LaoFuZhi said:Quoted message said:Well, you never know, her asking for one might mean she's thinking about
doing it a bit more seriously, or you might find that if she can see
what speed she does, she might start upping the speed a bit, and if she
carries on with that, she might be bitten by the bug ;-)Ah! if only...... She's had the bike a little over two years; I bought it
for her 31st and at that point she actually had to learn to ride having
never had a bike in her life before!!.... At first I thought she was going
to get into it; but the notion only lasted about three months. It comes out
the cupboard occasionally when the sun's shining; And then she rushes off to
Halfords to buy another gadget for it.... NOw and again she rides it to the
next village.... I followed her out on it last night to test this spedo
accompanied by out 7-Y/O daughter who was literally riding circles 'round
her ....don't think I can book that cycling tour of Southern France _quite_
yet ;-) though if she's getting some exercise some time that can't be a bad
thing...Quoted message said:So don't discount it completely as a sign of good things to come ;-)
Oh, I'm not...... Let's just say I'm a touch guarded.... It's like the
stepper, and the wheelie thing with handles; last night she was sitting up
in bed ready to order another daft over-priced stepper thingie from qvc or
somewhere....Quoted message said:If you're interested, I have a cateye astrale here that I no longer use
(was only on there for use on my turbo, rear wheel + cadence sensor
fittings, wires, not wireless).The offer's appreciated... As I'm building another bike for myself I may
come back to you on that one....
Yeah, well don't give up on it yet.. she just needs to experience the
enjoyment of it all enough... I got my bike three years ago, did hardly
anything on it for the first two years, this year things have taken off
in big ways :-)
A lot of it was lack of confidence, and the bike not fitting all that
well, but mostly confidence. If she's as new to cycling as that, you
might find she's not yet relaxed enough to really enjoy it - I found
once the good outweighed the bad times, progress happened REALLY
quickly. While the bad was still the prevalent thing then every little
thing that helped give me something else to think about was good -
anything to take my mind off my legs, hands, bum, traffic, stress, etc etc.
Doesn't matter if it only comes out the cupboard when the sun's shining,
that's one thing that'll mean the cycling's enjoyable for her, if you
really enjoy cycling then cycling in the rain's not so bad, but if you
aren't at the stage of enjoying cycling for cycling's sake then it's
bloody miserable.
I only got my bike cos I thought it'd be luvverly to cycle sedately
around pretty country lanes with my beloved, since he's a bit of a
cycling nut, and I knew he'd probably go disappearing off with other
cyclists if I didn't. I was envisoning gentle rides of up to an hour or
so, not many miles...
Quite how I managed to think that given he's a keen cyclist, I have no
idea - obviously I had no comprehension of what serious cyclists get up
to...
I did find it quite daunting at first, once I'd realised just what it
entailed - the distances, speeds, etc, and not being happy with the bike
but not knowing why - all made it something I wasn't enjoying, and
something that I rarely wanted to go do again.
It took quite a bit of perseverance to get past that point, and I have
to say if I didn't know the bike I had was a real cracker to ride when
things went well, it's quite possible I'd have given up and just
occasionally used it for tootling. That'd have been a waste of
time/money and not done the bike justice though, and with a lot of
encouragement I worked through that period, and am almost out the other
side (most rides now are excellent and I get the urge to go ride if I've
not been out on it for a week now) - but there are still situations that
fill me with trepidation and stress me out totally - just that cos the
rest of it's so good, I can manage to cope with them rather than utterly
losing the plot ;-) Or, I just get off hte bike and walk them - I've
learnt being stubborn like this in that situation where it is REALLY
scary is the best thing to do, cos eventually it gets to the point where
confidence is good enough that one day you do it cos you don't want the
hassle of climbing off, and yes, it's a bit nerve-wracking, but you get
through it, and that's the start of it not being a problem any more ;-)
Of course, it might be that she's never going to be the sort of cyclist
you'd like her to be, but if she's on a decent bike (ie, not twice as
heavy as your ultra-light steed LOL), you give her advice about using
the right gears, get her as comfy as you can on the bike, find ways for
her to enjoy and be interested in it, then she'll do it enough to see
improvements, and you never know, a couple of years time and you'll be
buying her a 'serious' bike ;-)
--
Velvet