Who here has got there wife into road cycling.......and
 

how does she enjoy it? The reason I ask is my wife after 3 years of bust'n her butt finished her graduated degree back in May to be a Nurse Practitioner. She just recently took here board certification exam and passed so now she has all this free time and would like to start cycling with me. I'm curious how this has gone for those who have got their spouse into cycling. I'm happy she wants to ride, but I'm not sure how to approach this to make sure she keeps the enthusiasm.

Support her, but don't push her. If she doesn't want to ride, she won't. Keep it at her level so she has fun.

http://img125.echo.cx/img125/7155/attention9ha.gif Good point, I screwed up and pushed my beloved spouse and she doesn't ride much. I didn't think I was, but that's how she percieved it and the end result is that I can't get her to ride and she gets defensive if I even suggest a ride or invite her! My bad!

If she's interested, you really don't need to do much else except answer any questions she has. And help her pick up a bike that's appropriate for her goals and wishes. And is blingy.

I purchased an OCR 3 for her for her birthday after she mentioned she needs to get on a bike and workout with me. Be ready to ride at a beginners pace, you have to remember how slow you were when you started riding. For me the difference was about 6-8miles an hour. I use our rides as recovery rides, she tells me to go at my pace, but I think it is better to stay together and encourage her. I bought her a HRM after she raved about mine when she borrowed it, this helped her to understand her limits as an athlete, she realized she could ride harder and has increased her speed about 2mph. I bought rodeo style pedals for her, they are platform on one side and spd on the other, she is getting used to clipless, but has fallen 3 times at less than 3mph, basic type fall, stop before clipping out, I caught her once and didn't twice. BTW she bought some sweet Specialized mountain shoes , they are awesome compared to my 4 year old EBAY budget Answers and cost about 5 times as much. Women and their shoes:) On our last ride she had a blistering cadence, and I was impressed with her gains. I let her set the pace and I sit off her back wheel watching her form:D and letting her let her HRM determine our speed. Our biggest issue has been communication, from my point of view, I have a wealth of info from years of cycling and I want to help her not make mistakes, she wants to learn herself, just as I did. It has been a very positive experience for me, she watches the TDF with me everyday and we look forward to our rides, we are signed up for a ride in September, sh will be doing a 32 miles and I will be doing my 1st century. It is nice we can share a common goal of finishing our rides. Be patient, it will take a long time for a novice to keep up with the experienced in any endevour.

http://www.smileycons.com/img/emotions/113.gif

and then of course.... be supportive... don't push (in the beginning).... ride with her (in the beginning)... praise her when she does good!

I'm one of the lucky ones who gets to ride with my fiancee...

Mollie was a tricky story. She had been hit by a car at age 15 and sustained a lot of facial injuries, all of which she recovered from, but needless to say she was a little freaked out about riding on the road. This was mainly because of the cars, but also the speed and technical aspects of cycling. So we bought a Burley tandem. Within one week of buying the tandem we rode a half century together and she was loving it. We kept riding the tandem until she decided she wanted to work harder on the rides, and that she was feeling good enough to ride on the road again. We got her a single bike, a nice Flyte SRS-3 with 105 components, something that she could either grow into very well or that would have decent resale value if she hated it.

After a few weeks on the single (mainly trainer miles at first, but some road rides) she was enjoying it. Initially there was a definite disparity in our riding ability that was apparent to her, i.e. we were working together but our perceived exertion at the end of the ride was quite different. Other than the bike, the best investment that we made was in a CTS training program for Mollie. Things are spelled out in a very simple way, it's a very stepwise program, and she gets the satisfaction of turning the box in the online calendar green after finishing a workout. Most of the time she'll stick with the CTS rides during the week and I'll do my thing, though when she has a harder day planned we'll ride together.

Anyway, I'll try to sum it up:

1. Start her off on a nice bike, one that you'd expect a rider keeping up with you to have. Spend the time on a fit. I like tweaking my saddle position and stem height and all that crap--she doesn't.

2. Be supportive. Don't make a 20mph average the goal she should shoot for. Start small and build up from there.

3. Recognize that some of her best riding as she starts out will be without you. It's not personal, it's just frustrating to be working hard and getting passed by someone who's not even sweating.

4. Ask her what guidance or direction will help her get into cycling. I can't say enough about the CTS program for Mollie. Once she realized that she was becoming a stronger cyclist by doing workouts that were relatively easy to accomplish, she was hooked.

5. Lots and lots of support, encouragement, and rewards, and appreciation for getting into a sport that's pretty daunting to a newbie just so you can spend time together.

