tourman

My wife bought herself a Cannondale hybrid this year.
She is uncomfortable riding on roads so i get my hybrid out and we ride the rail trails or other bike paths. During the course of the summer she traded her padded seat for womens specific bike saddle which made her riding more enjoyable. We enjoy this time together and as dnvr fox has said it usually includes picnics or a restaurant during the ride. If I want to hammer I take out my road bike and go alone. The thing is guys you have to make it fun and as they get more hooked they make the changes themselves as in she wants to do an overnight trip on the bike. She does not enjoy riding alone and thats ok. It boils down to take what you can get and enjoy the time. As for riding with her best friend ouch thats going to bite you in hiney in a big way.

cyclezealot

Tourman, It was also my wife's idea, to help her friend out, by our buying lots of accessories for her last Christmas present.. My wife had paid lip service to getting out with us- but never follows through.. I would not have encouraged the friend, if not for my wife's supporting the idea of helping her to get started..
Since now, the friend is pretty committed to cycling- who else would she go out with. As said, she goes out with my cycling group,not just with me.. I must say her attraction to cycling- I had hoped would have helped further encourage my wife to try out the sport.. As of yet, no...

Guest

Good Mom Annie... You'll appreciate your ride times even more when she becomes a young lady... As for your hubby... let's hope he finds his own riding passion somewhere in his future. It's just going to take sometime to uncover what he's so adeptly hiding from himself.

I have a few friends with similar habits... exercise of any kind isn't their strong suite... What's really sad is even when feeling the medical affects of couch potato syndrome they still can't find the desire to do what it takes to stay alive...

Bluestreak2

Guys, making your wives ride on snow or in the road. I have been riding for almost 40 years and am not a timid rider by any means, but this is a great way to make the ladies chicken out.

I rode on Army Trail road in Addison, Il, when I was nine months pregnant, against the advise of my doctor (I switched doctors within the same group when he told me I couldn't ride) who (original doctor)commented to me I didn't see your bike parked outside, and I laughed that I had ridden two days before.

You bought the bike, how does it compare with your bike, not as good I bet. Listen is the seat uncomfortable? Think how many times you had to change your seat or seat position before you were comfortable on it. How about the stem and handlebars, is she comfortable with them? Did you get a bike with pedals she could be stuck in if she fell while stopped for a light? A good way to get started is with cages that aren't secured, so she can slip her feet in and out. No I didn't use cages when I was pregnant, because I was a strong rider without them. Now I prefer cages and riding shoes are a big demand.

Please gentlemen, take it easy on the ladies. Now take her to the bike shop or look in a catalog, for nice riding ensembles, including helmet, shoes (yup they're important for the alignment of the leg) and gloves. Remember the clothes need to co ordinate with the bike. Next, check out bike trails that are paved and off road. Now find a good place to eat mid ride, possibly a pub, or ice cream shop where she won't feel obivious. After the ride go home, shower and then go out for dinner or breakfast.

Remember we don't eat to ride, we ride to eat. A camelbak is a nice purse when riding, and allows drinking basically without using your hands.

For a first tour, find a well supported tour, and make sure there are shops that will interest her, such as antique and quilt shops. Doing errands and going to community events on a bike are great casual introductions to cycling. You get to pull the trailer.

Even we sturdy types enjoy the pampering of a gentleman. My husband and riding partner of 27 years still does most of the mechanical stuff on our bikes (although I can do a lot of it while riding solo)and loading and unloading of the bikes. I fill the camelbaks and get the gear together, making sure we have great snacks.

Another hint, your wife might ask her gynecologist for a prescription for lidocaine to avoid too much saddle discomfort in the begining. It is not to be used all the time, but if you get tender, it is great.

caloso

We just bought my wife a Cannondale 400 hybrid. She's ridden it home from the LBS but that's it. She's been nagging me all week about where would be a good place to ride on Saturday. I can't wait. Just remind me to go slow (literally and figuratively).

