I was out for a night ride last Thursday and happened upon a road closure just after 10:00 which turned out to be for this, didn’t know about it at the time, asked the Rozzer on the road block if it was flooding related, and got told it was for a Crash in Purley.

I later mentioned it in passing and my missus, who works for RBC, and had knew about the two cyclists killed, put two and two together and worked out that I was in the general vicinity (+ 1 hour) when two people on bikes were wiped out by a BMW.

So for the last few days my missus has become increasingly worried/fretful that I’m going to die while cycling on the road.
Lots more heartfelt “Be Careful” comments if I go for a ride, far more interest in what I’m doing and where I’m going than normal.
I’m just waiting for it to turn into “Do you have to go out riding?” or “I really don’t think you should go riding in this weather”…

So How do I defuse her before it gets out of hand?

I believe that was quite an exceptional circumstance.

I think my missus worries a little when i go to BPW, but that says as much about her perception of my skill levels as anything else.

Generic day to day stuff, i don’t think she gives it any thought

I’m yet to be convinced that Mrs Feet gives more than eveb a cursory ‘toss’. She doesn’t really think about it I guess.

Mind you, she did show some slight signs of concern when I got hit by a car, but I managed to get away with that with only a slightly bruised hip.

When I broke my ankle, her response was initially ‘well if you will do such bloody stupid things’. Erm, well, yes, thanks dear. Mind you she was more sympathetic later on!

Just make sure you are well insured.. she may even encourage riding then.

I think it’s the fact that people she vaguely knew were killed, and I was (unknowingly) quite close by at the time.

Ordinarily she couldn’t give a monkey’s what I’m up to, I tell her where I’m going and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t sink in, I even told her I could set up GPS tracking for her while I’m on a ride for her and she waved it off with a “You know me and technology…” type response, but now you’d think she was coming to terms with my apparently certain demise…

I know what she’s like, she over-thinks everything, she will worry herself ill over this by next week, I tell her I’m careful, that I go out riding lit up like a christmas tree and that I’m not cowering indoors because the outside world has some risks in it… She’s not listening though…

Over Christmas another local guy got killed on a straight, wide, 2 lane road in perfect visibility. It shook up a lot of people as he was from the same suburb as a lot of us and quite a few of us had though of riding up there that day. Put a lot of people of riding for a few days and using that bit of road.

it’ll pass in time

I worry about Mrs MTG.
She’s got a few possible routes to and from work and I try to persuade her to take the one I think is safest.

I tend to take an off road scenic route home sometimes on late shift.
She worries that I will crash in to a tree or get washed away in a flood and I could be lying by the side of some remote bridleway for days before I’m found.

cookeaa – Member
I think it’s the fact that people she vaguely knew were killed, and I was (unknowingly) quite close by at the time.

Ordinarily she couldn’t give a monkey’s what I’m up to, I tell her where I’m going and I’m pretty sure it doesn’t sink in, I even told her I could set up GPS tracking for her while I’m on a ride for her and she waved it off with a “You know me and technology…” type response, but now you’d think she was coming to terms with my apparently certain demise…

I know what she’s like, she over-thinks everything, she will worry herself ill over this by next week, I tell her I’m careful, that I go out riding lit up like a christmas tree and that I’m not cowering indoors because the outside world has some risks in it… She’s not listening though…

Sounds like she’s a got a wider issue if she worries so much and makes herself ill with worry. Maybe she needs to address why things cause her so much angst. It’s good she cares for you but it isn’t healthy to be *that* concerned over ‘everyday things’.

mine used to be fine, however I have had 2 recent crashes, early Dec and 1st Feb, 8 weeks to the day apart, that both involved me going to hospital in Ambulance 🙁 so she is understandably worried and on edge when phone goes and I’m away on bike 🙁

Get yourself well insured and she will see it as a win win situation.

While it doesn’t prevent much Mrs M’s mind is put at a slight ease when I’m being electronically tagged either by live tracking on Endomondo or latterly Garmin Connect via my 810…

The Garmin Connect route is very simple, it sends the tracker an email which they just have to click through on. OP sounds like you might have an opportunity to legtimately propose the purchase of a new GPS (510 or 810) that facilitates this! 😉

munkster, tell me more about this Garmin Connect thing. Does it work on the 800 ?
Endomondo flattens my phone battery too quickly, especially on the commute home at the end of the day when there’s little charge left anyway.
I use the Life360 app, but something easier for Mrs MTG to use would be better.

Nope, it’s a 510/810 thing only. I’ve found that my phone battery is taking far less of a pounding this way versus what it was doing with Endomondo, whether that’s real or perceived I don’t know…

(The Garmin Connect thing works via Bluetooth from the device to your phone which then relays the whole shebang via mobile internet.)

