pcunite

Thanks for asking for our opinions. These threads are fun.

Ideas:

• Allow your wife to bless you. Its important to accept a gift, even if you don't feel you need it. I doubt she has the wrong motive.
• Guide the gift giving, since you're a part of the process, in areas you know are actually special. So, as one poster commented, get something you know would excite you. Maybe that is a new frame with a component build out. You have nice equipment, but if new would be exciting for you both, she will remember that yardstick moment as another chapter you two had together
• No matter what, get a fitting session!
• Her love language maybe quality time. If so, she just wants to make sure that the time you spend doing related things is as good as it can be. Just allow that to happen.

Take care!

DangerousDanR

You mentioned that your spouse likes to ride. Have you considered a tandem? My wife is a casual rider with what is best described as a "Dutch Bike", upright seating with a big basket on the bars. We try to get out at least 3 nights a week for about 20 miles each night we ride.

And be sure to get a tandem with some kind of couplers that allow it to be packed into a couple of suit cases. This will require you to suppress your frugal side. You will be well past $6K.

Once you have the tandem and are both comfortable riding it, splurge on a trip to somewhere you have dreamed of going. Tell your frugal side that because you are not renting a car this is a very inexpensive holiday. Or honor your frugal side and go some place where people are known for their frugality. I suggest the Scottish Highlands. Fantastic scenery, great food, most people speak your language, and they are super friendly.

TrackSmart

Thanks for the advice! I agree that a fitting session would be valuable regardless of anything else. And your other comments are good to keep in mind as well.

Thanks for chiming in! We've thought about the idea of a tandem (our friends have a pair of nice tandems -- one with couplers), but we have figured out that it's not the best fit for us. My wife, in particular, would *much* rather be on her own bike. Fortunately, my wife is a relatively strong rider and we are are very compatible in our riding. My easy, "endurance miles" days are whatever days the two of us go for a ride! She is solid for 50+ miles with moderate hills or 60+ miles on flat terrain. The pace we go together is considerably slower than the pace I would go alone, but I am quite happy to enjoy cruising at her speed and enjoy the ride and the scenery. On those days, she gets the bike GPS and I don't worry about speed, heart rate, or anything else. Just enjoying the ride.

That said, a bike (or two bikes -- one for each of us) with couplers for travel is a great idea. We were in the process of looking into bike travel cases in March, but never purchased them due to travel restrictions. We were looking at "semi-compact" bike cases, which would be easy to fit into rental cars or roll onto trains. These cases all require removal of the entire fork to fit into the case (and other disassembly), so it's a bit of a project to get them packed and unpacked, but you don't get stuck at the airport waiting for a vehicle large enough to transport you! Or having to spend triple to rent a giant vehicle just to fit the full-size bike cases. But if we both had bikes with couplers, it would allow for easier bike travel with a lot less bike disassembly. And you are right that the bikes would eventually pay for themselves in saved rental fees over the years.

I might still go with the "semi-compact" travel cases, which combined with the couplers, would mean very little disassembly while staying manageable in size. Many airlines these days have no extra fees for bike cases anyway, so no need to get down to the tiny S&S-coupler-sized boxes (which are within airline limits, but require a lot of disassembly and time packing and unpacking).

Thanks folks. Keep the ideas coming if you have them! And I'll be all set for this year, plus the next several years of holidays and birthdays, too, with ideas!