A new riding partner!

[northstar]

I am so excited!

As someone who struggles with meeting new people, I am having a blast with a new riding partner. When I started riding a couple years ago, I rode almost 100% alone, which I really enjoyed, and still like to do. My DH introduced me to a gal who lives in my neighborhood at a multisport event that year (he knows her DH from work), and we reconnected a while ago and have been riding together quite a bit this season.

Wow, is it nice to have someone to chit chat with! Our riding skills are pretty evenly matched, and we get along great. I'm really glad I made myself take a chance on riding with someone. I know I can ride on my own, but the miles have been flying by while we've had some great fun!

Cheers to biking for helping me make a new friend.

[lph]

I'm envious :)

[Blue_Fedora]

+1
I'd love to find a compatible riding partner!

[Biciclista]

same here. You're lucky. hope it lasts

[Jiffer]

Yay for riding partners!!! :D I have one too. I rode by myself a lot when I started too, then sucked my runner friend into cycling. I pulled her over to the "other side"! Ha ha!

It's great having a riding buddy. She gets me out on days when I might not otherwise go and I do the same for her. She's stronger than me on the hills, so she makes me work hard to try to keep up, which makes me stronger. She doesn't "make" me do anything, but I'm so competitive and want to be faster that she pushes me without trying.

We have days where we chat a lot and, a few times have even pulled over to sit on a curb to talk when there was something more "deep" to talk about. And we have days where we kick our butts and ride as fast as we can with very little talking. On Monday we are doing a 44 mile beach ride on the Santa Ana River Trail. We do this with other people sometimes, and it's usually a fast paced ride. If my husband goes, he usually pulls most or all of the way. But we sometimes do it just the two of us, and try to get the fastest time we can, with no "man help", taking turns pulling ... and see how close we can get to the fastest time we got with "man help"! ;) This is our first time doing alone this year, and we know we've gotten a lot stronger, so we'll have fun seeing how well we can do it ... "together"! :D And then get Subway on the way home as is customary after a beach ride.

Yes, a riding buddy is much fun. I highly recommend it. We have actually started developing other women riding buddies of various levels recently, but I think she and I will always be each other's "main" riding partners. It helps that we were friends before cycling, so we are connected on levels other than just cycling. It makes it even more fun to share the cycling world with each other.

Congrats on your new riding buddy. ;)