Originally Posted by clbtraindriver
I thought i would get some opinions on a few things. Last spring i bought a dept. store bike just to ride around the "hood" with my kids and have some fun. Then over the course of the summer I realized cycling was fun and stress relieving etc...so i started doing short rides(15miles) during my lunch break(which was exausting at the time!) I have since bought a great lightwight road bike, riding gear, computer and am putting in close to 200 miles a week now. I want to join a club and do some long rides,charity rides, even thinking about the "Ride The Rockies" The problem is that my wife thinks I am to old (I'm 35) to start getting into cycling, and gives me no support. I've tried to get her into it,explaning the benifts of the sport but to no avail. In fact she laughs at me whenever i put on my gear to go for a short ride!(she says i look like a dork!) So what'ya think, am I to old to start cycling? Should I flush the idea down the toilet?
Are you dead yet? Then you aren't too old to start riding! The Denver Bicycle Touring Club has a lot of geezers (people way older than me and I'm way older than you
) that can ride my worthless butt into the ground! Some of them are pushing 90 pretty hard and they still ride. I did a 800 mile unsupported tour this summer with my 19 year old daughter (who got her butt kicked
) and the only thing bad I got out of it was a wierd suntan.
No. 35 is not too old to start. Ignore your wife and think of the joy you give her for laughing at you. If she doesn't want to ride...well that's her problem. Tell her that you ride because you want to stay around long enough to be a burden to your children.
Originally Posted by clbtraindriver
The second problem i have is that the only "free" time i have to cycle is at work between shifts, i work "split shifts" which gives me between 3 and 5 hours of "free" time, which i usually ride between 25 and 40 miles along the platte river trail in Denver. My days off are during the week, so i brought up the idea of "making time" to ride 1 day a week,on my day off, by taking our 4 yr old to grandmas or daycare to stay for 4hrs or so to get a long ride in. My wife thinks its selfish and really dont approve.
Anybody else in a situation like this? If so, how do you "make time" to ride and how often do you ride when you have a family?
Thanks
I put my kids in trailers when they were very little and took them for rides. When they turned 4 we put them on the back of a tandem. Riding on a tandem with a kid is a very special time. My oldest was an animal and loved to go fast. My youngest is a story teller and would bend my ear for hours. Riding with them ranks amoung my most prescious memories. If you wife doesn't like you taking them to daycare, take them along.