She Ain't Slow, She's My Wife

For it to be all that enjoyable of a ride, I need my better half with me. I mean come on, half the crap I try is just to impress (ok, show off for) the woman. But of course, our pace isn't the same - I started cycling almost ten years before her which gives me a considerable advantage on any sort of technical terrain.

So how do we balance out the pace? I've been convinced that different bikes would take care of the problem, but each type of bike excels on different types of terrain. Me on a cross bike and her on a mountain bike slows me down on technical terrain while she flies through but hit a long smooth patch and I'll smoke her with the skinny cross tires. We've thrown everything into the mix and in the process added a heap of bikes to the arsenal.

Bottom line, we'll never ride the same pace, and that's just fine! I've grown to enjoy the opportunity to stop and enjoy my surroundings while waiting for her to catch up. I miss that when I ride by myself... every time I finish a solo ride, as I'm pulling into the driveway I ask myself why I didn't make a few stops to enjoy the scenery, landscape and wildlife.

So it all works out, except for her attitude... complaining that she's too slow every time she catches up to me, and getting down on herself. Which takes me back to wishing that we rode the same pace, not because I want to ride the same pace, but because I get tired of her getting down on herself.

Ironically, she'd be happier if I enjoyed our rides less... that is to say, she'd be happier riding my pace which would mean I wouldn't have the time to stop and smell the roses which would mean I wouldn't enjoy the ride as much.... but she'd be happier, thinking she was making me happier.

Kind of feel like a dog chasing its own tail.