Euan said:
Stewart wrote:
snip
One can only push so hard though without becoming a pain in
the ass.
Cajole and encourage gently, don't ram it down the throat
--
Cheers | ~~ __@
Euan | ~~ _-\<,
Melbourne, Australia | ~ (*)/ (*)
so true...
people decide to ride when the light comes on...whatever reason it is, only they will take that momentous step...
I rode as a kid...everywhere...stacked, had a ball, took the skin off my nose, pushed a tooth through my lips, broke my arm after a 20 foot fall into a drain with my bike along for the fall...all that...then for whatever reason never really rode for any consequent purpose for 30 years, now I ride every day and even though my commute is a walk in slippers from my bedroom to my office on the other side of my house...I find time to ride...I make time to ride as I know it has given me back a standard of health I could never hope to achieve by just being a jogger- gym goer.
I have met a myriad of new friends from riding and had a ball along the journey, and on top, my vision is better, my peripheral circulation is vastly improved, pathology tests tell my Dr. she needs to get more patients as she wont make much out of me. I perform better (!!!), at work and play and have a much better attitude to my life, my family and this world, and I reckon I cope with life's pressures and its ups and downs vastly better than I could have if I was the sedentary slob that I was destined to become when my post athletic life met business/investment/GNP/indices/micro processors & the internet.
What was the divining moment, the light bulb going off, the great revelation?
A realisation that my family had a history of early deaths, all people who had been active and very fit in their teens, become parents, settled down and joined the sedentary workers of this world in human endeavor that brought pressures, fast food, short sleep and mass produced edibles of dubious benefit to a healthy and long lived life.
I wanted to be different, to make a statement to me and be there for my kids, and so it became a present to me, a new bike one Christmas, this quickly grew into a quiver of 4 bikes for road, racing, meandering and track...
My best friend at the time was an early morning swimmer with me and he talked about his "rides", on his council cleanup bike he found on the kerb, he rode in shorts, sneakers and a giggle hat along the bike path from Beaumaris to Brighton with his daughter, had a coffee and rode home...seems like a great idea to me...and off I go to get my bike...but you know, we have never ridden together...ever...as soon as I started to ride (on the road) he said to me .."no way will I ride on the road" and he now maybe once a month goes out on his trusty old much used machine and rides IMHO the most dangerous route along the beach bike path....
he said he got a sore butt, so I gave him some new knicks, never wore them, he said he had a flapping shirt which was a pain, so I gave him a new jersey...has never worn it...he said his old helmet was too small, so I gave him one of mine, quite a good one...he has never worn it....
so you see no matter what we do or say for others about riding, or encouraging them...really it will and can only happen when they decide and even then it will be on their terms...
just ride on...enjoy what you do and spread the message that riding is fun, healthy and good for the community...
what else can you do ?