Looking forward to riding to the ballpark to see the Rivercats on summer evenings and stop by the ice cream shop on the way home....

bentrox!

What do you think of this solution, MikeR?

https://www.ransbikes.com/Fusion/Fusion.htm

Scroll down near the bottom and you should see a picture of a female riding this comfortable looking bike. It's not a hybrid and it's not a recumbent, but it sure looks like that lady could plant her feet on the ground while seated and also pedal away without looking painfully cramped.

Maybe this is good idea for the recreational rider? Just a thought.

bentrox!

Here's the photo:

Bluestreak2

The solution looks like great, but you might want to make certain your life insurance is paid up, if this isn't what the nice lady has in mind. Personally and please try not to laugh too hard, I prefer a nixte (aka ladies frame) I can put my feet down and not worry about my female anatomy.

Good Luck,
Bluestreak

raji

Not sure if this has been said before:

I think it might be a good idea to get her a good touring travelogue...As for myself, I was not into biking 6 months back. And then my husband borrowed a book called "Miles from nowhere" from the local library and left it lying on our centre table....

I became curious and started reading and well, I was hooked! We bought a new hybrid bike for me and I started commuting to work 2 days a week. Now I am commuting 4 days a week, 12 miles one way.

I really like it and we are both planning to start touring sometime soon..We recently bought lots of gear for that (sleeping bags, mattress etc)..So, my point - get her to read something that will help her develop interest in cycling by herself..

Good luck!

Cheers,
Raji.

tanqy

I just thought that I would jump in here as a "wife" that just started out. My biggest frustration is that my hubby doesn't always understand that my goal is not to "go really fast," it is just to get out and try new things. I enjoy making it over a creek bed, up a hill, etc. That is a much bigger accomplishment than going really fast.

Make sure your spouse has all the info that they need. Buy your spouse some books, some magazines, point them to some websites. I would love to go to a beginner's class. Even if you are not a beginner go WITH your spouse. Make this something that you do TOGETHER.

Even if you are faster/"better" than your spouse...stay WITH them. Last time we went, we worked out a deal that was great. We stayed together for the first hour and then he went off on his own for that last 20 minutes to "go really fast"

Just some thoughts from the other side...

Dchiefransom

My wife won't ride a bike, or do anything resembling exercise.
Are there any Bicycle Clubs in your area? My club, the Fremont Freewheelers in Fremont, Ca, has Cinderella training starting in January, and culminating in a Cinderella Classic Metric Century put on by another club in our area. The idea is women riding with women, to get them interested. We do have a few men helping out, but the women apparently are more comfortable learning with other ladies. Who cares, as long as they are having a good time. Maybe getting some ladies with like minded goals together in your area would start as an occasional thing, and turn into a regular event. Let new people progress at a pace they like, and they will stay interested.

caloso

For you NorCal forumites, the Bike Around The Buttes is a nice, lowkey cycling event to get your spouse out there. I'll be doing exactly that tomorrow.

nemo

The woman I love is unable to cycle at all (broken back 4 yrs ago) but I put aside biking to go do what she likes some days. We go swim and work on the machines at the ymca about 3 times a week. She has ms and is in and out of the wheel chair a lot I have teased her that she could go in the chair where i ride and believe me she could almost keep up. (Try keeping up with her in walmart or the grocery store once) So far nothing on going out together like that, with her its not that she doesn't want to go, its that she cannot tolerate the posistion very long. But Bless her heart she shoos me out at least once a day to go ride knowing I love riding and spending time with her both. Maybe she is just tired of me hangin around??? LOL Hope not!

nemo

update!! we found from a dr that riding is a very good alternative to walking for her.(wants to lose that baby weight) so yesterday we went out and picked out a bike she can live with and will use (cheap x-mart bike) I figured maybe a mile a day for awhile and then we will go from there. no more than she is likely to ride she did not see the need to spend money on a real bike. Hey I am just happy she wants to ride.

1oldRoadie

Fantastic NEMO!!!!

