Justifying your bike buys to non-biking SOs and trying to spread the addiction

[Kitsune06]

I'm wondering if anyone else out there has this problem...

When you're thus engrossed in an addiction (Let's call it 'biking')
there are often things you see that you 'need'. Like Disc brakes so you don't smush your skull on rocks or cramp your hands right off. Naturally you need a new wheelset (a disc-compatible one) to go with these brakes, and if you want to cut corners and get mechanical brakes, then go with Avids and then Full Metal Jackets to increase your braking power...

Well... but if you're in the saddle a long time, and your butt starts to hurt, you need a nice(r) saddle. How about a Brooks? People swear by them, they're stylish (c'mon, try to say no to black leather and rivets!)

And being on your bike thus long, you feel able to commute. Can you say panniers?

If you're training, or even just doing long rides for fun, you need fuel and electrolytes. That's Hammer gel, a flask, and endurolytes or elete. (or cytomax, accellerade, etc)

Then you want to maximize your power in pedaling. That says pedals, cleats and shoes.

You can see where I'm going here. If your SO is a non-biker, (s)he looks at the hammer gel and electrolytes and says "Why on earth are you biking so HARD when it's hot out?! Why not just STOP when you get tired?!" or the pedals "Why do you need clips!? You do just fine without them!" Saddle- "You don't HAVE to go 20+ miles in a day, for ***'s sake!" Panniers "Hello- Backpack?" Disc brakes "...Don't your brakes work well enough already? Why on earth are you going down hills like that anyway?! You might get killed! That's reckless endangerment!"

Is there any explaining it?
I tried valiantly to get her into it... and now just to get fit, she's taking short rides with me... but she insists on borrowing my bike and having me carry the locks, water, repair kits, etc.
Ugh.

[kelownagirl]

I'm laughing out loud at your post. It's so true. I guess I'm lucky (or maybe not depending on how broke I am) that my SO is equally obsessed. One of us buys something and the other needs one too. We feed off each other. I don't want to think how much money we've spent on biking gear this year. If it equals about $1 / km, then it's money well spent....

Good luck in getting her addicted though - it's nice to have something active to do together...

[doc]

My husband is immune to the addiction. Therefore I try to hide my new acquisitions from him. I was unsuccessful hiding the new road bike.

The upside of not sharing the addiction; He watches the kids while I ride. If we both were to ride, one of us would have to stay home and be annoyed. So it works out well for us. I just have to make sure to make time for him to go to the gym.

[Bad JuJu]

Yeah, good luck with sucking your SO into the madness. I've tried and tried with mine, but the most I've been able to get him to do is about 10-12-mile rides, in cotton tank, running shorts, and sneakers. ("Well, of course you're uncomfortable in that get-up!") He finally gave up his crummy discount-store bike and got a somewhat better ride in a trade--he wasn't willing to actually buy a new bike. He seems more comfortable now, but the bike still spends more time collecting dust than running the roads.

Lately, he's started to accumulate a little gut that he's not very happy with, so my next strategy is to persuade him that cycling is the way to get rid of it. Keep your fingers crossed!

[im4smiley]

I have tried to get hubby involved but...he would rather do his walking...which I dislike..so when I buy something new for biking..esp clothing...I always tell him I got it on sale and hide the reciepts.

[crazycanuck]

I don't give ian a choice when i want to buy biking items...For example, i love the lights he makes but i wanted something lighter & one which would last longer. I found one on ebay, worked my magic and now have some cateye double shots coming my way....

I must add though, we don't go to malls very often unless we have to and own tons of stuff. I'd much rather go biking or swimming or read than go shopping....

(Ian's a biker too)

c

[mimitabby]

my husband was a biker before i was. I liked to go hiking and then he got plantar fascitis and couldn't. so one year we really just sat and glowered. i realized that if i wanted US to be healthy ONE of us was going to have to change. and i asked him to train me for the STP double century.
Spending? I really tried to bite my tongue through most of his expeditures (why do you need more than 1 pair of bike s horts? why do you need more than 5 jerseys?) you need ANOTHER pair of gloves? your bike needs a WHAT?
we could open a small store with all the tubes and tires he's purchased and i have no idea if ANY of the tires not on the bikes are any good.
but now.. here i am... you're going to the LBS? can i go too? I need a new mirror for my bike, and some socks, and i just want to check out the jerseys...
but to answer your question: here's some responses for you:

Look how nice I look! if you let me buy this cool saddle, it will enable me to continue to shape and harden these legs and keep my attitude good!

