Riding suffer on dates?

[MALcontent]

I've been dating a guy who's also a mountain biker for a couple months now. And every time we ride together I feel like a total basket case. My technical skills aren't up to their usual snuff and I don't feel as aerobically strong as I did before we met. We've ridden like 9 times now and I feel like I still haven't showcased my best game. Does anyone have any insights?

[mimitabby]

Don't you ride when you're not with him? do you only ride with him? as you get more comfortable with him, you should improve, but by all means ride WITHOUT him sometimes!

[redrhodie]

A couple of things come to mind. It could be that beginner relationship thing where you're gooey-nervous at the sight of him, where you want to look cool, but instead get all dorky and weak kneed. Or, it could be that's he's showing off for you, riding extra hard so you'll be impressed by his manliness. My guy won't admit to the latter, but I know he does it.

[MALcontent]

I do ride without him, and seem to do fine. Interestingly, we had our first road ride together Sunday and I rode really strong. He even commented on it. So it seems to be something about mountain biking. Bizarre...

[Miranda]

I do ride without him, and seem to do fine. Interestingly, we had our first road ride together Sunday and I rode really strong. He even commented on it. So it seems to be something about mountain biking. Bizarre...

For me, I think as long as I am not in heavy traffic on the road, it's easy to zone out and still perform well. The leg and lungs go on auto-pilot. For the trail, any type of zone out distractions causes less performance, or a crash. There is just no time to think about anything else IMHO. Sooo... if there's any thinking about the new sweetie going on, then bingo. fwiw

[singletrackmind]

On our first mtb ride my now husband nearly lost his manhood to the top tube...he was the one with the jitters. Didn't matter a bit to me, made me less nervous, actually. We still joke about that ooh ooh ooh oooh ooh dance he did over a nothing obstacle.
So see, you're just trying to make him feel less nervous.