mijome07

I ask because I wanna know what your wife/husband think about it.

By the way, I'm single with no kids, so I do what I do.

CACycling

Coming up on 27 years of marriage. My wife is supportive. She'll call me in the evening if she doesn't like the looks of the weather to see if I want a ride home (I haven't taken her up on it yet) and the few times I've flatted on the way to work, she's driven to my rescue (I'll patch on the way home or on a recreational ride but prefer to not deal with it on the way to work). My sons (17 & 19) like the fact that there is an extra car up for grabs when I'm on my bike (at least they like that when the older one is home from college and they are sharing a car).

caloso

Married 10 years this May, with 6-year old twins. I 've been doing this so long, it's just how I get to work.

mijome07

That sounds great guys. By the way, "caloso", 4th generation here and I'm Mexican-American. Viva La Raza!

corkscrew

Not married here (Well, maybe to the bike), and don't plan on ever being so.

Although I've seen a few cute girls on my commutes, I've always wanted to ask them this same question.

Timber_8

I have been married to my wife for 24 years in August. We didn't have any children and never will. She supports everything I do.

scroca

Depends on what you mean by "it".

HardyWeinberg

Married. As long as equal time in childcare and child shuttling is maintained, it's all good.

AdamDZ

Married to my second wife for 3 years, no children (none planned). I was a bike nut and computer geek/tweaker when she met me and she's totally cool with both of these addictions. She's a recreational cyclist herself and an avid internet surfer too, although she'd never commute, too afraid of riding on the streets, but we're planning to do some touring and longer weekend rides together.

She understands that this is important for my physical and mental well being, she sees the benefits: I lost weight, I'm in better mood, I don't get sick often, etc.

I had a less healthy addiction, she didn't like much: computer gaming, I mean I'd pull 14+ hour marathons, few days in a row then be a zombie for a couple of days. Cycling helped me break that addiction. I stopped gaming and now I spend more time with bikes or reading about cycling so that is a big plus from her perspective

Adam

ortcutt

Married nearly fourteen years, with a 21-month old daughter. These days I lurk on the Commuting forum, but after the semester ends it'll be mostly Recreational & Family.

bigbenaugust 

Not quite four years of marriage here, but I have been cycling for 10.

My wife knew it was my hobby/favorite mode of transportation when we met (didn't take her long to figure it out*). She's been very encouraging ever since. She knows we save a ton of cash by me not paying for parking and not having a second car. (Bike parts are a pittance compared to what a parking space at Stanford and upkeep on my departed Tacoma would cost.) She knows it helps keep me fit and sane. When both of my bikes were inadequate for commuting, she told me to go build my own. That was 2007, and I'm finally just about there. When one of my friends took up road cycling, she encouraged me to buy a road bike so I didn't have to borrow his spare. Man, I love my wife.

We always worry a little about safety, but I do my part to make sure I don't get run over and she knows it. When our son was born last month, I got more safety lectures from my dad than my wife.

* The night we met, I had just returned from a weekend of cycling and seeing friends down on the Central Coast after skipping the Sea Otter Classic. It rained in Monterey that weekend, but not Pismo.

Drago1010

Married 28 yrs. Wife is a gym rat at the Y so she doesn't bug me as long as I let her keep her locker there (just kidding). Real supportive of all my biking. Actually bought my current bike with her present. Went to a LBS after a dinner out with no intention of buying (I was just "looking"). She stood around talking to the staff when I went out for a test ride & didn't bat an ey when the credit card came out.

AdamDZ

Your wife is awesome!

Catgrrl70

Married 7 years, but been commuting by bike to work for 9, no kids. He's got no problem with it but doesn't like to hear about my "close calls" so I don't give him details about those. He's not a big street rider but does enjoy a mtn bike ride every so often. He's got no issues with me spending $ for my bike activities but neither of us limits each other in nearly anything so it's a good situation. We both ride motorcycles too so he understands that I know how to handle myself around bigger vehicles who aren't always aware...of anything...

kokorozashi

Not married here, but I think requirement #1 for me is going to be 'fellow bike junkie,' LOL. Preferably with more chops than I have, so I'll have someone to inspire me (or at least shame me into getting my butt in gear -- nothing like being 'whupped' by your spouse to put things in perspective, I suspect!).

bigbenaugust 

Extremely.