I could be buying (fill in the blank here) instead!

biking is a healthy habit!

[Nanci]

I had this friend, when I was into horses, who was the world's expert on hiding stuff. She'd either say it was mine, and she was just borrowing it, or I'd sold it to her really cheap, or "Oh, I've had that _forever_, I can't believe you've never seen it!" I mean, she could sneak in saddles and everything!

Her best sneak, though, was a bigger, WAY better diamond for her ring. (Oh, how she got money was "gleaning," like she'd write a check at the grocery store for more than the amount, and save the money). So she gets the super-diamond, and has it put in her ring, and her _dad_ notices, and she says (this is great!!) Oh, I just got it cleaned, doesn't it look better?"

[mimitabby]

My husband can't lie and he can't sneak (he also doesn't keep gossipy secrets too well).

Not to mention he buys everything with a credit card and leaves a record!

[Tater]

Thankfully, I don't have to sneak any of my bike related purchases. Mr. Tater is very supportive of my habit and doesn't mind me spending a few bucks to make sure my backside is happy. He knows I put everything to good use, so he's okay with it. Even when I sign up for an organized ride, he's out the night before putting the floor pump and other incidentals in the truck so they aren't forgotten in the morning. He gets a kick not just being my 'driver' to these events, but he likes to tell his co-workers, 'yeah, she rode one hundred miles this weekend. In one day!' He's so sweet! As for getting him on a bike, that will happen as soon as we can get the back brake overhauled on his Scott. He doesn't want to put up mad mileage, but has expressed interest in doing a metric century at least once.

Kits, good luck with your situation!

[pooks]

My situation is a convinced him to get a bike with me. We both have bikes but I have more time (and I'm pretty sure) determination to ride. Four or five miles in the morning before work would suit him just fine. I'm the one pushing to do the 40-mile livestrong, and he thinks it's way too much.

Sigh.

I have a feeling I may be ready for the 40 and he won't, and it will bruise his ego if I do it w/o him. Plus I don't want to do it w/o him. So I may end up doing the 10 and then having him tell everybody that I came to my senses.

Grrrr.

[Bad JuJu]

The chief (my SO) is variably supportive. Since he's not much of a cyclist, he tends not to understand multiple purchases (jerseys, gloves, water bottles) or what he considers exorbitant purchases ("You paid HOW much for a pair of shorts?") So he sometimes razzes me about how much I spend on cycling gear, but not too much, since we each keep our discretionary income separate from the other's. Also, like Mr. Tater, he displays a certain amount of pride in telling his buddies how much cycling I do, so he can't in good conscience complain too much about the expense.

[KnottedYet]

Kitsune - if she's borrowing YOUR bike when you guys go on rides, I'd say she knows a good bike when she rides it. Maybe she needs her OWN good bike.... Then she can start buying stuff, too.

When DPITA got her bike and started riding with me, she went whole-hog ordering goodies from Nashbar. I've had 3 bikes in the time she's had 1, and I've been getting little goodies here and there... (little? um, maybe not really little)

Now I've got grand plans for a steel tourer build-up. Dunno if I can justify that one to her. We keep our finances seperate, but she knows how much I owe on my car, Visa, etc, and will give me "the look" if I spend more money right now.

[Trek420]

Knotted, if she gives you "the look", flash those abs

Somewhere here we have a thread on "In Praise of Cycling Single"

down side-not being a D.I.N.K., far less discretionary income

up side-I don't need to hide, justify, or glean a thing

[KnottedYet]

Heee heeee! "Let me buy one of THOSE, and you can have some of THIS."





Edit: Trek, you are good for the ego. I didn't even think of the abs, and certainly didn't think they were the best part of that picture.