lucienrau

I've looked at everything that I can and am now at a loss on several things so I guess I'll just throw everything into one post and hope you lovely people can help. Sorry if this is too much spew.

I was a bike commuter, but not a far distance for a few years. I quit my job to become a stay-at-home dad and my daughter and I get out on my bike (a Surly Big Dummy) for a couple hours each day and we're working up to longer distances. I have another ride for personal riding. Both are sweet bikes but time is a different issue.

Last year I committed to getting in shape, lost 30lbs and was up to around 15 miles on a trip before the wonderful New England winter this year. I've maintained the same weight in the #270 vicinity but I've lost quite a bit of tone. I feel like I'm starting from scratch again and I'm having a hard time getting motivated. I can get out with the monkey as long as there's a destination in mind but it's hard to get further than the park or grocery store. I have some time to do solo rides but rarely more than an hour. Any advice on getting basic biking fitness? How do I make the most of my time? I can do some training with my daughter, a big heavy bike and 50lbs of gear and child are some pretty good resistance. Should I just keep going and building with the buffalo rig and work on speed and distance when I can? There's a pretty good group here but the basic rides are around 15 miles and I don't feel up to that yet. I usually don't have a car available to go away to ride so I ride around home but the streets aren't that great to go distances on (all urban or the paths are a few miles away, one is over a very scary bridge.)

The other issue is my lovely wife has committed to getting out with me too and we're starting from zero with her. She's an athena. We got her an ex-rental bike last year but the bottom bracket is going now and the cost to fix everything on it isn't worth investing in the bike. It was really just to see if she was interested enough to get on a bike. She is interested, but the bike is holding her back at this point.

She's not comfortable with drop bars so we're looking for other options. We're hoping to do some bike camping this summer with an ideal of touring later on. We've tried quite a few bikes recently and the ones she's most comfortable on are city bikes. My thought is to get something like a Surly Troll frame build it up as a cruiser, with some fastish fat tires (Big Apples) and north road handlebars that could be flipped later on for some other hand positions. It seems flexible enough that it could be setup how she wants for and has all the braze-ons for racks etc... Does this make sense? Should I look at other options? Should we just get a city bike for now and get something else when fitness improves? She's pretty tall 5'8" and comfortable with a diamond frame.

Trying to think about all of this makes me twitchy.

zonatandem

Tandem for you and wife!

10 Wheels

Just ride your bike and Quit Thinking.
You should have some better weather now.

zoste

I like this idea, and once I get into a better financial situation this is the route I plan to take.

It does feel like starting over every spring, so the way I see it, you can either buy a trainer for those long New England winters, or you can bail out of the rust belt and join me and zona in Tucson

CACycling

If it were me, I wouldn't think long term. Getting my wife from her comfort bike to a full road bike took many small changes. Started making the comfort bike a little faster bit by bit over the course of 6 months (narrow, high-pressure tires; lowered the bars; dumped the suspension seat post; clips and straps; and, eventually, clipless pedals). Then found her a '78 Schwinn Le Tour for $50 on Craigs List. Moved the clipless pedals over and she was now riding a road bike. Eventually convinced her to try a modern road bike and took her shopping to test ride a bunch of bikes. She's now on an Ultegra-equipped Fuji and loves it. I'd have never gotten her from point a to point g without the steps in between. Maybe you should consider something similar. Push her to try new things bit by bit but don't push any major changes.

lucienrau

I like that idea too, but someone needs to haul our daughter and all the stuff, which is where the big dummy and I come in. I really just need to get the monkey used to longer rides. If I get used to that I'll fly being 80lbs lighter on my solo bike. We're working on being car light so two bikes makes more sense for now.

As far as moving goes, we're looking at Portland OR once we're free from my wife's contract. Wet winters but not the snow and ice that keeps me in. Next winter will be a trainer, swimming and weights at the y. I have dreams of moving by way of a cross country tour and have our stuff catch up with us if we end up somewhere far.