I've recently gotten into bike riding. There is a group that rides an average of 30 miles per ride. The first ride was 37 miles and I didn't have a road bike, making it tougher. Needless to say I got a road bike on Facebook Marketplace... well I'll miss that too I guess, not quite as much as Words With Friends but a close second.
There's a woman in the group who is always the slowest one. I don't think she ever completed a full ride. She turns around about half way. My friend who got me into this group and I have started riding with the slower rider, just for a more relaxed ride at an easy pace. It's nice.
This woman constantly talks about her age. She attributes her inability to do the whole ride or even keep pace for the half she does, to her age. She always mentions her age to sort of validate her level and maybe she's even looking for an ego boost for doing it at all. This of course is a conundrum for me.
She is about five years younger than I am. So there is my usual angst about the age conversation but part of me both wants to let her know that I'm older than her and completing the rides competitively, as inspiration. It would maybe help her get her out of the mindset that her age is the problem. Part of me doesn't want her to know because, well I don't want anyone to know and because I don't want her to feel bad.
Obviously all things considered I'm keeping my mouth shut, especially since she talks about the age of the other women in the group and asked me the age of my friend. I said I didn't know but I do. It's a slippery slope talking about anyone's age because you just know your age is on the chopping block next.
No comments:
Post a Comment