tekhna

I'm very fortunate in that my partner has taken to road cycling and enjoys just going out for 40+ mile rides on the weekends. I'll readily admit that this is a fantastic thing, especially since she wants to go on weeknights too! The weekend long rides are awesome because I can treat them like recovery rides because quite honestly, a 15mph pace is pushing for her. She's getting much more fit but it takes a while for average pace to bump up.

The problem is the weeknight rides--she wants to come with, I want to encourage her to cycle, I enjoy cycling with her, but on weeknights I need a harder pace than 15mph. Nights she comes with I'll do 30 second or 2 minute intervals and drop back to ride with her for a bit. Is there a better way to approach these rides than intervals? Just enjoy them for what they are and be happy she's out riding with me?

therhodeo

Maybe find a group ride where you can ride with the A group and she can jump in with others at her pace. That or get a dog. Maybe something like a Newfoundland. And put said dog in a dog trailer and pull it around.

RJM

I would just enjoy the time you all have together.

If you still need a workout you can throw the bike on a trainer when you are home and hammer an interval workout in 45 minutes.

Seattle Forrest

I got my girlfriend on a mountain bike last summer, it was the first time she'd been on a bike since she was a kid. She had a death grip on the bars for every inch of the descent and didn't like it. This spring I got her on a road bike and she complained about her lady bits hurting for days. Count yourself lucky.

Tell her that some of your rides together are going to be relaxed, that you'll keep an easy pace and take in the scenery. But some of your rides together will be for exercise more than recreation. (Compromise!) On workout days, do hilly routes. Sprint up the hills, wait for her at the top while she takes her time. It'll still be good exercise for her, too, just going up a lot of hills.

There's been some research lately showing couples that exercise together are more likely to stay together. I make Beth hike with me.

rms13

wear a weight vest

MZilliox

i work on spinning when i ride with my lady friend. i also give all hills my best and do them a second time if i have time to. just do your intervals on the hilly bits, then do them again as you wait...

I know what you mean, I like doing the long rides together, but don't like giving up my pace every time. bring a camera and take photos as you wait as well. I've started carrying light gear, camera, etc for our rides. adds a bit of challenge and gives me something to do when im waiting.

Thesorus

Reserve time with her and time for your training;
That is the only solution to your dilemma.

TrojanHorse

All great ideas, including the dog in a trailer. Do your weeknight rides include driving TO the ride? If so, you ride to and fro and then enjoy the middle part. Alternately, just ride with her and then tack on an hour at the end.

Or, just acknowledge that it's more important to have a good relationship with your wife and enjoy your time together and don't worry about that nth degree of fitness.

Get a cardo bk1 duo and you can even chat up to 500 m apart from each other. They retail for about 400 for the pair but you can usually find them on ebay for about 200. Then you don't have to stay right next to your wife to have her feeling like you're not abandoning her.

indyfabz

I wish I could slow down my SO on the hills. She's 5' even and about 105 lbs. A pure climber she is.

I agree with Thesorus. My SO tried loaded touring with me. She didn't take to it, but she doesn't mind when I go on trips alone. We still do plenty of riding together.

cicatrize

I have the same problem with my wife, but she doesn't even road bike. She wants to go out and ride bikes with me, and I usually end up just bringing the 7.2 FX (we both have one). She's afraid of speed because of a fall she had a few years back, so I end up getting way ahead on downhill sections since she won't ever get over 20mph. The rest of the time, I just stay in a much lower gear than her and try to keep my cadence up. My compromise is that I still ride with her with the hybrid and I have a great time with her, but I have my own rides that I do alone with my road bike. Her pace is probably 9mph, so it's hard to stay with her. Same problem with running...but for that, we usually go to the gym together and hit the treadmill so I don't leave her behind.

CafeVelo

Get a loaded touring bike and ride it with her, it's remarkable how much it slows you down at the same effort you'd use to rocket down the street normally.

or get a tandem and go fast together.

JerrySTL

Tandem.

MikeyBoyAz

My wife picked up riding back in March. If I have lots fitness, I don't care, but I don't think I have. This weekend she is doing a half (century) with her nephews while I ride the full with the BroInLaw. Works out pretty dang nicely.

...Unless you're getting paid to ride, then she might be holding you back.

patrickgm60

Tandems are the common cure.

One approach I've used is to ride solo, for an hour, then meet up with my (slower) GF/date. I've also used a very large gear and used the slower ride for strength training.

beatlebee 

I have a similar issue and have been thinking about an electric assist.

karenashg

Also give her some time. I picked up cycling several years after my husband--it was a real struggle to keep up with him (going slowly) at first, especially as he's one of those annoyingly wiry, low body fat natural climbers. But now I descend faster than him, and he complains that he can't drop me on hills any more unless he puts in an extreme effort. We have a great time riding together, and it's a workout for both of us.

Goriot

I'm currently in a similar situation- but my partner is only riding a commuter bike (successfully got her clipped in recently, although she's not a fan of it).
I want to shift her to a road and really go out on longer, harder rides. Gotta be patient, and as I've learned, never look back and yell "pedal!"

BadBurrito

when my wife wants to come along (not all that often), she prefers we drive to this one section of MUP that is about 12 miles away form home, and put in there, It's less crowded and therefore less chaos. after the ride, instead of driving back with her in the truck I ride back alone instead. I hammer like I stole it then.

stevebiker

Count yourself lucky. You can push it on solo rides.

I've tried to get my lady into cycling, and even bought her a starter bike. She's gone down the road with me a half mile or less a few times, but otherwise has given it up. So again - count yourself lucky.

RShantz

Let me know what you fid out about electric assist. From talking to my LBS they say it'd be hard to get electric assist with enough power to help the wife average over 20mph on rolling hills.

Inpd

Yep. That's the cure. If you ask people who ride tandems, why, the common answer is we ride at different paces.

I once saw a guy who was resting his head on his SO back whilst riding. I thought it was cute until I rode up beside them and saw he was asleep. Now that takes balance.

Seattle Forrest

And be really careful with the word "just." Like "Just ride in a straight line" or "Just don't get hit by a car."

cthenn

Find a hilly ride and tell her you'll hammer the hills, then come back and ride up the rest of the way with her. That's what I do.

wphamilton

I think that it's inviting conflict and disappointment to even try to get the most training out of rides with your SO. Unless both persons have similar objectives and similar capabilities.

I just gear way down and spin. I don't care how fast we're going. I save my training or working out for my alone time.

PaulRivers

If you have a ton of money to throw at it, for around $3k you can buy a Specialized Turbo electric assist bike that goes up to 28mph:
Specialized Bicycle Components

If you only need for her to be able to keep up at 20mph, you can get electric assist bikes in the $2k range.

I can't tell you whether slowing down for all your rides is worth it because I'm not you and I don't know your wife lol. For me personally, slowing down for some of my rides for an SO is fine, but slowing down for all of them is to much.

Another thing I do is ride a slower bike - full suspension mountain bike with rear suspension will eat the power you can put out. But it's also a different ride than riding the road bike.