No! Not a road bike! Gee, Sherry, any dirt models available??... The beautiful trails are much more likely to hook her! I have a friend from whom I can borrow a small Stumpjumper with flats - PM me if interested. Sometimes riding with the girls can be a lot of fun for beginners... Less pressure, lots of "girls-only" fun (no, not that! [-X). An easy ride with the Trail Angels might be just the ticket...
Read the original post....... " I want to save up some money and find her like a used road bike so we can go on rides together." "Is there a good shop somewhere that I can go ahead and just rent a bike for a couple hours so that she can try and get on a road bike for a little while and she....." #-o
I think if he is a mountain biker then the ultimate goal would be to ride with her on the dirt? ("my g/f and i went out to the santa ana river trail and went on a run over there and she says that we should go ahead and do a bike ride on it too.") Perhaps he thinks getting her road riding would be "easier" but IMO she would probably enjoy trail riding more, given the right conditions... Sorry, I'm anti-road biking (apologies to all you roadies out there). As my 8-year-old daughter's favorite t-shirt says, "I love dirt."
"Anti-Road biking" Huh? What happened? Did you have a bad experience on one or something? I can't imagine be "anti" any type of legitimate cycling... Whatever, it's been said before, but the fastest mountain bikers almost always train on the road... it's not a conincidence.
In my personal opinion, I find road biking to be: 1. Dangerous 2. Stinky/toxic And even if you're just on a paved trail, with no cars in sight... 3. Separated from the beauty of nature, instead of being a part of it. Mountain biking has been very spiritually and emotionally healing for me, and I find great joy on the dirt trails, breathing the fresh air, smelling the trees and the leaves, seeing the animal prints, and riding side by side with friends. No argument from me that road riding can increase fitness - but at what personal cost? Not worth it for me. Just my humble opinion.
I agree that it is dangerous (almost got hit today, twice!) and stinky, but not about the nature part. I saw a number of different birds along the river trail, and my ride at Bolsa Chica was right next to both the beach and the wetlands. Saw ocean, marsh, animals and people worth checking out. Baby stingrays in the wetlands. Some of the road riding in Central California has got to equal some of the best MTBing for beauty. FWIW-I used to reject the idea of riding road over mountain too, but it is quicker from the house and too much fun!
You see the exact same thing from a road bike and even more so because you have more time to look on a road bike. Good road riding is off the beaten path, you just have to know where to ride.
So true. There're some really great road rides where you will see few if any cars and the air is great! Although I admit to being a hardcore MTB lover, I still think that you're selling yourself short if you dismiss road cycling without ever doing a good ride on a good bike!
I started my riding career with bmx dirt jumping. Then, I got into a little mountain biking, jsut sort of messing around in the fields with a cheap wal-mart mountain bike. Then I got into road riding and from there I really got into mountain biking. I still ride road most probably. It is more conveniant. I can go ride road for 4 hours, or I can go load up my mountain bike and gather all my stuff. Drive 30-60 minutes to somewhere to ride. ride 4 hours. Come home and un-pack. And total time has been like 6 and a half hours. When pressed for time and trying to get in saddle time, road riding is the premiere choice for me.
Cool deal, my story's about the same except for the BMX. I love both disciplines but because of where I live they are equally convenient and I do both pretty frequently! I spend a lot of my winter riding on the road bike unless it's raining. During the MTB racing season I ride a ton of MTB.
