Up North

Get her an E bike.

habilis

This actually a cool idea. It's only about four miles each way. I'll bring it up with my wife, but she won't do it until the weather warms up.

habilis

Very intriguing! Thanks for the pics.

habilis

Maybe have her try one. We've seen them on the MUP, and they certainly boost speed.

SlinkyWizard

Can I assume you have a bike rack for your car? I asked my wife who would go hiking with me twice a year ( I was going nearly daily on a 2 hour hike, she really wasn't into walking , especially up a mountain ) why do you like riding? She said because of where she rides. We are lucky that we have an almost flat bike path next to a river than winds it's way into the city. Riding on the bike path is quite pleasant, and very chilled ( relaxing ) , we also go slowly, wife dictates pace.

If you do indeed drive to a location to ride, perhaps finding a surrounding that is pleasing to your wife might help?
No cars here and flat , just the way she likes it.

habilis

Yep, this is how the majority of our rides happen. I load the bikes on the car rack and we ride to the MUP. Sometimes I just load her bike and she drives to the MUP, where I meet her on my bike. It's only about 6-7 miles, so I ride there. The MUP Is a very pleasant place to ride, but it's over too quickly. For longer rides, I prefer local rail trails. Some of them in NJ, like the Columbia and Paulinskill, are truly spectacular.

avidone1

Are those 'the brim' visors? I noticed hers right away but yours is so subtle it could just be a regular baseball cap

Alligator

Same issue here with my wife, although we are a little younger. She loves her Linus bike, so we only go on slow rides together once in a while. I ride more at my speed either alone or with my boys. I have no problem riding alone. I run alone, so why not bike alone? If I want to be with people, I could always join a club.

FrenchFit 

Similar background. I put an e-assist (Hilltopper) on my wife's bike so she could zoom up hills and stay with me if I was pedaling a little faster. Fast forward a couple of years and she rides a lighter 20g Mixte, about 20-30 miles every weekend. Frankly, she is probably more into her rides than I am, it's become her primary cardio workout.

But, you have to go slow, make compromises. Pushing your spouse to road ride before she's ready, spend hours on the bike when she's not enjoying it - disaster. Riding with your spouse to go shopping - that's a winning strategy.

habilis

As others suggested, I brought up the topic of taking tennis lessons. My wife perked up at the idea. Turns out that she has a spare racket that she's willing to lend me. Not that I would use this to apply pressure, but a compromise on my part might inspire her to compromise voluntarily on biking. Who knows - I might even end up liking tennis.

Tulok

That's neat! Maybe you will! I would definitely try to rent or borrow a tandem as well!

02Giant 

To me, this says it all. Why force something on her that she has minimal interest in...

Calla lily

I'm in a similar situation (a few years younger, almost 17 years married, but that doesn't matter) except I'm the wife who likes to ride. He likes to play tennis and so do I (even though I suck and hold him back) so I play with him when he asks. I'll ask him if he wants to go for a ride with me. If he says yes, cool, and I ride at his speed. If no, fine I'll go out alone and ride at my speed.

He doesn't understand why I needed to upgrade from my Walmart Huffy hybrid (which I still have and plan to use to learn how to upkeep my new bike). He is perfectly happy with his big box bike, even after he has wrecked a few times due to broken components and poor fit. I have offered suggestions but he isn't interested (he also has pain in his hand from a broken hand from a car accident a few years ago, which I think drop bars could help with).

Anyways, I'm drinking tonight, and did I read red bike with white wall tires? I would love that at the beach. I live close to NSB (shark bite capital) and would love that there.

diphthong

are strychnine and/or arsenic applications passé?

The Quiet One

I think it's really cool that your wife still enjoys the bike she got when she was 17 years old. She probably keeps it around for the same reason she keeps you around. Just enjoy your wonderful, loyal wife whatever she chooses for recreation.

okane

My wife likes to ride and accompanies me almost always. She is a strong rider and I sometimes struggle to keep up with her due to my many medical problems.

She told me though that she probably would not ride if I wasn't around....she enjoys biking but too much trouble pumping air, loading bikes in van, learning to fix a flat, etc.

I have noticed that she really seems to enjoy the ride more if we have a destination that includes a dinner/lunch/special event stop. I think that makes it an outing as opposed to just a ride. She also likes to have trailside picnics.

habilis

We met when we were 18 and in school. She was mad because her parents had given her the bike when what she really wanted was a car. It's definitely cool that the same bike is still on the road (at least sometimes). I haven't figured out why she still keeps me around, though.

Just so everyone knows: I didn't arbitrarily turn a pristine "English racer" into a Frankenbike; except for the frame (which still has the original decals, like "Ride a Wheel of Sheffield Steel"), the bike was in pretty sad shape. The fenders and most of the chrome were rusted. Even if it were in original mint condition, I don't think she'd be spending more time on it than she does now. She doesn't much like the hills in our area, even on a much lighter bike.

