how do you deal with an unfit riding partner

Majski

That's your opinion. However I totally disagree. You can't learn to ride properly in a day, it takes hours and hours of actual time on a bike and considering what you're doing wrong. What is right for one person isn't right for the next. Yes there are some basic rules (not braking in corners etc) that any decent rider can teach you but you need to just spend time yourself doing it.

Though if it helped your mrs out fair play, not something i'd be intersted in paying for though. For the same money you could yet a few uplift days and that time riding would be far more beneficial IMO

Thewaylander

To be honest it would drive me a bit nuts to if it was on all the rides i could get out for.

AS the guys say why is she doing it, if its to spend time with you, get up earlier and spend time later with her. if it's for her, look into a decent bike, a skills course and getting her fit!

bails87

Chinley Churner wrote:

Majski wrote:

Booking a skills course is totally unnecessary. Just ride more and think about what you're doing.

Interesting sweeping statement :roll: very considered and well argued... I know my wife would disagree wholeheartedly. Her riding was transformed by a day's course. Having someone with the patience and teaching skills (not me..I know my strengths and weaknesses) to show her basic skills made a massive difference. Riding with good technique saves huge amounts of energy and will lead to an increase in overall trail speed far faster than just plodding away at fitness. Once she's got the skills she'll begin t enjoy riding more and can then build fitness up.

I think it's an...'interesting' statement too.

I'm sure I would have got to the level I'm at now without a skills day but it certainly made me get there in a few hours rather than a year of 'riding more'.

Riding more and thinking are good ideas, but so is a skills course.

Agree with waylanders post too.

Thewaylander

bails87 wrote:

Agree with waylanders post too.

Lies!!!!! :P

Majski

So basically you're all saying that if I book on a skills course in one day i'll suddenly become miles better and shave lots of time off runs?

styxd

So basically you're all saying that if I book on a skills course in one day i'll suddenly become miles better and shave lots of time off runs?

No, not if you're a decent rider to start with.

Most people that go one skills courses are middle aged men who've taken up "All Mountain Biking" as their latest hobby, and hence cant ride for shite.

If you've been riding since you were younger then you'll no doubt be able to ride properly already. A skills course can help, but it wont have as much of an effect.

bails87

Majski wrote:

So basically you're all saying that if I book on a skills course in one day i'll suddenly become miles better and shave lots of time off runs?

If you're an absolute beginner like the OP's missus then yes, probably.

Edit: Just look at the feedback from people like Jedi.

Majski

I get what you mean about total beginners. However, if it's only 'really' basic techniques that are being taught then surly it's something she could learn of her bloke, or any other better rider that doesn't mind spending some time helping rather than spending £xxx on a training day. I spent hours following a faster mate round corners at bringewood just trying to stay off the brakes and got it nailed in the end, didn't have to pay loads for it. Also spent a lot of time with the mrs when she got into riding and now she's as quick as if not quicker than me at most DH trails - no skills course either.

This isn't to discredit anyone who teaches, Jedi etc. It's just that the training days seem very expensive if you're just learning something that any decent rider could teach you.

Majski

styxd wrote:

Most people that go one skills courses are middle aged men who've taken up "All Mountain Biking" as their latest hobby, and hence cant ride for shite.

The ones that wear these and full body armour at Llandegla then all swap stories of heroics about the 'northshore' they rode on the black run?

styxd

Thats the thing though, the people who go on skills courses are the same people who have expensive bikes i.e. the

"cash rich, time poor"

They dont mind paying, but dont have the time to spend hours learning how to bunnyhop.

EDIT

Thats the ones!

miss notax

timpop wrote:

giving her words of encouragement and coaching along the way.

Whilst I totally get what you mean timpop, from a female perspective 'helpful' comments from your (better at riding) other half can be a tad antagonistic to say the least... Like teaching your other half to drive I guess

This is why I have done a lot of skills courses - I listen to other people but for some reason Notax's helpful comments often just make me want to slap him :roll:

Majski

Fair enough, I suppose I'm lucky as me and the mrs are both really into riding DH, and outside of work it's our favourite thing to do. No kids either so not much in the way of expenses apart from uplift days and riding hoildays. Basically means I get to spend my money on nice bikes without her moaning then all my holidays are bike orientated.

