Can a marriage survive a bike addiction?

Sometimes you marry the perfect match, but yet, your interests drift in different directions. Such is the case with Dave and I.

How did it happen? We were two geeks happily following the path of techno weenies everywhere, downing Jolt Cola and eating Fritos, never leaving our keyboards, never seeing the light of day. Life was good. Until…

I found out about Team and Training. Instantly, I was back in the world of biking – something I had not done since I left for college a lot of years and 3 kids ago. I loved it, the constant joy of being back on the bike, the constant struggle of being back on the bike, I rode every chance I got. I was hooked. Dave, not so much.

Rae joined me in our first Team and Training event and the months of training up to it. Then a few years later, Josh joined in – in fact, he participated in his second event this past weekend, the Tour de Cure. Most of the household was now in the saddle.

My husband was not too enamored of the concept of peddling to get to where he wanted to go. Still, he continued to meet me at Helen’s cycles, eyeing the new models and every now and then looking at a bike for himself. He would talk to the manager and gear techs, making sure I was being taken care of, asking about the new Madone I was looking at, etc. He seemed into it, but I still couldn’t get him on a bike.

I teased him, encouraged him, cajoled him and finally I just gave up. I muttered something about those tech support guys whose only time away from the computer is when they are discussing going to the next level with other World of Warcraft players. He jerked his head up in hurt surprise. “You really think so? You think that is all I am interested in?” Uh oh, I had crossed a line. “Uhm, well…” trying to quickly assess how much damage I had done, “it does seem odd that you keep looking at bikes and talking about wanting to ride and you never do.”. Not knowing when to quit, I continued on, “Dave life is just better when a couple have things in common, things they do together other than raising kids. I know we can’t do everything together, we have to have some interests of our own, but this is something that the kids and I really love and you have to get up in the morning and drive us to training rides anyways…” I whined. “Right,” he responded, “I get up early, check the bikes to make sure they are safe and ready for the road.” . “I know, I know. So if you are there anyways, why not be a part of it?” I asked perplexed. As patiently as a Father to a dolt child, he learned close and softly asked ” If I rode with you, who would be your SAG vehicle?”.

It must have been seconds, but it felt like minutes or even hours passed as I processed this. All this time I thought Dave just didn’t care about it all. The very fact of the matter was that Dave cared a great deal. He cared about us. He has spent the last two and a half years carrying bikes, tires, tubes and basic medical supplies, waiting hours at SAG (support and gear) stops and picking up hurt riders, taking them to safety. His addiction may not be to cycling but it has been to “his riders”.

Sometimes, you marry the perfect match.