General Cycling Discussion - Does your partner also ride?

Hi there. My GF is not really interested in biking and I'd like her to get involved. HOWEVER, I think there might be both pros and cons with it. (She might get crazy if she found how much it costs :P)

Is your partner also a rider? If yes, what's good and bad with that?

You bet ... we both do ... and it's a good thing. It's so nice to be able to browse bicycle shops etc with the one you love. :)

Our story:
http://www.machka.net/aboutme/rowan_charlene.htm

My wife rides, but not at the level I do. However I make sure to plan rides SHE enjoys, shorter, slower recreational rides with a definite goal in mind, like a trip from the house to the Dairy Queen, or a stop off at the Deli. We currently live out in the edges of suburbia, but for her rides we truck the bikes into town and ride with friends from their house.

Aaron :)

+1
Some people don't understand the joy of riding for ridings sake. My rides with my wife are always with a specific bike path and restaurant in mind.
Also make sure her bike is working properly.

Mine hasn't ridden since she was a kid. I periodically try to get her out on my spare bike and have offered to buy her a new bike. So far no dice.

Unfortunately no. She has too many health problems due in significant part to her refusal to exercise.

I only started riding a few months ago, and was riding by myself. Mostly 30-45 minutes at a time, on a specific route, with one goal in mind...getting fit. Then a couple weeks ago, my wife decided she wanted to try it. She wouldn't go for an expensive bike. Wally world special is all she'd consider. Got her a girly mtb and away we went. Still riding for about 45 mins, but now we're going slower, and taking roads we've never been on before, through neighborhoods we've never seen.

I usually let her lead at her pace. I'm kind of enjoying the view from the rear... :ride:

I hope it's my wife. If it aint, I'm leaving and marrying this one!:D IMO, there aren't any cons. She encourages me to buy bike stuff, never complains about the ride, course or says no to a ride. It's a big plus that she understands what's involved in cycling. If I need spokes or a rim to build a new wheel, she knows it's a necessity in life haha! Unlimited trips to the bike shop etc, what else could I want out of life? It's taken some time and patience to get her to a good riding level but it's paid off. She's thrashed quit a few of my friends on the bike! So it's not like I need to slow down for her much, that's when it get to be fun fun!:thumb:

She's got an 80's Bianchi Sport, carbon fiber Trek Pilot, Burley tandem, a Specialized hybrid and she loves them all!

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l267/gulpxtreme/100310500A.jpg

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l267/gulpxtreme/091810500C.jpg

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l267/gulpxtreme/090610K500.jpg

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l267/gulpxtreme/August282010GMRFredandGina017.jpg

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l267/gulpxtreme/021409B.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2602/4041054954_5758d77204.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/40913998@N06/4041054954/)
102409A (http://www.flickr.com/photos/40913998@N06/4041054954/) by gulpxtreme (http://www.flickr.com/people/40913998@N06/), on Flickr

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l267/gulpxtreme/101710500g.jpg

http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l267/gulpxtreme/101710500c.jpg

I like this clip, riding with the boyz!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fEwkwjqgMdA

Mine does. At about 1/2 the speed I do but I still enjoy our time together and I won't drop her. As a matter of fact it's quite enjoyable to ride behind her :)

Mine does as well. I became friends with her here. However, she no longer visits this site due to UA and botto.

My wife owns a bike, but has only put a few miles on it. I'm trying to get her on it more often, even if it's just a short trip to a restaurant.

