A womans advice

djvagabon1

Im trying to get my girlfriend into mountain biking. I have brought her a bike, a nice kona and a helmet, gloves, shorts winter gear but shes not interested. She rides to the pub and thats about it. Can i change her outlook on mountain biking, or should i just get a new girlfriend lol.

alphaanne

Haha.....good luck!!!

I managed to get my non sporty sister into it by telling her it would give her a butt like a brazillian supermodel .... hey, it worked shes just as hooked as me now.....

Hang on a sec........where does one get a boyfriend who will buy her a Kona???? Thats what I want to know

dangermoo

If she'll ride with you to the pub, why not find 2 different pubs, about 25km apart with some awesome singletrack between the 2? And when the "are we nearly there yet?" question arises, just keep saying "it's just over the brow of that hill darling..."

That's how my hubby duped me about 4 years ago! Now completely hooked to the extent i'm the manager of a bike shop and a mecanic!

dangermoo

If she'll ride with you to the pub, why not find 2 different pubs, about 25km apart with some awesome singletrack between the 2? And when the "are we nearly there yet?" question arises, just keep saying "it's just over the brow of that hill darling..."

That's how my hubby duped me about 4 years ago! Now completely hooked to the extent i'm the manager of a bike shop and the mech!

Persistant and lying is the key! It's only a small drop off, you'll be fine....

sara flowmtb

I had a similar experience - there was always 'just one more hill'! Still not quite sure why I persisted dangermoo - we have lots in common - somehow i ended up running mtb holidays - couldn't imagine going back to the city now!

Try buying her one more present - a dirtdivas skills day voucher (or if they're not near you there'll be another company not too far off). A women's only skills day should help her confidence and she might meet some other girls to ride with too. From my experience that's a big help.

djvagabon1

Ive already tried that 1. I payed for her to join a montain bike club where i live. They have a ride that goes out on a Saturday just for women. The woman who runs it is a british cyclo cross champion, so she knows her stuff. She told me shell be happy to take Clare under her wing and teach her the basics. They spoke on the phone. Clare said shed be better then me with some practise from Isla. It came to Saturday morning and she just said no straight away. She said she didnt want to go and that was the end of it.
Ive given up trying now. Ive spent nearly £1,000 on all the kit for her. What a waste of money. It was her idea in the first place, so we could spend more time together.

supertwisted

At a guess, sounds like she suggested it as she wanted to spend more time together, but was never actually keen on the idea of mountain biking itself.

My wife likes going out on the bikes, but I doubt she'd be interested in a 2 hour slog through a muddy singletrack on a dreary day. We have a leisurely roll round the countryside together, then I'll go off and do my own thing (read: fall off and hurt myself in the mud).

Maybe that'd be more up her street, after a while she might start staying out a little longer for some of the trickier stuff.

miss notax

Hasn't there been a thread similar to this or am I going mad....?

I think generally people are either inclined to go for stuff like mtbiking, or not. If your girlfriend is simply not that type of person then regardless of what you do, she's just not going to get it. You'd be better off enjoying the ride to the pub etc together, but enjoying the serious off-road mtbiking alone or with other people.

Having said that, if she IS the sort of person who will go for this then take it slowly. She may not have wanted to do that day because it would inevitably involve making an @rse of yourself in front of others. It doesn't bother me at all (i'm used to it and rather good at it by the grand old age of 33 :? ), but I know people who would hate to fall off and get things wrong etc in front of strangers...

djvagabon1

I dont think its the falling off infront of strangers that bothers her. We went mountain biking in the summer together. She fell off infront of a big group of people, stood up and took a bow. Everyone started clapping. She laughed about it for weeks after, and told everyone about it.
I think shell be more inclined to go out with the club in the summer. Maybe its the cold and the mud she doesnt like. It was a long time before she started coming to the gym with me, and know she goes more then i do.
Shes coming to watch me race in a couple of weeks. She said shes going to take some pics and cheer me on.
I'll wait untill the summer and see if shell come on some longer rides with me then.
Thanks for all the advice by the way.

rose04

OMG I would be ridding that bicycle faster then you can say Speedy Gonzales!!!!!