60!
My Mom turned 60 this year and she’s decided to do a triathlon. She’s decided to invest in a better bike for the triathlon and beyond. She bikes quite a bit. Sometimes we run into each other in distant towns on long rides…
However she didn’t know what type of riding she would do when she bought her bike- a mountain bike. As anyone who’s biked for a bit knows, the first bike you get is always the wrong one. It turns out she prefers to be on a road, so a road bike it is. But somehow the average bike shop employee is having trouble wrapping their head around this…
However they shouldn’t underestimate my mom. Or that she will just to go to another shop that will offer real help.
Wait, is that Peppy the cycling cat on the right? That cat gets around on all the ool cycling blogs 🙂
I wish my mom was more comfortable riding a bike. Everyone else in the family biked, and I think she felt a little left out.
It would really be cool to run into your family members randomly while biking around.
Hope your dad has a good run on monday
Whoops- hope your brother has a good run. Was reading (and typing) on too small a screen this morning.
One of the reasons my friend and I are determined to open a bike shop is the way none of the shops (and there are many) seem to make an effort to connect with customers to find out what they really want.
Most of the guys who work in them seem totally disconnected with anyone who isn’t Cat1 or Cat2. And I’ve only ever seen one girl working in a shop.
Went into my local bike shop 4-5 years ago and told the sales person I was looking for a bike for commuting and hopefully some touring, told them I wanted a steel frame, something that could handle a larger person and still be stable but not feel like I was riding a tank. The guy smiled and said “Oh, yeah, I know exactly what you need, right over here” and led me to an aluminum mountain bike with no rack or fenders mounts…
A couple of years ago I finally ditched my old bike-shop recommended mtb and bought a nicer bike that not only is better suited to my current needs but actually fits me better. But this involved me spending some time thinking about what I wanted, doing some research on available bikes via Mr. Internet, and making a list of possibilities I wanted to try before even going to any bike shops. I brought my list with me to the shops. I went to a few different shops (the best, customer-service-wise, were Harris in Newton and Quad City in Arlington–those guys even ordered in a bike from the distributor on spec for me to test ride). I’m pretty satisfied with my choice, but mainly because I started out assuming that the bike shop saleguys would be useless.
My dad, 52, runs 5 or 6 marathons each year (and he has run Boston in the past). Last Saturday, he biked 30 miles with me, which, as far as I know, is his first ride of any significance. There’s still hope!