She's very supportive of my cycling, and encourages me to get out and ride when I'm in a bad mood. I guess that's her way of getting away from me when I'm cranky. :)

Yes, we both ride. It's all good, no cons.

its all good unless you try to coach her when she is not ready to be coached. We ride at my wife's pace with her in front (she refuses to draft) we have fun

Hi there. My GF is not really interested in biking and I'd like her to get involved. HOWEVER, I think there might be both pros and cons with it. (She might get crazy if she found how much it costs :P)


Huh? We recently relocated to Tokyo from the US and I'm amazed at how cheap it is to get started here. My wife bought a used folder for 6000 yen (that's well under $100 US) - not a high-end ride but she likes it fine for getting around town and we're hoping to do some longer recreational rides by and by. When we were in the states, she started with a city bike, then graduated to a hybrid and later to a road bike. The latter cost way more than any bike I've ever owned :rolleyes: but she enjoys riding it so the payoff is there for both of us. The key point, at least for us, is that she did it all when she was ready to do it, no pushing from me. But she did see how much I was enjoying my rides, and that must have had an influence...

My wife got me into riding. I like riding with her, but usually this is where we argue. She gets irritated with me because I tend to go at a much faster pace and have to wait for her. I get irritated because I have to wait for her. :)

my partner IS my bike (all 3 of them), so. . . . . yeah ;)

Mine does as well. I became friends with her here. However, she no longer visits this site due to UA and botto.

thank god for small favors.

Seems there's more than 95% of pros and less than 5% of cons, or perhaps only lucky people are here :p I'm not really sure how much she'll love it, but would ask her to enjoy with me. Thanks everybody!

My wife does ride and more and more each year as well. I got here interested by not pushing it on her and by just ejoying my rides. Then one day she expressed an interest, on the second day she had her bike :love: . When we ride together, not only will I not drop her, I let her set the pace by having her ride in front. We enjoy chating on our rides, so a simular speed does wonders. Like was said in an earlier post, it is so great to browse a bike shop with simular interest. We have done one short tour together as well. Very nice.

Huh? We recently relocated to Tokyo from the US and I'm amazed at how cheap it is to get started here. My wife bought a used folder for 6000 yen (that's well under $100 US) - not a high-end ride but she likes it fine for getting around town and we're hoping to do some longer recreational rides by and by. When we were in the states, she started with a city bike, then graduated to a hybrid and later to a road bike. The latter cost way more than any bike I've ever owned :rolleyes: but she enjoys riding it so the payoff is there for both of us. The key point, at least for us, is that she did it all when she was ready to do it, no pushing from me. But she did see how much I was enjoying my rides, and that must have had an influence...

Haha... I mean, she might get angry when she found how much I spent to get new wheels. "What could you have done to me with that money?" :P

my partner IS my bike (all 3 of them), so. . . . . yeah ;)

That's true, but do you sleep w/h your bike??? lol

Haha... I mean, she might get angry when she found how much I spent to get new wheels. "What could you have done to me with that money?" :P

Yeah, like ... buy her the same set of wheels for her bicycle.

Yeah, like ... buy her the same set of wheels for her bicycle.

Zactly!:thumb:

Or restore a bike for her.
I want to also build a bike for my SO. Plus, she rides the same size bikes as me but with a completely different fit since my legs and arms are fairly long.

Mine does. At about 1/2 the speed I do but I still enjoy our time together and I won't drop her. As a matter of fact it's quite enjoyable to ride behind her :)

+1

That's true, but do you sleep w/h your bike??? lol

A little chain lube on the sheets never hurt anybody.

Wife and I ride together most mornings, unless she has business meetings and needs to be in nicer clothes right off the bat, then she take subway and I ride solo ;).

My wife rides but only about half of what I do. It's nice to ride together. Other times I enjoy the quiet.

An old Irishman was diving home from the pub. He'd been over-served. When the police pulled him over the cop asked incredulously, "Do you realize that your wife fell out of your car 2 miles back?"
"Thank God!" he said, "I thought I'd gone deaf."

My wife doesn't participate on this forum.

Or restore a bike for her.
I want to also build a bike for my SO. Plus, she rides the same size bikes as me but with a completely different fit since my legs and arms are fairly long.

