wobblyoldgeezer

I agree, Seana and I quite often choose to ride the tandem rather than the singles, and about 10 years ago we loved having two tandems and each of us taking a kid on the back without having to worry about their road safety or their fatigue limits. As they grew stronger, we got quicker! Now they're flown, we still enjoy tandems a lot.

However, we were glad that we had a certain amount of single bike experience before tandeming for the first time, because single riding experience gave us a bit (a lot) more tolerance and generosity when the additional complexity of riding 2-up was present.

For a good bike for multi terrain - I'm glad I bought her a Trek 7.5 fx. She loves it, and has clocked 2,000 miles in a year, including easy trundles around where we live, and week long overseas tours. We all recommend the bikes we've enjoyed - but I'd honestly recommend having a look at one. (Colour this year is no longer the pretty metallic pale blue we bought, however)

TurboTurtle

I live in central Lake County and started riding at 50 (since I was 14) and am now 57. I started with a Raleigh hybrid for $308 and rode the he!! out of it. I did road (metric century), paved and crushed stone paths (love the DPRT) and MTB (both Palos and Kettle). After that first year, it was trashed and I knew what I wanted. A couple of years later I built my wife a hybrid (though for way, way more than $308 :-) ) and got her started on the road. I think the hybrid is an excellent first bike. I know others who have never left their hybrids and do >5,000 miles/yr all over the country. It's a great bike to start (and maybe stay) with.

Also look into the Bicycle Club of Lake County for a wide range of riding styles from very social to competative,

www.bikebclc.com

and the McHenry County Bicycle Club for wonderful casual road rides, weekend camping/riding trips, etc. - especially if you are retired/have week days free.

www.mchenrybicycleclub.info

Let me know if I can be of any help (post or PM).

TF