[Closed] Tips for getting your gf into biking....

Consider whether you really want to try and get her into it.

Either she won't enjoy it and you'll get loads of abuse, or she will like it and you'll have to sacrifice riding time with the boys to take her to rubbish trail centres 🙂

Take the saddle off 😉

Get all the uphill out of the way first - offer her a choice of short sharp push, or longer shallow grind. When you're at the highest point ask how much longer she wants to ride (I always ask "have we done a half or a quarter of the ride yet?").

Finish on a swoopy down and she'll want to come again.

You can't really get a harder question

I had a very successful riding career with my wife but that doesn't necessarly help you

I think the short answer is you have to work with her motivation. My like loved mountains, wild places and travelling well before she met me. As a result she took to MTB as a means of doing these things.

I don't think she would have got trail centres. What does he like about the current rides, work from there. Can you not work in small steps from what you are currently doing. Pubs and scenery but gradually getting more challenging

Finally had the existed I would seen if she'd go on A women only MTB course

But in the end its about what she wants to do

Any way here is Sue back in the day. When the kids are out the way she's really keen to go cycle touring again

That failed photo in next post

😆 Barry...

Personally I can imagine nothing worse than having my girl riding [i](bike variery)[/i] with me. However if you want to, then I guess take her on the easier runs at teh centres, then when she says they are boring suggest the harded ones. I have to admit that maybe taking her to CYB wouldn't be a great idea as a first centre due to the somewhat harsh start...

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Build it up slowly. If you go 'large' too fast, you will just put her off. My missis walked down most of Llandegla red route, and is reluctant to go again.

Me and my SO found a good local loop that had some good technical sections, her balance is really good and it was a way to get some better riding in without invading my proper trips. If she wants to progress to bigger stuff then you'll know she should be able to handle herself.

Personaly I want to keep my riding as seperate as possible, that's my time.

just dump her and become gay. its really your only option.

Why would you want to?

I love my wife but like to do my own thing and so does she. If you want her to so she doesn't moan at you, you're with the wrong girl 😐

And keep telling her you really like these rides you do together - as an occasional contrast to the normal ones. Honestly, I'm not being sarcastic - Mrs BigJohn would hate it if she thought she was forcing me to do something I don't like.

trek something or other had pretty flowers on

take an interest ???

cake. probably carrot cake. works with mine.

Most of my mates have dropped out having babies, hence why I want to get the missus involved (spend quality time together and ride bikes etc....)

Tried taking her vaguely off road and she really didn't like it. Fireroads are fine, and she'll even try the odd cheeky manual but no roots/mud/rocks

She did spend Sat in dropoff cafe reading her book waiting for me to finish whites level though so it's not all bad

I think it will depend on whether you really want her to ride with you or if you or her prefer to have separate interests.

If she genuinely does want to ride then the best thing to do is book her on a skills course, having discussed it with her first naturally. Can thoroughly recommend jedi of here and UK Bike Skills.

Is her bike set up properly for a lady and not for what works for you? Decent lightweight kit?

Perhaps she would prefer to ride with other ladies? Less pressure. Am always happy to guide around Swinley, e-mail in profile.

For my wife. She rides with her friends not me - only occasionally we ride together - plus she hasn't just got "something with flowers on it" but a fully tricked out Orange 5 and full winter riding gear. Basically just a good rider in her own right, with proper kit and incidentally she rides occasionally with me.

Top plus of this - I never get any grief for going out on my bike 😆

Ok I believe it's a trek 6400 if I remember correctly if that helps, she started out on my old GT but had issues as it didn't fit her, which is why I bought her a cheap women specific bike. I wouldn't be shelling out on a 5 unless I knew she was really keen.

Thanks for the offer CG, I will let her know, you never know, Swinley is a bit tamer than Wales so I might be able to persuade her. I'm sure once she's doing it she will love it, it's just getting her to try.

And yes I genuinuely do want us to have the same interests, weekends aren't long enough otherwise!

Problem is that if a bike is really heavy then it can be hard work for a girlie who weighs less than a bloke. Coupled with heavy forks and heavy wheelset etc etc. Hardtail is best to start on anyway and secondhand can be the way to go.

Swinley can be tailored to most levels of rider. Having led the Slackers group on the STW Forum Rides, some good riding can be enjoyed without frightening anyone.