ChipRGW

Hey Nemo,
What about a recumbent?

I know that getting out and exercising will be good for her. If she can't tolerate sitting on an upright for very long, it seems to me she may be ideally suited for a 'bent.

nemo

alot of her problem has to due with the repetive motion on her left hip. When her back was broken, she also dislocated that hip and damaged the socket quite a bit leaveing her with bone spurs? in that socket. So we purchased a bike that will allow her to vary her posistion on regularly so the motion will not remain the same. besides no more than she will ride, a bent is WAY outside the price range right now. we purchased a fs mtn bike that is really too small becasue she feels more comfortable with it that way. Due to the injury and being left handed she starts off on her non dominate side by necessity. This makes her feel off balance and clumsy. The smaller bike to her feels like she can control and balance it better, the suspension and fat tires make for a more comfortable ride to her. Like I said the type of bike is not something I would ever choose (I hate suspension) I am just happy she is riding. Last night and this am she rode a few blocks on it to get seat posistion, tire pressure, and bar height sorted. Tonight she wants to go put mile or so on it . Tomorrow it goes to the lbs to get the wheels trued, chain lubed and derailer adjusted. Honestly like i told her it needs to feel good to her and thats all. spending several hundred for a bike she will never use is as pointless as me buying an x-mart bike. I would never find one that fit for one and for two I would wear it out in no time.

caloso

Wonderful post, Nemo.

cyclezealot

I am hoepful. For her birthday, I gave my wife a gym membership.. She says, when her legs get stronger on the exercise bike, she will try going out with me on a Saturday.
She says she will never get addicted to cycling however. All I expect her to do is try it. Not asking too much.

robertsdvd

hahaha, I kinda think some interest in bicycling as a prereq for marriage to someone

nemo

have to share some interests yes. After buying the bike she rode it a bit found the wheels out of true. after seeing how much they were going to cost to fix at the lbs she has decided to return the bike to walmart and spend that money plus the money we would have paid the lbs on a new trek mtn bike. Tomorrow we are going to look around. she liked the looks of the 830? but thought at 200 it was too much till she found that with purchasing and fixing the one from wal-mart it was close to 120....

Spoke Wrench

I taught my wife to ride a bicycle when she was 30 and pregnant. The first few years she didn't ride much. Our first organized ride was almost a disaster. She touched my back tire while a truck was passing, fell, and wound up looking at the underside of the pick up. Fortunately, she had no serious injuries.

Shortly thereafter, a friend gave me a Schwinn Twinn tandem frame. I was able to build it into a useable bike for about $70.00. At the time, I thought that was all of the money in the world. We rode that heavy, old, ill-fitting tandem together for about 7 years. Some people may have scoffed, but it was the best that we could afford and we were on the road having fun. On one organized, hilly ride, Susan Notreangelo of RAAM fame, sought us out at the overnight stop to encourage us.

This will be our 26th year of tandeming together. Through the years since then, the tandems have gotten progressively more high tech. Bicycling together has become out primary recreational and social outlet. We even lost our life savings operating a family oriented bicycle store for 5 years. In spite of losing the money, I wouldn't change anything. Every experience has been necessary to get us to the place that we are today. It's all been good!

JerriAnn

I have a couch potato husband too. I walk our rail/trails every day and now ride my recumbent
bike. We are both 59 years old. We only live 1/4 of mile from the trail. I am thinking about buying him a recumbent bike for a surprise. If he doesn't ride it I will sell it. He has had by
pass heart operation and also had a heart attack while on a business trip when he was 40!
He was one block from the hospital when it happened. Thank God he wasn't on a plane at the time he would of died. Now wouldn't you think a little exercise would be nice? I give up!

You know what I hardly ever see couples on the trail. Either with a bike or walking. Alot of
single people . I have met several of them. People I haven't seen in 20 years. Our trail has
been around for 6 years which is so nice to have.

