Biking and Marriage!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

 

After what seems like months of rain, our weather is looking up and my DH and I have started bike riding. He is a serious biker and I am a not so serious biker. Any bike ride I go on has to have a beginning and an end designated BEFORE we start the ride. This is important because my DH can ride for hours and even rides 100 miles every year on his birthday. I could ride 100 miles too, but it would involve about 5 nights in a hotel and lots and lots of stops for snacks.

 

The first time we went riding as a family a few years ago, my DD almost had a heart attack when she saw her father in his riding outfit. I had seen it several times, but didn’t think to warn her and so you can imagine how shocked she was to see her father in his biking spandex ensemble. I think she spit out her Gator-Aid and screamed “GROSS!”  I told her it was a constant battle fighting off the other women on the trail when they saw him, and she said, “Are they angry because he is wearing that outfit and want you to do something about it?”  When I told her I like to call him Lance Armstrong on the open trail, she started laughing and said if I didn’t mind she was going to call him Rubbermaid.

 

Anyway, the point I am trying to make is that my DH takes his riding seriously. Since I don’t go as fast as he does, it makes me nervous to have him following me and often times I ask him to go on ahead.  This started shortly after we got in a fight one day because I accused him of riding too closely behind me and trying to draft off me. I told him it was causing me to be more winded and he said it was impossible to draft off someone whose speedometer’s gauge was blinking “are you even pedaling?”

 

So, we worked out something that works best for us. We drive to the rail trail together and I put my IPod on and listen to my music and leisurely ride up the path and he takes off like a bat out of hell. The only kink in this system is sometimes I can’t find him when I am ready to leave. He says he can’t hear his phone on the trail and sometimes he passes me and pretends he doesn’t see me.  The last time this happened I asked him how he could miss a 6 foot tall woman wearing a lime green Nike shirt ringing her bike bell and screaming, “I WANT TO GO HOME NOW!’  Well, that must have jarred his memory because he then said now that I mentioned it, he did remember riding by me and looking back to see me waving.  When I told him that wasn’t a wave, he just smiled. One of these days, I am going to throw a stick in his spokes as he sails by.

 

Well, I hope this blog encourages others to get out there and ride. It sure does help to keep a marriage strong to do fun activities together…LOL!  We have had some good riding opportunities and some we have turned down. When my sister and her husband asked us to go on an almost 400 mile marathon bike ride with them, we declined.   My sister sent us the brochure and two things stopped me from going.  First, the brochure had a section on what to do if you encountered snakes on the trail and it wasn’t scream or call 911.  Second, there were no stops along the way to malls or gift shops.  My DH has ridden with me for 20 miles and he declined for mental health reasons.  I guess you just have to know what works for you.

 

Unfortunately, I do not carry a camera with me when we bike, but here are some similar pictures. This is what my DH and I look like on our bikes:

We almost never look like this:

Before I get on any bike, I always do this to warm up:

My DH does this:

I like to stay fit, so I look like this in my bike outfit:

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

I say get yourself a bicycle-built-for two and let your DH do all the work!

Thanks once again for the laughs!

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

My DH and I exercise together too. This is my favorite because I am more in shape for it:


But he prefers this:

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Wow Lynda....30 to 40 miles a day...I am impressed. I can do 22 on a good day, but it involves lunch :)

Frannie, Here I thought you were this sweet rescue volunteer and now I find out you are plotting against couples...LOL. I think maybe you have a competitive streak, like me...haha. I go on vacation in a couple of weeks and my 13 year old nephew always wants me to play him in tennis. So far, I have been able to beat him, but my day is coming. I won't be able to stand it when he beats me.

Camilla, I think any bike ride counts :)

Doris, Thanks!

Lisa, The carrier is collecting dust in my garage...no way can I pull Vern, and Fudge would probably react like Daisy.

[Frannie & Callie]

Laurie - that cracked me up! I admire couples that can sport together! Whenever I play mixed doubles against a married couple, the first tactic I try is to get them mad at each other! So mean, but I'm not that good a tennis player :)

 

I am impressed that it would only take 5 nights in a hotel and I am with you on the snacks! When I ran, I was the girl running down the trail with pretzel sticks in my pocket. I'd run...snack...run...snack. I'm pretty sure people laughed at me. A lot.

[Camilla and Darwin]

LOL, loved this post but that isn't surprising. I think it's awesome that you and DH do biking, I wish I was that cool!

 

I have a cheap bike that I ride leisurely in jeans and flip flops... does that count? ha ha.

[Doris, Knox & Flash]

Laurie, I think I have said this before, but if not, here it goes....you are freaking hilarious!!

[Lynda Kamrath]

Great blog!  When I saw biking and marriage, I just had to take a look.  We have been biking forever and my husband rode in the Sea Otter Mountain Bike Challenge for 15 years.  This was the first year he did not ride because he was sick for six weeks in Jan-Feb and was not in shape for a race.  He rode with his friend who did compete, however, and kept in reasonable shape. Our big problem now is the dogs.  Groucho will ride with us but he has a pretty slow pace (fine with me) be we can't really trust the puppy.  He is distracted really easily.  We will trail ride during the week and I take off first, then the dogs run to catch up with me and my husband follows.  I do about a 7-mile ride and then cut off with the dogs and my husband does a larger loop and rides about 15 miles.  Not bad for a mountain bike ride and 7 miles is fine for me and the dogs.  That is okay during the week when we are basically alone on the trails but on the weekend my DH rides with friends and I take the dogs to the beach or a dog park nearby.

My DH loves biking challenges and has done several Colorado rides (like 400 miles and 7 mountain passes) or a week on the Continental Divide trail.  I go along, but not on bike.  I worked on the Continental Divide Trail while he rode it and stayed in motels and met up with him at night on the road ride.  I did do two fully-supported mountain bike rides (about a week each) with him, but somebody was driving our gear around and cooking all the meals.  That wasn't bad.  All I had to do was ride my bike 30-40 miles a day.  The guys set up the tents and served us the wine and snacks while we waited for dinner to be cooked.

Love to hear from other biking couples.  And what have you done to include the dogs?  We are lucky enough to live in an area that is pretty dog friendly, but they still are not allowed many places.  They love to mountain bike but not a good idea to have them on the paved roads.  It is too hard on their paws, let alone dealing with traffic.  So what to do???

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

Oh I am sure that would go over well - Daisy freaked out about a big thing we put her in and pull with another thing with wheels - ha ha

That is the plan though! :o)

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Deanna, Someday I will write a blog about our canoeing together. That didn't go well either..LOL!

Lisa. I know all about the prep work to ride bikes or canoe. My DH is an engineer, so he over thinks everything, and by the time the bike or canoe is secured, I have lost interest..haha! Hey,you can borrow my dog carrier and pull Daisy.

Bonnie and Lucy and Sophie's mom, I wanted a tandem, but we decided our way is better...alone on the trail :)

F, I hope you are awake and thank you for all the compliments..LOL!

Lindsey, I think dirt bikes might do our marriage in...haha!

 

 

[Lisa, Daisy & Dexter]

You have made my morning (at work)...thanks.

DH and I purchased 2 beautiful high end trail bike 7 years ago and they look lovely on my garage wall - it's not me it's him! LOL. We rode them a dozen times so far and have a nice bike carrier as well....it takes us a couple of hours to get that and the bikes on the back of my SUV because we do it so often we can't remember how - haha

Oh and now we have Daisy.