DrPete

My wife is a runner who cycles when it doesn't interfere with her training. She rides maybe 1000 miles a year but probably 50-60% of those are with a group of girls she rides with from the club we belong to.
She's somewhat competitive and has tried her had at criteriums and ITTs but prefers the ITTs as it fits better with the runner mentality.

We ride together on occasion but not a ton and most is done at a recovery pace which is ok as we seem to find time after races. Spinning around for a few hours after a crit seems to work well for both of us.

I'd say don't push it too hard or chances are you'll end up with a bike she doesn't ride.

I'm lucky also. My wife's father used to race and her younger brother still races. So my wife had lots of exposure. I think "blingy" comment is well worth paying attention to. My wife spent a lot of time making sure here shoes, jersey, shorts, and bike all matched up nicely. She's seriously OCP. We got her bike from Performance. A good deal with the team performance 10% back coupons. But she insisted that she getting carbon water bottle cages to match the fork and carbon seat and chainstays on her bike.:eek: For her looking the part is motivation to get out and ride. Now she wants to be as fast as she looks. And she keeps talking about getting into racing.

Make sure to take some air out of her tires so she doesn't beat you.

I think we all feel this to some extent--I'm much more likely to ride and push myself on a bike that I'm confident in and that makes me FEEL fast. That's different things to different people, but if supporting her OCP habit with some carbon cages gets her on the bike and it won't break the bank, go for it!

DrPete

We use to MTB before we were married, I road and when she bought a bike her family knew she was serious, but my old MTB was killing her. More recently we bought a flat bar tandem, which led to 2 road bikes, and finally a much nicer tandem. I ride a lot more miles then she does, but we both very much enjoy the tandem. I would say she splits her time between her road bike and tandem, and I'm about 80% road bike/20% tandem.

Just see what she would like to try, we very much enjoy the tandem, but still like riding our singles.

John

As others have said, go at her pace if you want to ride with her. If you don't let her set the pace she will get frustated and feel that you are not supporting her. Race your buddies, not your wife.

My wife started cycling three years ago, now SHE'S the one waking up early on a Saturday morning, nagging me to go for a ride with her.:)

Praise her even more when she doesn't! It's all about encouragement!

I tried to get my wife into cycling last summer but only succeeded in getting her pregnant :D. My goal was to make it a fun fitness ride so I kept the pace reasonable 13~15mph. We increased from 7miles to 10 and then 20 with a new roadie for her.

I rode with her after my Saturday fitness ride so that my desire to ride fast was minimal. I don't think I'll ever get her into it hardcore, but I think I'll continually be able to get her out a few weekends a month. My plan is to take the baby out in a carrier for rides, she wouldn't want to miss that.

Not wife, but Girlfriend.

She loves it, we ride together almost every day, then we'll run, because she's a runner.

We're going to do our first full marathon together, and she'll be at my side at the MS150.

OH YA!!!!!! be careful of this scenario if you like to sleep! http://www.smileycons.com/img/emotions/89.gif now that summer's back with a vengeance (how DO you spell that?) i'm up BEFORE dawn.... attempting to be out of the house AT sunrise... (hasn't worked yet.... can't seem to hit the 5:35 mark... but i make it out by 6!) anyways... hubby HATES getting up early on weekends... thinks it's against the law or something like that! http://www.smileycons.com/img/emotions/201.gif

you get GOOD and "bad" with a cycling wife!

Does she have a nice rig too?

I bought her a 2006 Cervelo Soloist Team.

My wife initiated the conversation to get a bike. this was after I was riding for about 3 months, lost some weight, less tired, much healthier, quit sitting at a computer in the evenings. I think me buying a trailer for the daughter pushed her into thinking.. Of course, she wanted just a cheap bike from sportmart or something, some comfort recreational rig. I indulged her and we went and tried a number out. The in cool, calculating way a husband can be, I stopped by a bike shop I goto, to get a new tube, and imagine what they had there ( i knew, because i researched and called ahead) a Specialized Sequoia. She got on it, and loved it. even though she refused even try a road bike at other places.

She balked at the price, but the ride was worth it to her. The point really hit home when a weekend later, we went riding some friends of her, and her friend was struggling with some 40 pound cheap bike (like what she was looking at)

Not carbon? Boo on you!

She's scared of carbon.

She said she didn't want a "plastic" bike.

Oh.

Boo on her!

Excellent advice so far. The OP is lucky because his wife has already expressed interest so he doesn't have to jump that hurdle.

The most important thing is not to discourage her. Let her take the initiative, and see how it develops.

I'm one of those who was introduced to the sport by my SO (boyfriend at the time - now he's my husband). He encouraged me, rode with me, and let me build up my ability at my own pace, and now I'm the stronger rider who wants to ride more, farther, faster, etc.

Boo on her?

She saved me like $1500!