LadyinWhite - don't freak - breathe....

It is definitely a juggle. I have an 11 year old and a full time job as a litigation attorney. Frankly, during the week, my job interferes more with my family than riding does - and I am not particularly happy about that. (DD is always wanting me to drive all the field trips, etc. I do what I can - and more than a lot of non-working moms in our school do, quite frankly, but I can't do it all. )

During the week, I will either get up before dawn (4 - 5) and ride outside (I have GOOD lights) or I will do a spinerval on the trainer. I am lucky if I can ride 1 - 2 hours each day on 3 days a week during the week. I won't even try to ride at night because that's my time with my daughter.

Weekends would be tough without very supportive in laws because most of one day a week is spent on long rides.

DH and I ride together often - we both coach for Team in Training, and we are training a group to do the Death Ride in July. So some of that time is our "couple" time togther, which is nice. We don't generally get babysitters and go out on dates at night - we ride together instead. We'll ride Davis double century together in a couple of weeks, which will be fun, too.

The brevets have been a bit tough this year and DH (who isn't doing them with me) was worried about me riding through the night yet again, so he (nicely) asked me not to do the 600k I was planning. That's fine. I'll stick to easier doubles for the rest of the year.

And remember - breathe! It doesn't all have to get done right now. And if your kids are little, the riding may have to take a backseat for a while. That's okay. When the kids are a little older and more self-sufficient, you can spend more time on your bike. You only get one childhood with them.