My sister in law (55) announced she is buying a bike from
Halfords. Deal is done, so no comments there. It actually looks fine for what she wants. Apollo hybrid (non sus luckily), 18 speed gears.(so no replies saying she should have bought steel......) Idea is short local rides on tarmac. Nervous about busy roads..Doing it for general fitness not to do any events.
I suspect that 2-3 miles will be her starting point. And I might be wrong but suspect that 10 miles will be her maximum unless she really falls in love with it. Fire away for any comments on how to build up the distance and general newbie tips. Once we have a few I will send her the link and let her soak up your pearls of wisdom
She may be able to greatly exceed your expectations! A friend of mine certainly surprised me yesterday ...She is a non-cyclist about the same age as your sister-in-law. She does do a fair amount of walking on the hills round here so she has walking fitness, but not cycling-specific fitness. Her bike is a steel non-suspension MTB with 24 gears and slick tyres.
My pal is going to ride a 100+ mile extended version of the [Morecambe] Bay Way with me in August so we thought that she had better start riding now to prepare herself for our 5 day holiday, which will involve averaging 20+ miles per day with a few significant hills on the route.
We set out on our first test ride yesterday ... To my surprise, she managed to ride 26 miles, with 1,600 ft of climbing! She did walk some of the steeper climbs, we didn't ride quickly, and we took lots of breaks, but still - it goes to show that people can often do more than you (or they?) think that they can!
I agree with Liz about large vehicles. My friend was very intimidated by a couple of HGVs on a busy road, coming up to some traffic lights.
As for fixing a puncture ... I suspect that could well be a problem. Even if she had known what to do, having a spare tube PLUS a puncture kit PLUS tyre levers wouldn't have helped because she was MINUS a pump!
My pal took some persuading to use her full range of gears. I could see that she was sticking almost exclusively to the middle ring, even when she was struggling to climb. In the end though she changed to the little ring and was doing pretty well with it.
She also surprised me by asking me to raise her saddle. I find that beginners generally think that they should be pretty much able to sit on the saddle with their feet touching the ground and it worries them to have it higher. I had noticed that the saddle was a bit low but I thought I would wait and see how she got on before suggesting changes. Once she had done a few miles she said it felt too low so I raised it by about 1 cm. She was amazed at how much difference that made.
She was riding with flat pedals and walking boots. She definitely does NOT want to wear cycling shoes and use clipless pedals.
I suspect that her legs might be a bit stiff and sore today. Her neck and shoulders were feeling the strain towards the end of the ride so some further adjustment of her riding position might be needed. I texted her a while ago to ask how she feels today but she hasn't replied yet.
