Selling it to The Wife

For those of you out there who are married to women who also ride, consider yourselves lucky, because they are the only ones who truly understand. As I said in my opening post, my wife was initially attracted to me because I rode a bike. She used to love to ride on the back. Two big things changed her attitude towards motorcycling: putting a ring on her finger, and having 3 children.

When I told her that I was going to buy a Harley she thought I was joking. When she realized I was serious, she immediately gave it the thumbs down. Her first statement was the old, "You'll get killed on it!" She made it clear she didn't want to be a widow, raising 3 kids by herself. The funny thing about that is, I have so much frigging insurance that if I did die, she'd be set for life! Of course, I realize she's thinking about how important a father-figure is to kids growing up. I agree. I had to impress upon her that she could not expect me to live my life in a bubble because of what might happen. I've always believed when your number is up, it's up, end of subject. Truth be told, dying is not what I fear, it's surviving horribly injured. I'd rather be killed than end up like Christopher Reeve. The suggestion here is I think it's important to be well insured, not just for death but for disability as well.

The next argument was why couldn't I wait until the kids were grown? Well, er...since our youngest is 3... I'll put it this way, I want 20 good years tooling around on nice powerful, nimble cruisers before I end up on an Ultra Classic! I don't want to be a newbie on a Harley at 55 years-old. I'd rather be reflecting on years of great rides, and looking forward to many more ahead. Sometimes if you want to wear the pants, you have to hold your ground. I ended it with a promise to be careful, and a reminder that an average of 40 mpg on a bike would not be a bad thing for our summer-time budget. It was time to go Harley shopping!