Talk me through (or around!) this...

[indysteel]

I agree that Owlie will be able to ride faster in a paceline, but if this ride is her first introduction to group riding, I'm not sure getting into a paceline--at least not a tight or fast one--is the wisest thing to do. I'll admit that I'm sometimes overly cautious, but I think the first step is to do some group rides where the group is pretty loosely formed. Get used to having cyclists near you such that develop a certain degree of comfort and awareness. From there, I would advise learning how to ride in a small paceline. Get used to being on someone's wheel and having someone on yours. Work on holding a steady spin and a light touch on the brakes. Learn how to use hand and voice signals effectively. Once you get comfortable with that, I think you can safely join a bigger and/or faster paceline with the understanding that you still have to be pretty darn careful.

Of course, if this group is willing to keep the ride more social and relaxed for her benefit, then that would be ideal. I was lucky in that many of the people I rode with as a new rider were happy to slow down a bit to bring me along. Couple that with some caution on my own part about keeping my distance from their bikes until I was more comfortable and a better bike handler, and I was able to learn the ropes pretty quickly.

I will say this, too. I think guys have a tendency to be somewhat protective of women riders. Call it paternalistic, sexist, or chivalrous, but most of the guys I ride with are happy to help the women in our group keep up. Of course, it was long my goal to be able to keep up without their help, but I can't say that it ever bothered me when my stronger male riding buddies were willing to pull me in or slow down when I couldn't otherwise make it. If Owlie joins this ride--now or in the future--my guess is that she might encounter a bit of that, too.

[zoom-zoom]

You've already gotten some good advice. I just wish I lived near you, since it sounds like we pedal at about the same pace and I'm working on getting faster and going farther, too. Most of the cyclists I know are either faster or slower than I--so it's tough to find a cycling buddy.

[Owlie]

I actually wound up not riding today due to things not related to this.
Thank you all for your thoughts. I usually ride alone, but my really long rides have been on bike trails where I'm unlikely to get lost. I think Crankin and Indysteel hit it on the head--trying to keep up at this point would be no fun.

This group is a part of my university's club, and while it theoretically has both recreational and collegiate racing members, most of the people who ride regularly are racers. I'm slow--I can hit in the 20s with nearly no effort on flats, but it's not a sustainable pace. My group riding experience has pretty much exclusively been with the boyfriend and his family, so of course they're going to ride loosely formed and slower than normal so that I can keep up. (I actually had to tell my boyfriend to go faster last time I rode with him. He underestimates me sometimes. ) Riding with people I don't know who probably expect a higher level of performance than I think I can provide is probably not the best introduction to more "serious" group riding.

I think I'll hit some hills tomorrow and during the week, then try out the route by myself (or see if I can find my friend who helped get me into this) next weekend. It's a route the club regularly uses, and I think I can modify it a bit to make it easier to get back to my place than from the meeting place that the ride uses.