Well, I'm 6'4 and she's 5. :S Anyway, yea I'll talk to her about this issue, but the thing is like it's gonna be winter and not too nice timing to start biking x( We'd save some money this winter and get one next spring :)

Yep. Went riding on our second or third date. Got matching bikes before we got married (the builder attended the wedding). 20 years later we're still riding together, and she doesn't worry about the money I spend on bike stuff. Oh, yeah: she's 5-foot-10, blonde, and has a Master's in Computer Science. She's the smart one, I'm cheap labor.

Yes. It's great to ride together. Best tip: always let her go first, and set the pace. Also I limit myself to only one "can we go a little faster?" per ride.

Actually, I think that if she really got into it, and pushed herself, she would be a stronger rider than I am.

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a39/TromboneAl/AveGiants/AveGiantsHandBack.jpg

My wife also rides. We are both into fitness and we exercise together. We have our basement finished/use as our personal gym. And biking is another type of exercise --- we both like riding bikes, get out in the open air/see different sites. The advantage is we can spend time together doing something we both enjoy and for our health.

Bob

One of the good things for us has been the acquisition of a tandem. It means we can lilterally ride together with much fewer of the frustrations of speed differential. And Machka really likes to chatter away on the back, so the time and distances do seem to pass by fairly well.

It's also been a good healing strategy for both of us. Machka has had DVT issues and her aerobic fitness suffered while she was on warfarin. Plus her favourite bike, Machak, was stolen at Easter and that has been difficult to get over. And I have had some emotional recovery to do from the 2009 bushfires that destroyed my home and killed over 150 people (34 of them in a nearby town)... I think we are headed, in October, for our first 1000km month in a long, long time.

We pretty well alternate our rides between singles and the tandem, and the variety has been very enjoyable. We're looking at doing a 200 randonnee on the tandem next weekend.

As to buying bike stuff -- we live remote from city bike shops, so most of our purchases are on-line. I usually discussed what I am ordering, and suddenly the list will jump a few items as Machka has a browse on the website. We've bought some nice stuff without spending a fortune.

In addition, we like to get out of town and explore the state, so we pile the bikes in the back of the van (tandem and singles) and off we go. We bought the van primarily because of our cycling.

Tandems are a great way to even out different skill and strength levels. We own a tandem but it gets very little use at this time.

Aaron :)

I thought it is better I go first so she can have aerodynamic-benefit, but maybe we don't go speedy like 20-25mph. Tandem is not allowed on public road in Japan yet. (Might be able to do that in the future, for the convenient of blind people.)

My husband does not ride (or run, my main activity) and I wish he did. In his defense, we have a two year old and it's hard for the both of us to get out and do anything together sans kid. We'd have to have baby sitters all the time if we wanted to ride/run together. He does have a bike, a comfort bike, and I have offered to pull our son in the trailer on my hybrid while all of us go for a ride but no dice.

I see husbands and wives cycling/running together and I get jealous :/

My wife does ride and more and more each year as well. I got here interested by not pushing it on her and by just ejoying my rides. Then one day she expressed an interest, on the second day she had her bike :love: . When we ride together, not only will I not drop her, I let her set the pace by having her ride in front. We enjoy chating on our rides, so a simular speed does wonders. Like was said in an earlier post, it is so great to browse a bike shop with simular interest. We have done one short tour together as well. Very nice.

LOL My first thought was "I see how it works, you let her do the hard work and you draft off her!"

Only half joking.

seems most of cyclists are happy with that. nice :)

I thought it is better I go first so she can have aerodynamic-benefit, but maybe we don't go speedy like 20-25mph. Tandem is not allowed on public road in Japan yet. (Might be able to do that in the future, for the convenient of blind people.)

Really? You're not allowed to operate a tandem on Japanese roads?

Well I did small survey on that, and the answer is "Yes and No". It is now clearly allowed to operate Tandem in 5 prefectures (Nagano, Hyogo, Yamagata, Ehime, Hiroshima). For other pref, it is prohibited or there's no clear statement says "allowed" (Which means police may let you go, but law may treat you unfairly at accident).