Back in the '80s, we both had Puch 12-speeds. She never cared much for hers (didn't like the man's frame with the top bar, hated the friction shifting) and eventually gave it to our daughter. However, we had some great rides on those bikes. I remember a club ride called the "Covered Bridge Half-Century" in Lancaster County, PA, where we saw two Amish girls in long skirts riding a tandem. We had other extended rides along the Delaware River and in Cape May, NJ, etc. For whatever reason, she was more into it then.

Lately, we've had some good rides on rail-trails. They're flat with (usually) a smooth surface of crushed stone or packed dirt. If it includes lunch at a nice restaurant (tablecloths preferred), she's okay with it on an infrequent basis. When I go alone or with my son, I pack an apple, a sandwich, and a bottle of water. I understand and accept the reality of different strokes for different folks.

habilis

One thing that's definitely gotten worse over the years, at least around here: the volume of traffic. When I was in high school, there were slightly fewer than 2 billion people in the world. Today, there are 7B, and by 2050, there will be 9B. It wouldn't be as bad if most of them were happy, but they aren't. But that's a subject for the Politics and Religion Forum.

My wife is not a fan of biking around cars. She hates helmet mirrors, so I've installed a handlebar mirror for her to try. If she doesn't like it, off it comes. Myself, i wouldn't give up my mirror for anything. Whatever the inconvenience, it's worth the psychological advantage of knowing what's coming up behind me.

rydabent

Do as I did. Buy her a trike. A trike goes a long way to assure a wife that she wont crash and burn. Along with eliminating tipping over, trikes are just plain fun to ride. It only took a ride or two for my wife to be hooked on riding our trike.

hig4s

We are in our late 50s and have been married 34 years, but we still try to spend as much time together as possible. Don't have to be newlyweds to like being together, matter of fact part of what makes a marriage last is liking each other.

My wife loves biking and so do I, but even then we are of two totally different levels and ride together less than half the time. She rides a 29 comfort road bike with multi-use tires, I have a FS mountain bike. She will go on easy single tracks but usually stays to MUPs and pavement. I prefer intermediate, to not to hard advanced single track. We have found a couple places around that have both. We will show up, both put in about 10 miles, (80% solo) meet back at the car talk about the ride, load then go to lunch. Very enjoyable. Even though we are not really doing it together we are.

So maybe try to find a place where they have bike trails and tennis courts. You could take to her play with her friends while you ride, stopping by occasionally to watch, then go off and do something together after.

kingston 

I bought a 20 year old santana tandem that was in nice shape last summer to try to get my wife interested in cycling. I figured if it didn't work out I could re-sell it and not be out too much money (of course I ended up getting new handlebars, saddles, thudbuster, pedals, tires, racks, bags etc.)

She likes it best if we have some kind of destination in mind to do something for a little while, then ride home. Could be anything, farmers market, art fair, botanic garden, could be just lunch someplace. The rides are never long, 20-30 miles tops, and we did that 10 or 12 times over the course of the summer. It's a small fraction of my total miles, but I thought it was a big success. Maybe we'll do more next summer, maybe less, no pressure, I just want to keep it fun for her. She also hates riding in traffic so I'm sure to choose routes with little traffic and a lot of bike paths.

Paul Barnard

I don't get the impression he wants to "force" it on her. He wants to share a passion with her. I completely get that. When I first met the woman who is now my wife, I asked her if she liked riding a bike. She didn't have one and said she wasn't really into it. One day I took her with me and put her on a pretty good guest bike. She really enjoyed it. We began riding every now and then and she continued to enjoy it. I ended up building a lightweight cruiser out of a Nashbar flat bar road bike. She loves it. It's like a performance cruiser. I didn't force it on her. I introduced it to her in a way that increased the chances she would enjoy it. We ride together recreationally pretty often. It's a source of pleasure, bonding and exercise. She doesn't ride long distances or ride at a faster pace, but I can get that with other friends. OP, there's a chance that she may never get into it. A quality bike, a little traveled road or dedicated path, no pressure and good weather are the recipe for getting someone hooked. If you lived close by, you could borrow my tandem. You might be able to find someone in the tandem forum who is close and willing.

habilis

This would be a great solution if we didn't live in Joisey, where bikes share the road with a million cars and everybody is phoning and texting. Even with a safety flag, my wife would be afraid that drivers couldn't see her. Personally, I like recumbents and may pick up a used one some day.

benetga

Cycling is my "thing" and it works with my marriage.

habilis

You've hit on a good formula. Your wife sounds very similar to mine.