Quote Originally Posted by Whip View Post

Riding with people who are faster than me - especially if you can organize rides with people who are faster, but are committed to riding with you - and basically stopping every so often so you can catch up - not easy to find, but if you can do it, I recommend it because that way you don't just get dropped once, you get dropped and have to chase like twenty or more times. The trick is to keep chasing - don't give up. It took me a long time to listen to my husband who sounded like a broken record "ride with faster people, ride with faster people" but doing exactly that brought me from a 11-13 average to being able to do 21-24 in race and 15-19 on my own. It was really hard for me to get there, but it was so worth it.
I'm going to be doing this very thing this Saturday...riding with the "a/b" riders on an organized ride where I WILL be dropped, and will have to give chase over and over again. My normal "C" group rides are around 17 mph. This Saturday ride will be over a longer (hillier) course at around 19. There are 2 or 3 re-group points, and they claim to be kind to the newbies. I figure, "Whatever doesn't kill me, only makes me stronger!"