Have you asked her what she doesn't like about it? (he says sounding like a therapist) find out and if its stuff that can be addressed your on to a winner... if rocks and roots are the problem... full suspension and larger volume sticky tires... if its that its not very girly and that real women dont do it... then try this http://www.nsmb.com/3408-women-of-dirt some real babes who make me feel like a wus...

The easiest route are probably the graded routes at Cannock Chase.
Start with the Blue then the red.
Stay locally and make it a fun time away.
Not too much booze!

Then you can maybe work towards CDB?

Either she won't enjoy it and you'll get loads of abuse, or she will like it and you'll have to sacrifice riding time with the boys to take her to rubbish trail centres

take her on a blue run. go very slowly. ask her whether she'd rather you go in front or behind. don't go off at your normal pace - it's demoralising. don't make her do anything she doesn't want to. [b]don't[/b] say 'I know you can do this' because that's not what it's about - it's whether [i]she wants[/i] to do it. this might take years of patience (I'm not kidding) so good luck 🙂

thanks for the recommend cg! 🙂

Why not try being contrary? Tell her you don't think she could do it,and it will cut into your "me" time,you'll never get rid of her.
Ian

I missed the fact that you rode the White's Level.
And she stayed in the café.
You have your work cut out TBH, so don't do much more beyond an occational blue route, which of course is not possible at Afan, and not what you want to be doing personally.
In truth I think you're trying to push water up hill with this idea & you could come to grief by even slightly forcing things. How about a hill walk instead?

Does she want to do this? Personally I think its a fine idea if and only if its her idea. If you are pushing her into it a world of pain awaits

Then - start easy - nice scenic local routes to a pub sort of thing - get her into riding a bike in the countryside and gradually introduce more technical stuff. Do not push her to hard too soon - guaranteed to put her off. If next spring she is getting into it - training and a decent bike.

Try a tandem? For some couples its a solution.

Offer her a training lesson and a new book for the trail centres 🙂

Why bother - do you really want your GF to go on your rides?

[url= http://www.bikebiz.com/news/23902/Vibrating-saddle-is-key-to-comfort-says-pelvic-floor-expert ]http://www.bikebiz.com/news/23902/Vibrating-saddle-is-key-to-comfort-says-pelvic-floor-expert[/url]

I started out by building up a skip-rescue bike for my then GF, now wife. We started out with some fairly gentle cycle touring / camping, first in Southern Ireland, then in Cornwall (a few more hills!).

This built her confidence and earlier this year she was out tackling the blue run at GT - it helps that the skip bike is long gone 🙂

So maybe buy some panniers and go for a week somewhere with wicked scenery for a start...

Lots of people have said it already but are you sure you want to get her into biking? If so make it clear that you will (presumably!) sometimes want to go and ride with other people/by yourself.

Of course she may turn into great/keen rider in her own right and start leaving you behind while she goes off!

My wife had not been on a bike for 25yrs so to convince my wife(a granny btw)to get out into the forests I first took her for a walk round the low level parts of the green/blue routes at Ae forest. Coupled with having a nice cafe to start/finish this got her out quite often during the summer :lol:. Ill health prevents winter riding tho 🙁
Bought her a Spec Myka once she decided she like it. She will never, evr ride more than this but given her health problems doing what she does is a bonus.

What I have done in the past with people who are very unsure about tackling techy stuff is to incorporate some very easy sections into a forest road ride.

Just keep plugging away at it. I quite often just go for a bimble round the roads in Ae, it is huge and the views you get can be magic. Stuff you never see when on the "trail"

Would you want to spend all weekend having manicures/shopping and your hair done? Women are different thank god! cherish your time off! Or maybe you've got a better one than me!

Mine was well up for it untill she saw me in my old uni cycling club jersy last night

"you were in a club, you must be mental, I'm going nowhere with you"

Remember how you go into mountainbiking, that usualy works, get them into regular towpath cycling, road rides etc then build form there. Buildign fitness first will make trail centers less taxing as she can ride them, and can enjoy/be petrified by the decents rather than being tired and petrified.

After the first few trail center days book her onto a skills course, she'll probably come back better than you!

Thanks for the tips I let her read this thread to see what she thought -

She is fitter than I am. We regularly do 30mile routes round the new forest on fireroads during summer. These are nice but a bit boring for me, hence why I want to progress her riding a bit so we can do some more 'proper' offroad together.

The crux of the issue is she finds pedalling uphill unrewarding and doesn't get a 'buzz' from it like she does when she does stuff like aerobics.