Surfindixon

My wife and I have been married for 11 years and have two kids (8 and 5). We don't run a car or any motor vehicle. She undertsands what I'm trying to do and is very supportive although she is aware that the road is a dangerous place here but she knows I've got my finger on the pulse with regards to what is going on around me and she appreciates the measures I employ to 'get myself seen'. She's not into cycling but I wish she was.....working on it......I'll talk her around yet!!! I love her for undertsanding what I do.

InTheRain

25 years of marriage. Have an 11 year-old daughter. My wife is fine with me commuting on the bike. I only get a questionable look if the weather is really bad outside and she's sees me getting my cycling gear on.

no motor?

Not anymore, and I started dating my current GF shortly after I resumed bicycling. She's fine with my commuting, and I usually ride over to her place when I can.

HardyWeinberg

Hey we've got an 8 and 5 yr old too. He's fully off on his own 2 wheels, moving back and forth between 20 and 24" bikes, but she rides to preschool in a trailer (or trail-a-bike, weather permitting). She's actually pushing outgrowing her 16" bike but is not independent on it. Hopefully this fall they'll be in the same school (flashback to halcyon days 4 yrs ago when they were both at the same daycare, for about 6 months) so we won't need to be carting them in opposite directions.

ortcutt

This reminds me of a passage in John Forester's Effective Cycling, from which I now quote without permission:
"I think it is highly desirable that unattached, enthusiastic cyclists look for partners among either those who already cycle or those who respond to cycling invitations by becoming cyclists. Many people who don't cycle have a latent anticycling prejudice that is strong enough to strain a relationship seriously once events activate it. [Next comes a brief account of the strain that his ardor for cycling placed on his marriage, which ended in divorce.] ... Even without such a difference of opinions, cycling takes so much leisure time that, unless your spouse also likes cycling, it will cause some sense of separation. ... Certainly, unless your partner likes cycling, you will not cycle as a couple or as a family; it is best to get these matters sorted out before deep emotional commitment, because it is often too late afterwards."

genec

Married 26 years... dated her on a bike... I didn't own a car.

She and I both bike toured the CA coast from SF to SD.

She recently put her foot down on my commuting when a cop killed a cyclist, right on my route...

https://www.nbcsandiego.com/news/loca...-69565117.html
https://www.fox5sandiego.com/news/ksw...,5039152.story



There are no alternate roads.

She has since offered to buy me a stationary bike.
I have an off road bike to ride. I am NOT commuting for now.

my_route2.JPG

click to enlarge.

My route above... notice that no road except the one I use and the two freeways connect through. The blue X is the where the cop/cyclist collision occurred.

Do you think she is being reasonable?

ItsJustMe

Married 20 years. My wife just doesn't like that it takes me an extra 40 minutes a day, and it's that much less time I have to get stuff done around the house. Apart from that, I've never heard anything one way or the other, except I did overhear her telling someone else once that it kept me in shape.

I guess it beats hanging out in bars.

tjspiel

Married 11 years. Two kids 10 and 6.

I've been commuting full time for about 5 years but I've done it off and on for quite awhile. An active lifestyle is part of what attracted us to each other so she's supportive.

My total bike addiction is her own fault. Though I've commuted for a long time I wan't really "into" bikes until she wanted me to help her pick up an old used road bike. She found a 70's Peugeot for $40. It had a bulge in the tire and was barely rideable. I expressed my doubts but she was enamored with it.

So we brought it home and got new tires. Then she asked if I could do something about the noisy brakes. This wasn't a squeal. The noise was from the serrated braking surface of the steel rims. Only way to get rid of it was to get new rims. So off I went in search of some used wheels. Once that was done she was happy... except that she wanted the gears to "click" when shifting like my bike did.

I said, "Well, that's kind of major change". She batted her eyes and asked: "So you don't know how to do it?" Lots of research and a new freewheel, derailleur, shifters and cables later, she had indexed shifting.

Her $40 bargain had turned into about $150 investment (some of the parts were used), but she was happy and I was hooked on playing with bikes.

travelmama

OP, I am am in the same boat as you. Holla!