Road buddy motivation

I ride 3-4 times a week with an avg. speed around 14.5 mph (roughly 23.5 kph) for about an hour and a half. I also usually ride with a friend. I’ve been riding for about a year. I have a goal of my avg. speed being consistently over 15 mph. As it stands right now I frequently have to coast or slow down for my friend to catch up. I’ve even gone on ahead and then doubled back to meet up with her again…although I feel bad doing it…afraid she’ll think I’m trying to show her up or something. We aren’t really close friends but close enough that I don’t want to hurt her feelings, plus I really enjoy her company while riding and wouldn’t want to lose my only riding partner. She readily states that she is just riding for fun. So here’s the question…how can I get her to try to push herself more so I can achieve my goal and yet she still have fun?

Can you teach her to draft so you can ride faster, and so can she, with much less effort?

Nanci

Have you told her about your goal? Maybe if she understands your goal she'll make her own or at least get why you might go off the front sometimes. I too have a couple of friends I ride with who are not as fast as I am. I actually see those rides as "social" rides and make sure I go out for more "training rides" where I push myself or go out with my SO who is much faster than I am. Maybe you could connect with some other riders who are more your speed or faster. Just some thoughts. Good luck.

You could try to push yourself "more" instead:

Try riding a bigger gear, pedalling with one foot (if you have clipless pedals, this will help you achieving a round pedalling technique), standing up, etc. Practice riding with the brakes (useful skill for paceline riding).

Maybe you can convince your friend to do a few sprints with you? Sprint (all out up to the next lamp post/red house/etc.) and then ride a very relaxed pace. I did that with a friend of mine, a very leisurely cyclist who had no other intentions than having a good time on the road. It made her laugh really hard and she enjoyed that. (Last one at the lamp post/red house/etc. pays for ice cream. You can do a best of 5 for these and that gives you an intervals session!)

If there are hills, do them twice.

I think you could explain your goals to your riding partner in a reasonable manner, maybe she'll understand, especially if you have some specific objective (ex: ride xyz century in a given time).

Try to find other riding partners who are stronger than you, or ride alone sometimes, maybe....

Good luck!

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Originally Posted by li10up

I ride 3-4 times a week with an avg. speed around 14.5 mph (roughly 23.5 kph) for about an hour and a half. I also usually ride with a friend. I’ve been riding for about a year. I have a goal of my avg. speed being consistently over 15 mph. As it stands right now I frequently have to coast or slow down for my friend to catch up. I’ve even gone on ahead and then doubled back to meet up with her again…although I feel bad doing it…afraid she’ll think I’m trying to show her up or something. We aren’t really close friends but close enough that I don’t want to hurt her feelings, plus I really enjoy her company while riding and wouldn’t want to lose my only riding partner. She readily states that she is just riding for fun. So here’s the question…how can I get her to try to push herself more so I can achieve my goal and yet she still have fun?

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ha, this is a conversation near and dear to my heart. for years, this was the case with me and hubby riding. I actually encouraged him to go up that hill again! I didnt mind. I am still working to get to be a better rider but there's no way i'm going to catch up to him because he's working too!

on the other hand, your buddy might have a slower bike. Ask her if it bothers her that you are doing loop di loops around her, because chances are, she, like me, is relieved that you aren't leaving her in the dust.
mimi

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I have talked with her about my goal. That's when she says she's just riding for fun. I've tried to get her to draft and she will for awhile but then she falls back, especially on the hills. I do stand while pushing a harder gear and pedal slowly to keep with her. If I push a harder gear I seem to end up getting further ahead. I haven't tried the pedalling with one foot thing. I could give that a try. We have talked about sprinting to road signs, etc. She seems receptive to that but we haven't tried it yet. The ice cream idea is a good one. She likes to stop...once we stoped at McDonalds for a drink after only going 12 miles. About drove me crazy but I didn't say anything. So I think she would be up for "last one to the lamp post buys the ice cream." I would like to ride with stronger riders - I'm sure that would make me stronger, but I can't seem to find anyone that can ride when I can. I guess I just need to come right out and ask her if she minds me riding ahead occasionally. Thanks for the input. Any other suggestions are welcomed.

Maybe another possibility...

Go with her on recovery rides and force yourself to ride her pace so you won't go too hard.

Go riding alone, do something hard - like hill reps - before you meet with her. You'll be more laid back... :eek: I do that sometimes: I send my partner on a tough hill ride for about an hour and then he picks me up at our place, he's happy with the hills and a bit tired, so we can ride together and I actually get to draft him towards the end. :)

Grog, that's a great idea! Wear yourself out _before_ you meet her!

Nanci

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Originally Posted by Grog

Maybe another possibility...

Go with her on recovery rides and force yourself to ride her pace so you won't go too hard.

Go riding alone, do something hard - like hill reps - before you meet with her. You'll be more laid back... :eek: I do that sometimes: I send my partner on a tough hill ride for about an hour and then he picks me up at our place, he's happy with the hills and a bit tired, so we can ride together and I actually get to draft him towards the end. :)

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THESE are good points too. When riding with my hubby on singles a common (silent) complaint I had was that when I could catch up to him, I couldn't sustain that speed and so I would start falling behind again(and again and again). Hey, at least your friend CAN draft. I can't, I see out of only 1 eye at a time and have NO depth perception.

Drifting!! I used to ride a jumper with one eye. He used to be a polo pony, but got injured with a ball and lost his eye. He was very nice and reliable- I just had to signal him when to take off, and he trusted me and went at that moment. His name was Nicky. One of the best horses I rode as a kid.

Nanci

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Grog

Maybe another possibility...

Go with her on recovery rides and force yourself to ride her pace so you won't go too hard.

Go riding alone, do something hard - like hill reps - before you meet with her. You'll be more laid back... :eek: I do that sometimes: I send my partner on a tough hill ride for about an hour and then he picks me up at our place, he's happy with the hills and a bit tired, so we can ride together and I actually get to draft him towards the end. :)

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That's a good idea - only problem is we meet around 5:30 after work to ride so there's no way for me to get some ride time in first. If you come up with any other ideas I'd like to hear them.

You said that you ride 3-4 times a week with your friend. I don't think that you should worry about hurting her fillings. Limit rides with her to 2-3 times a week and use other days for your own training. If you are uncomfortable riding, you may just hook up with someone else who rides faster. I know ladies that we tend to think about others more than about ourselves. You should start thinking about you!

Hey Li10up-
Where in Texas are you again? I am going to be in Houston for the next 3 months, and ride at about the same average as you and would also like to improve, so if you are there, or near there maybe we can ride some time.

Ellen