Today's ride broke the 20km mark, big deal you might think and so probably would I before I started riding with my girlfriend but for my girlfriend who has never ridden anywhere near that on a bike before it is a big deal.Most people have no idea how far you can ride on a bike with a little effort. In the past when I've told friends and family that I have ridden 60-80 km they seem unable to comprehend that it's possible to travel that far under your own steam and that isn't that far for some riders.
My girlfriend Debs was over the moon today with her achievement and rightly so, I'm really proud of her and how she is doing, the way she hauled herself up a fairly steep and extremely rutted farm track only dabbing her foot down once when a big boulder caught her out was pretty amazing considering she has only been riding a couple of weeks, she is even a Queen of the Mountains on a downhill segment on Strava.
It's difficult riding with a novice at times as you don't know if your pushing them too hard or on the other hand not hard enough as to help them to improve.
Debs worries that she is holding me back and says she feels sorry for me having to wait for her to catch up when I've rode off thinking she is keeping up with me. That's another thing when riding with someone who is not as fast as you, you keep forgetting and before you know it you have dropped them, which then makes me worry that she is working to hard to catch me up and she's not enjoying it.
It's all a learning curve and on the whole we are having a blast, there have been a couple of moments where we have got a bit annoyed with each other but we quickly got over it. I have done most of my riding by myself for the last 20 years so it's great to have some company and especially good to share something you love with someone you love. I've never looked forward to my rides so much as I have these past couple of weeks and I'm enjoying passing on some of the stuff I've learnt over the years as Debs is really picking my brain with loads of questions about all things cycling. She is even talking about wanting to get a road bike, she has been truly bitten by the velo bug..
I'm starting to wonder who's more nuts about cycling, me or her ?
Fantastic! You have succeeded where most of us have failed, finding someone who get enthusiastic about bikes too!
ReplyDeleteWeirdly I can only compare your current dilema with not knowing if you are over working someone when I took my son for his first off road ride. I wasn't sure if I should follow him on single track or vice versa. What I considered to be slight rolling hills were like mountains for a seven year olds legs. It's often hard to get the mix right.
Hi Jez, I too have had the dilemma to follow or be followed but Debs prefers to follow so that's what we do and she likes having to push herself to catch up so that problem has taken care of itself.
DeleteI'm dead chuffed the way she is getting stuck in, I keep finding her looking at bike shops and websites on her mobile whenever she gets a chance and I'm quite taken aback sometimes with the technical nature of her questions, she wants me to show her how to bleed her disc brakes this week..pretty amazing if you ask me and if you would of said to me a year ago I would be showing my girlfriend how to bleed her disc brakes I would of laughed my head off...
From: Darin Armstrong #TeamLIVESTRONG
ReplyDeleteHello David,
Just a quick email to ask if you would be interested in a ‘mutual’ following on twitter. (#FYI I do RT’s ‘ANYTIME’ for all #Triathletes #Cyclists #UltraRunners #Marathoners #FitnessProfessionals who follow me on Twitter and have something important they want mentioned for support…Over 41K folks at your access.) I am currently following you now and am awaiting for your follow-back...
All the very best for the rest of 2013 & beyond David. Look forward to hearing from you…
(PS. David, should you follow back, I'll be mentioning you in my #FollowFriday #Shoutouts this week...)
Darin
twitter.com/DarinArmstrong
#TeamLIVESTRONG