I love the "Riding with Lance" advice! On Thu, Jul 28, 2011 at 5:26 AM, Michael Hechmer <mhech...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Amit, Sounds like all of us agree you should snap up the Saluki, now on to > the more complex question of motivating your 70 year old Dad. > > I'm closing in on 67 and have spent a good chunk of the last decade > motivating my wife (64) to ride more with me. So I can write from > experience. As we age, no matter how well we stay active and in shape, we > begin to loose power and speed. There's good biological explanations for > this but that would be a lengthy digression. We can hold onto endurance a > bit later in life but eventually that will also begin to wane. And, perhaps > most importantly, our recovery time increases significantly. Ten years ago > I could ride five days a week, finishing up with a century and a couple of > mountain passes. Now I find that trying to ride three days in a row > overloads my body, and four hours of riding is all that I really enjoy > doing. > > With my wife, the most important rule I follow is never to leave her > feeling stiff, sore, and exhausted. She will likely remember that feeling > more than the joy she felt during the ride. As a result she has gradually > increased her riding strength from 15 to 50 mile trips. She is "vertically > challenged" so I usually try to avoid any really long mountain climbs (that > in itself is a challenge in Vermont!) and when we do go up hill I use the > Canadian Goose method - I honk and cheer her all the way to the top. But if > she does need to stop and walk; I do too. > > Her bike is outfitted with BE shifters, because they are the most ergonomic > choice. You move the shifter in the same direction as the chain, and the > brain seems to catch on to that pretty quickly. She also has pretty low > gearing, (46/36/26 mated to a 13-27 7 spd freewheel) since she is not > comfortable really screaming downhill. I have also worked with her on > riding technique, but gently, and pretty much only one thing at a time, to > avoid sounding like a nag. After she learned shifting, we started working > on riding downhill more aggressively so that she would have more momentum > going into the next inevitable Vt uphill. After she mastered that we began > working to get her to spin smaller gears faster. That took a long time but > this year she is much better at it and we are beginning to talk about > improving her cornering. > > I also claim that riding with my wife is like riding with Lance Armstrong! > Lance says my tires are soft and someone rushes to put air in them; Lance > says, my brake is rubbing, and some one rushes to adjust them! But I would > bet your dad would not like that kind of treatment; we men have such fragile > egos! So you probably need to be extra cautious giving advice or offering > help. > > I have been riding with my two children (now in their late 30s) and still > consider it the best. Fortunately they can remember all the years I waited > for them on hikes & bike rides and now do the same for me, with real grace. > Oh and BTW, last year we bought a tandem and now it's pretty much all Pat > wants to ride. > > michael, > take care of Self; it's one of a kind and irreplaceable > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "RBW Owners Bunch" group. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msg/rbw-owners-bunch/-/oWU4xR5J9ZsJ. > > To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en. > -- Cheers, David Redlands, CA *...in terms of recreational cycling there are many riders who would probably benefit more from improving their taste than from improving their performance.* - RTMS -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To post to this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/rbw-owners-bunch?hl=en.
