I have hooked a friend

[Crankin]

A friend of mine who is a dedicated walker has been talking to me about getting a new bike. She had an older hybrid. After sort of complaining to me about living on a hill (she shouldn't have said this to me, she realized, since my hill is much steeper), she actually went out a bought a pretty nice Specialized hybrid. I sent her all kinds of links to TE and Terry and she is happily buying some clothing, etc. She had some trouble getting out of the baskets on her pedals, so thanks to Lisa, I forwarded her the link to the Power Grips and she is going to try them! She actually rode 17 miles on the rail rail last weekend.
Tomorrow I am going to ride with her. It's perfect timing, since I have to ride my Jamis this week, I will have a bike more similar to hers. She is so excited, I feel like I am giving someone drugs!

[ASammy1]

The first time is always free!!!
:p

[TrekTheKaty]

Be careful--It's becomes hard to tell who is "enabling" who. My DH and I ride with my sis and her DH. Giving them hand-me-down bikes, clothing, HRM's and even GPS's has just given us an excuse to upgrade our stuff!

[mimitabby]

me too!
My best friend from jr highschool told me "you are my hero"
she's purchased a hybrid and she and her husband are doing short rides now.
She has major lung issues (I think it's from living in Florida :eek: ) so she ends up with lots of time when she can't ride, but she is putting some miles on her bike.

share the love!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Wonderful stories! :p

[Jiffer]

I finally got my friend hooked in February. My other friend and I spent months trying to convince her to get a bike. I went with her and "held her hand" while informing her of all the various things she needed to buy to go WITH the already expensive bike (Ruby). We did the shoes, the shorts, the helmet, the gloves, the bottle cages, the different color handlebar tape ... but when I got to bike bag with tube and tire changing tools, etc. she said STOP!!!! She wasn't going to spend another penny! She said she'd use her husband's bag when she rode without him. :rolleyes: My husband has a pet peeve about having the bike bag, so he bought her one and filled it as a "welcome to cycling" gift. :) A few months before when he realized my other friend didn't have one, he took his off his bike and gave it to her.

And now that same friend is doing a century with me this Saturday! We've been training together and we're both SO glad I convinced her to get a bike! Woo hoo for sucking in friends!!! :D

[Crankin]

Yes, great stories. I don't think my friend will ever be buying an expensive road bike, but she is committed. She's an interesting person; she is a friend of a friend and I new her casually for years before we started doing stuff together. Last night she was heaping praise on me for all the advice I have given her.
I will give a ride report tonight. I've been obsessing about where to take her, since she doesn't have much experience riding on the road.

[Crankin]

I actually had a lot of fun. It's a gorgeous day out, so I got to her house around 3. I explained the route I had planned and made sure she understood signaling and taking the lane when turning left. She did fine with that, especially since it was the first day of school and lots of traffic/buses around suburbia. I tried to stay with her on the shorter streets and go around 12 mph. It worked. When we got to a hill, she fell back a lot, so I just used my big ring or slowed down or stopped. After 7 miles we could have headed back, but she said she wanted to go further, so we got out on one of my favorite streets... long and flat. I admit I did get a little ahead here, even on my hybrid. After this, we stopped at a playground and took a long drink and headed back. We had some traffic and a stoplight, which she did fine on. We ended up doing 15.8 miles. I gave her some tips on trying to increase her speed and climbing, but she already told me that she gets a "high" from riding!

[Jiffer]

Sweet! Sounds like you had a great ride. A good experience for her, which is key in her early days. Is there a riding club in your area that she can get involved with? We have a club that has Sunday afternoon ladies' rides, which are on the slow side, a lot of beginners.

[Crankin]

I don't think she will be joining any group rides. There is a beginner's/easy ride in the club I ride with, but I don't want to push it. Her goal is to ride a couple of times a week after work and with her husband (who is not that fit) on the weekends.
I am happy about this, because cycling has put a "wedge" between me and my non-cycling friends. They don't say anything or make comments, but I just feel like I have nothing in common with them. She is definitely from the non-cycling group, so it will be interesting.