Maybe if you didn't ride like you thought your were Lance Armstrong, your wife might ride with you and both would enjoy it?
But seriously, my wife and I have taken the month of September for the last 27 years and headed with our bikes to ride Europe and you won't regret it. We've always taken our bikes and you'll find dealing with hard side cases is the worst part of the equation unless you are staying at the same hotel on the first and last nights of your trip, in which case, most hotels will find a way to keep them.
Unless you are actually Lance Armstrong and there is a large amount of money to win, I'd go on Craigslist and find a really good cheap bike that fits and take that. Go to any bike store and get a box that new bikes come in and use that to ship it over. At the end of the trip, find someone you like and give it away.
We started doing this about 10 years ago and it works great.
And, I wasn't really kidding on the first part. Get your wife traveling with you by bike
