Why doesn't he get it?

[Roadtrip]

Owlie, I got similar reactions from DH when I told him I wanted to look at starting my own small business. I had just gotten it out of my mouth and he was criticizing... Do you know how many small businesses fail in the first year... It would destroy us financially if you tried and failed so why try at all... and it went on.

Sometimes it's nice to have that support when they agree with you, but frustrating when you don't see eye to eye. Sill would be nice to have support (like I do his interests) or more of a debate then just feeling shot down.

Shannon

[shootingstar]

I think he should understand what it means to bike and love a bike, whatever type. He is a cyclist himself after all. Hope he spends energy understanding something about you in other areas of your life.

[SheFly]

FWIW, I have every type of bike you can imagine, and I race road, MTB and CX. In the winter, I train on my CX bike with fenders - it's aluminum (vs. carbon), and this year will have disc brakes. Why? Where I live, the winters can be harsh, and having a "beater" bike for winter riding is a really good idea. The disc brakes will be especially good in the bad weather, protecting the rims, and allowing me to actually stop . Oh - and when I finally make the switch to my road bike for training? It's like I've grown wings! Nothing better than the first couple of rides on the carbon roadie after a winter of training on the heavy bike.

He might not get it, but it's YOUR purchase. The CX bike is a great purchase, IMO.

SheFly

[pinsonp2]

I think your BF is probably a little afraid that you are expanding your horizons without him. To him that probably means that he is also concerned that you will meet new friends that may replace him. Men are a bit hard to read since they usually can't verbalize why they feel the way they do....too touchy feelie. Keep up the open discussion and perhaps he will see your point of view. Remember he feels a bit responsible for getting you into cycling and it is scary if you are moving in a direction he does not understand. When all is said and done, it is your bike. It took awhile for my DH to understand why I wanted a CX bike. Once I got it and he saw what I used it for, he bought one off of eBay last night. YMMV.

Good luck,
P2

[Owlie]

No words of wisdom, just empathy. (Was married 15 years...humph. Enough said).

FWIW, I've always wanted a cyclocross bike. Riding a CX is being a kid again. With a fancy road bike, you are limited to nice surfaces. And you have to be more careful with the bike. The steel Schwin Le Tour I grew up on might as well have been a XC for the way I treated it. The thing was bomb-proof. I remember riding up gravel piles.

If you really wanted to make your proposed CX a do anything bike, you could get a second set of nice road wheels with slicks. Maybe hand-built. Then the only difference would be that you had more reliable brakes. (More or less. ).

I agree--I want something I can abuse. That's the scariest thing to me about carbon--I feel like I'll have to treat it with kid gloves, even though logic tells me that that's not necessarily the case. Maybe that CAAD10 isn't such a bad idea, given the difficulties of getting my bike in and out of my apartment.

[zoom-zoom]

I agree--I want something I can abuse. That's the scariest thing to me about carbon--I feel like I'll have to treat it with kid gloves, even though logic tells me that that's not necessarily the case. Maybe that CAAD10 isn't such a bad idea, given the difficulties of getting my bike in and out of my apartment.

DH got a killer deal on a SuperX (like $700 off the previous year)...he and at least 5 other guys in the area all race CX HARD on that bike. Carbon is strong!