Riding with your wife

My wife and I have a total 9 months experience riding combined. We use the same hand signal for leaving the blinker on as
you guys do only we Morse Code 'dumb ass' to each other. I usually lead because I planned the route and know where we are going.

We ride our own ride together.

Oh wow..
That's awesome! Please be safe.

We ride together when we can, and have Scala G4s so we can talk. Sometimes we do, sometimes it's just warning of riding hazards. But riding with her adds a whole new dimension to an already great relationship. Did I tell you she's good looking and likes to shoot, camp, and drink beer too?


1911fan

Adding another woman's view-
When I was single I wouldn't consider dating a guy who didn't ride. When dating I liked the guy to lead so I could assess his riding skills. I also didn't feel comfortable with an 'unknown' riding behind me.

Strap and I have been riding together now for about three years. He says I'm a better rider, but I know I just ride closer to the edge sometimes. He's much more conservative and rides well within his very skilled comfort zone.

I had been riding for quite a few years in all sorts of group and solo situations. Long rides, short rides, you name it, I was game for any kind of street or track riding.

With that as background: I almost always lead. Strap is more comfortable sweeping in any group whether it's just us two or some friends join us. Because I had a lot of experience riding in groups I had formed some impressions of what a 'good leader' looked out for.

We have the Scala G4s and find them indispensable. Strap was just reminding me of the time a bee got into his jacket. There are no hand/arm signals other than passing quickly to let the other rider know what is going on. When you are cruising along at 5-10 over the limit it's risking a ticket or sometimes just not practical to buzz by.

We also enjoy each other's company very much. So many times there will be a beautiful overlook or just that sudden pretty or interesting something you want to point out. By the end of a ride you've either forgotten to mention it or the other person didn't notice it and missed an opportunity to see something cool.

More to the point of the original post though:
There are loads of wonderful suggestions from other posts, but I want to ask some thoughtful questions for you to ponder.

How long has your wife been riding?
How confident is she in her riding skills?
Does she take criticism well in other situations?
Do you tend to have conflict in your marriage in general?
How much group riding experience does she have? (If the answer is either not much or none how the heck can you expect her to know the rules of leading??)
If you expect her to learn a skill, such as leading, please don't just throw her into the deep end of the pool and then tell her how her form was lacking.

I wish you both many happy years of riding!

Sounds just like my wife! Everyone should be so lucky! :)

You're single, right?

My partner is a newbie. I'm a former MX and Speedway racer. I'm absolutely thrilled that she rides! She rode two up with me for several years and carefully watched my lines, how I was braking, and what I was doing. When she wanted to start riding I insisted on a dual sport dirt bike first. Dirt biking is much more dynamic than road biking so you learn a lot faster. We spent several months riding easy dirt roads and trails. We would start off with a short lesson and then try to emphasize that skill during the ride. Each skill lesson built on the previous. We also went to big open parking lots and practiced, especially slow riding skills like turning tight circles in each direction slowly.

Although she is new, I am confident in her. She is careful and deliberate. On dirt and on the road, I always followed her so she could set the pace. I found when I was in front, I spent to much time checking on her in the mirrors and was not paying attention to my own riding. We are considering an intercomm system.

A couple weeks ago, first ride of the season, we took the dual sports out on dirt roads. She was leading and I felt she was riding too fast for her skills given the amount of gravel on the road. I jumped up in front of her and slowed the pace down. Everytime I checked in the mirror, I could see her leaning forward "racer style" with a big grin on her face! Anticipating a slow "S curve" I slowed down. She passed me. I just remember the big grin on her face as she shot by. I watched as she went into the turn too fast, hit the brakes, started to slide, let off the brakes, then hit the brakes again. Then she disappeared. She wound up in a muddy ditch. Scared the hell out of me!

She's OK. (ATGATT) She said she was justing having soooo much fun! She's got a pretty nasty hematoma on her leg that will take a long time to heal. The bike was a little tweaked but nothing I could not fix. The next day I suggested she take it easy, elevate and ice her leg. She said, "No, I want to ride." My voice said, "Are you sure? You probably should take it easy." Inside my head I was doing the happy dance saying "Atta Girl!"

I still get scared when I think how much worse this could have been. Grateful it was dirt and a muddy ditch rather than an oncoming car. We've discussed it and decided she will lead on the road and I will lead on the dirt. I've told her many times to "brake BEFORE you're in the turn," but there's nothing that sinks in better real life experience!

Frankly, I am ever so grateful and appreciative to have a partner who shares my love of motorcycling, adventure, and exploring. I pray we both will be kept safe. I totally dig that she's into riding! Lucky me!

Or soon will be.........don't ask me how I know but have definitely learned a few lessons to apply on the second go round!

About to celebrate our 25th.

Ok ok so I know I shouldnt have been reading this forum because it was going to make me jealous.
All of you guys that have somebody to ride with better appreciate it, my wife will not even come as close as to sit on the seat!
And you should have seen the (extensive) honey-do list that I had to complete just to get a motorcycle.

You gotta kinda laugh though, every time I start talking about motorcycles to my 14 month old son she pinches him so somehow he associates motorcycle with being pinched.

Wife on Bike Haiku:

Riding with my wife

Is not possible this day

Bike not hold her weight

Missus Sweetwater doesn't ride her own moto, but she likes to ride and camp and we were just discussing how weekend tours (two-up) developed our relationship and helped us get to know each other years ago.

We rode and still ride without comm sets. In a way (my opinion here) the silence without comms allows reflection on events and ideas sort themselves out and we were able to contemplate the ride/scenery/life together while not being bogged down in chatter. When truly needing to communicate a tap or nudge or SCREAM work just fine. We also do some Jeeping and this lends itself to more comfort and more communication, but it is so different than riding the bike...not as visceral, even with the top down and the wind roaring in your ears.

The challenges of motorbiking (weather, comfort, delays, routing, whatever) gave us a lot of time to work as a team and this was/is a good thing. The same holds true for our other hobbies even today.

Slight revision for our situation..........bike not hold my weight.