[KenB]

I love riding with my daughter and, so far, she loves riding with me. She's only 7 right now and we're only doing short 10-15 mile "fun" rides -- no pressure, only as fast/far as she wants to go, etc. I hope, over the next few years, to foster in her a love of riding so that she will continue to ride with me on the faster, longer rides.

Essentially, I'm looking for suggestions/advice from the female perspective on just how to go about that. I don't want to push her into doing something just because she wants to make me happy -- I want her to enjoy it because she truly enjoys it. If it doesn't come to pass, so be it but I'd like to do everything I can to help it along.

thx

 

[paint]

I think most of it will depend on her desire to spend time with you and her desire to ride. The concept of cycling enjoyment isn't any different for women than men - some people really like it, others not so much. Personally, I started riding back and forth across campus. Then I found myself taking the long way, or adding an extra loop around the park (and so on) until I'd built up to 30-40+ mi/day, 5 days a week on a hardtail mtb.

I think you're doing the right thing, easing her in slowly. Just extend the ride times little by little and make sure you keep getting feedback from her.

 

[litespeedchick]

I would say make sure there is something she enjoys waiting at the end of the ride. (playground, ice cream, whatever) That way, if she's having a day where she's feeling slow, or bored, or cold, or whatever makes the ride less fun that usual, there is still the carrot at the end of the stick to keep her from deciding on a whim that she's sick of the whole thing.

Do not push her into competition with other little girls and bet on the outcome with their Dads. That would be bad. ;-)

 

[Spinfinity]

From a man with 2 sons.

My boys swim (coed) and play football (all male). Both have swum through high school and plan to play football in college. I've been watching youth sports for a good few years now and offer a broad generalization based on what I've seen. It appears to me that most boys give up a sport when they stop getting better results whereas girls are likely to continue playing a sport regardless of their results if their friends are doing it.

You may not want to be seen as a guy in lycra leading a bunch of little girls around on their bikes, but getting a friend or two involved may make it much more fun for your daughter, especially as she gets older.

 

[Hjalti]

Tandem?

I love riding with my daughter and, so far, she loves riding with me. She's only 7 right now and we're only doing short 10-15 mile "fun" rides -- no pressure, only as fast/far as she wants to go, etc. I hope, over the next few years, to foster in her a love of riding so that she will continue to ride with me on the faster, longer rides.

Essentially, I'm looking for suggestions/advice from the female perspective on just how to go about that. I don't want to push her into doing something just because she wants to make me happy -- I want her to enjoy it because she truly enjoys it. If it doesn't come to pass, so be it but I'd like to do everything I can to help it along.

thx

What bikes do you ride? My 7yo loves riding the longer rides as stoker on the tandem. We only do 10 miles or less on the singles (usually less), but she is good for 30+ on the tandem. My 11yo son is less interested in riding, but occasionally gets out for the rail trail stuff.

 

[Cory]

In 2013, she won't even be seen w/you, but. . . .

You're going to be amazed how stupid and out-of-touch and generally distasteful you become by then--your daughter won't get near you, so wring as much as you can out of the next five years.
What you're doing sounds fine to me--it's about what I did with my kids, and it worked pretty well. My son's 25 now, and we still ride together as often as we can (he lives 250 miles away). My daughter (almost 21) is the best athlete in the family, but she concentrated on team sports and running and never cared much for cycling. She's interested in other things, though, that I think come partly from stuff we did together when she was younger.
The good news is that after your Stupid Period, from about 2013 to 2019, you'll start to get smarter and eventually--by age 20 or so-- she'll accept you again. It's just one of the trials of parenthood, and at least in my experience, girls are about six times as much trouble as boys.