1st Ride with my Girlfriend ... I did good!!!

[Jiffer]

So, today I rode for the first time with my friend, who is a stronger rider. Dh and I have done tandem rides with she and her husband and we did a short 10 mile group ride my 2nd time out ever on my single. (While teaching some other friend of ours to ride our tandem). We came back and I was huffing, while she said it was an easy ride for her.

However, since then, I have ridden a lot and was curious how I'd do on my first ride with her, hoping not to hold her back too much or kill myself keeping up. We went 30 miles, which is my longest on my single yet. (For those in my area, we went down Baseline from Etiwanda to LaVerne and back). We did a 15.6 pace (not including stops), which is my fastest pace yet. She pushed me some, but not too much at all. Just enough. And she said I didn't really hold her back that much. Mostly, she would have taken less breaks, but I don't think we rode much slower than she would have by herself. She did climb the hills way better and waited for me at the top, but everything else was good. (Boy there are a lot of hills the farther you get toward LaVerne!)

So yay!!! Our first ride together was a success! I told her if she doesn't get better, I will hopefully be her level by next season! (Fingers crossed that she doesn't get better!)

[indysteel]

Jiffer, that's great. From personal experience, riding with someone who is stronger but supportive is a great motivator. And also from personal experience, you can make a lot of progress in a relatively short amount of time if you work at it.

Have fun!

K-

[Fredwina]

you did good!
Going east on baseline - lot of folks don't like it. For those not Famialar - youv'e got 2 -2to 3 miles climbs with a sceaming descent in between. It's mostly 2-3%(my guess), but pitches up to 5% at the end of both.