And they lived happily (?) ever after ...jpg
Here’s a story that may strike a chord with some of our readers – a woman in Turkey has filed for divorce from her husband due to his obsession with his bicycle, saying “he is literally in love with the bike.”
Dailysabah.com reports that the woman, named as Yağmur Z., is claiming 400,000 Turkish lira (£76,000) from her husband, Burak Z., due to the effect that the attention he pays to his bike has had on her mental well-being.
Filing her complaint, she said: "My husband always spends time with his bicycle. He has a different kind of a bond with it."
She said that each day, her husband – who has now left the home they shared in Istanbul – would clean and maintain his bike in their living room.
She added: "This is not an ordinary attachment, he is literally in love with the bike."
From the Dailysabah report it does not appear that infidelity was included in the grounds for divorce, something for which Mrs K may perhaps take a crumb of comfort.
It has to be said that on the limited details given in the news report that if the most extreme aspect of Mr Z's "attachment" is a proponsity for carrying out cleaning and maintenance in the living room it probably doesn't sound that extreme to the average British cyclist.
Indeed far more extreme examples of bicycle "love" can be found in the road.cc news archive.
In 2007, 51-year-old Robert Stewart was put on probation for three years after cleaners discovered him in a compromising position with his bicycle in a hostel room in Scotland.
According to a report on Telegraph.co.uk Stewart, naked from the waste down, stopped to ask, "What is it, hen?"
He then proceeded to "move his hips back and forth as if to simulate sex."
Stewart, a bachelor, pleaded guilty at Ayr Sheriff Court to a sexual breach of the peace.
Sheriff Colin Miller said: "In almost four decades in the law I thought I had come across every perversion known to mankind, but this is a new one on me. I have never heard of a 'cycle-sexualist'."
Born in Scotland, Simon moved to London aged seven and now lives in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds with his miniature schnauzer, Elodie. He fell in love with cycling one Saturday morning in 1994 while living in Italy when Milan-San Remo went past his front door. A daily cycle commuter in London back before riding to work started to boom, he's been news editor at road.cc since 2009. Handily for work, he speaks French and Italian. He doesn't get to ride his Colnago as often as he'd like, and freely admits he's much more adept at cooking than fettling with bikes.