I-Like-To-Bike

Sounds like you two have have come to terms with each other's bicycling choices in a most amicable manner. Good choices for both of you.

Sammyboy

Tandems FTW! (this was our wedding day)



My missus didn't learn to ride as a kid, and just can't get over the psychological hurdle of riding solo enough to enjoy it, but twogether? Lovely! Now if I can just afford one of those Vision tandems, with the stoker on a recumbent seat in FRONT of the captain, she'd be able to see the view, pedal at her own pace, and not get a sore back either. One day......

Ekdog

My wife doesn't know how to ride a bicycle. Do you think she could ride with me on a tandem?

Sammyboy

Yes. The only thing stopping her doing that would be fear, I'd imagine. You'd need to give her a little coaching - getting on a tandem and getting going requires a little planning. First, the captain gets on, and plants his/her feet as wide as possible to steady the tandem. Then the stoker gets on, sits on the seat, and places their feet on the pedals. Then the stoker sets the cranks ready to go (right hand pedal at about 2 o'clock for most people), then both need to push away quite hard, so as to get the tandem up to speed without wobbling. I'm making it sound much harder than it really is - for two people who can both ride a bike, it's frankly a piece of cake (though usually accompanied by a bit of "Woah", "Eek!" the first time, as having someone else be able to lean the bike takes some getting used to). I'm quite sure it's also possible when the stoker can't ride, but it just means being really ready and vigilant. That first try, even if it's only across the car park, needs to go well if you want her to love it!

Ekdog

Sammyboy,

Thanks. I've had that in the back of my mind for quite a while. I think I'll see if there's anyone in town who hires tandems out. The other possibility, I suppose, would be a recumbent trike, but I've heard those are more aerodynamic than a standard bike, and I might not be able to keep up with her.

Regards,

Ekdog

biknbrian

My wife stays at home with our two young children. We bought a trainer which she rides several times a week while she at home with the kids. Ususally once a week we will get a baby sitter and go out and ride MTBs or road bikes. Now she's probably in the top 25% of the people we ride with. She recently raced the "Month of Mud," a five race MTB series. I wasn't even able to go as I was working Sundays. The trainer was definetley one of our best purchases.

SDRider

No, she tells me that. Not in those exact words but she does say that she doesn't feel comfortable on a bike with skinny tires.

Look, I don't have a problem with her choice in bikes. I bought her the bike she has now and she likes it very much. I'd just like to see her try a road bike. Her best friend has also encouraged her to try a road bike. Maybe we could get her on a hybrid though, it would certainly be faster than her mtb.

thdave

First things first with my wife...

She has stopped calling me nuts for riding all the time.

jyossarian

Is it the skinny tires or the bent over position? Would she go for a flatbar roadbike that mimics the seating position of a mtb? You could always throw 32s or 38s on so the tires aren't so skinny.

john bono

Just as a point of information here, if she asks if you love your bike more than you love her, the correct answer to get her to ride with you is NOT "how about a threesome?"

I-Like-To-Bike

I don't like skinny tires either. Has nothing to with fear. Nor is the viewpoint irrational. Skinny tires don't meet my needs which place comfort and reliability while commuting above maximum speed or "efficiency". Lots of different bikes styles are rational choices for lots of different people.

M_S

I would venture to guess he knows his wife and his relationship with her a lot better than you do.

elbows

I second that. My wife used to be an occasional cyclist, riding to run an errand or going out on the MUP with me now and then. Last spring we got a tandem, and she's slowly getting hooked. Now we ride to work together (our offices are about a mile apart), go on bike dates, and do 40-50 mile rides on the weekends. She's starting buying warm clothes so we can ride through the winter, and she's even talking about riding by herself on the days when our schedules don't line up to ride together.

And we *almost* rode the tandem away from our wedding (which was shortly after we bought the bike), but we couldn't quite work out the logistics. As it turns out, it rained that day, so it was probably for the best. ;-)

I-Like-To-Bike

Heck he must know more about biking psychology too; after all I never would have been able to deduce that irrational fear was the only reason not to feel comfortable on skinny tires.

SDRider

Well her reasoning is irrational. She says, and I quote, "those skinny tires don't look safe." This is a woman who is 5'4" and weighs 125lbs, she could easily ride the uber lightest race wheel made and never break it.

