Quote Originally Posted by Lisa S.H. View Post
I keep having women in town come up to me when I'm on my bike and say stuff to me like "Oh I wish I could get my old bike out of the garage and get riding again, but I'd never be good at it or fast enough." I always tell them to just haul it out, take it to the local sport store for a tune-up, and then call me. I tell them I'd be thrilled to ride around the school parking lots for a while with them until they feel safe and then we could go on some short really easy rides. They then always object that they'd be "too slow" for me, and I have to reiterate again how I would absolutely LOVE to ride some beginner rides with them, that I am not so fast as they might think, and how I was in exactly the same place last summer as they are now, and what are they waiting for? So far no takers, but I WON'T give up. Someday I hope to be able to spread around some of the joy that biking has given to me.
Lisa - I'm so glad that you enjoyed your first group ride! I ride alone or just with DH a lot, so I actually still get nervous about every group ride where I don't know who's going to show up! Even now...3 summers after I started!

Anyway, I also wanted to comment on what you said above. I get a similar reaction from women at work. I'd love to get more women involved with athletics (biking in particular). I joined up with our company's MS150 team as the only woman 2 years ago in the hopes that it would inspire other women to come out. It seems to have had the opposite affect! They all think I'm some kind of super athlete (grouping me in the same circles as the marathoners at our office) and I keep trying to convince them that I'm nothing special and that anyone can ride. If you find a good way of encouraging those women, please share! I'd love to know what else I can do. Self-deprecation doesn't seem to work!