I've just returned from a rare visit to my folks in Kent, having arrived after an en-route ride covered in mud and declaring that my bike would have to spend the night in their dining room because their shed wasn't secure enough. Having riden bikes since I was knee high to a grass hopper, why do they still not understand my passions?? My father made constant coments about how much some bikes cost and how they are then just riden through mud and stuff!! My attemps at expanation just fell on deaf ears...as long as I'm working and earning that alledgedly should be enough... The weekend culminated in me waking up to find my father 'attacking' "my precious" with his newly purchased jet washer...why, why, why after nearly twenty years of riding through mud and stuff do they not 'get' me - am I alone??
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Wow Flossie...your alone from my perspective my folks are ace...although my older brother was into motox from 11 so i inevitably endeed up doing abit too... so when I got a road motorbike not surprised and then started skydiving...not a flinch. Mountainbiking is the least of their worries with me...once when I fell off quite badly...on my own... i called my mum and she came and scraped me up and took me home...a little shamefull at 34 or whatever i was. Accepting...yeah thats what they are and I love them for it 
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 Having previously been a runner, and positively enjoyed running in the pouring rain, my mum would often comment "you'll be in a wheelchair by the time you're 30" as I headed out the door. Well I'm 41 now, have dodgy knees, dodgy achilles, achy finger joints but still not in a wheelchair  so I think the laugh's on me! If she'd have said "you'll end up under the wheels of a lorry" everytime I went out on my bike, well the laugh's on her with that one.
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Ooooooh Angie do not jest about going out on the bike and wheels of a lorry in one sentance, some day........! My parents have been fairly tolerant of my cycling passions over the years. My dad could not understand my desire to have 21 gears as he only had 5 and actually only used 3 on his ride to work, (top for the flat bottom for the one hill middle if it was windy!). But then my mum was ex ctc cyclist so she did have some understanding of it all.
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I like your dad's attitude to gears - why complicate things . Instead of 3 gears we now all have three bikes - one for MTBing, one tourer, one commuter. At least my husband and I have the same passion so don't get annoyed when one of us buys a new accessory or bike that we know will transform our lives - I can't imagine having to hide my new pastel, flowery helmet at the back of the wardrobe . As for the lorry, it was a fairly small Post Office lorry - I always give them a wide berth now......
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 My mum always encourages me to spend the very litle money I had on pricey bike parts. But only because she knew it would stop me from saving for a motorcycle. Too late now
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 my parents think I'm a little strange, but my mum always says better this than drugs!
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 Trio - As says Adam's dad! My mum's always been pretty bemused, but understanding, and tries ever so hard to be enthisiastic.
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But your mum has a few of you who are the same Alice!
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You're right my mum has 3 of us who are pretty much identical (curly hair, geology degrees, mtbs, road bikes, climb mountains, paddle rivers etc...) but she still doesn;t get it! And one who isn't !
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 I reckon mine think it's a bit weird too. I also think they think it means I visit them less, as I'm always busy with cycling. After I finished my first ever sportive (the Circuit of the Cotswolds last year), I was so happy I just wanted to tell someone about it. So I phoned my dad and said "Guess what, I've just ridden 100 miles and it was really hilly". That was met with a very flat response of "Well, I must say, we are becoming extremely concerned about the extent of your cycling". I asked what harm it could possibly do me, and he said he didn't know, but he couldn't help wondering whether it could possibly be good for my health...!!! The other day I made the mistake of mentioning I was getting some new wheels. I sensed real confusion...my old wheels weren't broken, were they? So why could I possibly need/want new ones?!
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Bry wait until you just have to have that new bike cos you need more than one, you will meet more puzzlement cos you just cannot ride 2 bikes at once, can you??????
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 I haven't dared tell mine about the mtb. After telling them about climbing (and showing them hard grit) i've kept mum about the biking. that was until i went home and had to explain the big scrapes on my legs. anyway, i'm not to tell them anything about either climbing or biking until/unless i'm in hospital.
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Sharon, when I said 'new wheels', I literally meant a pair of wheels rather than a new bike! Beautiful cosmic carbones which appealed to me more than to my dad!
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Oh don't worry bry I understood what you meant about new wheels, as you said, people do not understand why you need a new set when the old one's aren't broken, but likewise wait until you "just" need a new bike cos; you need different types for different types of cycling, no one understands why a bike isn't a bike.
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I try and keep the cost of my bikes to myself but when parent's, partners, colleagues etc. find out, their response is inevitabley the same - I could buy a car for that! Know what you mean Sharon about having two bikes, I'm hankering after a road bike at the moment to add to my collection, but I think my best bet will be just to arrive home with it one day!
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Hi Flossie, i have a similar problem in revers, my two married daughters think I'm mad when they see me arrive home covered in mud and smiles, my two granddaughters in their twenties think i should stay at home and grow roses and my eight year old great granddaughter looked at me very strange when she saw me riding round the garden trying out my new disc brakes, not just parents are???
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Strange isn't how the younger generation of girls are growing up more girlie than we are/were.
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Girly they sure are. Whilst perusing through the cycling shorts in my LBS I found a pair of shorts that had been deftly designed to sit unseen under a short 'cycle' skirt - all in one design!
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