mr,grumpy 

I ask because New Brother Dan just posted up a couple days ago about how his wife rides with him for fitness. He's a lucky guy. My wife will ride with me on "family rides" where I almost always wind up dragging the kid and all our gear on my big, heavy tank of a bike and she squirts around on her little hybrid, free as a bird and making fun of me the whole time that I can't keep up. Drop the kid off at school and get the curly-bar bike out though and she wants nothing to do with riding with me. She claims that she'd slow me down. Maybe, but I can't do the distances that she can (yet). I'm WOEFULLY un-able to keep up with any sort of cycling "club" ride so I mostly ride by myself. I'm OK with that but I have to admit that I am jealous of you guys who's wives will either try to keep up with you or slow down and wait for you.

Northwestrider

Whenever my wife rides with me which is not very often, I always make sure she is just a little ahead of me as I don't want to build in a competitive feeling in any way during the ride. If she wants to stop for a coffee, we stop for a coffee as an example.

FishSci

I'd like to have some riding partners. I just moved back to my current city and would like to get involved with some of the local training rides for two reasons: 1) someone else to ride with and 2) get better riding in groups (something I've never done) and get faster.

Fish

gman214

I also would like a riding partner. Guys with wives or girlfriends that ride are VERY lucky!! Have fun y'all!!

Sullalto

Nope, never. I mostly ride for commuting and sanity though. Other people would get in the way.

nesteel 

When my family move's back up that way, we can ride together, . We plan to retire back in that area someday. Enjoy the ride over the hill to Livingston. Did that ride more than a few times.
I currently ride with my youngest son on occasion. My wife and I do not ride together yet. She's still getting used to the recumbent. Even then, I don't think she'll be much for riding the trails. She's stated several times that's not her desire. I do plan on starting to go on some of the local club rides though.

fiatjeepdriver

I do a couple rides a week with my team and I have some other riding friends who are usually up for a ride. It's nice but when you ride with other people most of the time you appreciate solo rides.

mrtuttle04

When I ride with my wife she says "You go on ahead, I don't want to slow you down." (She's had three surgeries in the last 15 months.)

As far as riding with others, most my riding partners do not ride to my level. Therefore, if I want to get a good workout I ride alone; if I want a social time I ride with friends.

Pakiwi

I ride alone. My wife has no interest in bikes. I even bought her a bike but she only rode it a couple of times. Thank goodness I didn't spend much.
I now have my daughter riding on a trainer so she feels comfortable before we hit the road.
I just joined up with a local cycling group so it's nice to ride with a group. Very social too. First ride was last week and I have already got friend requests on map my ride.
Allan

indyfabz

The GF and I ride together a lot. We ride part of the way to work together. We ride to the moves and dinner. We rode an organized metric yesterday. We have taken several tours together, including this one:

Desolate

The LBS does a beginner/casual ride on Monday evenings, so I plan to try that for the first time tomorrow. Kind of nervous about riding with a group.

Weatherby

My wife hasn't been on the tandem in 20 years. She got a whole new "kit" for Mommy's day. She is getting on the bike.

Zoxe

Mrs. Zoxe and I ride together 1x to 2x per week. She rides slower than me, and as we add years to our biking season count, the gap is continuing to grow. It's sometimes a challenge for us to end a ride and still be on speaking terms.

She's told me she can go out by herself, but the one area where I'm a chauvinist pig is that I rarely let her ride alone. If she goes, I suit up too.

Mostly though, it's fun. The secret, I think, is maintaining some banter as we ride. In silence, the frustration (her with me, or me with her) is more inclined to take root.

I go out 1x to 2x per week solo (a double standard she points out quite accurately), usually on a longer route, to let me stretch my legs and continue to improve.

mr,grumpy 

I had a dream that I was having a dream (strange huh?) that I had the fitness to do 1/10 of that beautiful ride. Even made her pull the trailer huh? Atta-boy!

1loosemoose

The wife and I started riding together this year. She complained I was all she could see in her mirror. Now I hang back quite a ways and challenge myself to catch up a few times each ride. I then fall back and start the process over again.
If she stops I stop with her. We are riding to get fit not to enter any races. We have fun and have purchased her a Trek Lexa and a Trek FX 7.3 for when she wants more comfort. Neither of us have an excuse for not getting out on the bike.
We also have an indoor trainer for bad weather use. I'm very lucky my wife has caught the cycling bug with me!
In the last month I have lost 21 pounds and she has lost 11 pounds. Keep on riding folks!

