Help! Need to ditch slow neighbor! (long-ish)

[Biciclista]

gosh, just tell her about the ride you have to do next spring. Be honest. You DON'T want to be sneaking around.

[smilingcat]

What Irulan and Bicilista had to say. Don''t sugar coat the "bad" news. Maybe they are realize they are in way over their head with your bicycle ability and not sure how to break the news to you.

Just tell them that you enjoyed their company but training ride is just that and you have a training goal. And don't show up with a 40 pound beater bike so that you can ride slowly with them. It sends a wrong message. If you have a kit wear it. Ride your regular training bike. They'll see that your intended ride is not the same as them. They will understand.

[indysteel]

I agree that you should just be honest. And while I understand the desire to provide some form of a palatable, but honest, explanation as to why you don't want to ride with this woman, I also think a simple "no, I can't" will suffice, too. If you really would like to explore a friendship with this woman, then feel free to suggest meeting for coffee or something else as an alternative, but I'll be honest that there are already a couple of red flags with this woman IMO, so be careful with how you proceed.