Just thought I'd share - My cycling inspired marriage proposal

I've been into cycling for about 10 years. I met Julie just over 5 years ago, and last year I got her into cycling full time. She rides to work year round and joined me on RAGBRAI last year. She last rode a bike when she was 13~ around her neighborhood and now is a vocal defender of the bike lane. She tears bad drivers new ones with no restraints :)

Since RAGBRAI recommends at least 1000 miles logged before starting, we usually log a majority of those miles on the lakefront, early in the morning to avoid the chaos. At the very least we'll do 25 miles, starting from Diversey. This makes our half way point and resting spot the beautiful park called Promontory Point by 55/56th in Hyde Park.

Promontory Point wikipedia

We usually take a seat on the boulders and have water/energy chews/snacks for a few minutes.

I thought long and hard about how I would propose, possibly on RAGBRAI or some other adventure. I wanted a spot that we could return to easily, and one that meant a lot to us in terms of our passions and interests. The Point made perfect sense, we'd always return to it as long as we live and ride in Chicago. Did I mention the views? The water is like glass and the sun rises are gorgeous. The skyline is in the distance but doesn't over power mother nature.

On 7/16/11 I let her take the lead the entire way there, she thought she was smoking fast that morning :). She later learned I did this to avoid her seeing the second jersey and ring box protruding from my jersey pockets. I made the jersey the day before using stencils and tshirt paint.

I had my friend waiting at our spot with DSLR in hand, and he was able to capture some really great pictures. I read something I had prepared, asked her to marry me, and the rest is history.

I put all of the pictures on my Flickr, feel free to take a look:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ryan_g/sets/72157627109461281/

I hope this can inspire some cycling couples out there, just don't copy our exact spot :)

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Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on July 19, 2011 at 10:42am

This is one of the best posts ever.

Reminds me a little of another bike proposal at a certain wicker park critical mass last November....

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Permalink Reply by Michelle S on July 19, 2011 at 10:55am

What a sweet story! So nice to read good/happy news amid all the rest. She's a lucky woman. Congratulations to you both.

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Permalink Reply by Thunder Snow on July 19, 2011 at 11:24am

Congrats to both of you! May you have wonderful lives together.

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Permalink Reply by Ken Gray on July 19, 2011 at 11:33am

Good job! Best of luck to both of you!

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Permalink Reply by Juan 2-3 or more mi. on July 19, 2011 at 11:35am

Congratulations to you both! It is encouraging to see more bike people getting together and hopefully spawning a new generation of even more bicycle people.

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Permalink Reply by Anne on July 19, 2011 at 1:29pm

Great story! The look on her face is perfect. Awwwwwww *squee*

dude....level off that saddle ;)

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Permalink Reply by Kelly on July 20, 2011 at 1:56am

Congrats!!! You riding RAGBRAI this year?

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Permalink Reply by Julie Aberman (Hochstadter) on July 20, 2011 at 2:39am

A new generation of bike babies!

Juan said:

Congratulations to you both! It is encouraging to see more bike people getting together and hopefully spawning a new generation of even more bicycle people.