dsprehe89

Today me and my fiancé were sitting at our apartment and I suggested us going for a bike ride as I often do, and instead of her suddenly getting a sad looking face and saying that she didn't really feel like it; she jumped up and said "yeah".

To my excitement, we got the bikes packed up on my car and drove to the bike trail (we live in a really hilly town and I know she wouldn't have enjoyed riding 3 miles up and down the hills to the trail). When we got there I didn't tell her how far we were riding and we just started right off. She told me that she has only ridden probably 30 miles in her entire life and that the longest previous ride she has ever done was about 3 miles with me a couple of months earlier and every other ride was less than a mile when she was younger.

Well, when we got back to the car she was complaining a little about how warn out she was until I told her we had ridden 10 miles. Her jaw pretty much dropped there and since we got back to the apartment she has been really proud of having ridden 3X longer than any previous ride and now we are planning on trying to do a similar ride at least 2 times a week now, and eventually get her a new bike (she is currently using a 10 year old walmart road master).

Just wanted to post this for everyone who's significant other doesn't like to ride with them. Just letting you know, they just may eventually want to. Just take your time and find something to motive him/her. For my fiancé, we rode to a restaurant that she really likes and ate a little there half way through the ride. Also, let him/her ride in the front and set the pace. She really enjoyed it more getting ride at her own pace rather than trying to keep up with me; we may have only ridden at around 8-10mph, but it was worth it to me.

johnnyletrois

I'm climbing this mountain as well, only my woman wants a bike.

She wants a bike with a rack to hold a picnic basket so we can ride to the park and have picnics.

Shoot. Me. Now.

dsprehe89

Yeah, All my fiancé wants in a new bike is a "BIG SEAT", I "just" want her to have a bike that has decent enough brakes to actually stop her and a good enough rear derailleur that will actually shift. I'm thinking maybe just an old school beach cruiser off CL.

Nachoman

My wife refuses to ride her half bike since she fell about a year ago. She will however jump on the tandem with me a few times per year.
She's more into yoga anyway.

AlexZ

Get her to try a trike. You may be pleasantly surprised......

danvuquoc

Haha I have a SS for that stuff.

awesomejack

The horror! You may actually have to make sacrifices to make another person happy!

wxduff

Bought the girlfriend a Jamis steel road bike last year. We have gone on a couple of rides on the bike path. The lack of traffic and flat terrain makes her happy.

With family members the best philosophy is simple. You have to blow hard enough on the embers to ignite the fire, without blowing them out.

Congrats

aquateen

my wife caught the bug after her knees couldn't take running any more. last summer we got her a hybrid that she quickly outgrew. she just finished her first group ride a few weeks ago and is going clipless for her birthday next month.

ultraman6970

Wait until she complains about her A s s, back and who knows what else hurting

MegaTom

ass Ass aSs asS ASs aSS AsS ASS

DropDeadFred

my girl was all about it from the start...but failed to follow through..until the last two weeks. we do a tuesday group ride. 3 levels. 8mi 16mi and 22mi....i left late that day waiting on my friend who was getting fitted to his new 2012 sl4 (sick tight). so I told her to go ahead and we'd catch up...she only does the 16 at most anyways...well it took us a bit longer and we decided we'd just crank out the 16miler real fast and we'd catch up to her...well...we never did...she went ahead and did the 22miler which has a wicked steep hill at the end....totally surprised me! were doing a century ride in savannah...shes only doing the 25mi as of now while me and my friends do the 103mi but i have a feeling she might want to ride more.....super stoked lately to have her riding further and faster...her normal avg. was 14mph...the last ride we did she did 17.4 and i taught her how to ride in a paceline...she was pulling at 20mph....we can officially get in some decent rides together now and shes super competitive so I know she'll HTFU (which she now tells me to do on a regular basis lol)

I look forward to upgrading her 2011 Trek Lexa...carbon fork and wheels are next...then upgrade her group set...shell probably get my D/A stuff when I get the balls to drop the loot on Ultegra or D/A Di2...

pallen

My wife had been on a few 10-15mi rides around town, but I talked her into a 3 day, 250mi tour somehow. She did the whole first day (70mi or so) sagged most of the 2nd day, and rode most of the 3rd day. She was sore and hurt all over, but she had a blast and couldn't wait to do it the next year. Now if she can get out of school and have more time to ride...

Commodus

Haha, yeah my sweetie decided to try cycling after she saw me having fun with it.

Now, every Sunday it's 100kms. I have to keep on figuring out new routes that incorporate that distance, and some interesting place to eat at the half way mark. I also have to avoid major climbs, though she's definitely getting better at those. This is the challenging part, since it's a fairly mountainous area and most of my usual routes of this distance involve significant climbing.

Even though it has turned my usual Sunday long ride into a recovery ride, I am pretty much thrilled at this development!

Commodus

You're crazy to complain about this. I have a bike specifically for this purpose. Bicycle picnics are fantastic.

dsprehe89

I think this is what the 2 rides a week that we are going to start doing is going to turn into, but fortunately for me all the trails around here are pretty flat. We just have to drive to the trail cause riding to it has some really intense hills. However, if it gets her riding with me it will be worth it in my opinion. She will eventually get better and want to do longer and harder rides.

ColinL

I'm very scared of this happening. My wife is a real wimp when it comes to pain (I've seen minor kitchen accidents turn into a big event) and hasn't crashed yet since getting into cycling last year. Not even a slow tip-over.

I decided to stop encouraging/asking her to do some singletrack MTB stuff with me since that is definitely a matter of when/how often you crash rather than IF. I've never been truly hurt in a 2mph endo, but like I said her idea of 'hurt' is different than mine.

So instead we're focusing on road. I upgraded the hell out of her hybrid and now it's a flatbar road bike. Next stop is a proper road bike, but I am afraid to see what happens when she finally crashes.

skol

my wife and I argue about if we should mountain bike or road bike - she likes the trails more. I feel lucky after reading these posts.

Biggziff

My wife was of this mindset until recently. I changed my strategy from one where I research and tell her what may work for her to one where I simply take her to the local bike shops and let the "experts" there explain the differences in the various bike styles, seats, etc. We went from her wanting a cruiser bike with a huge seat where she could flat foot it when stopped to her loving the Trek 7.3FX with the tiny seat adjusted so that she could only tip toe it stopped with the bike leaning a little. Amazing how the stuff I told her that was wrong suddenly became right when someone else showed her why!

Takin' one for the team....

handz98

Took my wife on her first 20 miler yesterday!!! Awesome!!!

dsprehe89

I will try this when we get both graduate college and have more money and can afford a Trek 7.3FX.

Steve90068

You never know, my fiance (she'll be my wife in less than 2 weeks) wasnt into riding, and a year later she climbed Mt. Diablo



Here's a great article for tips on how to make her enjoy it

https://www.bicycling.com/training-nu...ess/share-love

darb85

you can say ass

dsprehe89

Awesome. Also, early congrats. My fiancé and I aren't getting married until May.

Mtbnomore

My soon-to-be-wife had a cheap Schwinn mountain bike when we met, and while wooing her, I ended up getting her into riding trails enough that she upgraded to a nice Cannondale. From there, she decided that she wanted to ride on the road too, and ended up picking up a used road bike. This past June, I got her a cruiser to ride to the store, farmer's market, and 7-11. Now, with the wedding and budgeting coming to a close, she's already eyeing new road bikes and has signed up for her first metric.

Be careful what you wish for is all I'm saying.