I SEE HER AS SOME SORT OF SUPERHUMAN WEIRDO

Stephen Beswick, 60, is a health and safety consultant, and his wife, Jill, also 60, is a retired deputy headteacher. They split their time between Preston, Lancs, and the Lake District and have two adult children

Marriage is all about accommodations, so I accommodate my cycling-obsessed wife. I go cycling when she makes me but, in general, I just enjoy relaxing. I work hard, and relaxation is what I get out of watching World At War and reading books about military history while Jill’s out cycling.

Unfortunately, I have a great fondness for beer, which isn’t the best way of taking on alcohol, but I enjoy it. For a while I ran a spreadsheet of “Calories in” and “Calories expended on the bike”, and while it basically worked it was too much stress. But I must admit that my wife is probably right when she says I should cut down.

We do a lot of other things together – walking, visiting the cinema, attending the theatre, eating out, mini-breaks, a lot of art exhibitions and museums – so

I don’t feel I miss out on spending time with Jill. As I say, I do go out on the bike with her, but Jill will always go further than me, twice the distance or more. In the early days I think I might have been a bit put-out as she zoomed off into the distance, but now I just see her as some sort of superhuman weirdo, so it’s enough for me to just plod along.

I do sometimes joke that Jill’s life is a life half-lived because there’s no

JILL:

I have always loved cycling: it keeps me fit; it gives me thinking time; and it means I have more scope to eat what I like. I like watching cycling too, so we often go on cycling holidays in the south of France and do classic climbs. It gives me a sense of belonging. We live in Lancashire where there’s a lot of open countryside and only two ways of properly enjoying it: either on foot or on your bike, and on your bike you get to explore a lot more of it. At the moment I’m riding between 150 and 200 miles per week, though I sometimes do more.

Being so passionate about cycling and fitness (before I took up cycling I did badminton, volleyball and triathlons), I’m very conscious of my health, so I don’t drink, whereas Steve is fond of a pint. I don’t mind that too much although I do think he should try to drink a bit less. But I never interfere.

By now I’m used to not cycling with Steve every day. I do spend quite a lot of time on my own, which doesn’t bother me much – but sometimes when you get to the top of a hill you want someone to say, “Wow, that’s pretty amazing.” Sometimes I get up there and I’m on my own with the cows and have no one to admire the view with.

alcohol and there’s no nice food – it’s all about the bike!