She also said she doesn't like roots, rocks or mud (!!) as she thinks she will fall off. I think this is just a confidence thing

And yes I do want her to really ride with me! Don't you guys get on with your partners?!? I'd love to be able to get a van and the two of us go off for a weekend trail centre trip somewhere in wales....

tell her her arrse is getting beyond flabby and point to your own posteriour with that "see, look what it does for me" look! sorted

Why not just go 'somewhere in Wales' rather than a trail center? I wouldn't get my wife within a mile of one, but she used to ride an awful lot before children came along. What about the Lakes, Dartmoor, Quantocks - great riding and a nice day out in the country with obligatory pub lunch.

I personally think most trail centers are aimed at those of us (guilty as charged) who don't get enough excitement day to day to get a quick fix.. and they do that job perfectly - but it's maybe not something that appeals to a lot of women.

I personally think most trail centers are aimed at those of us (guilty as charged) who don't get enough excitement day to day to get a quick fix.. and they do that job perfectly - but it's maybe not something that appeals to a lot of women.

The women I know who mountain bike all ride trail centres exclusively.

Taking Glen Tress as an example, there's plenty of 'beginner' trails with mini-features that a novice can have a go at, without much, if any, climbing required to access them. It's been a while, but took my S.O. to the buzzards nest, and spent a couple of hours ambling round the green skills area. She took to the features no problem, & enjoyed the wee balance beams etc. Unfortunately haven't been able to progress beyond it as she just doesn't do up-hill, & I'll only push her up for so long... Uplift day? Electric assist? Maybe next year!

And I don't know any who do or would want too, but then I live a fair old way from any of them. Whenever I'm at Afan it's probably about a 20:1 ratio, which is higher than I see at enduros,24s,trail quests etc.

Best tip is don’t push her, Buy her a basic, well fitting bike (which you already have done) and invite her on any ride you go out on, be honest about what your doing and how tough you think she’ll find it, be prepared for her not to share your level of enthusiasm for bikes…

If she comes out with you be extra patient, encouraging and don’t assume that the stuff you find simple will be the same for her, calmly talk her through stuff before tackling it, take regular breaks and talk about how she’s getting on, if she feels harassed, bullied or like she’s holding you up then she’ll probably just jack it in, Oh and you carry all the kit, shoving a pack full of spares, tools, food, water and waterproofs on her back will not aid her confidence…

My missus loves tow path bumbling between pubs in nice weather, but she hasn’t got the confidence or skills to do trail centres or anything at all technical, she got very upset with me when I took her to Swinley as I said it was “flat”, which it is relatively speaking, but as she hadn’t been on a bike for the best part of 20 years it was a touch beyond her.

She’s since done a couple of charity bike rides and some more adventurous pub trips but to be honest I doubt she’ll ever progress much beyond that, she’s keen to do family rides with the nipper once she’s old enough but “proper” mountain biking just isn’t her bag, she’s tried but it’s not for her, and that’s fine…

I find going at her pace not mine, or going on a bit and then looping back, and finding routes with really good views and stopping points helps, for sure.

However, we have been slowly building up the technicality/ difficulty of the routes and I am finding that no matter how gradual the transitions are, there are a lot of technical or down bits my other half will simply not even attempt and I don't know how to help build her confidence further. It seems once she's told herself she can;t do a section of down, for eg, simply no amount of gentle 'coaching' helps to get her feet back on the pedals, even if she just did a steeper bit without noticing!!

Not sure how to get round that!

Don't know if a xmas pressie of the [url= http://www.dirtschool.co.uk/products/dirt-school-dvd-the-mountain-bike-technique-film ]Dirtschool DVD[/url] might help - great instruction, no pressure, & done in an amiable way. Female patience for recorded hobby-fare tends towards zero in our flat though!

I found that making sure her bike/equipment were of a similar standard to mine was a big help. I went down the route of a cheap bike at the beginning and she did not like it. There were a few mechanical issues and she said it always felt like she was pulling a trailer!

When she had one ride on my bike at the time which was lighter, beteer spec'd etc she loved it and wanted to go again the next day! She now has a bike which is probably lighter, faster, basically better than mine....

Perhaps try riding with a mixed (ability and sex) group so theres less pressure on her to keep up and others to chat with / learn skills from. I ride with [url= http://www.newforce.org.uk ]Newforce[/url] in the New Forest, we have at least two groups each ride and regularly ride out of the Forest including trail centres.

Some of the ladies went on a (ladies only) skills weekend this year and are planning to again next year.

Also as many pub stops as we can justify (which is quite a lot really!)