I just don't like the 1/4 mile to the trail. I am afraid I am going to get killed.I live in the
country with a high school not far away.

Good luck with your spouse.

StephenH

The original thread here is 7 years old now.

Personally, I think with any kind of exercise or weight loss, you can't wish it on another person. They have to want to do it, or they just won't.

redeyedtreefr0g

Hello everyone! I just finished registering and was looking through the many topics- such an organized forum!

I am 24, and "hate" exercise. Least I thought I did.

But a year ago I got married to my Jamie (together 6 years before that) and my little sister came. I don't like my little sister, and I got her a dress to make sure she was clothed properly. Well, she gained a LOT of weight since I'd seen her last, and the dress, more suited to her previous lanky tallness, looked atrocious on her. I don't ever, ever want to look like she did.

But, my motivational powers of will are next to nothing. I didn't exercise. I saved a little trampoline from dumpster doom at my twin's apartment complex with the best of intentions. But after we added feet to it, it leans against the wall uselessly, because I don't know what I'm doing, and I'm afraid to hurt myself.

So then we move up here, which I hate, but it has bike lanes around. Recently we had to unbury our bicycles from where they had been smashed with other bikes being stored under the apartment stairs. We can't keep them there anymore, being a fire hazard or something. So I recalled that I own a bicycle, and thought- I like bicycling, that counts as exercise right?

Well, I tend to get excited about anything I'm doing, very passionate? (is that the word?) about things. When I got my first car, a Cavalier, I was into cleaning it and learning about how it worked while the guys were repairing its many many MANY failing parts. I wanted it green to be MY car, put little frosted etch-looking frog stickers on the windows. Things like that.

And now I want to cycle. I've bought a helmet, started overcoming my shyness to actually step into a few bike shops and talk to people. I would LOVE to have a new bicycle, but can't see spending that much on one. I am also a salesperson's dream, and if I had the money would have loved to have spent it already on a bike that I test rode. A Trek fitness bike, I think. FX 7.1 I think? That's the picture I think I tried out.

But my husband is being a pain. Jamie is a large man, I guess he would count as a Clydesdale, which I just learned from glanced through the forums. He is 6'2" and around 280 pounds. He says he will ride with me, but he is a person who strongly believes that I should ride on sidewalks whenever possible or the shoulders of roads if I must. That it is seriously dangerous to ride on the road, even the white line. I admit, I am afraid of traffic, I see how they drive when Im in my car, and imagine trying to bicycle near those people!

I recently put his father's girlfriend on standby emergency status (whether for an accident, or oh-god-I'm-too-far-from-home-come-pick-me-up capacity) and rode to Winn-Dixie. We needed milk, so that was my excuse. Jamie was not at home at the time, I figured better to explain afterwards. I was afraid, sure, but I rode the white line all the way down (that state road is two lane, 55mph), and got the bike lane near I-95 and rode the rest of the way just fine. 5 miles actually going somewhere was a lot different than 30 minutes or 5 miles circling the apartment parking lot. But I made it. And then coming home was easier. I even discovered a bike shop next to Winn-Dixie I had never noticed whose employees refrained from laughing at my pitiful and abused Target Salespecial and adjusted the rear brakes so I could somewhat have braking power (front brakes missing completely).

So I guess I'd like to ask- how could I get Jamie to, if not cycle with me, which would be awesome, at least relax enough to let me cycle? I'd like to be able to commute to work and not have to put a second car on the road. If I could get the two extra cars fixed and sold, I could buy a new bike. And not pay to tag and insure one. Insurance is stupid expensive, and I wouldn't need to worry about gas money. Work is currently 16 miles away down US-1, called Phillips Highway here, it is four lane- two each way, with a shoulder most of the entire length, except for construction in one area near us. Is that feasible to commute on, or should I be content with my 30 minute drives to work and try to fit in rides some other point in the day?

My motivation, originally so piqued when I discovered the Xrtacycle website, has waned somewhat.

So, sorry for the book-length introduction. Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.