A friend of mine who races had a training bike (it was a 2005 Giant TCR-1 and he probably had ridden it a 1000-1500 miles) he was selling a couple years ago and I wanted her to try it out so I brought it home, I even put a set of platform pedals on it for her, but she never even took it for a spin. I kind of gave up on the road bike at that point but I still bring up the subject of getting her a nice road bike from time to time though.

As for comfort, I think road bikes take a bit of getting used to but they are no more uncomfortable than any other bike IMO. A good fitting road bike should be very comfortable to ride...I know mine are.

If she tries it and doesn't like it then fine, I can live with that. But I'd at least like her to try it...I don't think that's too much to ask and she might find that she loves it.

jamimaria

Ha! I'm in the opposite situation. I'm a lady who LOVES to bike, but my boyfriend is totally wishy-washy about it. He has a bike, but it's an old, heavy as hell bike with bad brakes and a rear wheel that doesn't really roll smoothly. Of course he doesn't like biking on that thing, but he's not willing to go for something better.

I keep suggesting to him to buy a new bike, but he's hoping he'll get my bike when I upgrade from my old beatup mountain bike.

Ah well, maybe I should take the plunge and buy him a bike for his birthday/Christmas.

squegeeboo

Ha, she's started to slide down that slippery slope. Soon she'll be hiding the bike receipts from you instead of the other way around.

HardyWeinberg

As long as I am quiet and she calls all her shots it works pretty well. She will let me clean her chain, replace brake pads, but not open to much else. s'ok.

pinkrobe

I got lucky with my wife. Oh, and she likes to bike to...

Seriously though, my wife really enjoys cycling. She's pretty competitive [25+ years of high-level soccer], and really likes to go fast on her road bike. She wasn't super-keen on mtn biking until we got her a Titus Racer-X. Now she is always just out of reach on climbs, and our friends keep telling me to let the air out of her tires before each ride. All this happened relatively quickly, and began when we did some easy riding in a local urban park. This led to her getting a new mtn bike, which led to more interesting trails, which led to biking to university, which led to a desire for more speed, which led to a used road bike, which led to commuting to work, which led to a new road bike, which led to more road rides, which led to better cardio, which led to a new mtn bike. Whew!

Where was I? Oh yeah, taking it easy on those first couple of rides is essential. Do not insist on the use of "proper" biking clothes [i.e. spandex], instead opt for soft seats and lots of stopping. Have a goal in mind, such as a bike date, or a leisurely ride to a romantic picnic spot. Don't push too hard to get your S.O. to do something, especially riding in traffic. Flat rides are the best ones to start with unless your spouse is already in pretty good shape.

No matter what, don't ride like it's a competition. One friend of mine was a road racer, and decided to get his wife on a bike. They started off on mtn bikes, and he immediately took her to one of his favourite rides. It was here that he dropped her on the first climb, yelling at her to hurry up and get her ass to the top. Needless to say, she finished the ride in tears and never rode again. Yeah, don't do that.

buzzman

my wife has been a "casual" biker since we met 24 years ago. But in the last few years she suddenly blossomed into a regular commuter. It happened when I needed a new commuter bike and bought a black REI Buzz (at her insistence- she loved the look of it). She kept commenting on what a cool bike it was so I surprised her with one for her birthday.

She rides it every day to work (16 miles round trip). Yesterday in a full chilly downpour with gusting winds. We ride mountain bikes on the dirt roads near our cottage in the woods (she's not interested in ridng trails) and she often heads off alone on 12 mile dirt road rides and comes back with stories of seeing bears and moose. She's not a very "fast" rider but I love riding with her.

She also loves my (our) folding bike and takes that along to various places. We tandem once in a while and she loves that, too.

For most of my hard core riding (MTB and road) and touring she doesn't come along- she has absolutely no desire to pound along at that pace nor do I feel like slowing down too much on those rides. I also like the independence of those rides.

But bottom line is I've never insisted she ride or tried to guilt her into riding. I just ride everywhere and soon she saw that it had a value she might take advantage of for herself.

turtle77

Or maybe you and I should go on a date...

...and we could introduce our significant others to each other...

BAH

haha yeah, this is just a temporary solution- it works really well for phone,wallet etc and I'm always riding with her, with my serious grocery getter but we do plan on heading down to clever cycles when they get a Basil shipment in, hopefully soon and check those out.

Enjoyed reading through all the replies, I hope I didn't miss any other questions that were directed at me.


From a trip this weekend to Corvallis, OR