How to score brownie points with your lady
One of the best ways to get on the good side of your lady is to make sure she’s taken care of. So for starters if the two of you ride together as much as Priscilla and I do, then you’ll need to learn how to work on bikes.
Nothing says “I love you” than a smooth shifting derailleur. Show her how much you love her by maintaining her bike through out the week. A common practice that I do is to make sure that I check over Priscilla’s bike a few times a week. Since my time is limited, I’ll spend a few minutes cleaning her drive train, then another day I’ll check her derailleurs and on ride day, I’ll double check her air pressure on the tires and on her fork.
I’m constantly looking over her bike not only before but also during the ride. I do this to ensure that she’s having a great time out there. Cuz’ we all know how sucky it feels to have things go wrong on your bike during a ride, its a buzz kill.
Here’s a perfect example of how well her bike worked, thanks to me! That’s right, that’s her collecting her 2nd place trophy at the Mt. Sac Fat Tire Classic race. On race day I made sure everything was dialed in, even down to the tension on her clipless pedals.
One thing I’ve learned in my 11 years of marriage, Priscilla wants to feel that she’s taken care of. I’m no marriage counselor, but I’m willing to bet that your own wife or girlfriend would feel the same. So by taking care of your wife’s bike needs, not only are you showing her that you genuinely care about her well being, but you also have a reason to play with bikes! Eh..not such a bad thing is it!
If you’re not so keen on working on bikes, its not that hard to learn. Most LBS’s will have some sort of maintenance class that they’ll offer on weekends or after the shop closes. Or you can buy a copy of the DVD, VideoBikeRepair. Then having some good allen wrenches would be a great addition to your tool box. Now if you want to really get into it, there are inexpensive bicycle tool kits you can buy that starts as low as $29.
In closing, start taking care of your lady by taking care of her bike, besides you can save TONS of money!