Hi all, My partner and I both like road cycling. I’d like to do long rides with her. Sadly, her threshold power is about half of mine. Even when accounting for the weight difference, out on the road, her Z2 is my very casual Z1. It would be great if we could both stay in the same zone around the same ground speed. I’ve been thinking about short/medium term solutions. Since she cannot get faster at a snap of the finger, I was thinking about making myself slower, as in increasing the rolling resistance of my bike. Some ideas so far: Install the widest, lowest quality tires that I can fit on my road bike. Get a really heavy secondary bike, or a touring bike and load it up. Attach a drogue parachute. Replace hub grease with sand. What do you think?

From someone who has been down this road, be careful! If you try to push too hard, your partner may decide riding with you isn’t fun and move on. The heavier bike thing might work if you’re somewhere hilly, but again, be careful. Be encouraging. Watch the words you use. Don’t be overtly critical or preachy. Riding a bike should be fun!! An ebike solves the problem, but is an expensive solution. It may be worth it though. It was for my family.

Just ride slower and enjoy the time together. Why change your bike?

Tandems rock!! Limited(25kph) e-bikes suck on flats.

Do you have a mountain bike with knobby tires you can ride?

Some prior discussion that’s worth a look. [image] How do I Train with my Wife? Training Hi All I cycle with my wife. We don’t belong to a cycle club so our cycling is either on our own indoors or riding together outdoors. Unfortunately this year my fitness has moved on quicker than my wife’s so when we cycle it gets a bit frustrating for me as I feel I’m sitting in Zone 3 and getting fatigue without getting any fitness gains and for my wife she feels like she’s flogging herself all the time which just isn’t fun for her. As you can guess, it leads to the odd frayed temper from b…

I usually ride my hardtail while my wife rides a hybrid when we ride together. Usually city tires because using knobbies isn’t fun for me, even if it would be slower. The airhub still seems to be around but $1100 to slow down doesn’t sound like fun. I’d rather spend the money on a faster bike for my wife (her hybrid is kinda heavy so there’s room for improvement). Probably not as effective though, relatively.

Interesting topic. I had this exact experience with a riding partner. I’m not worried about fitness gains, I use these rides as a way enjoy a hobby together. The problem is I have gotten pretty strong so upper Z1 is close to their threshold. I’ll ride slow, I don’t mind, but i find if I don’t make the conscious effort to go slow, I will slowly creep the pace up subconsciously and end up smoking my partner. Also remember that they probably don’t want to slow you down so they are going to push harder than they normally would. I try my best to make sure they know I am totally comfortable going their pace. I value these rides immensely and don’t want my partner to dread them! I also have decided to just let them lead, so there is no accidental halfwheeling.

[image] Pbase: An ebike solves the problem An ebike may solve the problem - but likely not if you still want to ride together at 15mph / 25kph or over, and not have to modify the bike (at least if you’re in Europe)

OP, go with #4! I have the same issue and got a tandem. It was cool when we used it for one season, but now I just have tandem in my garage for the past 2 years. I ride my mtb when my dad rides his road bike. He drafts and it seems to even things out. I can ride zone 2 and he gets a good workout. Ebike sounds cool but expensive.

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How to slow myself down?

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mcneese.chad December 11, 2022, 6:15pm 11

Some prior discussion that’s worth a look.

Topic		Replies	Views
How do I Train with my Wife? Training	54	5475	July 10, 2020
Competitiveness Uncategorized	59	3300	October 20, 2021
:turtle: What are the SLOWEST tires available? Need to increase resistence Equipment	69	2985	May 16, 2024
Unsupportive Spouses Training	46	10683	December 31, 2018
Bike/life balance Training	141	11823	November 14, 2022

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