I can't imagine only having time to get a couple of rides a month in it'd be a nightmare.

70\ʹspenguin

miss notax wrote:

timpop wrote:

giving her words of encouragement and coaching along the way.

Whilst I totally get what you mean timpop, from a female perspective 'helpful' comments from your (better at riding) other half can be a tad antagonistic to say the least... Like teaching your other half to drive I guess

This is why I have done a lot of skills courses - I listen to other people but for some reason Notax's helpful comments often just make me want to slap him :roll:

This made me chuckle! Do you have arguments when map reading in the car also (bane of my life)?

miss notax

70\'sPenguin wrote:

This made me chuckle! Do you have arguments when map reading in the car also (bane of my life)?

Oh yes

Chinley Churner

miss notax wrote:

timpop wrote:

giving her words of encouragement and coaching along the way.

Whilst I totally get what you mean timpop, from a female perspective 'helpful' comments from your (better at riding) other half can be a tad antagonistic to say the least... Like teaching your other half to drive I guess

This is why I have done a lot of skills courses - I listen to other people but for some reason Notax's helpful comments often just make me want to slap him :roll:

Spot on... when in the past I made suggestions to my wife as to how to improve her riding I'd generally get a scowl. I'd then get frustrated when she ignored me and ride off... vicious circle, not conducive to a happy day out. We still don't ride a lot together as, since the course, she's got her own riding buddies so that's been another plus.

I get what you're saying about uplift days and DH but we live in the heart of the Peak District with great XC natural and teccy XC trails on our door-step.. driving to ride would be nuts so she needed the basic skills to be able to enjoy her home patch.

ilovedirt

Majski wrote:

styxd wrote:

Most people that go one skills courses are middle aged men who've taken up "All Mountain Biking" as their latest hobby, and hence cant ride for shite.

The ones that wear these and full body armour at Llandegla then all swap stories of heroics about the 'northshore' they rode on the black run?

Oh god, there's far too many of those people. Those helmets are the most ridiculous things ever. And everyone that has one can't ride to save their life... (well, the majority).

Majski

nuff said

supersonic

Skills courses work for some, not for others. There is a lot to be said for just riding, especially ina group and naturally getting better.

anj132

Clank wrote:

Learn the joy in helping someone else experience new things.

After enjoying this.... get her a kindle with 50 shades of grey so you can get out on the bike for a few hassle free weekends and then perhaps she'll help you experience a few new things too. (Or atleast pretend it's new)

YeehaaMcgee

spr wheelie wrote:

firstly shes the misses and i cant just drop her and i only get home at weekends and on holidays so got to spend time together.

but she is soo unfit and it makes the ride a bit of a hassel stoping at the end of every climb or decent. so any one got any sort of experiance with this sort of thing and how did you deal with it.

cheers.

Learn to just enjoy the ride and the time together, rather than treat it as a "MUSTGOFASTNOOOOOAAARGH" time.

Stu Coops

Bin her off coz if my missus told me she wanted to take up MTB i'd give it up. :shock:

Anonymous

styxd wrote:

If you've been riding since you were younger then you'll no doubt be able to ride properly already. A skills course can help, but it wont have as much of an effect.

Able to ride, possibly fit and developed your own skills enough to ride just about any trail, sure. Doing it properly is another matter. Old habits do die hard. New or 'corrected' skills could change the game entirely and suddenly you're doing way more than you'd ever considered before instead of just doing the same old stuff every ride.

A bit like skiing. I've been skiing for 20-odd years, but only had a few lessons at the start. I can get down pretty much anything including double blacks and do a bit of off piste, but I'm stuck on the intermediate/advanced plateau and still off piste is a challenge to me, blasting down icy moguls is pain, and any kind of freeride stuff is no go. It's dead easy to just continue doing what you've been doing year after year and not progress. Though lack of off-piste is mainly due to lack of powder. A rare thing these days.

YeehaaMcgee

Pretty sure I got all the powder that you've missed over the years, back in January :P
It was my first time in powder though, so I sadly couldn't make the most of it.

