My DH hates cycling and he won't ever go with me. At first I was hurt, and did all these things (including buying him a bike which he returned) to see if I could get him interested and it didn't work.

Bottom line is that he what he wanted was different from what I wanted and I had to learn to respect that. In your case, you both have similar interests but he prefers to ride hard whereas you need a break once in awhile. To make this work, you just have to realize that maybe you can't always do what he wants and vice versa. By trying to keep up with him, you're getting turned off on the sport that you love. Remember what made you fall in love with cycling in the first place and slowly work at your pace to get to the level you want to be at. You don't always have to be together just because you share the same interest. Branch out and find other riders who like to ride the way you do and ride with your DH on the weekends or during certain events.

I tend to ride alone but I recently joined a cycling club where I hope to meet people to ride with. I used to feel bitter that my DH wouldn't join me, but I've learned to love the freedom of going on my own and not having to worry about what another person is thinking/doing/feeling while I'm riding. Come Spring, I'll start going on rides with my new club. My DH is happy that I've found something that makes me happy. When I go on rides, he watches the kids and when he plays his music, it's my turn.

We found balance, we just had to accept that we were both different and we didn't need to mold to each others interests.