Dr. Mrs. I.M.Bent:

Thanks so much for your insight and advice.

My wife's self image has been the real victim as she has gotten older and the pounds have sneaked on. She goes to the gym, and I think she would love it if I would go, but unfortunately gym memberships have never worked for me.

When we were younger, we used to do a lot of hiking together. In the last seven or eight years, occasional fierce bouts of Plantar Fasciitis have made it pretty difficult for me to do the heavy walking. Bicycling works great, especially the recumbent variety because of the lack of stress on the hands, wrists and derriere.

When my son had finished high school and was still living at home, my wife convinced him to take spin classes at her gym. My next step in my approach is to ask her if she regularly does spin classes or not, because I'm not really familiar with what her workout regimen is.

Wish me luck, and thanks again.

BluesCat:

I have no idea if you have any good recumbent stores in Phoenix, but we have an excellent one here in Tucson; Ajo Bikes. On any given day they'll have a couple dozen different trikes in stock, so getting a test ride is not a problem.

If you can get her to go riding with you, think about letting her ride in front. It's really disheartening to get left behind. Another nice selling point about recumbents is that you don't have to dress up in a skin tight, fluorescent, Junior Space Ranger outfit if you don't want to. You can wear normal street clothes, this is a big deal to some women, I know it is with my wife.

Try to emphasize the 'it's something we can do together' factor.

garrybuck:

We have Sun Cyclery over on 7th Street. It's slightly off of our beaten track so I'm counting on the Bike Barn where we have purchased five bikes from in the past, and that is only a mile and a half from our place, and that we drive past whenever we are headed to a movie or out to eat.

Another woman's perspective.

For me comfort is the important thing. My first real bike other than 10 speeds from KMart when I was a kid was a Trek Hybrid about 5 years ago, then I went bent a few years later after my hands and wrists ached for a long time. I'm in my mid 40s. The last time I had ridden a bike was when I was in graduate school in Boston when I was in my twenties. I rode a bike a lot when I was a kid and teen. My sister and I would ride for hours on the weekend when we lived in Chattanooga, TN. We rode all over Missionary Ridge.

If she hasn't ridden a bike in long time and never really developed the balance, it might be hard for her to develop it either on a regular bike or a bent bike. The bent is easier as you can put your feet down quicker and if she hasn't ridden a bike in a long time, then adapting to a bent I think would be easier. But after riding my mom's adult trike while exercising my dogs, it is so easy to ride a three wheeled bike. No fears about falling off or tipping over. My two dogs, 75 and 55 pounds, can't even pull me over. Now they can pull me down the street if I let them.

Comfort, comfort, comfort - would be my goal for her. Comfort on the bike. Comfort in the bike store. Comfort in the bike purchase. Comfort on the bike rides. If you can find a bike shop who is willing to spend time with a novice/newbie then go there. Make sure your wife is comfortable with the store and they are willing to spend some time with her. Maybe make an appointment to go in or ask when a good time for an experienced person at the store to spend some quality time with your wife. If she is not comfortable with the store, then find another one. This is why I frequent the LBS that I do. I went to one store and I felt they ignored me as I was an overweight female and wasn't their idea of a 'real' bike person. I was ready to buy a bike from them, but didn't because of the way they acted towards me. I went to a different bike shop. They took their time with me, didn't make me feel like an idiot, and talked to me about bikes. I knew what I wanted and talked to them about it. They treated me very nicely even though I wasn't a bike racer. When I was ready to buy my trike, they were who I went to. They know my name and when I told them about my accident and my need to get back on a bike, that was their goal to help me to do that.

Then on your first couple of rides, go to a bike path where she doesn't have to worry about cars or traffic and as one person said, ride behind her or beside her. Just go for a cruise down the path. Maybe have a destination for lunch or take a picnic lunch. Bike a mile or so, eat, relax, then head back. Put your bike in a gear that slows you down but so that it doesn't look like you are riding slow for her benefit.

Make it fun for her, not for you. Don't push it. If you can get her a bike that she is comfortable on, then I think the rest will come. The fear is a really hard thing to overcome. Patience and understanding. Slow and easy.

I lost 75 pounds while riding my bike and I hope will lose another 50 when I get serious on the riding and diet.

Christy

Hope this help.

Thanks, Christy, that really does help, especially the part about a LBS with people who treat everybody as a "real" bike rider.

When I reflected on it a moment, it occurred to me that MY favorite shop sells just a few recumbents, sort of as a sideline. And they all know me in there, from all the bikes I have purchased there over the years, while my wife has only been in there a couple of times. When I test rode the recumbents they had there, they pretty much left me alone because they knew I was a (somewhat) experienced rider. That might not work so well for my wife.

Sun Cyclery, on the other hand, has a whole room full of nothing but recumbents. When I went in there to test ride, they were very careful to qualify me as far as what my skills were, and they made sure the bike was in the very lowest gear before they turned me loose. That may seem like an insignificant item, but of course it isn't to anybody who has come to a stop with their two-wheeled recumbent, spaced out, and had their drive train on the largest chain ring and one of the smaller cogs.

Maybe making an effort to go slightly out of our way wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.

Yeah, I fully intend to let her puddle around the neighbor with me for a while. Heck, even I am oftentimes intimidated by fast traffic.

Thanks, again.