My husband and I have been riding together for many years and rarely are we at the same fitness level. If we are training for an event, we work on skills together and focus on endurance.

One summer, I was more fit and could totally out-climb him We were training for a century and found that it worked out great- I'd end up dropping him on the climb, but he'd catch me on the downhill at which point I would latch onto his wheel and draft off him, once we hit the flat we traded pulls. Since we worked on this all summer, we were like a well-oiled machine and we both had our best times ever.

So, if possible, look at it as a team effort.