BluesDawg

One night a few years ago sitting around the campsite on BRAG with my friends, one of us remarked "It's a good thing our wives don't ride bicycles or we'd have to find something else to do".

ChargerDawg

I enjoy the view more from behind...

tigat

To all who have posted, thanks. It is a great reminder that the internets are perhaps not the best place to go to express subtle humor, which was, I admit, my intent, although obviously not my accomplishment. For what its worth, my beautiful bride of 33 years and I have logged thousands of Happy Couple Riding Together miles, and I'm hoping for thousands more. Now, someone please hijack this thread and put me out of my misery.

h2oxtc

I think BD has it right, the humour that is. Personally, I love riding with my wife ... but not sure if the feeling is mutual.

Rowan

I made a pact with Machka way back that I wouldn't leave her to ride totally by herself. I've stuck to that for around 10 years, and it's not going to change soon.

bruce19

My gf is the one who got me back into cycling after a layoff of 8 yrs. I was 58 when she decided she wanted to learn about cycling. That was 10 yrs. ago. She continues to provide incentive for me to get on the bike on those days when I'm feeling lazy. If she stopped riding I probably would continue but something wonderful would be lost.

George

That's how my wife and I were, until she had back surgery. Now I ride by myself, for the most part.

FrenchFit 

My wife and I do Cat 1 rides every weekend, though I pull back to about 13 mph on my 26" MTB touring bike. She has a e-assist on her bike for hill riding, and our rides on the flats are usually 30m roundtrip and she leaves the battery off. A few weeks ago we tried an experiment, I opted for one of my fast bikes and she agreed to use the e-assist to keep up, flat ride, while I'm hammering. It went OK, though at the end she was definitely annoyed, complaining that the battery was dead and she was exhausted. I guess that made me feel pretty macho.

Riding side by side or in a close draft is the way to go. True from riding, true for marriage.

CommuteCommando

I suggested a tandem to my wife. Her reply was "Won't that bike be pretty heavy for you all by yourself?"

fietsbob

Bike Friday's tandems are sectional , you can remove the back seat and it's a single , again,

or add a 3rd seat if the shared sleeping bag results in siring a little pedaler..

though 50+ you should be done with that, but there are the grandchildren ..

mprelaw

The fact of the matter is, I do have a big fitness edge on my wife, so when we ride together, it's a JRA fun ride for me. But no matter how much I try to make it a HCRT ride, it becomes a CWC ride when we come to a hill. Sometimes the gap gets so wide that I stop at the crest and wait. If the gap isn't too wide, I'll coast the down side and then ease on the flats until she's on my wheel again. I prefer riding behind her and slightly to the left of her wheel on the flats. I'd rather have an idiot driver hit me than her. This also lets her set a comfortable pace that I can match.

zonatandem

We've been riding TWOgether since 1975 when we got our first tandem for our then 20th wedding anniversary.
Currently on tandem #5 and still doing it TWOgether at age 81 and 79!
We've ridden 240,000 miles (right amount of zeroes) as a tandem team . . .
Ain't life grand?!!!

Rudy and Kay/zonatandem

cccorlew

Interesting. Tricia (MyLilPony when she posts on BF) and I ride together a lot.
Who's faster? It depends on the day. What's odd is that I usually do big climbs better, and descend slightly faster, but on a 1% or grade or a big head wind I'm barely able to hand on.

On centuries we often aren't close to each other, but we'll make sure we don't lose the the person. Really, it's a lot like riding with any of my friends, except Tricia is a lot better looking.

People sometimes tell us we should get a tandem. We reply, "No, we want to stay married."

MickeyMaguire

My wife and I love riding together. I have to slow down a lot when my wife is with me. She is still trying to spin (after 45 years of riding). So... I slow down, I even stop to give my wife a chance to catch up or for the two of us to sit in a shady spot and chew on some riding food. To me, I enjoy our ride times... when I do ride solo, that is when I push myself.

jyl

I have a solution.

When climbing w/ your SO, the weaker climber is spinning up in the correct gear and the stronger in a laughably too-high gear. Nothing takes a strongman/woman down a notch like heaving 53 x 19 up a grade that the SO is spinning up in 34 x 21. The side benefit is it makes the sufferer stronger so he/she actually gets some training benefit.

On the flats w/ your SO, the weaker rider is cruising in a comfortable gear and the stronger is overspending like a hopped up hamster in a grossly too-low gear. I wager just 10 minutes at 150 rpm will leave most of us desperate to suck a wheel, and 20 will have us begging "please don't leave me". Think how good it will be for the pedal stroke.

Carbonfiberboy 

My favorite comment as we rode by on our tandem is, "Lucky!" Sure, a tandem is a relationship accelerator. Life is short. Get a tandem. Why waste time?

Louis Le Tour

You might want to edit that!

Louis Le Tour

I live thru them but I can't remember them either!

digibud

I'm the good guy pulling for my wife in the wind. If there's no wind we're either riding together, chatting or I'm so far ahead while I push myself that nobody knows we're together. I don't get passed by "women". That's never a concern; I get passed by EVERYONE under 60, but it's still not a concern .

mrtuttle04

Why, should i have spelled it "arse".

maxine

Wow. If riding a bike involved that much emotional drama . . . I'd pick another hobby.

My (male) s/o is significantly faster and stronger than I am on the bike. If we ride "together" he knows that if he wants to literally be together he will have to go more slowly than is his wont. He also knows that I'm happy either way. I don't mind if he's ahead of me for ages, and I'll frequently tell him to take off and have some fun chasing faster riders and not worry about me. I was a solo rider before I met him, and I'm frequently still a solo, and self-sufficient, rider; I don't need him to change my flat tires for me.

He'll wait up for me at periodic points, and of course we will enjoy the destination (park, lunch, pub beers, whatever) together when we arrive. It's all good. I hope to be able to get a bit faster so he doesn't have to slow down *as* much, but I know I'll never be able to match him, particularly over the longer-haul rides that we do.

BlazingPedals

I know a few women that could absolutely destroy the average 50+ forumite if they got the mind to. When they get competitive, they just might drop their hubbies, who are also pretty strong. It's all in good fun.

Gerryattrick

There's no reason at all why a man should have a fitness edge over a woman if they both put the work in. On average men will probably be stronger, but that's not the same as fitness.

Phil_gretz

Married 30+ years here. My wife and girlfriend are the same person, conveniently. She rides 1/20th the amount of time/miles as I do in a year, so it's a real treat when we get to ride together.

So, I'm very sensitive to trying to allow these rides to be as fun, interesting, and rewarding for her as I can. That means that we choose times and places in which she'll feel safe, be able to ride comfortably, and enjoy the destination or turn-around point (if there is one). I let her set her own pace, and I ride behind, making converstation when she wants, and saying nothing when she doesn't.

For me, the ride is less than secondary, while the company is primary. There are plenty of other times to "get my riding on", whatever that might mean...

Phil_gretz

Oh...and my wife is VERY fit. She does P90-X six days a week, walks in the evenings, and eats healthy. She can bang out pushups, hold yoga poses, or endure abdominal exercises like nobody's business. She just doesn't have the muscle mass or cardio capacity that I do. Not her fault for not having tried to make the very most of what God has given her.