Ok, a bit of a background here...
My mom is 61 and pretty sedentary. She grew up on a dairy farm and was super active as a youngster. She's one of those "always on the go" types. But her and my dad retired to Brookings OR a few years ago, and she has become very sedentary. When they lived in nor cal she got into pilates and LOVED it. She tried to keep it up in OR, but just couldn't find a class she liked. I bought her a home reformer, and she has an eliptical, but they don't get much use. She keeps saying that she is going to get moving, but other than walking the dog she doesn't get much exercise.
Well my dad has developed a heart condition (mostly his lifestyle) and she has been told she has the bones of an 80 yr. old, so she knows that they really need to get moving..

A few weeks ago she mentioned that she wanted to start riding a bike. She said that they were going to go down to Fred Meyers and buy themselves bikes. Ok, for those of you not in that neck of the woods. Fred Meyers is a step or two above wal mart. Lets just say I wouldn't expect to see anything decent in the way of bikes in there. I told her NO! Wait until I get there in July and we will go buy you a REAL bike! My concern is that she has a lot of hills in her area, and if she bought a heavy clunky POC she would get discouraged and not ride it. I didn't expect her to buy a top of the line bike. But a nice comfort bike or hybrid that was light enough to get her up the hills without too much trouble.

So fast forward to our convo lastnight...

Mom: Dad and I went to Freddys and bought bikes yesterday... I got a schwinn and he got a mongoose.

ME: WHAT???!!!! I told you to wait! Why did you waste your money?? I can guarantee you that they are going to be too heavy and your not going to like them! ANd then your not going to ride!! Plus I can also see them falling apart! OY! MOOOOMMMM!!! Why didn't you WAIT??!! I told you to wait!

MOM: I knew you were going to freak out. But we just wanted a bike. We didn't want to spend a ton of money. I'm not going to ride on the 101 with all the log trucks. I just want to ride on the hills around the house here. And I don't even know if I'm going to like it...

ME: Well thats the thing, if you had a bike that actually FIT you and was light enough you probably would like it. That is the difference between going to a shop and paying 300.00 for a comfort bike that FITS and going to Fred Meyers and standing over the top tube and saying "looks good to me"... Sometimes that extra 100 bucks is worth it. There is no substitute for a good fit mom. A bad fit will mean anything from a sore neck to a sore back, wrists etc... And if you are not comfortable on the bike you won't be apt to ride it.

Mom: Well I'm not like you. I'm not going to ride for hours. I just wanted a bike.

Me: Mom, I'm not saying that you needed to buy a road bike, or some high end bike. I just wanted to see you get something COMFORTABLE so that maybe you would be inclined to USE it more. So I tell you what, if you start RIDING and like it I will buy you a nice bike. Something along the lines of a comfort bike. Riding really is fun, and I want you to enjoy it like I do. You don't have to be speed racer to enjoy riding!! There are ALL types of riders out there. But in the meantime I will bring you some saddles to try out, cause I KNOW the one on your bike is prolly awful. And I'll bring you some bike shorts. Oh, and I'll bring the tool kit and see if we can make it fit you... Do you have gloves??

Mom: Ok... I know, I know... I should have waited for you.... sigh...

And then we started talking about helmets.... I don't even want to GO there! But yes, she does have one...

So after this long winded post, what I need from you ladies is some encouraging words that I can give to my mom to get her butt in gear. What would be esp. useful are posts from the over 50 crowd, and also from the "formerly not so fit" crowd to give her a kick in the pants. But any encouraging posts would be most appreciated.
I need to get her going. I love my mom more than you can imagine, and I want her to be healthy and happy for many years to come.
Thanks in advance ladies. I know I can count on you to get "mama of running mommy" going!