My wife is always trying to pick me up from work so I'll get home faster. I've had to tell her that defeats the purpose of riding a bike. Also it only takes me about 20 mins to get home.

This past weekend after dinner I told her "I'm going outside to play for awhile, I'll be back in an hour" she complained about me bing gone that long and all kinds of other stuff. Her reasoning is I get to ride to work so why do I need to ride on the weekends.

I need to find her a decent bike so she'll understand why I love riding.

Ah, so you have sedentary parents and siblings. Chances are they sleep in on the weekends so you can sneak out early. Depending on where you are, the early morning rides are often the best times to be out. If you're back by 8 or 9am then you can still spend the day with them. Make it a routine and they'll know that you're not available at that time.

It's really quite simple. You need to hook your family up with the lazy boyfriend from the other thread and then go riding with the lady in that other thread. Just for riding, mind you.

It sounds like you need to better organize your time. I can't imagine that your family is getting up at dawn to get together.

My bike time, and the mornings (since I get up earlier than The Boy), are my only ME time. And I'm an introvert (INFP on the Meyers-Briggs system) so I NEED that time!

The Boy is an extrovert and does not ride, which leads to such exchanges as this, from Sunday:

Me: *walks in door, hangs up helmet, stands there looking mildly puzzled at inability to remove bike gloves; I'd just done a 72 km loop with the cycle club, first long ride this year and first group event ever. Physically and mentally I was pooped!*

The Boy: Yay! You're home! How was the ride? Did you have fun? Let's go to the grocery store, we need stuff for dinner.

Me: *blinking* Um, I kind of need a shower. I have sweat in my hair, bugs in my teeth, and my entire body is covered in sunscreen and road dust.

The Boy: So? It's just the Co-op, nobody will care.

Me: I just really need to shower and sit down.

The Boy: Oh, come on, I don't want to go by myself.

Me: No. I just rode FORTY-FIVE MILES and I want a shower. How about you go get hamburger buns and I will start slicing up toppings after I shower and then we will be all set to eat sooner.

The Boy: *sensing danger at last* OK...

....yeah.

My wife is always making plans for my riding time, spending my bike money, etc. I try to explain the extra ride time in addition to my commute as a health issue (Blood pressures a little high dear, think I need to get in some more exercise, cheaper then doctor bills). The money spent on bikes (It's a safety issue dear, if I just let it go as is it could fail at a critical time when I really need it).

Incredibly, fenders were the easiest thing to convince her on. Less nasty laundry to deal with.

Wait...no spouse, no kids?

You have ride time.

i need to start getting up earrrrrrly on sunday mornings to ride.