What do your kids or other family members think of your biking?

[rcannon100]

My wife and I go out for coffee on the weekends. All she talks about is rescue dogs. All I talk about is bicycles. Neither one of us talks about our boys. We are the worlds most boring couple. We are going to buy a beach shack where I will rent the junk bicycles I buy off y’all and she will run a doggy-daycare/ rescue center.

BTW this is our current rescue dog: Channel

[ATTACH=CONFIG]7882[/ATTACH]

[dasgeh]

My 4 year old knows what a sleaze ride is and lets me know if she wants to come with me. She also knows how to check strava on my phone to tell me if I’ve hit 1.1 miles.
Because I’m a good parent.

[sethpo]

There’s definitely been iffy days (today for example) where I might have taken the metro but rode only b/c of the intense peer pressure of Freezing Saddles.

[Alcova cyclist]

As a noob to FS (though an on-and-off cycle commuter for years), it’s been an interesting evolution for me and my family.

My spouse actually got a little mad the first few times I went on a late-night sleaze ride (or proper ride) in “marginal” conditions. Now she just knows it’s par for the course. For that matter, both of us have completely re-calibrated what we believe are “marginal” conditions. Today is a good example: I biked in to work without a second thought, where pre-FS I wouldn’t have even considered it — and if I had my spouse would have demanded a call or text as soon as I reached my destination because ice/cold.

My kids ask about the team standings and various side-bets, etc. I think my 15-yo might participate next year. I think (hope?) my kids also get that biking to work every day (for me anyway) is a way to “walk the walk” about the climate and resource issues that I tell them are important. [insert global warming / polar vortex joke here]

But most of all, I think they see me healthier and happier now that I have committed to biking most every day.

[Powerful Pete]

Well, my family now supports my unhealthy BAFS habit… I share the FS leaderboards with my daughters and they are psyched when I/the Busters move up in the standings and console me when I/the Busters slide down in the rankings.

Also, the younger one is excited about bike commuting to school and has now become my light battery charger professional (she plugs in my headlights and helmet lights and checks the charge before going to sleep).

The older one tells me I am weird. But that’s what teenagers are for, isn’t that the case?

[rcannon100]

@Powerful Pete 108916 wrote:

The older one tells me I am weird. But that’s what teenagers are for, isn’t that the case?

Yes, but what’s really important is, what do your girls think about the NBA draft?

[KayakCyndi]

Mr. Kayakcyndi thinks I’m nuts. He thinks that about the rest of you all too!

[Powerful Pete]

@kayakcyndi, irrelevant point.

My wife has shared my BAFS riding with the rest of the family, and they are certain I am nuts.

All of our non hard core cycling significant others think we are nuts. They might be polite and not tell us, but that’s what they really think, deep down.

[lordofthemark]

My wife thinks it’s cute. But is very happy I am doing something about my health and weight. She is a bit less inclined to think its nuts than most, as she is a hardcore winter walker and sometime winter hiker.

My daughter has admired when I’ve told her I am riding and she knows it’s cold down here, but I don’t think I’ve really fully explained FS to her yet.

The concierges at my apartment complex know about it, though not by name.

[dbb]

My wife is convinced I have gone off the deep end.

To be completely truthful, she was of that mind before I began cycling as well. She just sees BAFS and the NBC as additional confirmation.

[vvill]

My wife/kids don’t really see it that differently from the rest of my cycling, although I’ve never gone that deep into the specifics of how FS works. It is calibrated though that I can go for a ride at any time of day in any conditions and it’s no big deal.

[Vicegrip]

Wife thinks I am nuts but that was well before FS. My kids are in the 10 / 11 year old range and my son asks me every day where I am in the standings. Both kiddos think it is pure “awesome” that dad rides in anything. Work people (automotive) cannot fathom the concept. Most are so overloaded with “What?!” that they cannot even form an expressible opinion.
I get a kick out of trying to explain BAFS to non riders. “Well, it is a silly game that is online but not online as everyone plays by riding days and miles and we sprinkle in pointless prizes. It is bike riding outside but tracked on a offshoot of a local bike commuter website that was self built by…..” This is about the point they they glaze over or give me the “Wut?!” look. Pure win.

All in all the comments from those around me regarding my riding and health are positive.

[ShawnoftheDread]

Wife just a few minutes ago: “could you promise me to just ride halfway tomorrow?”

Me: No, of course not.

She: “okayyy.”

[rcannon100]

Just ride to coffee, and stay there all morning!

[dasgeh]

Don’t get me started on work people. I get a lot of “surely you didn’t bike today” to which I respond “of course I did”

[Author]

Posts