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SportLifestyle

by Sofia Brontvein

Why Cycling Ruins Your Dating Life

21 Aug 2025

Image: Midjourney x The Sandy Times

Let’s just get this out of the way: I love cycling. The sweat, the speed, the silence of the road at sunrise. The perfect rhythm of legs spinning, heart pounding, brain empty. It is my therapy, my religion, my not-so-cheap form of meditation.
But — and this is a big but — cycling has absolutely ruined my dating life.
It isn't that I don’t meet people. I do. Sometimes even while mid-ride, through some tragic combination of helmet hair and questionable tan lines. It isn't that I am not open to love, to spontaneous weekend getaways, to long brunches and slow mornings tangled in someone’s sheets. It is just that… well, have you tried dating while being a cyclist in Dubai?
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Image: Midjourney x The Sandy Times

Here is what a typical “romantic” evening looks like for me:
  • Dinner at 7 pm. (Carbs, obviously.) No drinks. No dessert — it will bloat me.
  • Home by 9 pm. Asleep by 9:30 pm.
  • Because the alarm is set for 4:45 am.
That is when the real affair begins: me, my carbon frame, and Jumeirah Street before the sun rises. No traffic. No noise. Just the sound of cleats clicking in, the soft hum of tires slicing through air.
Bliss.
But try explaining that to someone new in your life — someone whose idea of romance involves sunsets, not sunrises, and who doesn’t understand why you can’t “just skip one ride” to sleep in.
I have lost track of how many times I have had this conversation:
  • “You’re waking up when?”
  • “Can’t you just go later?”
  • “Do you have to wear that outfit?”
Yes. I do. I have to wear the bib shorts that make me look like a Lycra sausage. I have to eat pasta the night before. I have to set out my water bottles and gels like a soldier preparing for war. Because this isn’t a hobby. It is a lifestyle. And lifestyles, dear reader, aren't always compatible.
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Image: Midjourney x The Sandy Times

Cyclist dating red flags (for them)

  • You don’t do brunch — you ride through brunch.
  • Your tan lines are permanent.
  • Your ideal weekend is a back-to-back of 80 km rides and a recovery nap.
  • You own more lycra than lingerie.
  • You think FTP is a more intimate metric than love languages.

Cyclist dating red flags (for us)

  • They say “why don’t you just Uber there?”
  • They suggest a Friday morning hike. (What part of long ride don’t you understand?)
  • They ask why you are always tired on Saturdays.
  • They want you to “skip the gym” for a late-night movie.
  • They don’t know what Wahoo is. (Worse: they think it is a dating app.)

So what is the solution?

I have come to terms with this: if you want to date a cyclist, you are either in it, or you aren't. And I don’t mean you have to own a bike or memorise the Tour de France lineup. But you do have to understand that this thing — this mad, beautiful, sweaty, exhausting thing — comes first. At least on weekend mornings.
We are early sleepers. We are carb hoarders. We are annoyingly obsessed with heart rate zones and marginal gains. But we are also fiercely loyal, wildly passionate, and very, very good at going the distance — in life, in love, and definitely uphill.
So no, cycling isn’t ruining my dating life. It is just weeding out the wrong ones.
Because the right one? They will be waiting at the coffee stop, helmet hair and all.
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Image: Midjourney x The Sandy Times

How to talk to your partner about cycling — without sounding like a maniac

Look, we cyclists know how this must look from the outside: borderline obsession, rigid schedules, a never-ending rotation of weird gear that costs more than most rent. But for many of us, cycling isn’t just a sport. It is how we stay sane. It is our structure, our solitude, our sense of control in a chaotic world.
And if you are trying to make love and lycra coexist, the first step is to communicate — and I mean properly. Not in between intervals or over WhatsApp when you are carb-loading.
Here is how to bring it up without turning it into a war about priorities:
1. Be honest, early. Tell them why it matters. That it isn't just about exercise — it is mental clarity, community, discipline. That riding is the one time of the week where no one can reach you, and that you need that space. When people understand the why, they are less likely to feel shut out.
2. Invite them in — even if they never plan to ride. No, you don’t need them to join your 90k training ride. But maybe they would enjoy meeting you at the coffee stop after. Or tracking your race. Or asking how your intervals went instead of rolling their eyes when you say “tempo block.” The goal isn’t to convert them — it is to make them feel part of your world.
3. Acknowledge the trade-offs. You are waking up at 5 am. You are skipping some nights out. And that can feel lonely on the other side of the relationship. So offer something in return: maybe you plan a slow Sunday together, or dedicate time to their passions with the same discipline you show on the bike. Partnership is a team sport, after all.
4. Ask for support, not permission. You don’t need to apologise for loving something deeply. But you can say, “Hey, I know cycling takes up a lot of my time. It would really mean a lot to me if you supported it — even just by cheering me on, or not being mad when I go to bed before 10 pm.” Sometimes, people just need to be reminded that they aren't competing with the bike — they are riding alongside it.
At the end of the day, cycling doesn’t have to ruin your dating life. It just filters it. The right person won’t resent the early alarms or the endless Strava uploads. They will understand — or at least, try to. And if they really love you?
They will hold the door while you hobble post-ride with dead legs and a helmet-shaped dent in your hair — and say, "You look happy. I’m glad you went."