WonderMonkey

It's rare that my wife gets out and rides. Usually I ride on my own. Here and there I will meet up with a friend and do a distance.

Black wallnut 

In December 2011 after riding my Schwinn hybrid 2400 miles I purchased my first road bike since jr. high. Late January or early February 2012 after invitations several times by the folks at the LBS I tried a free spin class. I liked it so I made it part of my weekly routine, Tuesdays and Thursdays I did their spin class. Soon enough spring arrived and we moved to outside. I was so slow and was dropped each and every ride. We had enough riders that most of the time we split up into two groups. Almost immediately I was accepted as I was by all the riders making friends with many. I became a regular participant on their group rides. My mid summer my speed had increased as had my endurance. I found myself riding more and more. Since then i have kept up the same schedule and have become a fixture on the group rides and spin classes.

I now can stick with the fast riders for miles on end unless there is a hill or wind involved. I still get dropped, but they don't mind waiting for me. From this I have made lots of great friends and we sometimes get together to ride on weekends. This your I am lucky enough to have a small group of them ride the Seattle to Portland with me in one day.

Seriously folks, if you think you are too slow to ride with a group or club try it anyway. You might be surprised and end up liking it while making more friends. Even the fastest riders sometimes slow down and enjoy the company of others. Even if you are not competitive riding with folks stronger and faster will make you stronger and faster. I still spend 90% of my time on the bike alone. I greatly value the time I am able to ride with others. My wife does not ride, nor is she likely ever to sadly. She does support my riding though and for that I'm so blessed.

MikeRides

I don't ride well with others. Usually I find other riders to be either slower or much faster than me. The faster ones are usually the ones who ride competitively as if every ride was a race, but can't ride further than 20-25 miles. I like longer rides at a more casual pace (13 m/h average for 50+ miles is about right) when I can spare the time. I have ridden with my 10 year step daughter a couple times, but even she is far from the perfect riding partner. She starts out fast and ends up pacing at ~8mph after a couple miles and like most kids she refuses to listen to me when I tell her to start slow and work up to a faster pace

MileHighMark

nymtber

Nope, ride alone. Ex-gf was too slow (except on the canal path) and current gf doesn't ride bikes.

I enjoy riding alone. MY pace. But I do still enjoy riding the canal path with my dad, we keep a similar pace on that, and, what is better than spending quality time with your dad, anyway? Just got back from RVing with him over the weekend, we hiked 5 miles with a LOT of steps, switchbacks and hills. And I'd do it again next weekend!

indyfabz

She made me carry all the cooking gear (except one pot) and the 6.25 lb. tent, foot print and tarp. Making her drag some weight is the only way I can keep up with her in the mountains. I am going back to Missoula in June to do this loop plus more solo.

gunner65

I have several groups I ride with but lately have enjoyed riding with my slower group. We poke along and talk alot, stop and take photos, and just generally enjoy our miles more. I do a lot of solo for fitness just because I go out late at night after the kids are asleep but having a companion is great fun and motivation. I could never ride 50+ all by myself but when I am in a good group I am motivated past the pain and tired.

1speeder

If you like riding with your wife and need to equal out the strengths and speeds, a tandem is a great way to go. I picked this used tandem up a few months ago for riding on the trails and even some gravel and light mountain biking. We did our 3rd ride this year on it today (30 miler) and hope to start adding mileage to our rides the next few months

Mike

gear64

My wife only comes out for the rare MUP ride. She's not really into cycling, but will do it once in a while for a change of pace. I have some nice rides with my daughters. They're not really training or competitive rides. They're just little adventures around the city that give us plenty of time to chat and have fun. 90% of the time I ride alone and enjoy quiet thoughts.

CommuteCommando

98% alone. I occasionally hook up with other regulars on my morning and afternoon commutes, but that is more of a "crossing paths" kind of thing. I occasionally go on group rides. The last was 40 miles and I got dropped on the second climb at about mile 7. This is the rule. I met up with them at the end and was five minutes behind the group.