I don’t tell my mrs about near misses any more, she’d worry if she heard a cyclist had been injured/killed locally. I think me going out commuting or road riding worries her more than mtbing, tho she did call me at 12:30 one night wondering wtf I was (had left at 7)

Mind you I think my bottle must be going a bit, when I did nan bield solo last year it started to rain just as I hit the top, I text her telling her to get in touch if she hadn’t heard from me in an hour. I think the fact that I text worried her

When i was knocked off in 2007 and turned up at hospital on a spine board, Mrs was pretty freaked and was saying no more night riding etc, etc, 6 month later she was ok again, but only asks a what my general route is, so she has some idea where i am.

we are going to portugal for a friends wedding in June
my wife is terrified that our kids will be abducted like madeline maccan

the current one on my other half’s agenda is the baby-eating foxes in the garden and how they’re going to maul our 2-yr old.
telling her that baby-eating foxes are very very very rare falls on deaf ears because her cousin found a fox in her bath last summer…

It does cross my mind every time I go out that it might be the last time I see my family, but my wife’s just like ‘have fun, be safe’

She does if I am away longer than expected, I tend to give her an idea where I am going as I head out so she knows roughly when I will be back.

Nothing a quick phone call cant sort (if I hear the phone while riding)

Sounds like she’s a got a wider issue if she worries so much and makes herself ill with worry. Maybe she needs to address why things cause her so much angst. It’s good she cares for you but it isn’t healthy to be *that* concerned over ‘everyday things’.

Probably, She is one of life’s worriers, I do “Manage” her to a certain extent, which probably isn’t healthy.
I’ve had Tumbles on and off road which I do my best to not report, Last one was sliding off on some Ice from which my knee is just about healed but I did my best to keep that big old scab out of view… christ knows how I’d do this with any broken bones…

The actual incident that’s triggered all of this is a bit of a grim one too, between them the two guy’s killed had seven kids… That will definitely play on her mind…

Looks like a double barreled TWOCer has now been charged;

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-26208889

Not much has been made of the fact that police were in pursuit in the news pieces so far (but I’m guessing his defence will dwell on that point), it took place a mile from the local cop shop.
The Driver was very close to his own home, he will have traveled along Purley rise on a daily basis, Over-familiarity with the roads was probably a factor (as well as being chased by the Police in a stolen car)…

Purley Rise is a deceptively fast bit of Road, on a bicycle you fly up or down it, it’s a short stretch of 50Mph limit Road between two 30Mph limits, but Drivers often exceed the limit either direction and the camera at the bottom in pangbourne is needed to keep drivers in check.

It was a damp night not especially wet but the roads were a bit greasy…

I’m going to be watching how this one plays out anyway, I don’t want to bring it up too much with the other half as it seems to be a bit of a trigger for her…

brakes – Member
the current one on my other half’s agenda is the baby-eating foxes in the garden and how they’re going to maul our 2-yr old.
telling her that baby-eating foxes are very very very rare falls on deaf ears because her cousin found a fox in her bath last summer…

Just imagined your other half’s cousin having just lowered herself in to a steaming hot bath, when up pops foxy complete with bubble bath Afro.

😀

Mine worries like mad, probably coz I’m the bigger wage earner 🙂

I have to tell her exactly my route, even when I go for a 5km run around the town!

I do however think it’s sensible, and would do it anyway, to leave her a map of my route if I’m going on a long solo road or MTB ride.

up pops foxy complete with bubble bath Afro.

😀
apparently foxy was stuck in the bath and couldn’t get out. either it was a tiny fox or a massive bath, but she had to throw a towel into the bath so it had something to grip onto and could climb out.

All I have in my head is the vision of the “Crack Fox” from The Mighty Boosh now…

So far in 11 yrs with the wife, I’ve had an alleged heart attack, a snapped Achilles tendon and lost 30 minutes of my life to a Schumacher esque head vs. rock incident.

The last two occurred on rides and the ticker trouble is debateable, but it has left me on tablets.

As a result of the above my missus still forces me out of the door to go for a ride on days when I can’t really be arsed 😆

Every time I meet anyone from here (or other forums) she worries they’re liable to be an axe wielding murderer who kills me to death. Strikes me a very irrational thing to be concerned about compared to the day to day risks of riding into Central London and such like.

After a near-miss a few years ago mrshora worried alot. Even now if I’m an hour over what I’ll say I’ll be she’ll question me.

I let slip recently that when in France I loved going off on my own all day on my own ‘wandering’ from France to Switzerland and round/back etc again seeing if I could spot interesting trails etc.

Oops.

Even now if I’m an hour over what I’ll say I’ll be she’ll question me.

An Hour?

If I’m 15mins late home I’m interrogated, I have a lot of punctures*…

I would probably be faster on the bike if I was just trying to overcome wind resistance and excessive Body mass but I also have to factor constantly fighting against the pressure of err’ indoors thumb on my forehead….

*Mis-reporting detours or leaving work a bit late…

My missus is much like cheesyfeets, right down to the “it’s your own stupid fault” type comments when I break myself. When I was daft enough to be riding home in the cyclone last weds, both my mum and MIL had called her to see if I was home and safe, whereas she’d called me to ask me get some milk on the way home 🙄

Still, at least she doesn’t bother me I suppose 🙂