -- that is a great story with a happy ending.

My wife got me into biking; she is a triathelete (formerly a mostly runner).

I ride more than her because she also swims and runs, so at this point in the season I am stronger than her on the bike most of the time. My opinion is that this is partly because she overtrains. So I'll get way ahead of her sometimes (this is hard not to do on a significant downhill because of our weight difference), and sometimes this bothers her and sometimes not, but she is always happy to ride with me (and me with her). We typically do maybe 2-3 rides/week together when the weather is good.

She's a little frustrated at the end of a ride that she doesn't have a higher average speed, although I know that I've had to do a lot of miles and try a lot of things before I saw a noticeable increase, so I try to encourage her as best I can.

Based on a canoeing trip that we took many years ago (where we each accused the other of not paddling), I'm not sure that a tandem would work for us.:eek:

Hats off to you, Grampy -- that is a great story with a happy ending.

Great story, Grampy. I bought my wife an electric bike a few years ago to get her cycling. Then she wanted a "real" bike, so we went out and got a Trek comfort bike (very upright, easy to shift). Lately, she's suggested she might want a road bike, so progress is being made. We've done a few weekend brunch rides: wife on her comfort bike, me on my hybrid, and my daughter on the tagalong. Longest ride was ~15 miles. It's been a lot of fun.

My wife and I always (100%) ride together...fun rides, unsupported tours, and supported tours. Just returned from riding....56.7 great (76 degrees and 6 MPH winds) miles on her computer.

Sounds like your wife has the competitive spirit. That will be the motor to get her going. Unfortunately we are not all so blessed.
I had to try a different approach.
My wife did go biking but spoiled the fun in constantly complaining about distance, weather, saddles, you name it. So I went much solo. My wife decided to have an intense exercise program such as various machines in our house as well as Curves (one to two hours/day). Why? To keep up with me and her much younger friends.
Eventually we got a Tandem. Now we treat the Tandem like exercise. No questions, no arguments---we must exercise. That means a four hour Tandem ride on Sundays and on biking vacation every other day.
We found balance in our needs doing that.

We've been riding tandems since 1975. Still going strong.
Celebrated our 51st wedding anniversary.
Pedal on TWOgether!
Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

Ms. Raket rides several times a week, and loves it. I've put in 20-25 miles every day this week, and she's ahead of me on mileage on the week. Her "hammer" pace is my recovery ride pace, so we have to synch up our workouts to ride together, but we almost always get in one ride a week together, usually on Sundays. And when we go touring, we just distribute the weight on the two bikes so that we're both going at the same pace.

No tandem for us, though... until they invent one with two captains and no stoker! :)

Yes, my wife and I ride together.

She LOVES, absolutely LOVES bicycling.

When we ride together I go at her speed - at times I get ahead, but then I wait for her or circle back to pick her up again.

With her bum knee, she can no longer take long hikes or even long walks. But she can bicycle.

She can not stand the heat very long, so our rides have to be planned around the cool parts of the day.

She knows I need to go on longer rides and faster rides, so often we will ride together aways and then she will turn back and I will go on.

Dnvr:

Your post might well have been written by me. You describe precisely the circumstance between my wife and me re cycling. Indeed, the slow ride where I try to stay with or behind her or circle back frequently are some of my favorite rides. She knows they are just warm ups to me. After a brea for a coffee, I take off on a two hour ride and she ambles home.

My girlfriend got me riding again almost 5 years ago. Before that, I last rode in my mid-20's (I'm now 57). She was riding a Fuji road bike that she bought new in the early '80's. I bought a Gary Fisher mountain bike and it was REALLY hard getting back into some degree of conditioning! I went to Taiwan in January 2004, but didn't take the bike. Decided to buy a Giant road bike while in Taiwan and rode it well over a year, but I never brought it back home with me during my 2 week home leaves every 2 months. Girlfriend went to Taiwan with me in January 2004 and stayed for several months. We hauled the Fuji over in a Crate Works bike box. I rode to work on the weekends sometimes, but together we rode around the countryside and along the ocean. It was always a lot of fun and we were always greeted warmly by the Taiwanese (not much recreational bicycle riding, so we definitely stood out). Since I didn't like to ride the mountain bike at home anymore, I looked for something that I could travel with more comfortably than the bike box (also too big for many cabs in Taiwan going to and from the airport). I settled upon the Ritchey BreakAway, but outfitted with a full Campy Centaur set up and purchased it in May of 2005. I sold the Giant to a nice female expatriate in Taiwan. May 2005 was a busy month as my girlfriend and I got married. We spent the majority of the 2005/06 winter in Taiwan. It's a lot like riding in Southern California in the winter with very pleasant temperatures. Finally my wife got tired of putting up with the Fuji's shortcomings as she realized that it would be fairly costly to repair. When we returned to the US in April, she found a good deal on an Orbea Mitis Dama. She went from an ALL steel '80's Fuji to an aluminum and carbon Orbea; from toe clips to clipless; friction frame shifters to Ultegra brake/shifters and 12spd to a 20spd compact. Life is nothing without change! When we ride now, we are much closer in speed than we were before and I think riding together is even more fun. I credit her with getting me back on the bike, the improvements in my health and letting me have all this fun!

