Why One Shouldn't Date the Other

When you're as passionate about a sport like I am (in my case two, but I'm not here to one-up you or anything), you realize that if you want to have a healthy romantic relationship, you either have to date someone who shares the same passion or date someone who is understanding of your complete psycho addiction to your sport. That person has to understand that you have to put hours and hours of training, and when you're not training, you're most likely racing. Your partner has to realize that your bike is most likely going to get more ass than he/she is.

After dating different people, I've found that I definitely like dating cyclists. I like to be able to ride with my partner, go to his races to cheer him on, and go to cycling events together. However, after trial and error, I realized the type of cyclist I prefer to date. Well, have to date in order to have a healthy relationship.

I'm clearly a roadie. I love racing criteriums above everything else, though the occasional road or mountain bike races are fun. I've been told by many people that I'm a "roadie with the attitude of a mountain biker." I don't know what that means. I've chosen to take it as a compliment, so whenever someone says that, even if they mean it as an insult, I feel complimented. Because I'm a fairly Type B person, I tend to like fairly laid back people, though I've been known to get along with the Type A's. I'm pretty Type B unless I'm asking you to keep your bike out of registration.

It's no doubt that I like dating mountain bikers more. The last couple of times that I've dated roadies or wannabe roadies, it's been a disaster. Training is more about fun for me. I'm an amateur cyclist; always have and always will be, but these guys started training as if they were pros. Yes, I stick to my training program as much as I can and I have a coach, but I won't do it if it's not fun. For these guys, training got too serious, and when they weren't seeing results, when they weren't placing well, and when I started getting stronger than them, it became a problem. A big problem. As if I had just kicked their mother, killed their dog, and punched them in their manhood. 

Yikes.

So, it became clear as day that if I wanted to date a cyclist, I'd have to date either someone with the same mentality as me or someone who races a completely different discipline. Both work. If you have another super laid back roadie (think cyclocross), then you've got a good pair. A mountain biker works, too, because if they ever ride on the road, it's just to keep their fitness up. A cyclocross racer can go either way because that's how they roll.

But even though I like dating the chill, laid back type of person, I also enjoy watching my partner race in crits. It's fun to go to the same event and cheer each other on, and if you're like me, you can heckle the hell out of a rider. 

I'll admit, going to mountain bike and cyclocross races are a lot of fun, too.

I don't know how to draw.

Either way, the dynamic has to work. There has to be enough respect. If you're both crit sluts, then you have to realize that sometimes you have a good year and your partner has a bad one and vice versa. If your partner has a good year, though, you can't hold that against him/her. That's just asking for trouble. Encourage your partner and change your plan so you stop sucking.

Basically, I'm a low-maintenance roadie who likes beer and dirt. As long as we have that and enough respect and we cheer heckle each other at races, all is good in the world of Miss Kay. 

Oh... Triathletes need to stick with one another. No one likes them.