Spouse starts to cycle (update)

[Bicycle]

My wife started to cycle on July 23, having ridden about 5 miles since her student days.

This after 24 years of watching me do so and wondering what all the fuss was about.

Things are now going really rather well. She's ridden pretty much every day since she started.

I have an 8-mile slightly hilly loop I do with the children and she's now doing that in 30 mins flat. Not quite Big Mig, but he wasn't 46 with three teenage children and a demanding job when he started to cycle.

She's getting pain in her shoulder and 'backside' but this is being addressed with slight adjustments here and there to bars and saddle. It's getting better every day.

One thing she absolutely refuses to consider is the use of clipless pedals, which she thinks are a great evil.

(She hates feeling trapped and has a similar resistance to spraydecks on kayaks.)

But.... (tee hee) she is now having difficulty keeping feet on pedals at much over 100 rpm.

She's jealous of the fact that I don't have to worry about that... Is this the beginning of a conversion?

I'm going to have a spare pair of pedals ready and wait for her to ask.

Anyone else seen this slow conversion happen?

Might it be a long wait?

How long is a piece of string?

I managed not to suggest cycling for 24 years, so patience isn't an issue.

 

[derrick]

My wife never road a bike till she met me, she will not ride on the road only of road, but does love the days out in the forest with the kids, no chance of clipless for her does not like the idea of being locked in, but hey ho she rides.

 

[Allirog]

I think one of the main reasons that novice cyclists give up on cycling is bum soreness.If they can tough it out through the uncomfortable period of adjusting their buttocks to the shape of the saddle then they're very likely to become pedal power enthusiasts.