Rushmore

Just go for a really far out ride.. then leave her behind... She'll sure be trying to push herself then....

Either that or find a fitter missus...

OR join a club... If she enjoys it... you'll be able to go out separately as alot of clubs do ladies only rides...

cooldad

YeehaaMcgee wrote:

spr wheelie wrote:

firstly shes the misses and i cant just drop her and i only get home at weekends and on holidays so got to spend time together.

but she is soo unfit and it makes the ride a bit of a hassel stoping at the end of every climb or decent. so any one got any sort of experiance with this sort of thing and how did you deal with it.

cheers.

Learn to just enjoy the ride and the time together, rather than treat it as a "MUSTGOFASTNOOOOOAAARGH" time.

Every now and again yeehaa shows his sloppy sensitive gay side, and whilst I feel slightly sick, in this case I concur.

spr wheelie

cheers for all the advice.
im pretty sure she enjoys it and it was her suggestion that we got thebikes anyway.
i said its a hassel but i do enjoy being out with her.
i reckon ill just end up taking the bike to work with me and try to build up her fitness, ive tried teaching her to drive and im a beginer myself so teaching her anything would be pointless and on the way to a domestic.
cheers all.

diy

Firstly check the bike is properly set up for her. It took me years to convince my mrs to raise the seat. She needs to be able to almost fully extend her legs from the seated position to the bottom of the crank. That will put the seat inline with her hips/waste or there about. Secondly give her some rocket fuel: http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/pages/ ... prodid=631 or similar, in her water bottle, it will improve her energy about 20%

Consider buying her a much better bike than you have - perhaps a second hand one that will give her a massive advantage. In the short term consider putting some faster tyres on her bike, or even upping the PSI a bit on the current ones. Consider buying her some good cycling gear, its as much in the mind as it is in the body.

Then when you get to the top of the hill, don't sit and wait, ride back down and ride up with her again. Then offer her lots of encouragement about how it will make her fitter, slimmer, bigger boobs, better hair etc.

miss notax

diy wrote:

Consider buying her a much better bike than you have - perhaps a second hand one that will give her a massive advantage.

This is true in my opinion - I learnt to MTB on a rather nice (second hand) Santa Cruz Superlight. I know there's a general thought that you have to learn on a hardtail to get the skills, but i'm not sure I would still be biking if I didn't have such a nice bike to learn on. But then again i'm sure other chaps don't take their girlfriends to Cwmcarn for their first ever MTBing experience :?

Majski

Ha first time I took Maria riding I chucked her down snowdon on a 24inch Jump bike with one brake. I wasn't Mr Popular that day! Then we went to Les Gets the week after on an 1998 Kona Stab with cable discs. It was comedy

pilch

My other half rides and races with me all the time, she is very fit and has good bike skills... Before she really got into mountain biking I went on a few skills courses myself and so after that just gave her advice/tips that I had learnt every time we rode, when I felt she needed them. Oddly for her, at least as far as biking goes, she takes my advice on board without questioning it...

Over time her bike fitness (she was already very fit) improved as did her skillset to the point where I rarely need to give her pointers now - she is a good rider. Other than DH stuff and the really hardcore natural riding I don't think there are many places in the UK where she would have problems.

General riding she keeps up no probs, if we are out as a group and the lads want to have a tear up then that's what we do, then rejoin after.

She has always ridden my hand-me-down bikes, saying that they are pretty good quality so she has had the advantage of reasonable kit. However it's got to the point now where she is entering and getting good results in races so I built her up a bike of her own.

One of the things that helped her was joining our club, we ride regularly and there are a few other girls that ride & race, sometimes we all ride together, sometimes we split and the girls go off together. I think it helped her to ride with them and not to feel like she was just tagging along.

The only downside is the maintenance... Its the bane of my life, I try & explain how important it is to at least just do the basics to keep things working properly, but I still end up sorting her kit out for her as I can't bear to see it getting destroyed. Hopefully we are getting there on this front though...

I think the thing is to persevere, if your other half is genuinely interested then give her lots of encouragement and make allowances, she will get better and you will enjoy riding together. If she is not that interested and just wants the odd social with you then I guess it's a case of compromise.