I am new to this board. Yes, she does ride. In fact she got us started. She said we should look at some garage sales to pick up a couple of bikes to see if we liked it. Three doors down from us, I found a Trek 820 that had never been ridden. I put some new tires and tubes on it and I was set. She has had a double hip replacement and needed a step through frame. Not knowing if we were going to enjoy this we picked up an inexpensive Schwinn for her at the local Target. Last year we upgraded to better bikes and this year went to Atlanta and rode the Silver Comet Trail. We aren't fast 10-12MPH is a goodly clip for us, but we certainly do enjoy it.

After not riding a bike for 20+ years. I really hated riding with my bf..I was out of shape so it was a very stressful, not to mention embarrasing experience. After a while, with the bike just sitting in the garage I just started taking off on my own. I could take things at my own pace, figure out the gears, and not feel the pressure of riding with a more experienced rider. Now I ride 15-20 miles 2-3 times a week and I find that I actually enjoy the experience.

I posted to this thread a week or so ago and now see that it got lost in the ether.

Anyway, yes, my wife rides quite a bit both on our tandem and on her Trek5200. She is an ex-Cat 3 racer as well as an ex-USCF official and an ex-USPRO official.

She may be older (55) and weigh a bit more than she used to, but don't piss her off on a ride or you may get sore legs. :)

Smoked 'em, eh? Way to go for the two of you!

My wife and I resumed riding last year after 25 years off bikes. We bought hybrids for our 42nd wedding anniversary last June and have thoroughly enjoyed riding together a couple times a week ever since. It doesn't matter if it's an hour on a trainer during the winter, a 5 mile spin around the neighborhood, a 10 mile ride to a breakfast spot, or a 40 mile day trip (long for us) on a canal tow path.

For our anniversary this year, we took the weekend to ride the last 40 miles of the Hennepin Canal Trail, and take in a music festival and craft fair in Geneseo, IL, a town along the canal ... even took a very short ride on the Great River Trail on the Mississippi River.

Wow, you were right in my riding area. What did you think of the crushed lime rock that looks like sand between Geneseo and Colona? This would be a few hundred yards East of the brigde going over the lock near the Green River.

No such luck for me as having a significant riding partner. The tandem idea went bust when emergency surgery was performed. Maybe next summer. :(

Wow, you were right in my riding area. What did you think of the crushed lime rock that looks like sand between Geneseo and Colona? This would be a few hundred yards East of the brigde going over the lock near the Green River.

You have a great riding area. We’ve thoroughly enjoyed the 175 mi trip from Chicago to Moline, especially the I&M and Hennepin Canal trails.

I remember that sand very well. We were east bound on the north side of the canal, happily crunching along on the 10ft wide loose chip seal (or maybe it was crushed limestone) tow path. We crossed over the bridge to the south side of the canal, rode down the trail a short piece, and it abruptly changed to single track soft sand. :eek:

We considered stopping for photos, but were afraid of getting bogged down, especially since I had 20-25 lbs in the panniers. I was very thankful for the wide tires (700x40C) on my Giant Cypress. Fortunately, the sand section was only about a mile long … seemed like 5 tho.


No such luck for me as having a significant riding partner. The tandem idea went bust when emergency surgery was performed. Maybe next summer. :(
Sorry to hear that. I wish you the best in getting back to riding together.

Larry

My wife doesn't ride, but my girlfriend does. Just kidding, dear.

My wife rides, as do my 2 teenagers. We've been commuting to church on Sundays for years. Not intending to stereotype here, but I think it sets a good example for the right-wingers, which I would describe as most of my fellow church-goers.

We also go out on dates on bicycles. Of late, my wife has been riding on her own a lot during the day, but mostly because my daughter, who is home from college, has been taking our only car for some odd jobs.

She rides on triple leap years. Just kidding Dear.

All 12 of my ex-wives rode their bikes...and me into bankrupsy!!!!

All 12 of my ex-wives rode their bikes...and me into bankrupsy!!!!

Do ya still have their phone numbers? I hate to see a woman left lonely.

Do ya still have their phone numbers? I hate to see a woman left lonely.

Blackberry...

We're not lonely. We have each other -- a Diego support group. We meet on our boat. (Paid for by Gary, the poor dear, of course). But you're welcome to come down and entertain us, if you wish!

Do ya still have their phone numbers? I hate to see a woman left lonely.
Contact my secretary for further information. Gary Diego has never dated a woman who didn't alread appear in P'Boy! In fact, Frank, Sammy and Deano used to line up for his leftovers!!!

Here is Gary's dating pool, circa 1965...

Actually, before I was Pope, and before Sister Mary left the convent to marry Gary Diego, we were cycling buddies! Does that count?

My wife and I ride together and I ride at her speed when I can!! She rides almost every day, to the gym, while I take less frequent LSD rides (less S now than earlier!!) I cannot climb with her! In a 10 or 15 mile ride, she can leave me well behind. In anything longer, I tend to get home first. I guess we both have trouble adapting to other riders.

Sounds like something we should have learned in elementary school, doesn't it?

Ken

No, unfortunately Mrs. Roccobike has MS. She used to ride a 3 speed Royce-Union years ago. She took that darn thing out on a regular basis, but when the disease struck, cycling was one of the first things she had to give up.