MidLife50

I'm hoping to starting this very next week. We rode bikes together for fun not fitness 20+ years ago when dating/first married but with lots of kids it stopped. Best I've done is get one of my daughters to ride a local bike path with me.

Last month I got the bug again, bought a new bike and have been riding like crazy (almost 500 miles in last 6 weeks, 230+ so far this month). We're going on vacation tomorrow and I've convinced BOTH my daughter and wife to take bikes too (it helped that I was taking mine and we had a bike rack for the car already).

My plan is to do my riding early in the wee hours like I do at home and then add on some fun family riding in the afternoon/evening. I'm really looking forward to it.

Jim from Boston

Hi snow_echo,

Thanks for that gracious reply, but as I wrote,

Also, I think you may be confusing my Boston (Massachusetts) with some other Boston. FYA, I have written a compendium of the great cycling to be had here, as a road/touring cyclist, with cross country experience, and as a commuter.

qcpmsame 

We rode together for several years, Monica has a century to her credit, she helped a woman that was new to cycling make it the entire distance when she wanted to pack it in at 85 miles. Now she has a Trek 7300 hybrid, we catch some rides when possible, together, but she is a Jazzercise fanatic these days, still a strong rider, for sure. She has talked about a drop bar again, she is wanting the light weight, gearing, and different positions that are possible with the drops. That 7300, with its suspension fork is pretty hefty. Last time she rode a charity ride her arms wanted some additional positions for her hands, I can make that happen, if she chooses to go for a new ride, or I can swap the fork out for a CF cyclocross fork, and a stem and drops like she has talked about. Up to her, she knows how to ride well, and what works for her. I am all for more rides with her, after 39 years I think she might keep me I really hope so.

Bill

h2oxtc

@qcpmsame, my wife and I each have several bikes, however I too have looked for a lightweight comfort bike. The LBS didn't have anything to suggest either, so I took one of her Mntn bikes and switched out the suspension fork for a rigid carbon fork, and changed the tires to 32c slicks, and lastly (weight weenie me) removed the front derailleur. Now she has a 21 lb reasonably light comfort bike for the casual rides. The next biggest weight reduction would be replacing the wheels., but I'll leave that for another day.

hig4s

My wife and I have always keep mountain bikes around but she only road occasionally and for years I did not ride except for training for my motocross motorcycles, so we didn't ride together much. I stopped riding dirt bikes 9 years ago and didn't ride bikes much after that either.

This Year decided to get back into mountain biking and bought a decent full suspension bike. Wife went out on a couple rides around the neighborhood with me and found she can no longer ride bent over, bothers her. So we went shopping for a new bike for her.. I tried to convince her to get a Giant Sedona all purpose comfort bike, she ended up with a Giant Cypress road comfort bike. The big difference between the two The Sedona has 26x1.95 tires and the Cypress has 700x38 tires (still a multi-purpose tread but less aggressive) So mostly it changes the overall gear ratio to be less suited for off road.

She is not wanting to do any really serious trails anyway.. and it makes me work harder to keep up with her on pavement. So our plans are to do a lot of riding together and we are even planning a riding vacation next March to Markham Park, Weston FL and surrounding area with a friend who is much more serious about mountain biking.

qcpmsame 

I have an idea of exactly what to use for the fork, stem and bars, I need to research the shifters more since its an 8 speed right now, uses a SRAM mountain bike group. But it has twist shifters, this is the weak point, neither of us gets along with these, she figured she could adapt, that turned out to be wrong. No sweat, I'll figure something out here shortly and get it set up for her. She learned about how nice a lightweight drop-bar bicycle can be when she and I got matched Motobecanes back in 1981.

I understand that most LBS are more than happy to sell you any parts, or a complete bicycle, if you have the money. I doubt that is a rumor.

Bill

snow_echo_NY

ah

i thought i saw a lot of "Boston is kinda crazy to ride in b/c drivers can drive crazy" i will be sure to read, thanks!

snow_echo_NY

oh no i'm sorry to hear that - hope it changes at some point for you both

Beic

Thanks for the nice words, I'm trying to convince her.

tigat

Beic's story got me thinking.

In the five years since we started riding again, I've been hit by cars and twice crashed hard on my own. My wife's worst accident has been tipping over into gorse bushes when passing cars on narrow Irish roads caused her to panic.

She has handled my rehabs with grace. I'm not sure I could do the same if she was laid up for a time. We still have two of our four kids at home, one with special needs (and incredible talents, but that's another story).

At some unspoken level, I think she knows that her pursuit of the sport with the same passion I have could end up in a bad place. In a way, our asymmetrical approach to riding has allowed us to share some great experiences, and given me the freedom to push different boundaries because of the way she has held back.

