unreasonable goals

[Veronica]

So I'm doing a lot of inferring here. But here's what I see.

Guy tries a spin class, can't make it through it. Has he been back in the month since he tried it? How dedicated to completing the AIDS ride is he, if he hasn't been back to the spin class that will help get him in shape to do the AIDS ride?

I'm all for cheering on people who are trying something new and are pushing themselves to excel. But as I'm always telling my friends and family. You don't wake up one morning and go out and ride 200 miles. Long distance riding takes training. Frankly I'm hearing wishful thinking, pie in the sky...hmmmm... PIE!

V.

[Kimmyt]

I'm not saying tell him that he can do it if you don't think he can. I'm saying support his decision to do it, because he is your friend. SHe's already told him (and his mom, and everyone on the internet) what she thinks of his goal. He is obviously going to do this ride, with or without her support.

Being a friend sometimes means supporting someone in decisions that you don't necessarily agree with.

K.

[Artisan]

I really like what Batbike said in her first paragraph about encouraging your friend, perhaps it will change his life.

I do think you being an experienced rider could mentor him and help prep him as much as possible. It does seem like the odds are against him that he would be able to finish it, but stranger things have happened.

[DeniseGoldberg]

Being a friend sometimes means supporting someone in decisions that you don't necessarily agree with.

That's true - but being a friend also means helping him focus on reality. A conversation on what type of effort is involved is worth having. So yes, support his decision, but first try to make him understand what will be involved.

Even though the AIDS ride is a supported ride, that's serious distance multiple days in a row - and I would be very surprised if the intent of the ride organizers is to provide SAG support to riders who aren't prepared for the ride.

And that ride is in early June, only 3 1/2 months away.

Stacie -
Do you and your friend live where it is reasonable to ride (to train) long distances starting now? I know that here in the northeast my bike rides are limited to weekends and to short rides due to the lack of daylight and cold temperatures.

Reality...

--- Denise

[Bad JuJu]

I agree that encouragement can help people do apparently miraculous things sometimes. But inappropriate encouragement can also lead people to do things they're not prepared for. The trick is encourage our friends to challenge themselves without sending them off to hurt themselves.

As an addendum to Denise's idea about training, is it possible to just take your friend out for a longish ride or two? If he's untrained, just a 30-40-mile ride may be enough to show him the difficulty of what he's planning to get himself into. If he gets to mile 30 or 40 and is tapped out, you can maybe gently bring up the idea of having to do that same thing times 2 (and then some!) for 7 days in a row. OTOH, if he goes the distance (and can do it again the next day) and still feels excited about doing the AIDS ride, maybe he does have a shot.

[Eden]

I'm going to be devil's advocate here and say that if this fellow is in reasonable physical shape his goal is not impossible at all. It may not be the most comfortable trip for him, but it likely won't kill him either. Hey he's got 3 months to do some preparing still.

When I was just a kid, about 11 or 12, my mom decided she wanted to try some loaded bicycle touring, the end goal, a week long ride in Nova Scotia. Our "training" consisted of a some weekend rides and a few overnight weekend tours, more as an equipment shakedown. Our distances were not as long as the LifeCycle tour, but hey, I was 12, I was riding a heavy Sears, steel, kids bike and I was carrying clothes, camping gear, etc. When I was in college my husband and I used to go out and do loaded touring without training for it. We did distancces as long as 90 miles with fully loaded bikes. The only trick was to take it slow, plenty of seeing the sights, plenty of rest breaks.

If your friend really wants to do it and gets out and rides his new bike during the next 3 months I see no reason why he can't do the trip and have fun.