Hey there Denise, what a great thread you have started here... very readable ladies, very interesting, encouraging and supportive with no schmultz!

Super!

Mimi... I loved your comment about how when someone passes you to remember that you might just have made their day - thats so true... I remember the first time I passed someone... I felt so proud of myself and felt no animosity or derision or anything nasty about the person I had passed... just incredibly pleased with myself that at last I had done this seemingly unachievable feat!

Beta... I also related to your comment about people saying something as they pass.
Sometimes when I am passed on flats, and almost always when I am passed on hills, the cyclist/s say something - usually a greeting, often some encouragement or acknowledgement (tough wind today, good climb, tests your legs, nearly there) - lol, as I write those examples I realise that the phrases are usually 2-3 syllables long... I guess thats all the time they have before the disappear in front.
Because it makes me feel better about being passed, I always say something to people I pass although they are few and far between.

Keep at it Denise, just remember with your power to weight ratio, you are expending much more power than those who pass you.
My partner often laments that he is such a big guy (6'3") and will always weigh 20-30kgs than some of the shorter skinny guys in his grade in the local clud. He doesn't win hilly races. But he consoles himself with the fact that if the others popped a 25kg back pack on and had to carry the same weight he would blow them out of the water...

Remember always, we are fit, fit women and fitness comes in all shapes and sizes!