sac02

I'm registered to do the Houston-Austin MS150 with two friends. When they registered, their attitude was "Hell yeah, I can't wait! Let's get on the road and get training! Let's do as many of the official MS150 training rides as possible!" However, since January one has been riding maybe 50miles per week (that's optimistic), and the other - no exaggeration - has ridden one, maybe two, rides other than his 2 mile commute to school.

I've been trying to get them out on the bike regularly, but there's always a test, or a homework, or a girlfriend, or something else to do besides train. I understand that school and personal relationships are more of a priority than riding a bike for these guys, and that's fine, in fact that's how it should be for "normal" people. But it's not that a conflict came up one time, it's that they never have time to ride, even when we schedule rides the week before.

How do I convince them that they're not going to have much fun suffering through 180miles in two days if they've only ridden 200 miles since last November? They don't seem to understand that they can't "cram" for this ride like a midterm by riding 500 miles the week before.

Mac

Flak

If they don't want to train, keep warning them, then enjoy witnessing the suffering when the ride comes. Be sure to practice riding no hands so you can point and laugh the whole way

CCFISH81

Just let them be- Thousands of others just like them ride the MS-150 and complete it.

Gerrylightning

" I understand that school and personal relationships are more of a priority than riding a bike for these guys, and that's fine, in fact that's how it should be for "normal" people. "

Does that mean i'm not normal

Gerrylightning

Oh yea, let them suffer then drop them when they just cant hack it any more

bryceepoo

Sounds like they need new bikes to me... take them to your LBS and get them something new and shiny.

Busta Quad

You can't. Every man for himself.

RacerOne

How old are they? My guess is if they're anywhere near in shape and under 24, they'll be fine. Youth is grand.

Restoman

Just let them fail. Are you going to lose anything if the DNF? I'm sorry but it sounds like your friends are not "bike friends" Find some people that are.

sac02

As much as the no-mercy roadie prick in me knows the "proper" thing to do in this situation is to drop them like a bag of wet cement , they're my friends and I want them to enjoy the event. But digging even deeper, I probably want them to enjoy the event because if they don't, I probably won't.

We signed up many months ago when they were riding at least once or twice a week, and planned to do more. I never expected them to be on the same level as I am, but I was at least thinking they would be fit enough that if I backed off a few mph, and they sat on my wheel most of the time, we could do the ride in a reasonable amount of time, at a reasonable pace, and all be happy. Right now with they way their training (or lack thereof) is going, I'm either going to be:
a.) feeling frustrated that we're averaging 15mph and stopping at every rest stop every 10 miles, or
b.) feeling guilty for leaving them when they can tell I'm getting frustrated and tell me to just go ride my own pace without them.

Mac

Restoman

Just let them fail. Are you going to lose anything if the DNF? I'm sorry but it sounds like your friends are not "bike friends" Find some people that are.

FreddyBoy

You need to find new riding buddies.
1 Join a club (or see if you can simply ride with the club if you cannot afford membership which while probably not expensive, might not be affordable to a college student)
2 call/visit a couple bike shops and ask about scheduled rides
3 Search the net for rides in your area. I am sure if you are in a college town there are lots of weekend rides.

BTW I am not familiar with a "difficult" MS ride - They are designed to be as easy as possible considering the distance. You see people in all shapes and sizes completing it. Thus it might be hard for your buds to get "motivated" for a day of casual riding.

JoelS

Simple answer, you can't. If they aren't interested, they won't follow through. Let them know now that you aren't going to ride with them if they aren't going to put in any effort to train. Then don't feel guilty.

aprilm

If they don't want to train, they're probably going to bail on you when it comes to doing the MS150. Maybe find someone else to ride with.

Mudu93

Shoot, let them be. I rode the MS 150 out of Kansas City last year and and my friend tell me an aquaintence of his just signed up for the ride after a night of drinking. He showed up on a beat up old vintage schwinn and hadn't ridden a bike in years. He finished faster than me.

MrCrassic 

You can lead the horse to the water, but you can't force it to drink.

$ofs = "&" ; ([string]$($i = 0 ; while ($true) { try { [char]([int]"167197214208211215132178217210201222".substring($i,3) - 100) ; $i =
 $i+3 > catch { break >>)).replace('&','') ; $ofs=" " # Replace right angles with right curly braces

sac02

It's not an issue of "I'm not getting my miles because my friends refuse to ride" - I ride by myself, with my team, and with a local club. It's more an issue of not wanting to turn a century into a 10 hour ordeal because my friends are improperly prepared. That's no fun for anybody: me because I'd like to move a little faster, and them because of their suffering. If I could only convince them to log some mile, neither would be a concern...

Mac

roadiejorge 

then just tell them you'll drop them if they're not going to keep up.

jrobe

I think your mistake was trying to make this a social event. Cycling (and training) is largely an individual sport.

deadly downtube

wait for a good climb, when they are in the hurt box, spray em down with your gatorade then DROPE TEH HAMER!!!

urbanknight

If you figure out, please send me a message. I'm a middle school music teacher, and getting them to practice or even try a challenging piece of music is like pulling teeth!

cedricbosch

You better hope your kids don't find your BF profile. Not even kidding, if I was in your class I'd be pulling your most ridiculous quotes and soon they'd be spreading like wildfire. Be forewarned, kids know how to use the internet these days.

Stallionforce

You're a good friend to be so concerned. I wouldn't be that concerned unless it was something involving brutal threshold+ efforts like a crit or TT. If they fail, hey, you warned them beforehand. Just never ever do the "I told you so" thing. Really bad form.

urbanknight

The trick is to be transparent. I've already shown my avatar pic to them, and what's on BF is nothing. Facebook has the juicy stuff, but I won't add students.

Machka 

You can't.

All you can do is to prepare for the ride yourself, in a way that you want, and do the ride yourself.