What a great couple of days

[IanT]

Managed to get out for a rapid 16 miler on the roadie last night. Warm enough to not worry about winter gloves, extra socks, extra base-layers or shoe covers. The smell of freshly cut grass, mild weather and lack of wind certainly made it feel like spring spurring me on to a personal best average speed.

Took this morning off, and went with my wife to our LBS, where she took delivery of her first road bike - a Trek Lexa S.

A cracking little 15 miler in lovely warm weather and milky sunshine - just for her to get used to it. Even slotted in a stop for coffee and a cheeky little sausage roll. Sitting outside the coffee shop, in glorious sunshine, she said, "I love that bike - it's so much fun".

So, spring has really arrived, my lovely missus is now a roadie and summer is just around the corner.

Bring on the summer.

 

[G-Zero]

Managed to get out for a rapid 16 miler on the roadie last night. Warm enough to not worry about winter gloves, extra socks, extra base-layers or shoe covers. The smell of freshly cut grass, mild weather and lack of wind certainly made it feel like spring spurring me on to a personal best average speed.

Took this morning off, and went with my wife to our LBS, where she took delivery of her first road bike - a Trek Lexa S.

A cracking little 15 miler in lovely warm weather and milky sunshine - just for her to get used to it. Even slotted in a stop for coffee and a cheeky little sausage roll. Sitting outside the coffee shop, in glorious sunshine, she said, "I love that bike - it's so much fun".

So, spring has really arrived, my lovely missus is now a roadie and summer is just around the corner.

Bring on the summer.

Bring on the summer indeed.

The ride sounds good and it's always good to get out with the missus. Pleased I wasn't with mine however, a couple of nights ago when she fell off alongside a queue of traffic on the home commute. Other than a graze on her knee, only her pride was dinted !!

PS. What's this "smell of freshly cut grass" about. My neighbour gave his the first trim of the year yesterday, but I reckon I can get another month out of mine before trying to fire the mower up.

 

[IanT]

Bring on the summer indeed.

The ride sounds good and it's always good to get out with the missus. Pleased I wasn't with mine however, a couple of nights ago when she fell off alongside a queue of traffic on the home commute. Other than a graze on her knee, only her pride was dinted !!

Oh - sorry to hear that. Hope her pride and knee recovers quickly.

Bring on the summer indeed.

PS. What's this "smell of freshly cut grass" about. My neighbour gave his the first trim of the year yesterday, but I reckon I can get another month out of mine before trying to fire the mower up.

Yes - I don't really know. Was just riding along and some guy had really gone to town on his front lawn. The combination of clement weather and the smell of the freshly cut grass really did make it feel like spring.

 

[akb]

Did you have to convince her to get on the bike, or was she a cyclist before? I need ideas on how to convice my missus to get on two wheels!

 

[IanT]

Did you have to convince her to get on the bike, or was she a cyclist before? I need ideas on how to convice my missus to get on two wheels!

To be honest, I think my enthusiasm just rubbed off on her.

She started seeing the value in getting decent bikes when I got my first nice Trek roadie. That spurred her on to suggest tht we get her a decent MTB (from the same LBS I got the roadie from - oh, and a new Trek roadie for me happened to leave with us at the same time!!!). She's been quite happy riding the MTB for several months now and, to be honest, got far more in to it than I expected.

We went out for a nice little hack on Sunday and, whilst standing in the garage afterwards, she said, "I think I'd like a road bike". You could have knocked me down with a feather.

I think that possibly one of the big initial 'sells' was the amount of weight I have lost since getting into cycling (7.5 stone since July last year). That was what probably spurred her on to start using the MTB and, like us all, once you start cycling, you find how enjoyable / addictive it is.

That aside, we are both finding that it's just a great way to get some quality time together. We've done a charity ride together, regularly ride through our local woods (knee deep in mud) and now we have the roadies, I'm sure that's going to add another dimension. Might be wort coming at the subject from the 'quality time' angle. We've had some great laughs together and some cracking rides with the occasional stop for a coffee etc.

 

[Shadow]

Yes - I don't really know. Was just riding along and some guy had really gone to town on his front lawn.

Weird. I think this grass cutting thing and attempting to create 'a lawn' is wired into the English people.
Much better to spend time on the bike instead of cutting grass!

 

[AnneW]

I'd say IanT is right - go for the "quality time" angle with your Missus. OH and I have a great time out and about on the bikes - and I'm not what you'd call a natural cyclist. She'll soon get the bug.