ButchA

Lots of stories on this thread. Thanks to everyone who's replied!

Beic - I am sorry to hear about your wife's accident a few years ago. That's awful! I hope and pray that she will be able to get back on a bike.

tigat - I know what you mean... My wife will sometimes ride with me, but just for short distances. If something happened to her while out for a ride, I would be completely lost!

gabedad

Nope - she's a cycling widow

tigat

We took a short holiday to Sante Fe earlier this week and rode couple of sections on the high road to Taos. Day 2, 2500 ft of climbing in the first 6.5 miles, at 90F. Continued respect for my spouse. Total respect for the native road riders.

jon c. 

Three or four years ago, my wife wanted to get a bike to ride around the neighborhood and get a little exercise. I rode a lot in my teen years, but hadn't been on a bike in over 30 years. I got a bike to ride with her and found I really enjoyed it. Now I ride a lot more than she does, but we'll ride together a few evenings a week. Usually 15 miles or so. We live in a fairly rural area, so there are a lot of nice roads with little traffic.

Beic

Thanks ButchA,

That was a bad year for us. A month or so before her accident I was diagnosed with prostate cancer. But we both got through it all .

A lot of people go through much worse things in life and come out the other end.

I'm still trying to convince her to ride though

habilis

My wife Jackie and I just completed a two-mile ride to the local gardening co-op and back. She rode her 10-speed Centurion hybrid, I rode my most recent bulk-trash-day find, a Trek 3500 that I'm refurbishing.

She is recovering from a skinned knee suffered in our driveway a week ago. She tried to cross the raised driveway apron at an oblique angle and was thrown. Major coup getting her back on the bike again so soon, and the ride went well. She has even expressed interest in the Trek, mainly because of the maroon-and-white color scheme. Maybe it'll be her new ride.

Jackie showed her knee to some friends, non-bikers who made comments like: "That's why I don't ride a bike. It's just too dangerous." I've managed to convince Jackie that her accident was caused merely by a bad angle of approach to an obstacle, not a reason to abandon bicycling. It's a shame she is influenced by so many inexperienced (albeit well-meaning) people.

I try to convince Jackie that, yes, sharing the road with motor vehicles is dangerous, but we can minimize the danger by following a few simple rules. I won't recite the litany - experienced bikers already know it. My task is to get Jackie out on the road once in a while and gradually build her confidence back.

My sympathies to all who fight the up-hill psychological battle. It's worth it.

zonatandem

Been riding TWOgether since 1975 and have tandemed for over 240,000 miles. She ridden 100+ centuries with me.
At ages 82 and 80 we still get in lotsa miles and smiles!

ButchA

*Applause*

You two are an inspiration!

Odlorah

My wife and I are both casual riders who are always talking about riding more... the only problem is that I am an early bird and she tends to be a late person... the other issue is that she is always cold and I am always warm... we live in Southern California and it is too hot for me to ride after 10:00 AM... she wants to go out for rides at 1:00 PM... I guess we will continue riding on our own schedules... sadly...

Cyclist0084

She sometimes would when I'd go to the local forest preserve trails. She'd usually ride a few miles with me and then stop when we'd get back to our car (if doing a loop), or turn back if we were doing an "out and back" trail. I'd continue on for quite a few miles more.

Ahhhh, good memories. I sure do miss those rides

bykemike 

My wife doesn't ride bikes or motorcycles...I am a blessed man! Time alone keeps us together.

DJH

I'm new around here and getting back into cycling after a 15 (or so) year break. My wife wanted to ride too so I got her a new Giant bike so we can ride together.

She's just turned 64 and this is the first time she's ridden a bike since she was a kid. So far she's doing great. She's not comfortable with the traffic on the road, so we ride together on the local multi-use Trinity Trails. On the weekends, I usually go for a ride by myself early and we'll ride together later in the day. Not too fast, but often about 8 miles, great fun!

This is Caren on her first ride after we got her bike

tramptrade 

My wife usually joins me for a weekend ride with the dogs. Usually 30-40km or so at a nice, leisurely pace. She does not really have too much interest in touring, bikepacking, or MTB, but does enjoy a nice, relaxed trail ride. That's okay with me. Some of the best adventures I have ever had have been with my wife.

She will also not ride in the rain or at night and thinks I'm weird for doing it.

Wildwood 

Low mileage - 1997 custom Co-Motion w/ ghosted decals. Phil hubs, drum brake, 9sp barends.



nothing more

edit: haven't read every post. Is this the 'tandem for sale' thread? What's it worth thread?

spoiledrotten

Yes, my wife is my riding partner. I enjoy the rides much better when she's along. She gotten to where she can keep up pretty well.